To some, it may seem like we are living in a real-life version of hell in this day and age, but, now, it seems the better part of hell is opening its gates to the public. Located in Clisson, France, Hellfest Open Air Festival has announced their 2018 lineup and you’re in for a sweet surprise. According to The PRP the lineup includes legends such as A Perfect Circle, Deftones, and Avenged Sevenfold. Other confirmed artists are Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Limp Bizkit, and more to ensure a hell raising weekend.
For those unfamiliar with Hellfest, it is a summer french music festival featuring the heavy metal cream of the crop. Hellfest is held annually at the Clisson, France department building known as Loire-Atlantique. Although many festivals are held in France, Hellfest has had the largest turnover of attendees is France’s late musical history and is considered one of the biggest metal music festivals in Europe as well as France’s first metal festival.
At the beginning of the new 21st Century, the first ideas of Hellfest were born. Deemed “CLS CREW” to allude to their roots in Clisson, the association began to organize their first festival which featured hardcore and punk music. Some of the first acts to grace the CLS CREW stage was Venezuelan black metal group Arkangel and Miami hardcore punk band Poison the Well. The raving success from he CLS CREW festival allowed Fury Fest in 2002 to be held. Fury Festival’s first year massed around 400 people from all around Clisson into the sports arena in Val-de-Moine.
In 2003, the festival was able to shatter their record of 400 people of the year 2000 with a whopping 7,000 attendees. Due to the high demand, 2003 was the first year that Fury Fest split from one day to two. In 2004, due to a large number of concert goers, Fury Fest had to move locations again, this time to Le Mans where 21,000 people were able to gather for the likes of Slipknot and Soulfly. As 2005 hit, the organization of the festival settled at Le Mans, again, this time for 30,000 admissions in three days.
Held from 2002 to 2005, Hellfest, back then, was known as Fury Fest. Once 2006 arrived, the name changed and Hellfest Summer Open Air was born and has continued to see a rise in their attendees, selling around 55,000 tickets per day in 2017. The festival is comprised of two main stages and 4 smaller festival stages. While the main stage is usually focused on hard rock or metal, the four side stages each have their own musical style: black metal, death metal, hardcore punk, doom metal/stoner rock. This eclectic mix of music has allowed the stages to rock hard with musical gods like Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, ZZtop, KISS, Motorhead, and Cannibal Corpse.
This year’s Hellfest Summer Open Air will be held on June 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. If you want your faces to melt off in a righteous manner, buy tickets through their site.
Photo Credits: Marv Watson and Raymond Flotat
