Hellfest: Meister Goes To Hell! Eurotrip 2015

Hellfest 2015 BannerWell, The Meister‘s Eurotrip 2015 is winding down, but not before we go out with a big bang so to speak. For those that are not in the know, this year I extended my usual trip that encompasses the Sweden Rock Festival from one week, stretching it into three glorious weeks of European travel! The main reason for this extension Hellfest Roster 2015(aside from I love to travel and don’t love to work) was The Hellfest Festival in Clisson, France taking place from June 19-21, 2015. I was able to secure festival tickets and accomodations (thanks to a UK friend) through an outside company offering package deals called Argon Events. Now, after having spent the time in between the bookended festivals traveling around, mostly through Germany I was able to also catch separate Judas Priest and Ace Frehley concerts as well, but now I’m on my way to Paris. I have one night in Paris and then it’s on to the hotel in Nantes (near Clisson) for Hellfest. The plan was to attempt to catch KISS in Paris, playing on Tuesday June 16, 2015 and possibly Judas Priest on June 17, 2015, but travel arrangements are looking like it will not be possible. Judas Priest is at Hellfest so I will definitely get the chance to see them for the third time in as many weeks, but let’s take a look at some of the other bands filling out the Hellfest roster. Admittedly there are many that I’m unfamiliar with and by the looks of it many of those will be “not my flavour” but I’m gonna check out as many as I can over the three days.

Before we check the roster, as I scroll through the official Hellfest app on my phone (the app appears to work offline, which is fantastic!), it looks like there are many other facets to Hellfest as well as the bands, more than 150 bands I believe!

Hellfest MapThe Extreme Market: From the description looks to be a section of vendors with everything from clothing to silk screen painting to books to CD’s, even encompassing band merchandise I believe. Basically everything you’ll ever need to do with our musical culture. With a sales pitch like that I’m sure to be spending some Euros here, especially if there are CD bargains as my hopes of finding used CD stores during my travels to pick up some hard to get in Canada items to expand my collection seems to have struck out!

The Ferris Wheel: Seems to be something that began in 2014, this classic amusement park ride is said to offer some great views of Hell. All at an extra charge I’m sure!

Food Service: What sounds like a specific area with restauranteurs from the well-known names to independent companies will be offering the sustenance required to survive Hell….hopefully not too outrageously priced either!

Wine Bar: An area “at the edge of the warzone, behind the woods” for wine lovers. Apparently managed by Clisson’s wine growers, choices of white, red and rose will be offered….now maybe I could just use a glass of wine while I’m there, I have to check out all areas of the event to report back right?

Hell City Square: “Is the heart of the festival, located right next to the entrance”. Apparently inspired by London’s Camden Street, encompasing cinema sceneries along with some of the festival partners stands…..I think this is connected to The Extreme Market.

There is much more special areas to Hellfest as well according to the official app such as Le Klub (a members only private area), The Metal Corner, The Kingdom of Muscadet and what could be a favorite for me: The Bars. The bars section says “If you don’t want to queue, don’t forget our itinerant beer distributors through all the site”….methinks I’ll quickly be discovering just what the good folks in Hell mean by itinerant beer distributors!

Hellfest 2015And now for the bands! I’ve identified, by reading descriptions on the Hellfest app, some new bands to investigate as well as some old favorites. Here’s how my day one looks (according to the plan which is subject to change at a moments notice of course). Lion’s Law at 11:05AM / Sticky Boys (horrible band name!) also at 11:05AM / Vulcain 12:15PM / Quireboys (I keep trying to get into these guys) 1:35PM / Truckfighters 2:20PM / We Are Harlot also at 2:20PM / Armored Saint (A definite DO NOT MISS set) 3:05PM / Godsmack at 3:50PM / Orchid (who I discovered through a Decibel Geek article from an old staff member) also at 3:50PM / Billy Idol at 4:35PM / High On Fire at 5:30PM / Motorhead (Another DO NOT MISS event) at 6:35PM / Alice Cooper can’t miss The ‘Coop) at 8:45PM / Mastodon at 9:35PM and Judas Priest at 11:10PM! That’s a full day of rock! As you can see I will not be able to catch full sets of everyone, but I’m up for discovering a lot of new music.

Saturday June 20 runs like this: Giuda 11:05AM / Elder 11:40AM / Haken 11:40AM / Broken Teeth (I find it humourous that they have pictured a photo of Broken Teeth fronted by Jason McMaster of Dangerous Toys fame, a completely different band I believe….if it is McMaster I’m stoked!) 12:15PM / Butcher Babies 12:15PM / Monarch! 12:50PM / The Answer 1:35PM / The Wounded Kings 2:20PM / Ace Frehley (he has been great at the shows so far) 3:05PM / Onslaught 3:50PM  / Backayard Babies 4:00PM / Airbourne 4:45PM / L7 (today’s first absolutely DO NOT MISS set) 5:50PM / Slash 6:40PM / Body Count (Ice-T and all) 8:05PM / ZZ Top 8:40PM / Orange Goblin 9:10PM / Faith No More 9:45PM / Scorpions 11:25PM / Marilyn Manson 1:00AM.

and Sunday: Witchthroat Serpent 10:30AM / Hawk Eyes 11:05AM / Lost Society 11:40AM / Sofy Major 12:50PM / Red Fang 1:35PM / Exodus 3:50PM / Nuclear Assault 5:40PM / Alestorm 6:35PM / Life Of Agony 7:30PM / Epica 7:40PM / Limp Bizkit (well, this will be the only way I’d ever go to see them, so I might as well check them out for my “concert collection”) 8:45PM / Saint Vitus 9:35PM / Korn (see Limp Bizkit) 11:10PM and Nightwish at 12:30AM to wrap it all up…….Damn! That 5:45AM train to the airport Monday morning is gonna hurt!

Stay tuned here on Decibel Geek for reports of how each day went and individual concert reviews. See you in Hell!

PHOTO CREDIT: Hellfest Gates by Antonio Frustaci (borrowed from his Facebook post)

icon_001Cheers,

The Meister

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