The excitement had been building for weeks as our first music festival on foreign soil approached, flights, accommodation and train tickets had been booked weeks before and there was even time to spend a couple of days in Nantes pre-festival moving around the tourist attractions with our Passe de Nantes. By Wednesday the city got much busier with metalheads arriving by all modes of transport turning the city into an exciting place to be.
The first thing we noticed about Hellfest was the scale of the place adding to this was the standout feature that sets it apart from any of the UK festivals: the two main stages were side by side making it so easy for the fans to move between the stages and even better was the fact that only five minutes passed between bands appearing and most importantly this meant there would never be any clashes on these stages, for us this makes it the best festival yet.
Skindred opened the main stage at 4.30pm on Thursday afternoon in the searing heat, that was soon forgotten about though as frontman Benji Webb got the crowd onside straight away with tracks Set Fazers and Rat Race, the pits were open for the weekend! “Pasquale, tu es un Sauveur” was a constant chant throughout the weekend meaning “Pasquale, you’re a life saver” with his continuous use of the water hose on the crowd every fifteen minutes or so cooling us down and reenergising everyone to go again. Skindred played a decent forty-minute set with some interactive crowd moment .. alongside at least three outfit changes from Benji. 8/10
A quick dash over to the Warzone stage to catch Washington D.C. band Teen Mortgage was well worth is as James Guile (vocals & guitar) and Edward Barakauskas (drums) brought some great energy out in the crowd, these guys make one hell of a noise for a two-piece setup. They showcased a few tracks from their April debut album Devil Ultrasonic Dream while working through an impressive thirteen songs Tuning In with S.W.A.S. and Tuning In being the standouts, we will be watching out for this duo touring the UK at some point. 9/10
Arriving back at Main Stage 01 we were just in time to see Apocalyptica play a set made up of Metallica songs with a twist … they were all played classically! The crowd singalong during Enter Sandman was memorable, the cello mixes well with the thundering drum techniques shown by Mikko Kaakkuriniemi keeping things moving along nicely. Master Of Puppets and Seek And Destroy were also tracks that the crowd got right behind. The Finnish band were formed way back in 1993 and are all classically trained and led by Eicca Toppinen, this was definitely different and a success with the knowledgeable crowd. 8/10
We had been looking forward to the next act up on Main Stage 02 and they didn’t let us down. Did you hear that Dracula were making their debut at Hellfest 2025? No not the Romanian Countess Dracula but the Tasmanian devil himself Kim Dracula also known as the charismatic figure of Samuel Wellings, how a thrash metal band can pull off having a saxophonist and electronica music and other music influences played so well together is a mystery … but it works. The crowd are letting go big time for this set, the constant stream of crowd surfers and circle pits is incredible to watch playing out and the cover of Lady Gaga track Paparazzi is just the perfect way for the crowd to join in a singalong, this is the song that brough Kim Dracula the first recognition and is now touching one hundred and sixty million streams, we also enjoyed Make Me Famous and the last song Killdozer that drives the crowd wild with delight as Samuel Wellings tell us, “Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t drive a car/I drive a mother fuckin’ army tank”. These guys will be headlining Hellfest one day, just watch them grow. 10/10
As we all shuffled over the short distance to Main Stage 01 once again could Aussies Airbourne follow on from what we just witnessed on the other stage? Too right they did! All the comparisons to fellow Australian band AC/DC can be taken on board, some even say that Airbourne are AC/DC on amphetamines but what AC/DC lack in energy in their later years Airbourne sure make up for that as vocalist & guitarist Joel O’Keeffe with his ripped jeans struts around the stage in the thirty-five degrees temperatures wowing the crowd as they create a seemingly endless stream of crowd surfers excited to get up close to their hero. Before new song Gutsy was played O’Keeffe dedicated it to the fans that have stuck it out in the extreme weather “this one is for you guys, you’re so gutsy”. His younger brother Ryan O’Keeffe on the drums also puts in a top-drawer performance but it’s left to Joel to invite a roadie on to the stage to help him throw quarter full pints of lager into the crowd, each time he gets a massive cheer when doing so … Pasquale is never far away either with the all-important water hose that quickly reinvigorates everyone. One of the best performances of the weekend here. 10/10
Back down at the Warzone Kent punks SOFT PLAY played a full on hour long set with the usual humour and stage antics, Isaac Holman batters away at those drums with passion and aggression while Laurie Vincent does much the same on the guitar and bass, for two people they make one hell of a noise. It’s not long until Holman is in among the crowd creating mayhem as if they needed any encouragement. Every act that we saw on the Warzone stage had the crowd right behind them making it a spectacle, the thirteen tracks that SOFT PLAY performed were excellent but if we had to pick a couple of standouts it would be Punk’s Dead and Girl Fight. 10/10
An attempt to see Ukraine band Jinjer play the Altar stage didn’t really work out as it was packed out, maybe next time they will be given a chance to play one of the main stages. Last year’s support slot for Sepultura has pushed the band into prominence and gained them lots of new fans. Swedish garage punk outfit The Hellacopters drew a decent crowd to the Warzone stage as they worked through tracks from January album release Overdriver, the four-piece were captivating to watch as they played a mixture of traditional metal and rock numbers including their biggest releases to date By The Grace Of God and I’m In The Band, so we’re glad we went down to see them. The flames are now lit at Hellfest as darkness falls making it look more like an amphitheatre, the atmosphere is now amazing as the flames shoot up to the sky every few seconds. 9/10
As we near midnight we still have two bands left to see tonight, KORN and Electric Callboy with Californians KORN already on Main Stage 01 when we arrive, the stage setup is jaw-dropping with big props and excellent artwork on the screens but the performance lacks something crucial … energy! The crowd are mostly standing still perhaps a reflection of the few hours in the baking temperatures already, they played eighteen tracks in total with the end of the set being a bit more lively during Falling Away From Me, Divine and Freak On A Leash. Personally we’re not a big fan of KORN although it is good to see them finally get a chance to headline a few festivals such as Download the previous weekend. 7/10
It was now down to German electronicore masters Electric Callboy to end the first day of Hellfest with a bang, and did they? Oh yeah big time! From the first minute they took to the stage the crowd are going wild, somehow finding the energy that was lacking during KORN, mosh pits and crowd surfing were the order of the night as everyone joined in as much as possible making it the most passionate performance of day one. They managed to cram in fourteen songs during the hour on stage including all the big hitters such as Hypa Hypa, Pump It and Tekkno Train. There was even time for a couple of covers of Sum 41 track Still Waiting and club classic Everytime We Touch by Cascada that took the energy to another level. Everyone left with big smiles on their faces knowing that day one had ended on a massive high. We didn’t get back to the accommodation in Nantes until 4am so any plans for an early start on day two were put to bed!
Written by: Alan Brown
