After the very late night on Thursday any plans to get down to Main Stage 02 for 10.30am to see SUN and Charlotte Wessels were scrapped and it was Los Angeles Nu metal singer Amira Elfeky who kicked off our Friday on Main Stage 02. With the stage dedicated to either all female bands or at least with a female vocalist, we have never came across this at a festival before and thought it was a great idea, the energy on Main Stage 02 was the best today even though it was baking hot once again.
Amira Elfeky is an artist we had been listening to a lot before Hellfest, her music is sometimes dark and almost goth-like with some very punchy guitar working well alongside the fantastic vocals. We can definitely see bigger things on the horizon for the young American and the upcoming support slot with Bring Me The Horizon should bring that. There was not a bad song on the set with our personal highlights being Everything I Do Is For You, Will You Love Me When I’m Dead and her most streamed track to date Tonight. They were also playing a headline show in Paris a couple of days before Hellfest, take the chance to see Amira Elfeky if you get a chance. 10/10
The quick shuffle to Main Stage 01 saw French band Last Train play an explosive set, a walkway had been installed overnight and this was made full use of by vocalist Jean-Noel Scherrer. Hailing from Alsace they released album number three appropriately titled III in January, even though they sing in French the music is very easy to connect to, very rock-based at times they had more than a few followers around the walkway adding some extra energy early in the day especially after ‘Pasquale the water man’ made an early appearance! We would love to see these guys play a headline set. 10/10
We said this already but the two stages being so close together is an absolute blessing for the fans at Hellfest, one of our personal favourites German nu-metal/hardcore trio Future Palace were next on Main Stage 02, attracting a massive crowd they are gaining a good reputation on the live circuit especially after the release of album number three Distortion last year. Vocalist Maria Lessing gets the crowd moshing and crowd surfing immediately with her highly-charged energetic performance during opener Malphas … we see the sight of the day as a naked guy (well his front part was covered) crowd surfs proving anything goes at Hellfest, in fact the following day there is even someone in a wheelchair passed over the crowd! The wall of death that Maria demanded was very impressive as they run through six tracks from the Distortion album, Dreamstate and Decarabia were the best for us while Defeating Gravity and closing track Paradise took things to another level. The UK festivals should be watching Future Palace with interest, they would be a good fit for Download 2026. 10/10
Next up were Monterrey’s finest music export The Warning as the three Mexican Villareal Velez sisters Daniela (vocals & guitar), Alejandra (bass) and Paulina (drums & backing vocals) played a blinding forty-minute set with tracks taken mainly from last year’s album Keep Me Fed. We have yet to come across a drummer that puts more into a drumming performance than Paulina Villareal Velez, it’s no wonder she is considered one of the best out there. Opener S!CK immediately pulls the crowd apart and it basically stays that way for the full set while Daniela asks the crowd if they want a Spanish song, the response is Oui as they kick into Que Mas Quieres. For us the highlights of the set had to be Hell You Call A Dream and last track Automatic Sun with the extended outro. These sisters rock! 10/10
The short walk back to ‘the woman’s stage’ had Ontario, Canada all-female metal band Kittie perform a rousing set, this was our first time seeing them play live and we were very impressed with the explosion of energy coming from the stage as vocalist and guitarist Morgan Lander and sister Mercedes Lander unleash mayhem within the massive crowd while working through well-known songs such as Spit and Mouthful Of Poison. There have been a few line-up changes over the years as well as the death of bass player Trish Doan in 2017 and record label issues but Kittie are back with a bang! 9/10
Courtney LaPlante brought the energy to Main Stage 02 sporting a baseball cap as most sensible fans were also, the sweltering heat was definitely having an impact on us now but decided to plod on for a few hours yet. Their second album Tsunami Sea was released in March 2025 to great reviews and half the set was from that very album with a few from debut record Eternal Blue. Opener Fata Morgana was first class with Courtney showing off her full vocal range abilities while her husband Mike Stringer on guitar is cool as can be strutting around the stage. During Circle With Me the fans did exactly that somehow finding the energy to keep the party going. The full set was impressive to be honest and we are expecting big things from the Canadian band. Spiritbox have been touring with Linkin Park recently and supported them during a sold out Wembley Stadium show on June 28th. We reckon an arena tour is on the horizon… 10/10
The Cult need little introduction to people of our generation but the twenty and thirty somethings in the crowd were maybe lacking enthusiasm for a band who had their biggest hits way back in the 1980s. By the time Ian Astbury sang She Sells Sanctuary towards the end of the set a lot of people were sitting down trying to get some respite from the sun. 6/10
It turns out that Epica would be the last band we would see today due to sickness but we are glad to have stuck around for their performance on Main Stage 02. The Dutch symphonic metal band are led by Simone Simons on vocals and Mark Jansen on guitar, the hour was very entertaining with opener Cross The Divide and biggest song to date Cry For The Moon being the standout songs for us. 9/10
The eight bands we saw today were all powerful in their own ways and the hope was to get some rest and be ready for another big day on Saturday.
Check out our review of day one of Hellfest here!
Written by: Alan Brown
