Here we go, it’s that time of the year where all Metal enthusiasts from France and all over the world gathers in the beautiful Clisson, to visit their own version of Disney Land for a full weekend, HELLFEST.

The special bonus this year was a fourth day, the weekend kicked of on Thursday this year with Knotfest embracing the French meal world.

I personally stopped talking about how big Hellfest is each year, Ben and his team got enough creativity to surprise us each year.

Come Hellfest 2020, I can only guarantee you, it’ll be your best Metal experience.

The lineup this year was massive, maybe too massive.

This edition of Hellfest was probably the 1969 Woodstock of our time.

It had everything, legends bidding farewell to their fans, old school rock stars, new emerging bands, Tool after 13 years away from their fans.

So many highlights that would go down in the history,

Only this year there were stories to tell, on a positive notes and a negative one.

The opening day of Hellfest was busy, really busy, Hellfest dedicated a main stage just for French bands which was really awesome.

Imagine, in one day, you have the chance to see, Gojira, King Diamond, Mass Hysteria, Dagoba, SUM41, Godsmack, Demons & Wizards, and Dream Theater… etc.

And finally, to close out the day, the almighty Manowar was set to headline.

Remember our story from last year? Where after the last band on the third day, Hellfest came up with a huge surprise, Lights were out for few minutes, then Joey from MANOWAR was live on stage to announce the return of MANOWAR to Hellfest after 10 years, their last performance was back in 2009. I was there.

People were looking forward to this, but don’t get too attached, this story does not have a happy ending.

In the afternoon of Friday, around 80,000 people were notified that MANOWAR wouldn’t be playing tonight anymore, no further explanations.

Few hours later, the story started to go out, MANOWAR were on site the night before, as per Hellfest, they just decided to leave the site and not to play the show.

Then an official statement from MANOWAR blaming Hellfest for this cancelation, I mean it’s MANOWAR, of course they’re gonna blame Hellfest.

The fans were really disappointed and furious, a band like MANOWAR should care and respect their fans.

No matter the reason that led to an argument between the band and the organizer, your MANOWAR, you were on site and ready to play, you deliver to your fans, the show must go on, you perform, then you go to solve your issues with the promoter.

Let’s not give MANOWAR too much attention here, they let down their fans, Hellfest were proactive and on the spot, replaced them by Sabaton.

Long story short, it was a dramatic day, but nobody cared, Hellfest ruled and people had a blast.

Day tow was no less, it was the day where you go on a trip back in time, the real legends of rock and metal ruled, not MANOWAR!

The biggest act that everyone was waiting for was KISS, another legends bidding farewell to the world.

We also had, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, ZZ Top, Within Temptation and many others.

But for me, the highlight of this year was without a doubt KISS.

These guys, after all this years, they put on a show that bands in there twenties wouldn’t have the stamina to do.

They gave it all, a rock show on the highest level, they had raisers on the stage for each musician, at some point, Paul surfed over the crowd with a zip-line and plaid two songs in the middle of the ground, not to mention the flames, the smoke, the explosions and finally the fireworks.

KISS presents the real meaning of the term ROCK STARS.

Days three is usually sad, because you come to realize that it is almost the end for this year, but was way more emotional as SLAYER were also bidding farewell to the world, Tom said few touching words at the end and had tears in his eyes.

On the bill were also, Lamb Of God, Slash, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Anthrax, Trivium, Testament, Death Angel and Philip Anselmo who plaid so many Pantera hits and many other bands.

I will leave with our photo gallery so you can live or re-live some of the best moments of Hellfest 14

Keep an eye on our page and also Hellfest pages, as tickets will go out on sale very soon.

Next year Hellfest celebrates 15 years of greatness, be ready to get blasted as I guess something really extraordinary is in the works…

Until then… Stay Metal \m/