Written by:	Baz Anderson, Marcel Hubregtse, Jeff
Published:	August 01, 2007
Event:	Hellfest Summer Open Air 2007 (Website)
Location:	Pays de la Loire, Clisson, France
Galleries:	Hellfest Summer Open Air 2007 by Darkside Momo (19) Hellfest Summer Open Air - Clisson, France, 22.06.2007 by Ivor (57) Hellfest Summer Open Air - Clisson, France, 22nd-24th June 2007 by Baz Anderson (71) Hellfest Summer Open Air - Clisson, France, 22nd-24th June 2007 by Deadsoulman (7) Hellfest Summer Open Air 2007 by Jeff (15) Hellfest Summer Open Air 2007 by Ivan (27)

Barry: Tents were found at a more "normal" time last night, albeit by another helpful phone call with Cyrille, and a reasonable nights sleep was had. We grouped in the morning after awaking to a rather warm and bright inside to a tent, and for the first time in the whole experience managed to find ourselves basking in some bright sun. The group split up, one side wandered into Clisson centre and the other walked straight to the festival site and waited to be allowed entrance. While waiting outside the festival ground the sun was begining to get a little too strong for my liking and actually could not believe myself wishing for maybe just a little drop of rain to help the stinging, sunburnt skin. The floor was much much more solid inside the festival ground, you no longer sank into the floor thanks to the aid of the warm, dry sun and also an abundance of hay that had been laid on top of the mud.

DM: Without doubt the biggest day of the fest! And the weather was good: sunny, with a little wind, just enough so you didn't felt your sunburns until it was too late. This idyllic situation disappeared at the end of the afternoon, giving place to a little rain, then a real downpour during Neurosis.





Sunday

Manigance

Barry: The first band to play on the final day of the festival was French power metal band Manigance. I didn't know this band before the festival but as soon as I entered the festival site like a moth to a light I was walking over there out of curiosity as I could hear some galloping power metal for a change after the doomy, dark and extreme bunch of bands the night before. Manigance sing in French and so addressed the audience in French which made me feel a little alienated, but still the music did the talking for me sounding very much like a cross between the styles of Edguy and Masterplan and left a good impression on me and have already looked into them after the festival now. A reasonably good power metal band live, much better then plenty of other bands at the festival.




Heavenly

Barry: Pretty much like Manigance, I didn't know Heavenly before the festival but I heard power metal coming from the main stage and so I was over there in a shot! Heavenly were a little different, more straight forward power metal, much more in the style of Helloween and typical power metal and still very enjoyable. Fast and heavy in parts and their singer Ben obviously knows his talents as a good singer and uses them well. Second band of the day and second French power metal band and another successful show. I thoroughly enjoyed Heavenly's set and they stayed in my mind as a band that I had to check out on my arrival back home, and have done so to much much pleasure since.




Ephel Duath

DM: They got a good sound, but the music was not as 'complete' as it is on the album. Of course, three musicians can record all the needed instruments in studio, but the live configuration was: one singer, one guitarist, one drummer. No bass, no. That didn't bother me so much, but it certainly made the music even more hermetic to newcomers.
Otherwise the show was good, and the front rows responded quite well. I also remember seeing an Italian flag; seems that the fans from home made the trip to support their buddies. And, when playing the last song, the singer jumped into the photographers' pit, climbed the security barriers and sang here, just in contact with the fans! A great moment!




Scarve

DM: To put it bluntly, Scarve had the worst sound I've heard on the Gibson Stage. It's really a shame, because one couldn't appreciate their technical masterpieces in these conditions. At least the band was energetic, but the tension of the recent problems was palpable.
I didn't attend all the set (yes, the sound), but I was happy that they played The Plundered, from their last album The Undercurrent.
I talked a bit with Patrick Martin (guitars, also one of the founders of the band) after the show, who was quite bored of always being asked about the recurrent line-up problems in his band. He told me that Scarve will endure as long as Sylvain and himself would continue to write new material and believe in their band (I nearly voiced a sight of relief at the time) - and they still do. Also, with Pierrick leaving the band, they weren't sure to be able to play at Hellfest a mere ten day before the event? But they recruited Watcha's singer, who will also play with a band for an as yet unknown amount of time. Yeah, I know, a nü metal vocalist in a technical death band? Well, he managed quite well to replace two singers at a time, and also seems to be a death metal fan.




Dark Tranquillity

Barry: I was still waiting around for bands that I really wanted to see, but I got bored and decided to stand up and go over and watch Dark Tranquillity's set to pass the time. I am not a big Gothenburg metal fan or whatever you would call these, so they really didn't do much for me at all - but the fans of the band really seemed to have a good time watching them and also the band themselves seemed to be enjoying it which is of course a good sign. The music was not really fast, not really aggressive, not really that melodic, it just wasn't my thing - but like I say, the fans of the band seemed to enjoy their set.

DM: This band is really killer live! They're happy on stage, and it really shows! Especially Mikael Stanne (vocals), who had a big smile on his face during all the set. All the others musicians were as precise as ever, the sound was good, the sun shining, and a large toy ball made an appearance during the set, going back and forth between the band and the fans.
I only have a little reproach, the setlist was maybe a little too focused on the last album (Fiction). Mark me, it's a great record, but Misery's Crown, while a good song, would have been better replaced by Inside The Particle Storm (from Fiction too) or by Therein (from Projector, for the clean vocals).
So, as always, a great show that ended with Mikael jumping in the photographers' pit to hold hands to all people of the front row. Thanks!




Aborted

Barry: The first band of the day that I was really looking forward to and it was obvious I was not the only one waiting for this band as well as there were a few people wandering around the festival grounds wearing white coats and bloody masks over their mouths in Aborted fashion. The band played a good set, brutal in places and pretty much all fast stuff. I was surprised however that they did not play a lot of material from the new album which was maybe slightly a little disappointing but the material they did play was still suitably death metal and enjoyable. There was something missing from this set that would have made it much more memorable but I don't know what. It was a good set overall but maybe I feel there could have been a bit more.




Atheist

Marcel: Together with Cynic Atheist were the band I was looking out for the most these three days. Apparently I wasn't the only one, since at the end of Dark tranquillity's set Mikael Stanne urged everyone in the crowd to stay there to witness Atheist live after them.
And did Atheist deliver thegoods? Hell they did, leaving everyone in the crowd behind stunned. This was their penultimate gig ever and after the final show in New York a live dvd will be released featuring footage from Hellfest as well.
A huge visual plus was the fact that Kelly Shaefer could fully focus on his vocals and stage presence due to the fact he doesn't play guitar live anymore because of his injury. Kelly fully enjoyed himself running around the entire stage and even disappearing into the crowd at one point. Kelly was supported to near perfection by the able rhythm section consisting of old hands Tony Choy on bass and Steve Flynn on drums and by the hired touring hands Sonny Carson and Chris Baker on guitar (both being bandmates of Steve Flynn in Gnostic)
Musically everything was to perfection playing a good cross section of their three classic albums. Personal favourites of mine were the renditions of On They Slay, Unholy War, and Mother Man. A brilliant show which lasted way too short. But Atheist was definitely the pick of all the bands present this weekend even surpassing Slayer, Cynic, Immortal, Enslaved, Neurosis, Megadeth, and Emperor. 5/5

DM: The legends are back, for the last show in Europe! Playing an energetic show that covered all their history (with a emphasis on Unquestionable Presence, of course), Atheist were really impressive, with all the technical masterpieces they wrote. The sound was excellent were I was (front rank), but I heard that it was not that good farther behind.
Kelly Shaefer, who didn't play guitar and only sang, was a really good frontman, urging the crowd to respond moving back and forth, crowd surfing one time, urging everyone to give a fuck to the police helicopter flying above? Tony Choy and the two guitarists were faultless, playing close to perfection!
I'm not totally sure of the setlist, but they played: On They Slay, Piece Of Time, Unholy War, Unquestionable Presence, An Incarnation's Dream, Mother Man, And The Psychic Saw, Retribution, Mineral.
Like with Cynic, we lived a unique, exceptional moment. Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity) knew it too, he who was in the pit, like all other fans. Well, I just have to wait now that their DVD is released, because the show was recorded.




Behemoth

Barry: The mighty Behemoth has really gained in popularity over the last few years since the "Demigod" album was released and this was clear by the amount of people gathering before they even started the set. The band emerged and played their set and played it just how everything is on the CD. Nergal told us that he had woken up with no voice but he wanted to play the show anyway - we could already tell he had lost his voice before he said that, but I am glad they did decide to carry on and play for us because it was an experience to hear some drums played that fast! Inferno is a monster behind the drum kit and the whole band played really well actually. The set included quite a few of the not as recent songs, "Christians To The Lions" was a nice surprise but of course we also had "Conquer All" and a couple from the new album as well, "Prometherion" and "Christgrinding Avenue" which is apparently a song about Nergal's visit to where Jesus was crucified. There were a few songs old and new that I would have liked them to have played but with so many good songs in their back catalogue I guess you can never really be certain to get the tracks you want. The whole experience of Behemoth live, although good, I feel lacked a bit of brutal power - Inferno is so fast live that the band really lacks some good stomping, thick, brutal songs that you can really get your head behind because although the Behemoth show live is technical and hard to perform so fast - maybe it is not as suited to the live environment as some other bands. Still, overall a very impressive show.




Kreator

Barry: Like Amon Amarth, I had seen Kreator a few months ago but inside, so it was interesting to see how Kreator used their extra space. The set opened with four cans of green and red smoke that blew everywhere and stopped us from seeing the band at all for about a minute, but once the shroud had dispersed we could finally see the band. They played more or less a very similar setlist to the one earlier in the year that combined both new and old songs. "Enemy Of God" along with songs like the ultimately catchy "Tormentor" and "Flag Of Hate" that is introduced by a very drawn out introduction getting the audience to scream "hate!" as loud as they can as mere humans. Kreator's drums seemed to be the only drums on the main stage that didn't have really clearly audible bass drums that shook the floor you was standing on which was a little deflating, but they still did put on a good show. They definitely weren't the best band that played at the festival but the few days straight after I have had nothing but Kreator in my head, so they must have done something right.

DM: A really classical setlist for a band that is, as always, extremely powerful and impressive in a live situation. No surprises here, just pure German thrash. A funny note to add: when introducing Flag of Hate, Mille Petrozza made the crowd yell (as always). The crowd's response was quite ineffective at the first time, so Mille said teasingly that "it's not Hellfest, it's Pussyfest!"




Within Temptation

Cyrille: Finally! Thanks to their new album, Within Temptation have updated their setlist. And of course, that also means a new stage set though it doesn't change that much, apart from the fact they now have 3 ramps on stage. Unfortunately, Sharon was ill and even though she managed to sing every song and reach every note, you could still hear it wasn't perfect but it was rarely annoying... although most songs were annoying to me. Especially the new ones - I still haven't heard the new album apart from the single which I don't like that much. Hopefully the band didn't forget to play some of their "old" hit songs, I mean, Ice Queen and the likes. Not memorable but still enjoyable. At least to me.

DM: Within Temptation delivered a not-so-great show, but that's maybe because Sharon was ill.




1349

Barry: The first and only time I was to venture into the tent with the Discover stage in it the whole duration of the festival was to see these saviours of true Norwegian black metal, 1349. The tent was not that big, for it had just been used to house a stage for relatively unknown bands - but 1349 were originally set to play on the main stage in the afternoon, but refused to play during the day and so was put headlining the Discover stage on the last day. So many people were in the tent, a few minutes before they started it was impossible for people to get in or out so I made sure I got in there early, and 1349 being one of the bands I have wanted to see so much for such a long time I am happy I did get there early. They played a set of about forty minutes unrelenting, brutal black metal. Frost constantly bashing his drum kit, blastbeats could apparently be heard from the other side of the festival ground. Every part of the band was as black metal as could be, faces clad in corpsepaint, wrists covered in spikes, they certainly looked the part and they far surpassed sounding the part. "Manifest" "Riders Of The Apocalypse" "Legion" "Chasing Dragons" "Sculptor Of Flesh", the list goes on - everything they did sounded perfect to me. I have never banged my head as much to one band as I did here, after three days of festival I had hardly eaten anything but 1349 got so much adrenaline going I felt I had so much energy I could keep doing that for hours. Quite simply one of the best band I have ever seen live in my life.




Edguy

Barry: Edguy took to the Gibson stage while 1349 were playing, but I made it over to see them as soon as I could but unfortunately thanks to the organisers of the festival Edguy were kicked off the stage before they had finished their set and so I only got to see them perform "Babylon" and "Vain Glory Opera", but they were already going down well and putting on a good show when I got there. During "Babylon" there was a long conga line running through the audience and band as well as audience seemed to be enjoying themselves. When they were kicked off Tobi made sure we knew what he thought of the organisers of the festival and you can't really blame him. Edguy were very popular and were putting on a great set, it just would have been good to see more.




Megadeth

Barry: I was personally not a huge Megadeth fan before seeing them live but there was still no doubt in my mind that I would go and see them out of curiosity and I was actually rather impressed. A huge crowd had gathered to watch Megadeth and I can understand why. They put on an entertaining set full of classics as well as a couple of new ones "Washington Is Next!" followed by the fantastic "Hangar 18" and then closing with "Symphony Of Destruction" and "Peace Sells" - all with a smile on Dave's face as well which is always a good sign that he is enjoying himself. The new album and the good reception from the audience must be leaving Dave very happy indeed. To be honest, the three bands left to come were more on my mind though.

DM: A good show, starting with Sleepwalker (the opening track of United Abominations), Megadeth played songs from most of their albums, taking no prisoners with such classics as Wake Up Dead, Peace Sells, Hangar 18, Holy Wars (as the encore), and so forth. The new album was represented by Sleepwalker, Washington Is Next, Gears Of War. They played A Tout Le Monde, but it's logical, Hellfest is in France! It's noteworthy to add that this Megadeth is good and lives up to the expectations; even if Marty Friedman is difficult to replace, Gleen Drover quite lives up with it.




Blind Guardian

Barry: The first power metal band I got into, so I have a lot to thank these guys for and eventually I have now seen them perform just in front of me. They only performed songs from "Imaginations From The Other Side" "Nightfall In Middle-Earth" and "A Twist In The Myth" but not that I am complaining at all. After performing "Born In A Mourning Hall" - which was all the more special for me as it was the very first Blind Guardian song I heard - Hansi jokingly told us that the setlist he had written was a disaster as there was too much from the "Imaginations..." album. "The Script For My Requiem" as well as "Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill)" and "Mirror Mirror" sounded really fantastic and it was such a pleasure to be able to sing along with Hansi in the live festival environment. Unfortunately the set was not long, but that was due to the setup of the Hellfest and not the band, but still I can tick the Blind Guardian box - I have done what every power metaller should do at least once in their lives and see the mighty Blind Guardian and join in the what seems to be universal sing along.

DM: A pure power metal blast!!! While I was a little afraid at first, because their DVD left me a bad impression, this fear lifted really quickly! As Wrathchild says "it's the audience that really makes a BG show", and I quite agree with him, because everyone sang as much as possible on the numerous classics of the set. I said 'quite', because I think that if Hansi and the band didn't conveyed any energy to the fans, nothing would happen. The setlist focused only on Imaginations, Nightfall and the last album. Hansi even joked before playing Mordred's Song (a real good surprise for me), saying that "This setlist is terrible: there are only songs from Imaginations!" And the final, with Times Stand Still and Mirror Mirror was just awesome, the crowd singing even louder than before.




Dream Theater

Barry: I have been a Dream Theater fan for quite a while now, but upon listening to their new album I really did not enjoy it and was dreading a set full of new songs that would bore only me and seemingly entertain everyone else and feel very left out. Fortunately this did not happen, far from it, in fact more the opposite. They kicked off the set with "As I Am" and did play quite a bit of new stuff but it was actually quite mesmerising. The set was very heavy, there was lots of double bass and start, progressive drumming and quite technical as well - the band would be playing solos for what would seem like minute after minute after minute of constant solos and it would just go on and on. I realise this isn't some peoples taste but I actually really enjoyed it. At points it seemed like some sort of jamming session, but all comfortablely controlled as well, as the title of the album goes it sounded like systematic chaos and it was great. We only had two real classics - "Pull Me Under", and "Home" from the "Scenes From A Memory" album that were of course a pleasure to behold after only hearing them on CD so many times. I was pleasantly surprised by Dream Theater's set, I found it thoroughly enjoyable and shouldn't have doubted their ability to put on an enthralling show.

DM: I've seen only the first three songs (As I Am, Panic Attack, Constant Motion). The sound was good, the setlist focused on heavy songs? but not their best ones, until the end with Home and Pull Me Under (I missed both to wait for Neurosis).




Neurosis

DM: It's said that a Neurosis set is something nearly mystical. Well, it proved true.
The hypnotic quality of Neurosis' music is really obvious in a live situation. Add to this that there were really few lights, most of the illumination provided by the videos, and that the band didn't spoke a word, and you have a 'take it or leave it' experience. The sound was awesome, and also very loud.
The only problem during this show was the rain, because it turned into quite a downpour at times! Well, only 3 persons left the front ranks, and everyone else continued to headband slowly in rhythm.
The setlist was mostly of songs from Given To The Rising, their last album. The show started with the eponym track, and they also played (I don't remember the order) To The Wind, At The End Of The Road, Distill, a song from The Eye Of Every Storm (don't remember which one) and they finished with Water Is Not Enough and The Doorway.
So, for those who 'got in', this was a wondrous, impressive, and mystical show. One not to be missed, given the rarity of their live appearances now.

Emperor

Barry: After two days of dry, it was the hour before Emperor took to the stage that the heavens opened and it rained harder then any time the festival had been there. The stage was soaked, the speakers, the fireworks, the microphones and myself were all drenched and I was feeling pretty miserable at the thought of a cold, wet and muddy night. A blast of fire introduced us to Emperor and "Into The Infinity Of Thoughts" and the bands hour long set that included songs from each of the bands four glorious studio albums. The set was pretty much the same they have been doing all of this reunion so there were no surprises, especially since this was a shorter to set to probably everywhere else they have played on this reunion tour. I have been a massive Emperor fan for a long time and even if I did see them last year in London as well, the feeling of seeing Emperor in front me is still one that is totally numbing out of sheer excitement, awe and amazement - and after three epic days of metal this was the festival's mindblowing crescendo. I was wet through from the rain but the second Emperor hit the first note I could not feel it at all. "I Am The Black Wizards", the band's self appointed anthem "Inno A Satana" "Thus Spake The Nightspirit" "With Strength I Burn" "Curse You All Men!" "In The Wordless Chamber" all these songs and especially my personal favourites "The Loss And Curse Of Reverence" and the song they closed with "Ye Entrancemperium" - all these songs and the band in general will become immortal in black metal if they are not already. Emperor are not particularly a symphonic black metal band but they are very different from any other black metal band still, it's like you can even sing along to parts of Emperor songs and of course I was bellowing out the lyrics right back at Ihsahn as loud as I could. Ihsahn has one of the main qualities a frontman should have in abundance - for some reason once you have your eyes on him, you can't take them off him. He attracts all of your attention by his performance whether it be watching so you can sing along with him, or watching his brilliant guitar playing, producing those magical, catchy guitar sounds Emperor has. He seemed somewhat calmer and more sombre then his appearance with Emperor in London and we didn't get the metal shoulder plates with an encore either - but again, this will be down to the time restrictions enforced by the festival. There is not a whole lot I can say to give you an idea what it is like seeing Emperor apart from it is an experience you will not forget, even if you do not appreciate black metal you can find a way of appreciating Emperor. The band is one of the greatest of all time, there is no doubt about that. Long live the Emperor!

DM: If the choices of some of Hellfest's headliners might be controversial (Korn instead of Slayer for example), Emperor really deserve this honour. I didn't expected that much, because I'm clearly not a black metal fan, and Immortal's show did not really convince me. But with Emperor, I was in for a really good surprise, and the last great show of the fest. Awesome, in fact, is more accurate. They had the best lights, along with Therion, a really great sound, everything (even the rain). "I know you're cold, you're wet, you're tired" said Ihsahn to a grateful audience. So much for the myth of the tr00, evil, uncaring satanic black metaller! I also can't stress enough that this guy as a really imposing presence on stage. A wonderful grand conclusion for three days of great shows.




Barry: So after these few days and the gathering of metalheads from all over France and the world finally dispersed and left behind a muddy hell after what has been one of the most amazing experiences in my life so far if not the very best. The alternating stages worked very well, apart from just a few slip-ups, enabling us to see all the bands if we wished, and the only thing I have left to question is the amount of time each band, especially the headliners, got to play. But nonetheless, I watched over thirty top quality bands and three days of complete metal as well as some top quality people. I would like to thank the people who ran the Hellfest for such an amazing time, as well as all the bands that played, even after the problems the festival will still be something I will never forget. The rain really did put a dampener on things at times but that can be overlooked and looked back on as a strangely fond memory. Of course past the music I would also like to say it was an immense pleasure of mine to meet my colleagues in metal from this glorious website. Thank you!

DM: What could have turned into a total fiasco because of weather and bad organisation was a great moment. The sheer number of great bands made one easily forget about all the shit around.
I also think that the audience, seeing what they endured, were even more crazy and ready to participate to the shows, just to have not suffered everything for nothing. And the bands seemed quite pleased with the crowd's response, as it showed during all three days.
But, if Hellfest wants to continue, the organisations will have to learn from their errors and correct them for next year, or the Hellfest will end.
And thanks (in no order) to: Patrick Martin, Hal Sinden, Dylath-Leen, Tony Choy, Kelly Shaefer & Atheist.



Written by Barry, with additional writing by Darkside Momo, Jeff, Cyrille, Marcel, and Amine
Photos by Barry, Ivor, Jeff, Darkside Momo, Nikita, Ivan and Cyrille