The Moshville Times - Festival Review: Hellfest 2024

We always thought that three of Hellfest was going to be a busy one and that certainly proved the case, for us, starting with Canada’s finest, Anvil.

Now in their fifth decade, they’re finally getting the recognition they deserve, vocalist/guitarist Lips’ guitar solo, complete with his famous dildo, is a sight to behold! Their set comes to a climax with their signature tune “Metal on Metal” delighting the crowd.

Italian symphonic metallers Rhapsody of Fire come and go in impressive style before good ‘ol Kentucky boys Black Stone Cherry shuffle onto the stage in a very unassuming manner. This is in complete contrast to the next 45 minutes in which they deliver a blistering set to delight the crowd. Livewire lead guitar player Ben Wells makes full use of the extended stage encasing Metallica’s Snake Pit by moving round like a Duracell bunny on speed.

The great mystery to me is that why don’t the band have the same following in their home country as they do in Europe and specifically the UK? On this performance the mystery is even greater, we are delivered 9 songs of in your face rock and roll that captivates the crowd and puts smiles on faces. Time to call Miss Marple, I think.

Stepping from the shadow of a famous parent is very difficult and if you’re a musician even more so, but standing well alone in the sun for all to see is Wolfgang Van Halen with his band Mammoth WVH. Being two albums into his solo career gives him more material to play with and the live performance certainly stacks up against the very favourable album reviews that he has received.

Next up was someone I had been waiting to see for a very long time, Yngwie Malmsteen. The Swedish guitar virtuoso opened up with “Rising Force” and took the crowd on a stroll through his back catalogue that certainly made me perk up and enjoy the show. With Marshalls aplenty it was a great show, even Yngwie’s lamb chop side burns had been dyed to within an inch of their life, leaving him looking like Gowron from Star Trek.

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The guitar virtuoso vibe continues as Extreme follow, complete with axeman Nuno Bettencourt on top form. Although vocalist Gary Cherone lets himself down a bit by looking like Derek Zoolander, he more than makes up for it by being note perfect as the band throw in classics like “Decadence Dance” and “More Than Words” with new album ditties like “#Rebel” and “RISE” to give the audience one hell of a show.

Accept perform well, as normal, but the crowd seems to be packing in keeping their powder dry for French titans Mass Hysteria to deliver a stunning performance. It seemed like everyone in the crowd wanted to see them and they didn’t disappoint.

Pulling heavily on their Maniac album, they really deliver, and as a personal favourite of ours, it would be great to actually see them in the UK at some point in the future to their new album Tenace Pt 2. There was a bit of an “after the lord mayor’s show” during Bruce Dickinson’s set but the crowd soon regained their mojo as he reminded us all that he should give up his day job with Iron Maiden and concentrate on his solo material that has more depth and variety than the standard plod, plod, plod Maiden offerings.

This evening’s headliners Metallica have an elongated build up before we get the standard “Ecstasy of Gold” intro and a jump into “Creeping Death”.

The band are currently in the middle of a European stadium tour and are really mixing their set list up but one constant is the loading of the set with tracks from their latest album, 72 Seasons. The critical reviews of this album weren’t as great previous ones so the diehards, like myself, who weren’t that impressed with the album looked a bit bored as they lumbered through “72 Seasons”, “Lux Æterna”, “Shadows Follow” and “Too Far Gone?” but the younger, newer fans were in their element.

The Metallica machine is a well oiled one and we get a diverse tracklist, albeit nothing from St Anger, Load/ReLoad and the criminally under rated Death Magnetic. There was an element of going through the motions but the as stated previously, the newer fans will have been happy.

The performances of the day however are reserved for slightly later as we are dropped into the madcap mind of Mike Patton in The Valley for Mr Bungle. Original songs and madcap covers of 10cc, Slayer, and Eric Carmen are the order of the day, and to top things off we get a cover of Van Halen’s “Loss of Control”, led by Wolfgang Van Halen and to top the set off, there’s a rendition of Sepultura’s “Territory” with Andreas Kisser introduced to the crowd. It is absolutely throwing it down during their set and due to the level of performance, no one actually cared.

There’s more mayhem in the Warzone as regulars Suicidal Tendencies close the day & as a result, have never felt so amped up at 2am, so it was a lively trip back to our accommodation before we closed the day with a few JD and Cokes, what a day!