Hellfest is more than a festival, it’s a family reunion for metal lovers. With friends or solo, we share music, beers and unforgettable moments. On the road to adventure with Charline, Nico, Yoann and Amandine, four solitary festival-goers, united by their common passion.
Hellfest is a gathering. We go there with friends, family or with our partner, two, three or twelve. We share music, beers, grass and sometimes the shade of the trees.
And then there are the others, alone, with headphones on, AC/DC, Rammstein or Sum41 at full volume. And a dream in my head, that of reaching this black paradise. Crossing that door of the cathedral with the horde of screaming metalheads… Joy. Then smell the still fresh grass from the ground. Feel the breath of the flames at nightfall. Raise your hands to the sky in unison, forming the horns of the devil. Remain prostrate in front of one of the stages where music comes out so powerful that it makes the ground and your whole body vibrate.
Charline, Nico, Yoann and Amandine are between 30 and 43 years old. They come from Cholet, Montpellier, Tours or Toulouse. They have nothing in common, apart from loving not Vianney, but rock and metal, a boiling pot into which they all fell very young, and crossing the mirror which will take them from dream to reality for the first time, for 4 days, alone.
Amandine, Nicolas, Charline and Yoann the 4 fantastic united loners who will meet at Hellfest for the first time
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© France 3 Pays de la Loire
For Amandine, the native of the pink city. Music and metal in particular is his best antidepressant, it accompanies his days, his moods, both difficult and joyful moments. Since she was very young, music has been an important pillar of her life.
It’s actually been 10 years that I’ve been trying every year to get a pass in vain! This year, it’s the realization, it’s one of the things I wanted to do by the time I’m 30.
But to come, you had to obtain the precious sesame, and there, everyone has their own method. Between selling your soul to the big horned man, slaughtering a chicken to give it as an offering, drinking the blood of a virgin, putting holy water on your internet connection… Or like Charline, finding a kind donor who would resell his place . Which is much simpler, without having to try the rest, which does not work at all and which is not recommended, I remind you.
Once they had their golden ticket, they all typed into a search engine “Go alone to the Hellfest festival”, or another similar search.
And the god of the internet, the one we call algorithm, immediately suggested that they join the solitary festival group on the official Hellfest forum.
More framed, moderate and reassuring, there is nothing. At the head of this group, Iko, volunteer moderator, who kindly welcomes those who arrive. Because casually, it’s a real challenge to come alone, a step that you have to dare to take.
When I started to register on the forum, I discovered that a WhatsApp group was going to be created. I really found it great to be able to meet up to create links and knowledge thanks to the metal that brings us together
Charline and Amandine come to the Hellfest festival for the first time
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© France 3 Pays de la Loire
They have never met before, and yet they already know each other. Thanks to the WhatsApp group, the connection will be very fast. Normal, everyone shares the same passion, which facilitates contacts, delusions and cohesion.
I really didn’t expect to have such easy contact with people I don’t know. I’m more than looking forward to living the experience live.
Basically, Yoann, in a civil partnership and father of a dog and a cat, and the only metal lover in his entourage since he was 12, had chosen to rent.
“Solitary by nature, I was not looking for company on site, and I wanted to fully enjoy the music.”
And he quickly became fond of the friends in the group, with whom he quickly formed bonds. To the point of finding himself in a nice trap… Living the camping adventure in solidarity mode.
He decides to let go of the cozy cocoon he had planned to go and join “the furious”. Participate in the common delirium and the great adventure worthy of a Koh-Lanta, but without a desert island and with the only challenges of enduring the ambient snoring, and the souls lost in the starry night.
They will create a real little Gallic village of around thirty tents. And like Yoann, Charline, the local of the stage, had planned to return home every evening: “But given the atmosphere of WhatsApp, I told myself that it would be too bad to miss out on this experience. This is why I changed my mind -
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