- Hellfest is obviously a metal music festival, but it is also a huge site where you can walk all year round.
- On site, structures, mostly rusty, are visible, including the statue of Lemmy Kilmister, former guitarist of Motörhead.
In Clisson, there is no shortage of places to stroll between, the streets around the castle, the Garenne Lemot estate or even the Henri IV park. A stroll is nevertheless a little less known in the city of Loire-Atlantique: that on the site of Hellfest, the famous music festival. The place is open all year round, except during the duration of the great metal mass and the weeks preceding and following the event (closed to the public for assembly and disassembly). The site, free and open, does not lack space since it covers 14 ha.
While 50,000 to 60,000 festival-goers break out every year in June (except this year because of the coronavirus), "between 10 and 100 people a day", according to Eric Perrin, in charge of communication at Hellfest, walk around the lair metal. Curious, onlookers, from the region or elsewhere, fans of metal ... the site welcomes an audience no doubt more heterogeneous than during the three days of the festival. "Let's say it's a special place," says Sylviane. Hat screwed on the head to reduce the overwhelming heat of the day, this resident of a neighboring town wanted to show her friend Monique "this other place to walk in Clisson". "It's flat and therefore perfect for those who have difficulty walking," admits Sylviane, not at all fond of metal music.
Hand of the devil, muscadet bar or scolobancs
A few meters away, camera slung, Léna comes "for the first time" here. “It's an amazing universe, it really makes you want to come to the festival. »Between the Scolobancs, the trash cans in the shape of a skull, the metal tree, the hand of the devil, the Kingdom of muscadet at the entrance to the wood or the muscadet bar, the pictures of this Nantaise will not fail to d 'originality. It is also quite often "curiosity" that pushes walkers to come and stroll on the Hellfest site. "There is a Mad Max and a little Hollywood side here, admits Steven de Gétigné (44), on a walk with his wife Marine and their daughter Rachel. That's really nice. And yet, I'm not a fan of this musical register. We really like to walk with the family here. There is space and it is very well maintained. »An ideal place also for their little daughter Rachel to ride her balance bike and embark on the long and wide alleys of the site.
In the distance, a couple and their three children, originally from the English Channel, did not want to miss under any pretext "this not trivial place". They take the opportunity to immortalize themselves sitting on a stone bench in the shape of a bone. "I did not expect such a large place, it's crazy, coward Michelle, from Nantes. All these shapes, all this metal, you had to think about it. »A lot of rusty structures (many bars) are visible, others like the stages or the cathedral are dismantled once the festival is over.
A place of "pilgrimage"
At the entrance, the direction of Hellfest recalls that "the whole site is made up of private plots" and that "walks are authorized only on the roads indicated in yellow" on a map. This did not prevent three weeks ago, Loïc and Charles, two Hellfest fanatics, from having a family picnic in the shade of the little wood, very close to the muscadet bar and a few dozen meters from the statue by Lemmy Kilmister (former Motörhead guitarist) who overlooks the Warzone. "When you go back there, you feel a lack, admits Loïc, 51, from the Nantes region. There are lots of flashes in your head. Do you remember specific moments… Where you were when you heard Iron Maiden for example! "
Stéphane de Sorinières sees himself "wallowing over there on the side of the muscadet bar" or "waiting for his friends at the foot of the metal tree, the essential meeting place". Loïc: “It may be a bit old idiot, but it's a pilgrimage place for fans like us! The proof, the weekend of June 20 to 21, when the event should have been held, there were dozens and dozens of wandering around the site. "A good way to exorcise their non-festival ..." smiles Eric Perrin.
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