On the Hellfest 2019 site, in Clisson.

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S. Salom-Gomis / AFP

  • Ben Barbaud, the director of Hellfest, reacts the day after the announcements from the Minister of Culture.

  • He estimates that "5,000 people seated is the antithesis of a festival, because in a festival there is" party "above all."

The gates of hell will most certainly remain closed this year again in Clisson.

Ben Barbaud, the boss of the Hellfest festival, considers this Friday morning that the cancellation of the festival "seems inevitable" stressing that "5,000 spectators seated for metal, it is not possible".

It must be said that this event specializing in metal, scheduled for June in Loire-Atlantique, attracted 180,000 people in 2019 (canceled in 2020).

A thousand leagues from the framework set Thursday by the Minister of Culture for the holding of festivals this summer: 5,000 people, seated and distanced.

"A decision will be made in the coming days, I have to see my teams and talk with my international counterparts, but 5,000 metalheads [metal fans] seated and distanced, it is not possible", continues Ben Barbaud.

The boss of Hellfest emphasizes that his festival is the one with “the most handicaps”: “90% international programming, 20% of the public coming from abroad, 15 hours of concerts a day, a giant campsite, and the public who drink the most beers [while no decision has been taken to reopen the bar areas] ”.

The antithesis of a festival

"If some festival colleagues are delighted with the framework announced Thursday by the Minister of Culture, I am one of those who are not happy: it is still the youth who will spend a rotten summer", judge- he.

"We realized that the epidemic was less present in the summer, this year we have the vaccines arriving, and yet we have the same restrictions as last year", still laments Ben Barbaud, "stunned" .

If he thinks that certain festivals "like the Francofolies [La Rochelle], Poupet [Vendée] will adapt, find a point of balance", he estimates that "5,000 people seated, it is the antithesis of a festival, because in festival there is "celebration" above all ".

He knows that depending on the evolution of the epidemic, the framework could become less restrictive.

But "if the festivals of modest size can change everything a month before they are held, the big ones like Hellfest cannot wait until May to organize themselves".

Ben Barbaud does not rule out "doing something digital this summer, even a small concert for volunteers, but I cannot sell that like Hellfest".

The Parisian festival Solidays has already thrown in the towel last week.

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