• “Transforming the aesthetics of an internationally recognized current music festival into a large-scale tourist and cultural venue” is the ambition of Hellfest.

  • In 2024, a new occupant called the Guardian of Darkness will be responsible for animating the site year-round.

Decidedly, the Hellfest has not finished surprising us.

While the extreme music festival in Clisson (Loire-Atlantique) restarts this Thursday for the second part of its 15th edition, the organizers have sent heavy announcements.

Alongside François Delarozière, of the Nantes company La Machine, the director of the event Ben Barbaud unveiled his project aimed at "transforming the aesthetics of an internationally recognized contemporary music festival into a tourist and cultural place of great magnitude”.

In 2024, a new occupant will be in charge of animating the site all year round.

Called the Guardian of Darkness, it will be a half-woman, half-scorpion machine made of wood and steel, which will move on eight legs and will be able to run, rear up, spit fire or water. .

10 meters high, it will wander around and will be able to carry 25 people on its back, like the Great Elephant.

The creature will be housed on site in the Dark Portal, a 450 m2 hangar which will be both a maintenance site and a public reception area.

Because the objective of Hellfest is that this site, already open as a place to walk all year round, is even more alive.

A whole urban project has therefore been imagined around, on the site of the former Looksor nightclub (yes, the one popularized by Philippe Katerine): a pedestrian square inspired by that of the Machines de l'île in Nantes and a playground for children in the aesthetics of the festival will be fitted out, and there will also be a gigantic 600-seat brewery on site, where the Hellfest IPA beer will be brewed.

Work will start next year for the site to be inaugurated for the 2024 edition, say the project leaders.

A show of the Guardian of Darkness is already planned a few days before.

Company

Hellfest 2022: Under 37°C, the festival from hell has never lived up to its name so well

Culture

Why Hellfest 2022 is shaping up to be "the edition of the century"

  • Culture

  • Nantes

  • Pays de la Loire

  • Tourism

  • Festival

  • Hellfest