Our second time at the Metal City of Clisson for Hellfest, and after two days of build-up, it was time for the first day proper and, for us, probably our favourite day’s lineup.

We started outside the main arena for ODC on the stage in the middle of the village and stood in the already roasting heat for a superb introduction from a band that brought musical diversity, thumping rhythms, glorious vocals and great energy.

By the time we entered the main arena, the crowd was already huge for opening act We Came As Romans. Crushing and bludgeoning from the off, with vocalist Dave Stephens imploring the crowd to sing or circle pit, and crowd surfers a constant, it is a heck of a start to the day! ‘Where Did You Go’ resulted in arms flailing and slowed things down a little before the command to jump in 36-degree heat, which isn’t an easy ask, but the crowd responded enthusiastically. The instruction for the last song – “you should save your energy, but fuck that!” summed up a pulverising start to the day.

Following almost immediately after on MainStage 2, Mikkey Dee began by raising a glass to Phil Campbell at the start of the set – then kicked some ass! As the last surviving Motörhead member, he carries the torch, and with a statue of Lemmy in the distance watching the band, with Mikkey almost invisible at the back, started with some deeper cuts before the run of the last four songs: ‘Born to Raise Hell’, ‘Killed by Death’, ‘Ace of Spades’, and ‘Overkill’ showed Mikkey’s drumming is still powerful and dynamic.

The Plot In You brought the crowd surfers back in their droves and ignited some serious pits. Led by vocalist Landon Tewers, this was my first introduction to the band, and I was seriously impressed by their melodic but heavy metalcore. Perfectly fitting the Hellfest vibe, the energy on stage was matched by the crowd, and the cloud of sweat in the, by now mid-30s heat must have been visible from space!

The photo pit was rammed, ready for The Pretty Reckless, and their set kicked off with ‘Death by Rock and Roll’, and huge fireworks on top of the stage. With vocals high in the mix, Taylor Momsen was both raw and pitch-perfect. Controlling the crowd with ease. ‘Follow Me Down’ showed it’s not just about Taylor, as there were delicious guitar solos from Ben Philips. Taylor announced the new album coming out imminently, so we were treated to two new songs, ‘For I am Death and ‘When I Wake Up’, before the set rushed to a conclusion with ‘Make Me Wanna Die’, ‘Heaven Knows’ (with another extended solo from Ben) and ‘Going to Hell’.

It has been eight years since Breaking Benjamin played here due to frontman Benjamin Burnley’s fear of flying, but having found a way to travel by boat, they can now feature more regularly, and from the opener ‘I Will Not Bow’ they showed how much they have been missed. It’s a set full of anthems and arm-wavers, with the depth of material (the fact that Benjamin can’t remember if the new album will be their 7th or 8th is amusing), and new song ‘Something Wicked’ shows that quality is not diminished. Set closer ‘The Diary of Jane’ exploded both literally and figuratively and led to my other half saying that she didn’t know how many of their songs she knew and liked!

Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure life is real, and the next two visits to the photo pit, to photograph first Deep Purple, a band that was formed not long after I was born, and shortly after, Alice Cooper, are one of those times.

To stand there, as the intro music led straight into the iconic rhythm of Ian Paice and Roger Glover before Ian Gillan took to the stage for ‘Highway Star’, then to be able to stand so close to genuine “Monsters of Rock” only continued the feeling. Gillan’s voice is still right up there. The high notes maybe a little lower, but he looks fit and healthy and still has that twinkle in his eye and sense of humour. Guitarist Simon McBride fills the most difficult job in music, and of course, Don Airey adds layer after layer of glorious keys. The set flies by and all too soon I am grabbing a beer ready for a change of style and pace.

Papa Roach were the first band to bring the “Big” show with pyro, projections, etc and Jacoby Shaddix was soon down to the crowd to add intimacy to the bombast. An interesting demo of the difficulty in putting on a metal show whilst also being considerate of modern health and safety came with the request to “Take four to five steps back as people are getting crushed” and then immediately calls for a wall of death (it was massive) during ‘Kill the Noise’. Seeing his son join him on stage for ‘Braindead’ was a lovely moment and, of course set closer ‘Last Resort brought the house down.

We then took a VERY brief trip to the Temple tent for Skald, which was gloriously theatrical before a can’t-miss trip back to that pit for Alice Cooper.

You know what you will get with Alice – it’s a well-honed act that has been perfected over decades now, and this set is a true “Best of” perfect for a festival. New guitarist, Brit Anna Cara fits right in, and it is a joy watching the three guitarists (Cara, Crossbone Skully, and Ryan Roxie) trade licks and places. All the theatre is there, as are the sing-along classics, and again, I wonder how I am here, in front of 50,000 people, taking photos of someone I first watched play live forty years ago.

Finally, to headliner Bring Me The Horizon, and one of the best festival headline sets I have seen! It has everything – a plot, superb songs, the charismatic Oli Sykes tracked around the stage by a first-person fish-eye camera that is an effect I haven’t seen before, incredible sound quality and of course the Hellfest pyro. As with any festival, the stage is a LONG way away from any position you can comfortably view from, but it is such a mega production that you could be in space and still feel involved and absorbed.

The Hellfest itinerary runs late, BMTH taking the stage at 23:45, but we weren’t finished yet as we had the chance for the utterly bonkers and gloriously fun Feuerschwanz back in a hot and sweaty tent.

Finally back at our van at 2.30 am! It’s only Day One! Three more to go!