Now in its 9th year, Hellfest has grown to become one of the three largest festivals in France, attracting more than 150,000 metal fans over its three days.
For the second year, rental company Melpomen brought the NEXO STM modular line array down to the peaceful town of Clisson (near Nantes), for a spectacular line-up of rock and heavy metal legends – Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Status Quo, Rob Zombie, Megadeth and Soundgarden.
Although there are six venues at Hellfest, the big names appear on the famous twin stages, main stage 1 and main stage 2. The action alternates between these two, and the PA systems effectively run as one, continuously.
Both stages were equipped with identical STM systems; each had a dedicated L/R main hang of 15x STM M46 main modules and 15x STM B112 bass modules per side; 60x S118 subs were ground-stacked in groups in a cardioid configuration. In total there were 60x sets of STM, 180x cabinets in all.
Both stages also utilized NEXO GEO T sidefills and GEO S12 frontfills, and a large number of 45°N-12 line monitors.
In sweltering 30-degree heat, Melpomen’s team was led by crew chief David Prevost, with Cedric Bernard and Christophe Rousseau supervising FOH on Main Stage 1, and Samuel Biraies and Wilfrid Hubert on Main Stage 2.
