Heavy Metal
When Ozzy Osbourne celebrates his second Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction later this month in Cleveland he will have an impressive roster of A-list help on hand to do the honors. The 75-year-old Prince of Darkness will be fêted by friends and colleagues who will take the stage on Oct. 19 to celebrate Osbourne’s induction as a solo artist; he was previously enshrined in 2006 with Black Sabbath.
“I don’t know what to think. I’m still in shock that I’m getting inducted for a second time,” Ozzy told Rolling Stone in an email. “But at the same time, I’m very excited.” He’s got reason to be, since among the performers who will help usher him in are actor/singer Jack Black, who famously ripped a School of Rock-like version of Ozzy’s 1980 occult metal classic “Mr. Crowley” with a group of teenagers last year.
“Jack invited my family to the School of Rock movie premiere in 2002,” Osbourne told the mag. “I’ve always been a big fan of his. Jack is one of the few great actors that is also a genuine rock & roller and not acting the part.” The RRHOF announced that Black will be joined by a number of other artists paying tribute to the metal icon, including Tool singer Maynard James Keenan, Jelly Roll, Billy Idol and a gilded gang of guitarists who will honor Ozzy’s history of working with unique stylists.
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Among that group are Osbourne’s longtime collaborator Zakk Wylde, recent producer Andrew Watt, Idol’s longtime guitarist Steve Stevens and Wolfgang Van Halen, with Metallica and former Ozzy bassist Robert Trujillo and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith holding down the rhythm section.
Ozzy had kind words for those stepping up to honor him, calling Idol a “rock icon” whose music is “timeless,” while noting that the snarling punk-turned-pop star should be in the RRHOF. He referred to Keenan as a “true family friend since 1997… He is such a creative force. There are few artists who can keep three successful bands going for multiple decades,” he said in reference to the singer’s trifecta of hard rock acts: Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer.
And in a year when Jelly Roll is on a truly epic roll, Ozzy said having the country singer on board makes perfect sense. “Who doesn’t love Jelly Roll? His voice is soulful, pure, and dirty. I’m so honored that someone would do this for me who I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting,” Osbourne said.
Osbourne was nominated for his solo work for the first time this year and will be inducted after first becoming eligible in 2006 for a solo run that has produced such beloved hard rock anthems as “Crazy Train,” “Bark At the Moon,” “Mama I’m Coming Home” and “No More Tears.”
At press time it was unknown if Osborne — who retired from touring last year following a series of serious health issues over the past few years — will perform at the event that will also feature the inductions of Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, Peter Frampton and Kool & the Gang.
The Hall recently revealed an extensive list of performers and presenters for this year’s induction at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, including: Busta Rhymes, Dr. Dre, Demi Lovato, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, James Taylor, Julia Roberts, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Lucky Daye, Mac McAnally, Method Man, Roger Daltrey, Sammy Hagar, Slash and The Roots.
The 2024 RRHOF induction ceremony will livestream on Disney+ on Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. ET. ABC will air a primetime special featuring the evening’s biggest moments on Jan. 1, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET, which will be available on Disney+ and Hulu on Jan. 2.
Check out the announcement below.
When Slipknot first contacted Cedar Ridge Distillery, which is located 120 miles from the band’s hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, management was not interested in an alternative metal whiskey brand inspired by scary clowns. Until one of the owners forwarded the Slipknot email to employees. “Oh, my God, Slipknot — are you kidding me?” came the overwhelming response. “We have to do this.”
The result, Slipknot No. 9 Reserve Whiskey, which debuted in 2019, represents the shattering of a “glass ceiling” in the heavy metal business, according to Cory Brennan, Slipknot’s manager. Metal-branded products were once taboo; today, they’re no-brainers. “For so long, the gatekeepers were scared of anything aggressive and scared of metal and scared of their audiences. Over the past 15 years, that’s really changed,” Brennan says. “More and more people are open to the genre. They’re kids, adults. Some are grandparents at this point. And they’re loyal. They’re not going away.”
Artists from all genres rely financially on fan bases who buy product. Metal audiences tend to be loyal for years, even decades — and that loyalty translates into revenue for long-running legacy acts. Iron Maiden built a worldwide branded-apparel business out of its logo and skeletal Eddie the Head mascot.
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“Pop comes and goes. Metal stays consistent,” says Barry Drinkwater, executive chairman of Global Merchandising Services, which works with Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses and others.
The revenue proportions in the metal world are different from those of pop or hip-hop. Marketing and selling albums remain important for the bands’ labels. Brian Slagel, owner and chairman/CEO of Metal Blade Records, home of Mercyful Fate, Sacred Reich and many others, says the 42-year-old indie label makes 25% to 30% of its revenue from vinyl album and CD sales, and the rest from streaming, although only the genre’s biggest stars are racking up substantial royalties, such as Metallica and Black Sabbath, which have both crossed the 1 billion stream threshold.
Most metal acts, however, rely on touring and merch. “Merchandise on the road is probably the No. 1 source of our income,” says Keith Wampler, frontman for The Convalescence, a symphonic horror death metal band from Toledo, Ohio.
Drinkwater adds, “Eighty percent of it is a black T-shirt.” Metal merch sales boomed during the coronavirus pandemic, when fans stuck at home turned to online shopping. In July 2020, August Burns Red guitarist Brent Rambler found himself shipping hundreds of packages from the basement of his house to fans who were spending money on merch instead of live shows. “A lot of tape and scissors,” he recalls. The group soon hired a fulfillment company to help with the orders and built a thriving online store. “It has fully replaced the income almost of doing a full tour,” Rambler adds. “We say it’s the silver lining of the pandemic.”
The strength of merch sales has since helped bands weather the post-pandemic inflation that has hiked up the prices of buses, crew, hotels and gas and cut into the profit margins of groups with smaller fan bases.
Meanwhile, the genre’s marquee acts are thriving. Metallica sold 1.2 million tickets last year, grossing $125.8 million, according to Billboard Boxscore. And Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz says, “We’re doing the best we’ve ever done. A lot of bands talk about the tough time touring and the costs and all that, but we don’t see any of that.”
New headliners are also emerging, says Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta, who bought the rights to the dormant Milwaukee Metal Festival and rebooted it in 2023. Knocked Loose, Lorna Shore and Slaughter To Prevail are among the bands that have drawn massive live crowds despite repertoires with “almost no melody,” Jasta says. “We had [all three] headlining on a Sunday. It was the biggest day and outdrew [more established bands] Lamb of God and Machine Head.”
And while metal acts have yet to master TikTok the way pop star influencers have, their fans’ social media posts often heighten their visibility and drive discovery. Slagel calls TikTok “vitally important,” and says metal bands that distance themselves from the app wind up dominating it anyway. “I went to see Cattle Decapitation and Immolation in Dallas. Both bands were telling me there were a lot of younger fans there that they haven’t really seen [before]. I said, ‘Well, it’s TikTok.’ And they said, ‘We’re not on TikTok!’ ” he recalls. “But your fans are on there,” he told them, “and they’re hashtagging Cattle Decapitation and posting videos.”
The key to long-term success, say veteran metal stars, is to keep touring and recording, as well as taking control of their masters. Testament, founded in 1983, made a deal with indie Megaforce Records in the mid-’90s to license its recordings rather than sign over the rights, and is awaiting the reversion of its earlier Atlantic Records masters after 35 years, according to U.S. copyright law. “The label’s like, ‘Have you ever looked at your numbers?’ We have close to 3 million listeners a month on Spotify,” frontman Chuck Billy says. “I was like, ‘Holy smokes!’ All the publishing rights, everything goes to us. We rode the storm out and stayed together. We’re still out there touring pushing the music — now we own it.”
The multigenerational consumer demand for metal and the avid loyalty of its fans may lead to multi-million-dollar catalog sales. Now that Mötley Crüe and KISS have sold their publishing catalogs for hundreds of millions of dollars, heavier bands are optimistic. Publishing companies have been “knocking on our door,” Billy says.
“I hear Judas Priest and Van Halen on car commercials, I hear bands that we grew up with on commercials,” he adds. “Ten or 15 years from now, it might be Testament.”
When it comes to overheated claims that their explosive 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony set on Friday was somehow in league with Beelzebub, French metal band Gojira could take a page from Vice President Kamala Harris’ playbook. Just as the potential democratic presidential candidate and her supporters keep describing Republican rivals Donald Trump and his veep pick JD Vance as “weird,” lead singer Joe Duplantier told Rolling Stone that suggestions their eye-popping set was “satanic” is just, well, weird.
“It’s none of that. It’s French history. It’s French charm, you know, beheaded people, red wine, and blood all over the place — it’s romantic, it’s normal,” Duplantier said of the unexpected explosion of double kick drums, growling vocals, pyro-mania and raining blood-like streamers that accompanied the group’s performance of the 19th century French anthem “Ah! Ça Ira” from the windows of Paris’ Conciedrgerie palace during a four-hour opening spectacle.
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“There’s nothing satanic [laughs]. France is a country that made a separation between the state and religion during the revolution,” Duplantier added. “And it’s something very important, very dear to the foundation of republican France. We call it laïcité. It’s when the state is not religious anymore, so therefore it’s free in terms of expression and symbolism. It’s all about history and facts. We don’t look too close closely at symbolism in terms of religion.”
In addition to the sight of a dozen decapitated Mario Antoinettes singing along as columns of fire shot up all around them, Gojira were joined by mezzo-soprano Marina Voitti, who floated by on the prow of a ship. With a few days to let it all soak in, Duplantier told RS that things are still feeling a bit “unreal.” He described getting a call from Olympic committee and opening ceremony composer Victor le Masne months ago and thinking it was a long shot that they would end up in the final cut because the whole thing sounded “completely unreal.”
“The amount of people that would see us live kind of eclipsed the moment. I wasn’t thinking about what it was going to be because it was just too mind-bending to think about,” he said, noting that the Olympic Committee could have picked a more well-known global hard rock act such as Metallica or AC/DC for the honor. “So the reality of the moment was absolutely mind-blowing from where we were, up there at the Conciergerie and the view we had of the scenery and all the Olympic teams, passing by on boats. It was pretty surreal… We never considered ourselves the biggest band in the world that would be worthy to play the Olympics or anything like that. It’s so weird.“
Not only didn’t Gojira pick the song they performed, but Duplantier said they were totally in the dark in terms of how they would fit into the full ceremony along the Seine River, including the fact that Celine Dion and Lady Gaga would also be performing that night. “We didn’t know what was going to happen at all,” Duplantier said, adding that they never got a chance to rehearse on site beforehand. “We just went back and forth with the composer of the Olympic ceremony, Victor le Masne. He threw us a tempo and a guideline. And then we did our thing.” The only time Duplantier even got a feel for the historic building was when he climbed up on the balcony he performed from for 10 minutes three days before to try out his harness, without his guitar.
Determined to represent and honor the metal scene, the singer said they didn’t want to “play a few notes to shock people,” but rather go all-in with the double-kick drums, growling vocals and a tempo breakdown at the end to really “show what metal is all about.”
While brushing off comments from such social media trolls as Andrew Tate and some talking heads on Fox News that the performance was inspired by the devil, Duplantier also had to shrug at similar pearl-clutching on the American right from Donald Trump Jr. and House Speaker Mike Johnson that the ceremony’s recreation of the “Last Supper” featuring drag queens was an insult to Christians. “I haven’t seen it, as surprising as it seems,” the singer said. “I have a family. I have children. So right after all that work and concentration on the Olympics, I was totally in the dark. I didn’t get to sit and watch the whole thing properly.”
Watch Gojira’s performance again below.
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The flames, the double kick drums blast beats, the headless Mario Antoinettes, the opera singer on a giant boat. There was nothing about French heavy metal band Gojira‘s set during Friday’s glittering opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics that you could have predicted from the first hard rock band to ever take the stage […]
When he’s not obsessed with the double-bass patterns in “A Skull Full of Maggots” and “Hammer Smashed Face,” Cannibal Corpse‘s Paul Mazurkiewicz Jr. contemplates coffee. “Always thought, in the back of my mind, ‘It’d be cool to have a Cannibal Corpse coffee,’” he says. So when Mike Tonsetic, a founder of Concept Cafes, reached out to the death-metal drummer on Instagram and proposed the band-branded Brazilian blend Beheading & Brewing, Mazurkiewicz responded: “Sounds like what I was thinking about for years. Why not?”
Introduced on Halloween 2022 and emblazoned with album cover artist Vince Locke’s image of a disemboweled zombie drinking from a decapitated head, Cannibal Corpse coffee bags have been “selling really well” on tour and online, according to Mazurkiewicz. And it’s part of a new branding formula in heavy music: touring stars from GWAR (“espresso destructo”) to August Burns Red (“revival roast”) aligning themselves with gourmet blends, copious caffeine, black bags and scary artwork.
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“We thought it was going to be hell-raisers and beer drinkers shooting us down, and saying, ‘Coffee is stupid,’” says Tonsetic, whose Orlando-based company has also teamed with Ministry, Soulfly and Suicide Silence’s Chris Garza. “But metal fans in their 40s-plus, a lot of them are sober and not just drinking beer. They’re getting into other things, whether it’s coffee or tea.”
Rockers have teamed with coffee companies for years. Iggy Pop customized a blend with Portland’s Stumptown Coffee in 2019, and KISS (of course), Dropkick Murphys and members of Green Day have put out their own brands. While hard-rock bands have historically focused on branding bourbon and other alcohol products, in recent years, the estimated $458 billion coffee industry has come for metal, often through roasters with “death” in their names and skulls in their logos. “Like everything, after a couple happen, everyone starts doing it,” says Cory Brennan, founder of 5B Artist Management, whose clients Slipknot and Babymetal do not have their own blends. “The coffee-metal world is getting saturated, but there are some great ones.”
Metal-branded coffee deals vary. Several sources say they’re 50-50 revenue splits between artist and coffeemaker, but another source adds that expenses for a high-end brew can be as much as $12.50 per bag, so for a $20-25 price point, the coffeemaker might give a well-known band roughly $8, or $5 for a lesser-known artist. “If I do a collaboration, as long as I cover my costs, they get to have the profit,” says Carl Fricker, owner of 24-hour Brisbane, Australia, espresso house Death Before Decaf, which sells blends by rising metalcore stars August Burns Red and Sydney metal band Northlane. “A lot of the bands, as they’re getting on in years, they don’t go out and get smashed anymore. When they get into coffee, they get right into coffee.”
Cannibal Corpse Coffee
Courtesy Photo
“It does really well,” says August Burns Red guitarist Brent Rambler. “We’re big coffee drinkers. At worst, I’ll get some great coffee out of it.” Adds vocalist Keith Wampler, whose band The Convalescence sells its Brazilian hazelnut through Grindcore Coffee Co.: “If you make it gory and put some skulls on it, it’s a little cooler than your average bag of coffee you grab at the store.” (The word “death” can be fraught for coffee companies in the U.S.; when Death by Decaf attempted to expand here, by trying to extend its Australian business name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, New York-based Death Wish Coffee Co. sued for infringement. Death by Decaf settled last December, and the owner says he spent $200,000 on legal fees.)
As for flavor, most metal stars leave aesthetic coffee details to the experts: “I’ve got three options that are pretty extreme in the caffeine count, and that seems to be a huge selling point for a lot of bands,” says Chad Petit, Grindcore’s owner.
But for Grindcore’s coffee bag with GWAR, displaying a cartoon of the band wielding a buzzsaw and giant hammer, the shock-metal veterans insisted on elaborate tastings and feedback. “This is a band that kills people on stage and cuts people’s heads off,” says GWAR co-manager Liam Pesce. “Obviously, they’re going to want the darkest roast and flavor imaginable.” Adds John Bambino, another GWAR co-manager: “I think there was mention of nutmeg in there.”
Kelly Clarkson has the uncanny ability to find the soul pocket in just about any song. Take, for instance, her rumble through Metallica‘s “Sad But True” during the Kellyoke segment on Monday’s (May 6) episode of her eponymous daytime talk show. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Sure, […]
Megadeth announced the dates for a 33-show U.S. fall tour on Tuesday (April 23). The Live Nation-produced Destroy All Enemies outing will feature support from Mudvayne and All That Remains and is slated to kick off on August 2 at the Walmart AMP in Rogers, AR.
“Our ‘Crush The World’ tour has been a tremendous experience for the four of us,” said singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine in a statement. “We are all playing tight, and that has made it possible for me to really focus on solos and singing, we are playing more songs than ever before, and we are closer to each other, onstage AND off. I’m excited to see Mudvayne, and All That Remains. Join us as we DESTROY ALL ENEMIES.”
The two-month run will include shows in Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Boston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, before winding down on Sept. 28 with a gig at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. Tickets for all the dates will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. local time on Friday (April 26), with a presale for Cyber Army/Megadeth Digital members kicking off today at noon local time here.
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According to a release, the outing will feature Mustaine and company playing classics from their beloved albums Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction and others, including their most recent studio LP, The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!
Check out the dates for the 2024 Destroy All Enemies U.S. tour below.
August 2 — Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP
August 3 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
August 5 — Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheatre
August 6 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
August 8 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
August 9 — Los Angeles, CA @ YouTube Theater
August 10 — Concord, CA @ Toyota Pavilion at Concord
August 12 — Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
August 13 — Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater
August 16 — Las Vegas, NV @ Bakkt Theatre at Planet Hollywood
August 17 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Maverick Arena*
August 20 — Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
August 21 — Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater
August 23 — Macon, GA @ Atrium Health Macon Amphitheater*
August 24 — West Palm Beach, FL @ IThink Financial Amphitheatre
Sept. 3 — Tinley Park, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
Sept. 5 — Huntington, WV @ Marshall Health Network Arena*
Sept. 6 — Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
Sept. 7 — Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
Sept. 9 — Reading, PA @ Santander Arena*
Sept. 10 — Albany, NY @ MVP Arena*
Sept. 11 — Boston, MA @ Leader Bank
Sept. 13 — Bethel, MY @ Bethel Woods Center For The Arts
Sept. 14 — Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
Sept. 15 — Richmond, VA @ Virginia Credit Union Live!*
Sept. 17 — Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
Sept. 18 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
Sept. 20 — Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
Sept. 21 — Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
Sept. 24 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory
Sept. 26 — St Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre STL
Sept. 27 — Southaven, MS @ Bankplus Amphitheater at Snowden Grove*
Sept. 28 — Nashville, TN @ Nashville Municipal Auditorium
*Non Live Nation Dates
This summer’s edition of the Rocklahoma festival will feature headlining slots from Avenged Sevenfold (Friday night), Disturbed (Saturday night) and Slipknot (Sunday night) in what promoters are calling the event’s biggest lineup to date. The three-day hard rock fest, which will run from August 30-Sept. 1 at the Rockin Red Dirt Ranch in Pryor, Oklahoma, will also feature headlining sets from Evanesence, A Day to Remember, Lamb of God, Halestorm, Skillet, Mastodon, a reunited Anthrax, Clutch, Kerry King, Coal Chamber and others.
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Tickets for the 2024 Rocklahoma festival will go on sale on Friday (April 5) beginning at 11 a.m. ET here; weekend VIP, GA passes, as well as camping and glamping passes will all be available at that time, with passes starting at $10 or 10% down on layaway. Others acts on tap for the festival include: Badflower, Pop Evil, Giovannie & the Hired Guns, Bad Wolves, Tom Keifer, Winger, Faster Pussycat, Vixen, Set It Off, The Warning, Kim Dracula, Austin Meade, Oxymorrons, Holy Wars, Enuff Z’Nuff, Atomic Punks and many more.
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“Rocklahoma is a call to arms, a celebration of not only music but also of our differences and what makes us all the same,” Lzzy Hale of Halestorm said in a release announcing the lineup. “We are so grateful to be returning to the stage, and cannot wait to see our old friends, and welcome the new ones into our Rock ’n Roll family!”
Check out the full roster for the 2024 Rocklahoma festival in the concert poster below.
Reunited thrash metal band Slayer will headline the second night of this year’s Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, KY. The band join fellow headliners Slipknot, Mötley Crüe and Korn at the event slated to take place at the Highland Festival Grounds at Kentucky Exposition Center on Sept. 26-29.
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The 10th anniversary of North America’s largest rock festival will also feature sets from Disturbed, Judas Priest, Five Finger Death Punch, Evanescence, Falling in Reverse, Breaking Benjamin, The Offspring, Staind, Till Lindemann, Chevelle, Dropkick Murphys, Halestorm, Gojira, Seether, In This Moment, Anthrax, Sum 41, Mastodon and Rage Against the Machine guitarist and solo act Tom Morello.
“We’re thrilled to announce that Slayer will be reuniting for an earth-shattering performance at Louder Than Life,” promoter Danny Wimmer of Danny Wimmer Presents said of the thrash icons who retired in 2019 after what they said at the time was their final tour. ”I was at their last show at The Forum in 2019 and have been working since then to bring them back to the Louder stage! With over 140 bands on five stages, we’re celebrating our 10th Louder Than Life with the biggest lineup yet!”
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Slayer — whose final lineup included original members guitarist Kerry King and bassist/singer Tom Araya along with drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt — were also announced as headliners for this year’s Riot Fest on Wednesday (Feb. 21).
The 150 acts at Louder Than Life will set up on five stages at the festival that will also include a selection of Louisville’s best spirits and local cuisine and sets from Anthrax, Mastodon, Architects, Skillet, Clutch, Highly Suspect, Lorna Shore, Body Count, Spiritbox, Grandson, Nothing More, Sevendust, Jinjer, Poppy, Badflower, Starset, Sleeping With Sirens, Filter, Eagles of Death Metal, Juliette Lewis and the Licks, Marky Ramone Plays the Ramones Classics, Black Stone Cherry, PUP, Three 6 Mafia, P.O.D., Fozzy, Fugitive, Saosin, L.S. Dunes, Biohazard, Polaris, From Ashes To New, LIT and many more.
Single day and weekend GA admission along with Park Community VIP passes and information on new Loud Lounge Suites are on sale now here; Angel’s Envy Top Shelf VIP passes, RV and car + tent camping passes are already sold out.
Check out the 2024 Louder Than Life festival poster below.
The lineup for the 2024 edition of the French hard rock festival Hellfest will featuring a quartet of heavy hitters headlining from June 27-30, including Foo Fighters, Metallica, Machine Head and Avenged Sevenfold.
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The first night — topped by A7X — will feature support from Megadeth, Dropkick Murphys, Bad Omens, Baby Metal, Enter Shakari and more. Machine Head top the Friday night lineup, with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello on the bill along with The Prodigy, Fear Factory, Steel Panther, Ice-T’s Body Count, Shaka Ponk, Biohazard, 311, Fu Manchu, Corrosion of Conformity and others.
Metallica will headline on night three, along with Mass Hysteria, Extreme, Mammoth WVH, Black Stone Cherry, The Dead Daisies, Saxon, Bruce Dickinson, Accept, Yngwie Malmsteen, Suicidal Tendencies, The Interruptors, Mr. Bungle and more. Foo Fighters do the honors on the final night, with support from Queen of the Stone Age, Royal Blood, Heart, Nova Twins, High on Fire, The Offspring, Corey Taylor, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, Simple Plan, Neck Deep, Madball, Rival Sons, Therapy?, Dimmu Borgir and many more.
The 17th edition of Hellfest will take place outside the western French city of Clisson with more than 160 bands setting up on six stages. Weekend tickets are already sold out and single-day tickets slated to go on sale early next year.
Last year’s event featured sets from Kiss, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Def Leppard, Tenacious D, Sum 41, Pantera, Rancid, Black Flag and more.
Check out the full lineup and the Hellfest 2024 poster below.