June 2019 – 15 Rue Beauregard, Nantes, France
Okay, so this isn’t actually a metal bar. But look at these murals. Like any self respecting Blind Guardian fan isn’t going to want to drink here?
We found this bar because it is a Verified Venue on Untappd, (the greatest beer app ever which I will speak of often), so naturally there was an amazing beer selection. There were 2 floors, both had a different, rotating draft selection of 15 to 20 beers each. And many of them were French!
Also, they had cheese!!!
The reason we were in Nantes was for Hellfest in neighbouring Clisson. More specifically the reason we were in Nantes was that Manowar were playing Hellfest. Spoiler alert: Manowar cancelled Hellfest.
I wish I could say that it was such an awesome festival that it didn’t matter. But honestly, I kind of hated Hellfest.
My first and biggest complaint is getting to and from the festival site. It took between 2 and 3 hours each way, every day. We tried the bus, we tried the train, we tried a combo of walking, bus and train. It made no difference. The train was fine the first day as they had extra running to get all the campers in, but after that there were only 3 trains a day after midnight. And it’s not like we were the only people staying in Nantes and commuting. Here is what the train station looked like every night…
At least some of us were able to sleep on the train, ha.
My other complaint is just that the whole thing was too damn big. There were too many people, the distances between stages, and between food/bathrooms and stages was just too big. I felt like I spent more time standing in line and walking between places than watching bands. Here is a picture of the lineup for the bathroom…
That green in the distance? The bathrooms.
My third and final major complaint is the beer. There is one place, and one place only, that I want a straight up lager and that is a festival. Instead the choices were a pale from Kronenbourg at 4% and Grimbergen Blonde which comes in at 6.7%. I thought perhaps if I alternated between the two it would be the same as drinking a 5%, but it was not. One thing they did get right was the reusable plastic Hellfest glasses. I went home with 4 of them. 🙄 Also, these delightful treasure goblins that roamed the site…
The general aesthetic of the festival was also pretty cool, with a kind of a post apocalyptic theme.
Unfortunately, for me it wasn’t enough to make up for the shortcomings. It’s the only festival I’ve been to that I have no desire to return to.
Fairy Lights and Vines 