Waking up at Hellfest is not an easy task. After a long and punishing day filled with endless shows, one after another, it’s impossible not to feel the exhaustion now weighing you down. Sometimes we need to slowly get our feets on the ground but that would not be the case today! Fortunately, hearing occasional soundchecks at a distance helps one wake and gather the energy needed for another long and fulfilling day. In this case, the opening acts would serve just the right amount of caffeine solicited, like a true slap in the face.

The Valley stage was just beginning to prep breakfast with Belgium’s own Coilguns delivering both a commanding and imposing delivery of noise rock and hardcore punk cacophony, all the while - very appropriately must we say - throwing out some literal breakfast at the crowd. Croissants flying out from the band’s wall of sound into the mouths of hungry festival goers. Seriously tho, what a great fucking band Coilguns is. If their sound alone wasn’t already enough to put anyone on the brink of a civil riot, the band’s frontman Louis Jucker would certainly push the whole world into havoc. Sheer raw energy is the biggest understatement one might have for these guys.

Right up next came post-hardcore legends Will Haven with a show few newcomers out there can ever dream of matching up, a show that streamed out towards a day filled with an unconcerned sense of urgency. Something palpable not only in Will Haven’s emotion-ridden delivery on stage, but written all over the crowd’s general reaction. 

If the intensity wasn’t already at a new high, the second main stage would now be getting two full-fledged hurricanes getting ready to burst. First up, right under the scorching sun of a blazing Hellfest afternoon, came Skindred, with a performance that got every one - very much literally - jumping from front to the back. Not even the unbearable high temperatures could subtract one ounce of energy behind a special moment like that.

Fever 333 were up next, and although still fresh out of the scene, they’ve already earned the right to play in the big team’s league. True heirs to the legacy that made Rage Against The Machine one of music’s most politically confrontational acts, Fever 333 play free of pressure and make sure two things are guaranteed. They are 100% themselves and that they deliver a message. With that being said, after seeing the crowd’s reaction to their untamed energy, these guys have a clearly promising future right up ahead.