The Demise of Hellfest '05

Tue 23rd Aug, 2005 in International News

Last weekend’s Hellfest was due to be the biggest and best festival of its kind anywhere, but at the last minute (literally!), the plug was pulled on the entire event by a completely unreasonable insurance demand from the venue

Hellfest is an annual punk/metal/harcdore festival held in the United States and for the past eight years has been steadily growing. This year just under 200 bands were due to play over three days including Madball, Hatebreed, Zao, The Misfits, Public Enemy, From Autumn To Ashes, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Norma Jean, Anti-Flag, Rise Against, The Chariot, Today Is The Day, Sick Of It All, Between The Buried And Me, Bouncing Souls, Boy Sets Fire, the highly influential Converge and a long awaited reunion from hardcore legends Coalesce.

Held from the 19th of August through to the 21st was cancelled by the venue, Sovereign Bank Arena on August 17th just two days before the festival was due to commence. In a bizzare move the Arena sent a fax to the Hellfest organisers on the evening of the 16th demanding that they recieve a new insurance policy worth $2 million by 7.00am the next morning or the festival would be cancelled without further notice. That gave Hellfest 12 non business hours to come up with a new policy or lose an entire years work which sadly for the bands, fans, organisers and staff is exactly what happened.

A statement from the organisers is as follows:

“This is a massive, unexpected, and unplanned for blow to so many people’s livelihood. Hellfest as you all have known it for nearly a decade is dead and buried.This is just another example of corporate control over the independents.Keith Allen, the owner of Hellfest is completely defeated. So many people have spent the past eight years of their lives dedicated to the planning and execution of Hellfest. Most of the staff has not slept in days and are exhausted. So many businesses were hurt by this chain of events. Be sure that a massive law suit is in the works against Sovereign Bank Arena…as well as a full investigation as to who was the key player or players in this conspiracy to take down something you all hold true to and faithfully attended for years.” – Paper Street Music Company (Hellfest)