Alcatraz Metal and Hard Rock Festival in Kortrijk, Belgium has quickly grown out to become one of the biggest festivals for the lovers of heavy music in the country. We heard people say more than once that they are going to Alcatraz now yearly instead of Graspop because of the nicer atmosphere where it feels like coming home every time. Since its humble beginnings as a 1 stage, 1-day, indoor festival, it has grown out to become an impressive 3-day festival with 4 stages and over 100 bands to choose from over your stay.
CONTENTS:
- LOCATION
- FESTIVAL AREA
- FOOD & DRINKS
- PAYMENT METHOD
- CAMPSITE
- SANITARY FACILITIES
- CHARGING POINTS & LOCKERS
- WASTE / RECYCLING
- LINEUP ALCATRAZ 2024
- ALCATRAZ PRE-PARTY
LOCATION
Sport Campus Lange Munte
Bad Godesberglaan 22
8500 Kortrijk
Belgium
FESTIVAL AREA
The festival grounds are located in Kortrijk on the fields of a sport center on the edge of the city, and you’ll find 4 stages:
- Prison Stage: the open air main stage of the festival where you’ll find the biggest bands with the biggest shows.
- Swamp Stage: a marquee/tent stage where you’ll mainly find many more extreme metal acts with a darker vibe (death metal, black metal, thrash metal, deathcore,…), fitting the name of the stage perfectly.
- Helldorado Stage: a marquee/tent stage where you'll find a mix of different subgenres. Fans of Heavy, Stoner, Goth, Punkrock, ... should keep an eye (ear?) out for this stage.
- La Morgue Stage: a smaller marquee/tent stage where you’ll find a nice combination of local Belgian talents and international bands that call for a club atmosphere where there’s no security barrier and all the ingredients for some really intense shows.
Aside from that, there are plenty of food places, bars and other activities to be found spread all over the area, so there is never a dull moment.
One extra bigger construction that has a specific title is the El Presidio where you’ll be welcome for some Belgian special beers and partying to the tunes played by the DJs scheduled there.
FOOD & DRINKS
As of 2023, Alcatraz started to publish all drink & food options for every single bar / food point, including the prices. This whole list can be found on their official website: https://alcatraz.be/en/food-and-drinks
PAYMENT METHOD
Food and drinks are bought by coins you need to purchase either in advance or at the festival site. We’d recommend you to already get a healthy amount of them in advance, since you’ll get a discounted pricing through pre-sales (€3,10 per coin). Once you need to get them at the festival itself, they’ll get more expensive.
CAMPSITE
Alcatraz has several nearby camping options ranging from the basic “Alcatraz Graveyard” camping, camper camping and motor camping, all the way to more luxury “glamping” options like the Eagle Plaza, 2-person “B-and-bee” units to even a truck to sleep in (yes, you read that right).
The main campsite ticket will cost you €21. There are also some extras available like getting cold beer (only on Thursday!), breakfast packages and buffet, or the purchase of a friends area to have a guaranteed shared camping space for the group of metalheads you’re going to Alcatraz with (excluding the basic camping tickets, which you still need to get). Check all the available options out still here.
If you don’t necessarily care for staying close to the atmosphere and want a bit more luxury, there is still good news for you: the city center of Kortrijk is relatively close to the festival area, so getting yourself a hotel room or something similar is definitely a valid option.
Breakfast
Breakfast can be bought at the campsite (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday) for €32 (€8/day) in presale and in that case includes 2 Danish pastries, 1 yoghurt, 1 piece of fruit, 1 juice or chocolate milk and 2 coffees.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday you can also enjoy a breakfast buffet for €39 (€13/day) in presale, that includes: chocolate pastry, croissant, sandwiches, bread, cheese, ham, butter, yoghurt, fruit salad, fruit juice or chocolate milk, eggs and bacon and 2 coffees.
SANITARY FACILITIES & WATER
There are free sanitary facilities (toilets, running water, showers) present on / next to the campsite.
MOBILE PHONE CHARGING POINT(S) & LOCKERS
At the campsite there are outlets available to recharge your mobile phone. There are also lockers available.
Give thieves no chance. Leave valuables at home.
Do not leave valuables unattended in your tent. The organisation is not in any way responsible or liable for theft. If you do have valuables you want to take with you, please store them in the lockers. The lockers can be found next to the office.
WASTE / RECYCLING
Each camper will get 2 garbage bags, one for waste and one for recycling. Please use the bags and bring them upon leaving to the appropriate collection points. In the donation pit you can donate camping equipment.
Campers receive a coin for a cup of coffee or tea on the campsite when they bring in a full bag of sorted waste (PMD and residual waste). This is a special coin that is only valid at the campsite office. The rubbish bag can be brought to the container park of the campsite daily (from Friday till Monday) between 8h and 12h. The container park is located next to the large sanitary area of the campsite.
LINEUP OF ALCATRAZ 2024
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: THE ALCATRAZ PRE-PARTY!
Thursday evening (so the evening before the festival really kicks off) there's a pre-party on the festival field, more specifically in the Swamp (with gigs by cover bands), and in El Presidio (a party with DJ's).
To get access to the pre-party, you need to either have a camping ticket/bracelet, or buy a separate ticket on the website (€6,2), for which you get a refund at the entrance, in the form of two drink/food tokens. (which results in free access).
As some people unnecessarily bought a pre-party ticket last edition(s), we repeat: If you got a camping ticket/bracelet: Don't buy a pre-party ticket, as you already get free access to the pre-party on Thursday 😉
Afbeeldingen / artwork door Alcatraz Music.
CONTENTS:
- LOCATION
- FESTIVAL AREA
- PRACTICAL INFO
- FOOD & DRINKS
- PAYCARD / MONEY
- CAMPING AREA
- SANITARY FACILITIES & WATER
- PHONE CHARGING, INFO POINT
- GARBAGE & GARBAGE BINS, THRASH DEPOSIT
- WHEN CAN WE START?
- GET IN THE MOOD FOR HELL
- IPHONE AND ANDROID APPS
- LINEUP OF HELLFEST 2023
- LIVEBLOGS
LOCATION
From Ghent, or Belgium in general, we have to travel through France for a pretty long time. For this trip you should keep the péage in mind. You have to stop at a tollbooth a few times, keep a hold on your toll-ticket and pay up when asked by the machines. At this time it can come in handy to have a credit card. When you are finally in the neighborhood of the festival, and reach Clisson, there are almost no signs of the festival to be found, so you’ll probably have to search and drive around for a bit. You can try to ask Hellfest’s traffic control crew, but they generally don’t speak a word of English.
FESTIVAL AREA
Most of the festival area is the same each year, but since 2016, we noticed some small changes. The Warzone was moved to get a better flow towards and from the area, and the skate park is no longer blocking the main road as it used to pre-2016, but moved to a more remote location, next to the main wine-bar.
In the Metalcorner you can party all night with several (local) bands, DJs and movies. It already starts on Thursday evening with one hell of a pre-party, where you can bring your own booze and food, since it’s ‘officially’ on the camping site. For the people who have enough money there are also a few bars, a wine bar and some food stalls.
When you follow the road towards the festival site, you will arrive at the Hell City Square, which you will recognize as it is the first place you see when you pass the festival entrance. Here you can find cool building-like artwork inspired by Camden Street in London, toilets, an ATM, some of Hellfest’s partners, the info-point, the Extreme market and probably early-bird tickets for the next edition of Hellfest. At the Extreme Market you can find labels and distro’s that sell the merch of your favorite bands.
The festival site itself contains a big infield with several bars, Hellfest-food stalls and merchandise stalls. Then there are the different stages we already explained and the usual sanitary facilities. Between The Temple and The Valley and all the way opposite the mainstages there are normal flushing toilets and taps where you can find drinking water for free. There’s a ferris wheel, a forest where you can chill in the shadows of the trees, a skating ramp and next to the forest you can find several great food stalls.
And of course this wouldn’t be France if there weren’t any special wine bars, which you can find at several places in the festival area for the thirsty wine-lovers or elitist show-offs. Santé!
PRACTICAL INFO
In the case of great weather it’s nice to have a (dust)mask to cover your face from the dust. It can also be nice to put it under the water taps and get some refreshment on those hot summer days in Hell.
The Official Hellfest Merch stands are sold out rapidly, so it’s smart to get your Hellfest T-shirt or other merch at the beginning of the festival.
If you forgot your ear plugs: you can get them for free opposite the mainstages, and there’s a possibility to buy (better) ear plugs too.
It’s really great if you speak French, since almost none of the crew speaks English.
You can’t buy cigarettes anywhere on the festival site, because that’s prohibited in France. So bring a stash or deal with it.
It’s allowed to crowdsurf, but French people seem to barely understand the unwritten rules, so there’s a big chance you will just crash on your head.
FOOD & DRINKS
The prizes of the beverages are really ok at Hellfest. A Hellfest-cup is 28cl and costs €1. But watch out! This is no refund, you really buy the cup, so if you pay for new ones, you’ll have a lot of cups at the end of the festival. Sometimes you get a clean cup in return, but they can just fill up your dirty cup as well. Talking about filling the cups: a full cup of soda or beer (Kronenbourg) is €2,50 and wine €4. You pay €2 for a jug (150cl) which you can fill up for €13 for beer and €20 for wine. So if you don’t lose too many cups the prizes are ok, especially for a festival these days. Own drinks, cans and glass are prohibited on the festival site, but allowed on the camping site.
A really big advantage (especially for vegetarians or people with food allergies) is that you can bring your own food onto the festival site. This can seriously limit the amount of money you would spend at a festival, make it somewhat healthier, or you can bring snacks to fit into your busy time schedule. Between the entrance and the forest there are a lot of food stalls with a great range of food, including vegetarian and gluten-free options.
To buy your own food: there is a supermarket in Clisson, on about a 5 minute walk from the camping site. This supermarket is huge and we’re sure you can find almost anything you would need, so it’s really not necessary to bring your own food from home. You can also buy ice there, to keep your food/drinks cold. The beer in the supermarket is mainly sold in glass bottles. Therefore there’s a lot of glass on the camping site, so you might want to watch where you walk.
PAYCARD / MONEY
There are ATM’s at the Hell City Square and at the supermarket in Clisson, but there will be long queues and sometimes they are out of service so make sure to take enough cash with you. Also it can come in handy to have a credit card, since the supermarket sometimes doesn’t accept normal maestro cards.
Then there’s Hellfest’s cashless paycards. You can put money on them at the Hell City Square and on several locations on the festival infield. You can use this card to pay for your drinks at the Hellfest-bars and for the food at the Hellfest-snack stalls. You can NOT use them at the other food stalls, there you have to use cash.
CAMPING AREA
The camping at Hellfest is included in your ticket, and the area is located just next to the festival area.
You can enter the camping site starting Thursday at 2PM with your ticket.
SANITARY FACILITIES & WATER
There is NO free water at the camp site, you have to buy a “water point” credit to put on your bracelet to get unlimited water and to shower. The water points at the infield however, are for free.
The toilets at the camp site and Metal Corner are no Dixi’s, but cartboard boxes that stay reasonably fresh during the hot summer days and they smell a lot less than Dixi’s, thanks to the sawdust that’s thrown into the toilets. A big thanks to the heroes who sit behind those boxes and keep them clean. At the camp site there’s usually toilet paper, but at the festival site you’re smart to bring your own. All the way opposite the mainstages and in between The Temple and The Valley there are normal flushing toilets and water points.
PHONE CHARGING, INFO POINT
Next to the entrance, at the Hell City Street, you can charge your cellphone, but there are often very long queues and you can only charge it for 30 minutes, which makes that you’d better bring a powerbank or find an other way to charge your phone. The info point is located at the Hell City Square, and it also contains the Lost&Found.
GARBAGE & GARBAGE BINS, TRASH DEPOSIT
To keep the area clean you can get a “camping bag” with goodies at the camp site to use as a garbage bag. You can hand in your full garbage bags for a token that holds a possibility to win several prizes and VIP tickets for Hellfest 2024. There are 3 colors of garbage bags, to recycle. You can also put them at the camping “roads”, where the Hellfest crew will collect them. The French are really clean at the camp site ánd the festival site. There are a lot of garbage bins, the reusable Hellfest cups are great and the people really recycle, which results in a nice and clean festival area.
WHEN CAN WE START?
- Parking: Thursday @ 12 PM
- Camping: Thursday @ 2 PM, until Monday @ 12 PM.
- Ticket office : Thursday @ 2PM
- Festival: Friday @ 10 AM, until Sunday night 2 AM.
GET IN THE MOOD FOR HELL
IPHONE AND ANDROID APP
The official Hellfest app (iPhone en Android) can be downloaded for free on the AppStore and Android Market! With this app, you’ll be able to follow all the latest news about Hellfest 2023 before, during and after the festival. The application offers the following features:
- Festival news
- Notifications “Push” (on iPhone)
- Full lineup
- Photo and video galleries
- Integrated Twitter app
- Access to e-tickets
- Personalize your Hellfest schedule by adding your favorite bands
- Practical info (transport, camping etc.)
- Sharing on Facebook and Twitter
- Geolocalization
LINEUP OF HELLFEST 2023
LIVEBLOGS
CONTENTS
GENERAL INFO & HISTORY
When We Were Young is a music festival that had its first edition in 2017 in Santa Ana, California.
It took place at The Observatory on April 8 an 9, 2017 and was headlined by The Smiths' frontman Morrissey.
In 2022, for its second edition, the festival moved to Winchester (Las Vegas), Nevada and took place at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on October 22, 2022.
As tickets sold out quickly, a second ànd third date were added, October 23 and October 29, 2022. Due to unsafe weather conditions, the first day sadly had to be canceled merely a few hours before it was set to begin.
The second day however, on October 23, was a great success, with Paramore and My Chemical Romance as headliners.
In October 2022, the third edition was announced.
LOCATION
The festival takes place at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, at 311 W Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas (Nevada) 89101. The festival grounds are located at walking distance from The Strip, and are only a few miles away from the airport (Harry Reid International Airport / LAS).
FESTIVAL GROUNDS
The festival ground plan for 2023 isn't available yet, but to already give you an idea of how it will most likely look like, here's the festival map of the previous edition, in 2022:
PRACTICAL INFO
You can rent lockers for the 2023 edition by clicking here.
ACCOMMODATION
Looking for somewhere to stay?
Check out the official hotel package options at the following page: When We Were Young Ticket & Hotel Packages.
There are multiple options available. Already got your festival ticket? Then the "Hotel Only Package" might be what you are looking for.
Looking for a VIP experience? Then have a look at the daily VIP packages (which include a hotel room, VIP access to the festival, access to the pre-party, and nightclub access).
If the VIP experience is not enough for you, check out the Palms Ultimate VIP Ticket Package, which includes a hotel room, VIP ticket, private tequila and whiskey tastings, a private brunch, a premium open bar at Zouk, club concierge for the weekend, and more! Talk about an exclusive experience!
LINEUP
2023
