Fire hoses, giant misting machines, and artificial "waterfalls," dropping cold water under two gigantic arches. The organizers of Hellfest, one of Europe's largest rock and metal music gatherings, spared no effort to cool down their heated audience and prevent fainting and cases of heatstroke. At Clisson, western France, where nearly 60,000 heavy metal fans have gathered every day since Thursday, the thermometer showed 35°C on Friday afternoon, just a few degrees shy of the peak of 38°C in the shade, recorded in 2022.

"This is the seventh time I've come to Hellfest, but it's especially tough this year," said Gilles (who, like others interviewed, did not wish to give his last name). Lying under the tent known as "Hellfresh" – a shaded area equipped with benches and continuously running misting fans – the man in his sixties waited for the peak heat to pass. "With my limited mobility, it's almost impossible for me to get around," he said.

Since Thursday, France has been experiencing its first heatwave of the summer. While not expected to break records, it has been "remarkable for its intensity" and "early arrival," as only three other heatwaves have ever started earlier in the year, according to Tristan Amm, a forecaster at Météo-France, France's national weather service. The heat is typical of climate change, which is making heatwaves increasingly frequent, intense and long-lasting, and making them occur both earlier and later in the season.

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