Mark Your Calendar: Metal Female Voices Fest IX

What: Metal Female Voices Fest IX – the first and biggest female-fronted metal festival in the world!

When: Friday, October 21 – Sunday, October 23

Where: Oktoberhallen, Schrovestraat 18, in Wieze, Belgium

Tickets: Click here to find a number of ticket sellers for this year’s MFVF.

What Is It?: Any fan of female-fronted metal should know what Metal Female Voices Fest is. It was the first-ever festival to feature only female-fronted bands. Now in its ninth year, MFVF continues to raise the bar as the most prestigious and well-known event of its kind. (And yes, that’s right: 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of MFVF!) Past MFVF headliners include the genre’s biggest names: Epica, Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Tristania, Leaves’ Eyes, Doro, Girlschool, Tarja Turunen, and Arch Enemy.

This year, MFVF brings back fan favorite Doro as the Day 1 headliner and welcomes Swedish operatic metal giants Therion for its first MFVF appearance as the Day 2 headliner. Other highlights that have already been announced: the release of the first MFVF DVD, which includes footage from the 2009 and 2010 editions; the world premiere of Diabulus in Musica’s first video for their upcoming second album; and the release of Skeptical Minds’ live DVD “Watch Your Live!” as well as their comic book series, “Broken Dolls.” Also, expect some guest performers during the sets for Diabulus in Musica and Leaves’ Eyes! Much more is bound to happen to besides all that. After all, this is MFVF – and surprises come in plenty there!

Below is the complete line-up for MFVF IX. Headliners are shown in bold. All bands previously featured here at UtF are shown in italics and links.

Friday, October 21st – Warm-Up Show

• Battlelore
• Xandria
• Bare Infinity

Saturday, October 22nd – Day 1

• Doro
• Leaves’ Eyes
• Diabulus in Musica
• Trail of Tears
• Dylath-Leen
• Benedictum
• Deadlock
• Amaranthe
• Kivimetsan Druidi
• Coma Divine
• Nemhain
• Hanging Doll

Sunday, October 23rd – Day 2

• Therion
• Visions of Atlantis
• Draconian
• Stream of Passion
• Midnattsol
• System Divide
• Triosphere
• Velvet Seal
• Operatika
• Diary About My Nightmares

If you already have your tickets, that’s fantastic! We’d love to hear how the festival went afterwards.  And if you don’t have your tickets yet and will be in the Weize / Aalst / Dendermonde area in Belgium next weekend, get your tickets NOW! You won’t want to miss this special event!

Visit these links for more information on MFVF:

Official Website

Facebook

Twitter

~ Sara

Mark Your Calendar: H’elles On Stage IV

What: H’elles On Stage IV – France’s primary festival for female-fronted metal bands

When: Monday, October 17 @ 6:30 pm

Where: CCO de Villeurbanne, 39 rue Georges Courteline 69100, Villeurbanne, France (just outside of Lyon)

Ticket Prices: 22€ for presale tickets, 25€ at entrance

What Is It?: Les Femâles is proud to present the fourth edition of the H’elles On Stage Festival! Since 2008, this French-based festival has showcased a number of the country’s female-fronted bands, including Whyzdom, Kells, Markize, and Pin-Up Went Down. And last year’s headliner, Elis, was the first foreign act to grace this festival’s stage.

This year’s H’elles On Stage promises to be the biggest one yet! Here is the line-up:

• Headliner: Leaves’ Eyes (symphonic folk metal from Norway)
• Aperion (symphonic metal from Slovenia)
• Auspex (progressive metal from Grenoble, France)
• Wedingoth (progressive rock/metal from Lyon, France)

***IMPORTANT: Although Visions of Atlantis is featured on the above flyer, the band has cancelled its appearance at H’elles On Stage due to male singer Mario Plank’s recent health / vocal problems.  Les Femâles is now searching for a replacement act.

So, if you live in France or are planning to be in the Villeurbanne area in a couple weeks, don’t miss this chance to see some good local female-fronted bands as well as one of the genre’s biggest names!

Click here to visit the official website for H’elles On Stage. And here are some links if you’d like to buy your ticket ahead of time (please note that these links are either all in French or have French-to-English translations):

Digitick

Fnac

Ticketnet

Wooticket

~ Sara