Hellwatt Festival: what now?

The twists and turns surrounding the Hellwatt Festival (which was been presented as the most important ever in Italy, with a budget “higher than that of Tomorrowland” and a cast “higher than that of Coachella”, we quote from previous interviews) seem to never end. After the chaos of early birds and subsequent dropsafter the debate on the appropriateness of presence of Kanye West in a gold medal city of the resistance, very little comforting news continues to emerge regarding the success of the event.

It was yesterday’s news, in fact, that Cvolo (producer of the festival) has dismissed the controversial artistic director Victor Yari Milani, a neophyte from the point of view of large live music events, with a meager note announcing the cessation of the collaboration. And so far, nothing too unusual: it can happen. The most anomalous thing, however, is that since this morning an alleged message signed by Milani himself has been circulating among insiders, which reliable sources give as authentic, in which he claims to be “the sole owner” of the Hellwatt brand and therefore impossible to oust. “It’s simply utopian news. It would be like saying that Jeff Bezos is kicked out of Amazon by the courier” reads the very long and detailed message.

As a conclusion to the speech, Milani would state that he already has a plan B ready and that he is waiting for legal confirmation, “then Hellwatt moves”. That is to say it will be held, but no longer at the RCF Arena. But is it really possible? Above all: considering that the producer of the festival is Cvolo and, according to industry sources, the advances for the artist’s fees have already been amply paid, who would the enormous costs of the festival fall on financially, in this case? It seems like a rather remote scenario. So much so that, when questioned by us, the press office of Cvolo and Hellwatt Festival (now separated from Milani) replied laconically: “Over the course of the last few weeks, visions have emerged that are no longer fully aligned with respect to the future development of the festival between C.Volo, producer of the concerts at the RCF Arena, and collaborator Victor Yari Milani. For this reason, it was decided to part ways, without this entailing changes to the already announced line-up. In fact, it remains unchanged. the objective of the events: to bring an international level event to Reggio Emilia, capable of standing out for its artistic proposal, vision and production quality”. They also confirm that, beyond the cessation of collaboration with Milani, Vittorio Della Casa and Moment Factory (two of the most important companies involved, live institutions at an international level) are still in the game.

In the meantime, one has also come out new episode of “Pieces”the podcast hosted by Andrea Laffranchi, Luca Dondoni and Paolo Giordano, which raises further questions and doubts about logistics. In addition to wondering if there is a plan for the flows and outflows between the dates of July 17th and 18th (those of Travis Scott and Kanye West, in which tens of thousands of people are expected to empty and then fill the spaces of the RCF Arena again, complete with nightly DJ sets), the podcast also details some rumors circulating among industry insiders. In particular, those relating to the fees of the artistic cast (which would amount to over 25 million euros, of which 10 million for Travis Scott alone, who usually gets “only” 3; the note of further sensation is that the tickets sold so far for his date would be “only” around 20,000, and that he would play in a slot of around 75 minutes). Furthermore, the podcast always reports, it seems that no Italian supplier of equipment, barriers and stages has agreed to work with the festival, another anomaly in a national panorama which is based above all on collaboration with local providers. In short, there are still many doubts: we therefore await further developments, which as always we will report to you.