For their return to Hellfest this past summer, Parisian post-hardcore experimentalists Point Mort decided to give the Warzone crowd something they’d never played before. They wrote a song with proper verses and a chorus people could pick up straight away, which is pretty unusual for a band whose music can jump between complicated metal arrangements, hardcore, pop, rap and electronics.
They called it “Celebrity Spin“, saved it for the very end of the set and sent flowers and confetti flying across the stage. The whole concert is now being released as “Live at Hellfest” through Almost Famous on 13 November.
The band had recorded and filmed the performance from the beginning, though they only decided to make an album of it after seeing the response. Four years had passed since their first Hellfest appearance, and there was quite a lot they wanted to do differently this time, especially with the stage production.
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It also gave them an opportunity to try a different approach to songwriting.
“Choruses are a rarity in the way we write songs. It seemed like an interesting challenge,” vocalist Sam Pillay told us. “So, we came up with the idea of creating this brand-new, previously unreleased track, a sort of gift for the people who’d come to see us.”
They ended up with something catchier than they’d expected and realised it would be a good way to finish the show. The studio recording of “Celebrity Spin” opens with vocal harmonies before Sam’s harsher delivery comes in over a pronounced groove. The song is built around a direct, memorable refrain, with plenty of room for the audience to join in.
Main promotional photo: Jessica Salitra. Hellfest live takes: Jorge El Alaoui Cortes.
There’s a funny little connection between the song’s title and what the band were about to experience themselves. “Celebrity Spin” plays on Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” and the world of Courtney Love, with the words dealing with that brief taste of fame musicians get when they’re playing to an enormous festival crowd. For a short while, people are watching, cheering, singing along and giving you their complete attention. Then the set finishes, everybody goes home and normal life carries on.
Point Mort had written the track specifically for one of those moments.
The decision also says quite a bit about how the band have changed since their earlier records. “Look at the Sky” introduced their more winding, post-hardcore side, and the debut full-length “Pointless…” pushed things further. By the time their second album, “Le point de non-retour”, came out in April 2025, they’d added plenty of pop, rap and electronic ideas to the heavier stuff.
Olivier Millot’s approach to guitar writing helps explain some of that complexity. When we featured Point Mort on IDIOTEQ last April, he was talking about studying classical and jazz harmony, working through piano and orchestral scores by Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, and regularly listening to The Dillinger Escape Plan’s “Miss Machine” and “One of Us Is the Killer”.
There’s also a long-standing interest in doing their own visual work. Bassist Damien Hubert and Jessica Salitra previously worked together on the video for “Le point de non-retour”, studying David Fincher’s video for A Perfect Circle’s “Judith” shot by shot. They also made a documentary about the recording of that album, which the band tracked live with Amaury Sauvé at The Apiary in Laval.
So the amount of attention they put into the Hellfest show was quite consistent with what they’ve been doing for years.
Their first appearance in 2022 took place early in the day inside the Valley tent. This time they had an afternoon slot on the Warzone, a stage suited to the more aggressive set they wanted to play. There was also a considerably bigger production to manage.
“Naturally, we have more stage experience now. The tracks are different, more aggressive, and the biggest change compared to our first performance is our stage production,” Olivier said. “We’ve invested a lot of time into it to offer something distinct, especially for a scene that’s meant to be very hardcore.”
With Sam out front, Olivier and Aurélien Sauzereau on guitars, Damien on bass and Simon Belot behind the drums, the band had prepared a show involving a gigantic backdrop and masses of fresh flowers. They covered the rear platform with them, rehearsed the technical and musical parts of the set and planned how everything would work on the day.
Once they started unloading at Hellfest, they still had plenty to sort out themselves. The drum riser wasn’t in the right position, wireless frequencies were causing problems and there was a lot of equipment to organise. The last technical problems were being dealt with just minutes before they were supposed to begin.
And then, as Simon fired the opening sample, something else went wrong.
Point Mort were supposed to start with Cypress Hill. On stage, they could hear Queensrÿche, who happened to be starting their Mainstage set at exactly the same time. They exchanged confused looks and carried on.
The audience had heard the right sample all along.
“What’s brilliant is that the audience could hear the Cypress Hill sample perfectly. Just as well, actually. So you can’t hear it in the concert video either,” Sam said. “No big surprises when listening back to the concert. The real surprises happened live.”
The problems that had occupied the band’s attention during those final minutes were largely invisible to the crowd. Out front, Point Mort were getting one of the biggest reactions of their career.
There were leeks flying through the air, apparently a regular Warzone tradition, along with people crowdsurfing and a pit that kept growing as the set went on. Sam even spotted Xavier, a fan who had become a friend through years of gigs, being carried above the audience in his seat. Those were among the moments she remembered in the personal Hellfest account she wrote afterwards, collecting the things that had stuck in her mind once the excitement settled down.
“The Bent Neck Lady” produced one of the more unexpected reactions. Point Mort had included the song to give people a taste of their wider musical range, knowing it would stand out from the more aggressive parts of the set. Its lyrics deal with anxiety and an obsessive fear of death, and the opening is particularly demanding for Sam.
With little opportunity to sort out her sound beforehand, she found herself almost singing a cappella while the noise of the audience came through her monitors. She could barely hear what she was doing. Then the heavier section arrived and a large circle pit opened up.
It was a surprising reaction to one of their more personal songs. “Olympe” brought back a piece of their 2022 Hellfest appearance, and “Iecur” gave them a chance to enjoy one of the looser parts of their catalogue.
During “Skinned Teeth”, Sam headed down towards the pit, climbed over the crash barrier and threw herself into the crowd. She’d been worrying about the distance from the stage beforehand, and once she was out there, getting back was another matter. Somebody in the audience eventually grabbed her arm and helped her reach the barrier in time.
“Also, for me, I wasn’t quite sure how it would go for me going down to the crash barrier and throwing myself into the crowd. It was very far away!” she told us.
By then they were getting close to “Celebrity Spin“, the song they’d written to finish everything off. The band gave the audience a quick explanation so people could join in, and the set ended with confetti falling across the stage. Sam had spent much of the day wondering whether that part of the production would actually work.
“Right up until the last moment, I was also really scared that the confetti wouldn’t work. But overall, everything went just as we’d imagined. And above all, we had a brilliant time, absolutely packed with emotion. It went by in a flash.”
Before leaving, Point Mort took their bows and handed out little bouquets of fresh flowers they’d put together that morning. Their lighting technician Em had been there throughout, watching from the control position, and Sam made a point of remembering her alongside the people in the crowd. The five musicians had spent a long time preparing this one show, which was suddenly finished.
Sam has a wonderfully simple description of the kind of gig they were trying to put on.
“Yes, we like to think we gave the audience a gig that reflects who we are. A “delicate struggle”.”
The positive reaction encouraged them to go back through the recordings and put the concert out properly. They’d already decided to film and record the show, but the live album came afterwards. That distinction also explains some of the work that went into getting the finished version ready.
Anyone who’s played a complicated set in front of a crowd that size will recognise the kind of problems Olivier talks about. There were mistakes made in the rush of the show, along with technical issues between the mixing console and the equipment on stage. Point Mort went through the recordings and corrected what they could.
“We tried to smooth out the most glaring mistakes. There were also some technical glitches in the connection between the sound console and the stage setup. We managed to iron out those issues, but if you listen very closely, you might notice a few cuts that we couldn’t quite fix.”
It’s a pretty candid thing to say when you’re about to release a live album. The band worked on the obvious problems and left some edits that particularly attentive listeners might catch. Olivier makes no great secret of it.
The video gives another view of the same afternoon. Directed by Jessica Salitra and Damien Hubert, the already released “Celebrity Spin” clip uses footage from Hellfest, including the crowd and the final shower of confetti. It’s accompanied by a separately recorded studio version of the song, made by Olivier and Simon, mixed by Étienne Clauzel and mastered by Thibault Chaumont at Deviant Lab.
The full “Live at Hellfest” release documents the Warzone performance itself, with the concert footage accompanying the audio album. Artwork comes from Chatouille, the name under which Sam also works as a visual artist.
There’s another reason “Celebrity Spin” is likely to remain an interesting part of this period for Point Mort. The band found they could write something direct, finish it relatively quickly and have a great time playing it. A big change of pace from songs that can take considerably longer to put together and become demanding to reproduce live.
“Composing this track was a real pleasure, and it took less time to put together,” Olivier said. “It’s a nice change of pace compared to other songs we’ve released, which were much more challenging to master, both for recording and for live performances.”
Sam enjoyed being able to concentrate on getting the audience involved.
“It’s such a fun track to play. A song where, for once, you don’t need to think too hard. Also, it’s a nice change to have such direct interaction with the audience, to get them moving and singing along with us.”
They’ve come away interested in doing more with that kind of writing, although there are no promises that the next Point Mort record will be full of conventional choruses. Olivier likes the possibility of songs that are a little easier to play and more immediately accessible at gigs.
“Writing music that’s a bit more fun and more generous toward the audience is a direction we’d like to explore. That said, since we do everything based on instinct, it’s possible that this might just be a one-off.”
Sam is also keen to keep the more demanding side of their music going. The next batch of songs is already taking shape, and there are still plenty of things the five of them want to try together.
“But we’re all still keen on the ‘composition laboratory’ that Point Mort’s songwriting process can offer. Judging by the new tracks taking shape, diversity will remain one of our defining features.”
For the moment, they’re giving people the opportunity to go back to a show that Sam remembers largely in flashes, with a few particularly clear memories of people in the audience, flowers scattered around the stage and that final rain of confetti. The cameras and recorders caught a lot of what happened during those 45 minutes, and Point Mort have spent the months since making it available to everyone who was there, and everyone who missed it.
“Live at Hellfest” will be released on 13 November 2026 through Almost Famous, with digital audio and concert video confirmed. The studio version of “Celebrity Spin” is already available through Point Mort’s Bandcamp, and the accompanying video. The album and concert video will follow on release day.
