The dream became a reality. I organized a metal concert at the médiathèque! Yes ! What an adventure it was!

The project was born following the March 2025 closure of Le Barde Atomique—an Ecquevilly-based studio and club dedicated to alternative music — which left a recognized shortage of spaces in the territory where we work dedicated to alternative music. And then the name came - Bibliohell, inspired by a metal festival Hellfest, and word biblio, as a library.

Bibliohell's objectives were :

Concert

Bibliohell happened 16th May 2026, when we offered an evening dedicated to rock and metal music, combining a concert with the exhibition about the history of rock music.

Concert happened in the Salle de spectacle of the médiathèque, and it started with Kloahk, industrial rock group, who created an awesome ambiance with their mystic music and their appearance - they had white facepaint. After them played Tumblwudd, a stoner alternative group, who filled the room with energy. Each group played for 45 minutes to one hour, so the concert finished at 21:30.

There were more people than we expected at the event. At the beginning there was around 40 persons, and it was progressively getting more and more, until 70 or 80 persons. I stopped counting at 71. So that's a great success. There were some friends and family of the groups, and there were library users. There were even people I never saw. This result is all the more positive given that the event took place during the Ascension weekend, a period when many residents were away due to the long weekend.

The public was intergenerational - children, adolescents, adults and seniors. Even my four yeard old daughter came :)

To ensure high-quality technical conditions, we reguested some technical support to our employer, and they sent a sound technician and a light technician. Their support contributed to the technical and artistic quality of the evenint - sound was fantastic, light also! It felt like a real concert !

Atmosphere on the concert was fantastic, the public participated and groups were happy also.

Since we didn't have budget for this project, the bands played for free. We are really grateful to them for that. The technicians were paid by our employer. And the poster for the event was created by girlfriend of the drummer of Tumblwudd.

During the concert I recorded some videos, with hope to make a small movie, not for public, but for my personal archives. Before the concert, I asked colleagues from Micro Folie to make a press on the t-shirt, so they made Bibliohell t-shirts. In that way I have a memory of it in a t-shirt also :)

Exposition

Exposition "L’histoire du rock’n’roll" exhibition (13 panels) was on display from April 28 to May 17, 2026, in the corridor of the médiathèque.

This exhibition, on loan for free from RDM — our CD served to accompany the concert and to:

Audience and feedback

Concert attracted an audience from all around the area where médiatheque is, including Les Mureaux, Orgeval, and Mantes-la-Jolie. We even met a bassist from the local legendary trash metal band Iceland. That's cool !

Concert gained some increased visibility thanks to the promotion by the local radio show Republic Rock, and a mention in the newspaper "Le Courrier de Mantes".

Since this was a big experiment, to see will the metal music in the médiathèque work, we made a survey available to the audience in both paper and digital (QR code) formats. We wanted to collect as much feedback possible, so we can create a project for our direction, to propose Bibliohell as a annual event. The survey yielded 14 online responses and 14 paper responses.

Feedback was very positive, highlighting the general atmosphere, the quality of the bands, the sound and lighting and the originality of the cultural offering. Everybody expressed a desire for second edition and form more rock/metal events at the médiathèque.

Some of "negative" feedback was that we didn't have a food truck, where people could buy food, and a bar, to buy drinks and BEER. Everybody wanted beer. :D

Review and perspective

I believe that this inaugural edition of Bibliohell was an artistic and cultural success.

Key outcomes of the event are:

The project also strengthened the image of médiathèque as a cultural venue open to contemporary music and capable of hosting innovative event formats.

Anyway, for me, in a way, it's a crown in my career as a music librarian, so far. I can't believe we managed to pull this out and that we had a success. I hope we will manage to organize another in the future :)

Long live METAL!