If day three was rock and roll, day four was something rowdier: punk, hardcore, and metalcore taking over the Domaine de Saint-Cloud in a way that shifted the entire character of the crowd. More moshing, more walls of death, more raw physical energy than any previous day of the festival. It was less polished than the days before it, and considerably more fun for it.
The Novelists opened the day and set an immediate, joyful tone. The French band’s frontwoman brought a full girl-power energy to the Main Stage, changing outfits mid-set, at one point appearing in an elaborate princess-style dress that made for one of the day’s best visual moments purely because of the contrast: absolutely shredding on guitar while dressed like she’d wandered in from a fairy tale. Playful, high-energy, and a genuinely fun way to kick things off.
Lambrini Girls brought a very different energy entirely. The British punk trio have built their reputation on confrontational, politically charged performances, and their Rock en Seine set didn’t hold back, with an explicit anti-Marine Le Pen message projected during the set that landed hard with a crowd that was already primed for it. The pit responded accordingly: walls of death, constant moshing, chaotic and physical from start to finish. Loud, political, and exactly as intense as advertised.
AFI were the surprise of the day, possibly of the whole festival. Seeing them live for the first time, in pouring rain that somehow made the whole thing feel more intense rather than less, was a genuine jaw-drop moment. Davey Havok was a blur of motion for the entire set, hopping across the stage nonstop, that unmistakable moustache doing its own visual work in the downpour. Nobody walked into that set expecting it to be a highlight of the festival. Everybody walked out having changed their mind.
Landmvrks brought the day’s big homecoming moment. The Marseille metalcore band, playing the Main Stage in front of a home crowd, leaned into the occasion with heavy pyro and festival-scale production that matched the size of the moment. The crowd responded with total abandon, moshing hard throughout, the kind of reception that a French band gets exactly once in a career on a stage this size. A genuinely cool, high-impact set.
Amyl and the Sniffers kept the girl-power thread going, Amy Taylor overflowing with the kind of physical, charismatic energy that has become her trademark. The crowd was a touch more relaxed compared to the intensity of the sets around it, but still fully engaged, still fully there for the punk attitude she brings to every inch of a stage.
Then came Turnstile, and the only real question of the day was why they weren’t on the Main Stage. Half an hour before their set even started, the crowd was already overflowing well beyond what the stage could comfortably hold, and by the time they actually played, it had turned into one of the single biggest crowd moments of the entire festival. The energy was completely off the charts, the chaos constant, and the whole thing raised legitimate questions about crowd safety given how badly the space overflowed. From a pure audience-management standpoint, they could have filled the Main Stage twice over. Long live Turnstile.
Deftones closed the night, Chino Moreno running and leaping across the stage for the entirety of a heavy, beat-driven set that provided exactly the kind of finale the day demanded. They started at 11pm, noticeably later than any other headliner across the festival so far, which made for a genuinely late night, but the crowd had energy to spare after a day built entirely around raw physicality. A solid, heavy way to close out a day that felt like a different festival entirely from the three before it: rawer, louder, and less concerned with polish than with pure release.
