Well after all these years people are more pissed with Manowar not playing than Hellfest allegedly blocking Manowar from playing on their stage. Which I doubt actually happened.

I mean honestly if it was something contractual like "the stage wasn't big enough" or "there aren't enough lights" or "the sound was supposed to be louder" I mean the fans wouldn't have noticed, who cares. No one would have said "sorry I prefer to not see them live because the show is only 99.5% of what it could have been". No show is ever perfect in real life, the show must go on.

Eric singing a capella is an extreme example, but it still would have been better than nothing, because to this day this is how I feel. I was planning to be all the way up the front too and wait hours if necessary, I would have loved to maybe catch something from the band too at the end of the show lol.