bloodstock open air
12 - 14 August 2011 Catton Hall, Derby, UK
background
Appearing in a rather different format in 2001 Bloodstock has evolved to be one of the UK’s premier festivals. Born out of a desire to build a festival that hadn’t been seen since the days of Monsters of Rock, Vince Brotheridge and Paul Gregory came together to bring us Bloodstock. They met through a mutual friend and it soon became apparent that although their backgrounds were very different their taste in music was much the same. After many meetings they formed Amust4music, the umbrella for all things Bloodstock related.
The first headlining band confirmed to play the 2001 edition of the show was Saxon. This came about as Paul had met Biff Byford and the band back in 1984. He had been commissioned to do their artwork and stage designs for the album Crusader. Paul has since painted ten albums for the band to date and has become firm friends with the band. Saxon were very supportive of the festival and were happy to headline the first one day show alongside the likes of Primal Fear, Glenn Hughes and Blaze.
Following on from the successful indoor event in 2001 Vince and Paul went straight into organising the next festival even though they’d made a considerable financial loss (which they expected in the early days). The festival audience rose from a rather impressive 700 to over 1500 in year two, something that was no doubt influenced by the success of the previous year and bands such as Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray heading up the lineup.
2004 saw the festival continue with a more classic theme for the Friday evening with Gamma Ray headlining the evening, supported by Threshold, Sinergy, Illuminatus and Infobia. Children of Bodom headlined the more diverse Saturday lineup alongside Sonata Arctica, Primal Fear, Evergrey and more.
As the Derby Assembly Rooms only allowed for a maximum attendance of 2 500 fansl, Vince and Paul decided to branch out and this was the beginning of Bloodstock Open Air as we know it. This would allow for numbers to increase to 10 000. Wacken Open Air stepped in to support the guys on their quest to provide the UK with such an outdoor festival and offered them advice on how to build on their already formidable Indoor festival. Sebastian Bach headlined the Friday night with Children of Bodom coming back and headlining the Saturday after such a great response the year before.
2005’s Indoor festival had the largest number of bands over the two days and saw the likes of HammerFall headlining the Friday alongside bands such as StormWarrior, Metalium and Reckless Tide filling in slots throughout the day. Within Temptation headlined the Saturday night following on from the diverse lineup of Amon Amarth, After Forever, Bob Catley, Raven, Iron Savior, SuidAkrA, Season's End and Rise to Addiction. The Darwin Stage also saw bands such as Cathedral and Soliloquy.
2006’s Bloodstock Open Air built on the success of the previous year and saw bands such as Stratovarius, Edguy, Rage, Bal-Sagoth, Atheist, Metal Church, Nocturnal Rites, Turisas and Ensiferum playing alongside each other. The crowd size had increased and the festival proved to be very popular amongst bands and fans alike.
Sadly 2006 saw the final (for now) Indoor festival take place and brought us the likes of My Dying Bride, Primal Fear, Brainstorm, Machine Men and many more. Fans were obviously upset by the departure of this, now, institution in UK metal but Bloodstock Open Air has always promised to be something special in any fan’s calendar.
2007 turned out to be a record breaking year for the Open Air festival with an extra day added and the biggest lineup in the festival’s history being secured. Testament headlined the Thursday night, with Lacuna Coil headlining Friday and In Flames the Saturday.
The website saw a major overhaul and promotion played an important factor. A new feature was added to the site, with unsigned bands being able to upload their videos allowing thousands of people to view them and vote for a 'winner'. The prize would enable the ‘winner’ to open the main stage on the Thursday evening. The winning band, Sight of Emptiness, flew out from Costa Rica and opened proceedings for BOA 2007.
Promotion in stores and in magazines / websites proved to be very important and having the wettest summer in over 50 years didn’t put off over 5 000 metal fans who braved the weather and went on to make last year’s outdoor festival the most successful yet.
2008 proved to be no exception with bands including: Nightwish, Týr, Opeth, Helloween, Soilwork, Swallow the Sun, Iced Earth, Dimmu Borgir and many more.
2009 was another great year for Bloodstock with performances from Amon Amarth, The Haunted, Moonspell, Satyricon, Arch Enemy and a whole host of others. The festival was closed by none other than Europe!
2010 marked the celebration of Bloodstock's 10th anniversary and it's gearing up to be the best yet! With performances from firm favourites Children of Bodom. Sonata Arctica, Opeth and Edguy the festival will play host to an array of artists including the Devin Townsend Project, Doro, Behemoth, Amorphis, Gorgoroth and plenty more. Friday the 13th sees the festival host a Friday 13th Fancy Dress... along with the introduction of the Bloodstock phone apps this year! Haven't got your ticket yet!? What are you waiting for?
Keep checking the official site for more information.
line up
2011
Previous bands by year
2010 Amorphis, Andromeda, Benediction, Black Spiders, Bloodbath, Bonded by Blood, Cannibal Corpse, Children of Bodom, Devin Townsend Project, Doro, Edguy, Ensiferum, Evile, Fear Factory, Gojira, Gorgoroth, Gwar, Holy Moses, Korpiklaani, Leaves' Eyes, Meshuggah, Obituary, Onslaught, Opeth, Powerwolf, The Prophecy, Rage, Ross the Boss, Snakebite, Sonata Arctica, Suffocation, Sylosis,Twisted Sister
2009 Abgott, Amon Amarth, Anathema, Anterior, Apocalyptica, Arch Enemy, Arthemis, Battlelore, Beholder, Blind Guardian, Blitzkrieg, Candlemass, Carcass, Celesty, Cradle of Filth, Darkness Dynamite, Edens Curse, Enslaved, Entombed, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Equilibrium, Europe, Girlschool, Godsized, The Haunted, Katatonia, Insomnium, Kreator, Malefice, Million Dollar Reload, Moonspell, Municipal Waste, The Rotted, Sabaton, Satyricon, Saxon, Sodom, Tribe, Turisas, Uncle Rotter, Wolf, Xerath
2008
Alestorm, Akercocke, As I Lay Dying, At the Gates, Cloudscape, Communic, Crowning Glory, Destruction. Dimmu Borgir, Eluveitie, Evile, Evil Scarecrow, Grand Magus, Heaven's Basement, Helloween, Iced Earth, Katklysm, Mob Rules, Moonsorrow, Napalm Death, Nightwish, Opeth, Overkill, Praying Mantis, Primal Fear, Rise to Remain, Saint Deamon, Soilwork, Soulfly, Swallow the Sun, Týr
2007
Arch Enemy, Benediction, Beyond All Reason, Dark Tranquility, Dream Evil, Epica, Exploder, Finntroll, Firewind, Freedom Call, Head On, In Flames, Kiuas, Korpiklaani, Lacuna Coil, Legion of the Damned, Memfis, Nevermore, Rise to Addiction, Sabbat, Scar Symmetry, Sight of Emptiness, Testament, Voodo Six, Wolf
2006 (BOA)
Ashtar, Atheist, Bal-Sagoth, Beyond All Reason, Callenish Circle, Deadeye, Deadweight, Edguy, Ensiferum, Evile, Headless Cross, Kingsize Blues, Kyrbgrinder, Metal Church, Nephwrack, Nocturnal Rites, Pitiful Reign, Pyramaze, Rage, Season's End, Sicfelt, Solice, Stratovarius, Turisas
2006 (Indoor)
Agankast,
Awaken,
Axel Rudi Pell,
Beyond Afterlife,
Brainstorm,
Captive Audio,
Deadfall,
Deathstars,
Died Smiling,
Eden,
Enemy Uknown,
Illuminatus,
Iziah,
Machine Men,
Mael Mordha,
Majesty,
Marshall Law,
My Dying Bride,
Omnium Gatherum,
Onslaught,
Primal Fear,
Savage Circus,
Spellblast,
Steel Tormentor,
Sworn Amongst,
To-Mera,
Tourettes Syndrome
2005 (BOA)
Breed77, Children of Bodom, Edguy, Evergrey, Fourwaykill, Gotthard, Humanity, Masterplan, Mostly Autumn, Panic Cell, Paradise Lost, Sebastian Bach
2005 (Indoor)
After Forever, Amon Amarth, Balance of Silence, Bob Catley, Cathedral, Conquest of Steel, Deliverance, Dreadnought, HammerFall, Iron Savior, Jesus Fix, Metalium, MFKTZ, Osmium, Projekt, Reckless Tide, Rise to Addiction, Season’s End, Soliliquy, StormWarrior, SuidAkrA, Warchild, Within Temptation, Zillah
2004
Balance of Power, Children of Bodom, Cruachan, Edenbridge, Evergrey, Fourwaykill, Gamma Ray, Gutworm, Humanity, Illuminatus, Infobia, Intense, Invey, Liquid Sky, Nowhere Near the Garden, Panic Cell, Primal Fear, Rezin 69, Season’s End, Seven Years Dead, Sinergy, Sonata Arctica, Super Massive Object, The Prophecy, Threshold
2003
5th Man Down, Bates Motel, Biomechanical, Blaze, Bumsnogger, Cruel Humanity, Dragonforce, Edguy, Fourwaykill, Illuminatus, Invey, Masterplan, Mercury Rain, Nightwish, Ninedenine, Paradise Lost, Power Quest, Saracen, Saxon, Waylander
2002
Bal-Sagoth, Balance of Power, Biomechanical, Blind Guardian, Diamond Head, Elvenking, Enemymaker, Freedom Call, Gamma Ray, Infobia, Primordial, Return to the Sabbat, Threshold, Twelvepointhead
2001
Area 54, Blaze, Bloodstream, Consumed, Dirty Deeds, Evoke, Freebase, Glenn Hughes, Occupational Hazzard, Orange Goblin, Primal Fear, Return to the Sabbat, Saxon, Shadows Keep, Skyclad, Underule
information
tickets
Tickets are now onsale here.
See below for general information which can be found here:
Opening Times Age Restrictions Proof of Age ATM Machines Cloakroom Site Map Lost and Found Food and Drink Camping Barow Buddies Campsite Info Hub Samaritans Toilets Showers Campervans / Caravans Disabled Facilities Parking Litter Recycling Medical Welfare Safety & Security What to Bring Do NOT Bring Signing Tent Phone Charging Filming Where to Stay Useful Contacts
Travel Information
information about catton hall
Information regarding the location and travel directions to the venue can be found here.
Catton Hall is located at the centre of a triangle of towns, Lichfield, Burton on Trent and Tamworth. Each town is approximately 6 - 8 miles from the BOA venue so if you prefer not to camp at the festival site you can always stay in a hotel or B&B.
where to stay
Camping is available onsite. Alternatively you can find information regarding accommodation at the following sites:
taxi information
Lichfield Dial A Cab - 01543 255 155 City Cars (Midlands) Ltd - 01543 254 999
Burton on Trent Seven Eleven Cars - 01283 711 800 New Street Taxis - 01283 515 544 Station Taxis - 01283 532 000
Tamworth Bennett's Taxis - 01827 544 44 Tamworth Taxis - 01287 555 95
merchandise
You can purchase official Bloodstock merchandise at this location.
links
Official Bloodstock site
photos
Click on a photo to see the full set
2011
Sunday 14 August
Saturday 13 August
Friday 12 August
2010
Sunday 15 August
Saturday 14 August
Friday 13 August
2009
Sunday 16 August
Saturday 15 August
Friday 14 August
Thursday 13 August
2008 (BOA)
2006 (BOA)
2006
2005 (BOA)
2005
2004
reviews
2011 - BOA
It’s the second weekend of August so that means it must be time for another Premiership football season – oh, and of course it’s the annual pilgrimage to Catton Hall to indulge in some alcohol and heavy metal in the middle of a field in Derbyshire courtesy of those folks at Bloodstock Towers (sic).
First up though an apology to all of the bands that played in the SOPHIE stage on the Thursday as I had just about got my tent up as the first one started and didn’t catch any of them as I was indulging in the social side of festivalling and catching up with friends I’d not seen for far too long! Apologies too to the majority of SOPHIE and New Blood stage bands this year as I barely saw any of them either – simply due to the large amount of Ronnie James Dio stage bands I wanted to catch (and having the professional courtesy to watch at least part of the set of even those mainstage bands I wasn’t too fussed on).
Friday
So, apologies over and done with, on with the reviews! First up were The Defiled and, well, to be polite they were a false start of the magnitude of Usain Bolt’s in the recent World Championship’s 100m final! It’s like someone’s taken all the worst aspects of the perennial heavy metal whipping boys – Nu-metal and Metalcore – and combined them into a single band. I’m sure they’ll appeal to some but certainly not me I’m afraid!
Next up though were Wolf, who I will admit that I’ve never really taken to on record, despite them being the riff-heavy kind of heavy / power metal that I actually like but they were massively enjoyable live. The odd sound problem aside – most notably the bass being so loud it completely overpowered everything else at points – the band’s mix of driving riffs and catchy choruses won the crowd over from the off with a singalong to K-141 Kursk being a notable highlight. I still remain to be convinced by their recorded work but I’d definitely make the effort to see the band live again.
Following Wolf were Forbidden, one of the great unsung heroes of the Bay Area thrash scene who should probably have been much bigger than they were but ‘fell down the cracks’ so to speak. It was great to hear songs off those classic first two albums live, the Omega Wave songs fitted in well. Vocalist Russ Anderson’s voice is still strong and powerful and, despite missing the odd high note, he proved himself an able frontman managing to whip up the first circle pits of many this Bloodstock during the set. As you may expect the biggest response was for set closer Chalice of Blood which is surely one of the all-time great heavy metal songs! A pleasure to see a classic band and hopefully they’ll grace our shores again sooner rather than later.
After a quick turnaround the next band on the Ronnie James Dio stage were Finland’s Poisonblack, probably best known for being the current band of ex-Sentenced frontman Ville Laihiala. I must admit that while Ville is a more than able frontman I did find Poisonblack’s material somewhat on the bland side with no real riffs or catchy hooks and I found my attention wandering a lot during their set. At times there is comparison to be made with latter day Sentenced material but where that band were both heavy and atmospheric Poisonblack aren’t really either and just fall between the “gothic” and “metal” stools and were a bit of a damp squib really.
Triptykon are also probably best known for the frontman’s former band – in this case Celtic Frost legend Tom G. Warrior. They’re also both battleship heavy and very atmospheric. Starting off with Celtic Frost favourite Procreation of the Wicked won over the masses assembled in front of the stage from the very start and Circle of the Tyrants saw a rain shower start as the opening chords were hit and stop as the song finished! The Triptykon songs played might have been seen as odd choices with Goetia and The Prolonging taking up roughly half an hour of their set time between them but the sheer power and atmosphere of the songs kept people interested and Tom looked overwhelmed the “Tom G. Warrior” chants during the set.
Following Triptykon were fellow Swiss technical-thrashers Coroner, a band whose first demo featured Tom G. Warrior, raising hopes of a guest appearance during today’s set. While that never happened Coroner did play an excellent set of well executed technical thrash showing just how musical thrash metal can be without losing its aggressive edge. They’re not a band that put on much of a ‘show’ but their music is more than interesting enough to hold people’s attention – and heavy enough to get a fair few heads banging as well!
Continuing the thrash metal on the mainstage was German legends Kreator. Now, in all honesty, Kreator’s setlists can be a bit predictable – and I’m sure anyone who has seen them before can guess the vast majority, if not all of the set Kreator played today. When they’re actually playing though it’s hard to argue with that setlist as the likes of Extreme Aggression, Flag of Hate and Pleasure to Kill are all classics in their own right and the sheer level of aggression in the performance is astonishing – particularly for a band of their vintage! Having said the band’s setlists can be a bit predictable, it was nice to hear Endless Pain getting a well deserved airing and the songs from the latest album Hordes of Chaos fitted right in alongside the classics. Kreator are another band I hope to see again soon live, and with any luck some more old favourites such as Under the Guillotine, Riot of Violence and Terror Zone might make it into the set alongside the established classics and newer songs.
It’s at this stage that I encountered that most horrible of festival problems – the band clash. While The Devin Townsend Project were next up on the mainstage I’ve seen them three times in the preceding twelve months so favoured seeing Lawnmower Deth, a band that due to many Spinal Tap-esque calamities, I’d never actually seen before on the SOPHIE stage. Now, I know that I could have actually seen twenty minutes or so of DTP before heading to see Lawnmower Deth but even cider fuelled rocking beasts like me need to eat sometime so I quickly grabbed some food before legging it to the SOPHIE tent – which by the looks of it spends most of the rest of the year as a circus big top! Lawnmower Deth are pure, undiluted fun and their set features a crowdsurf race (and a rant about some deathcore band or other that have stolen their idea for doing it), a man in a dress bouncing on (Satan’s big old) trampoline, starting an accidental feud with the aforementioned Devin Townsend and much more high-jinks in-between (and occasionally during) their short, sharp blasts of noise and it’s impossible to watch them without a big, silly grin on your face. Even the fact that Seventh Church of the Apocalyptic Lawnmower didn’t get played tonight didn’t spoil the show for me.
Moving back outside to watch the first headliner of the weekend, W.A.S.P., I must admit that they’re a band I’ve never had more than a passing interest in. Sure I know stuff like I Wanna Be Somebody and Wild Child but while I enjoy those songs they’ve never really given me the urge to check out their albums either. Having said that, despite not knowing most of their songs I really enjoyed the majority of the band’s set, with Wild Child being a big singalong favourite and a stand-out song from the whole weekend for me. By the end of the set things were beginning to get dragged out with overlong crowd singalongs and solo spots but while I’m still not likely to purchase a W.A.S.P. album (well, maybe a Best Of...) I’d definitely watch them again if given the chance and they were a, mostly, enjoyable end to the first night’s festivities.
Saturday
After shaking off the hangover cobwebs courtesy of Mr Teas’ quite splendid tea and a bacon butty from the Hall’s Dorset Smokery it was time for Skeletonwitch to open the main stag proceedings on Saturday and whilst I’d heard the band’s name bandied around I’d never actually heard their music. Playing a brand of blackened thrash not too dissimilar to Witchery, full of fast thrashy riffs just made for headbanging and the occasional blastbeat, they were a great way to start the day.
After Skeletonwitch came a band that I’ve always been somewhat confused by, the Scottish-obsessed Germans Grave Digger who take to the stage with an intro tape playing and a lone ‘piper’ dressed as the Grim Reaper walks out to take centre stage, until the rest of the band follow him and he promptly shuffles off behind his keyboards – a sight so ludicrous that even the now legendarily un-smiling onstage security guard seemed to be holding himself back from breaking into fits of laughter at! Musically Grave Digger have got some good speed-metal riffs and, for the most part, don’t try and cover them up with several layers of keyboards and pseudo-choral parts like some of their contemporaries do – their main problem for me is their singer has one of those voices that seems to be permanently out of tune and is always rushing to fit twice as many words into a line than actually fit there. Their fans seemed to lap them up but I remained as bemused by them as I always have been.
Following the confusing Germans was a band that, despite the fact that they’ve been around since the mid-1980’s, are still best known for being Nightwish bassist Marco Hietala’s ‘other’ band. Tarot are another band that I’ve never really ‘got’, in large part due to Marco’s vocals; In Nightwish I think he really shines as a back-up vocalist and he really adds an extra dimension to that band and yet here, in his own band, I find his voice utterly grating as a lead vocalist and I found his long, rambling song intros far more entertaining than when they were playing music – perhaps they could book Marco as one of next year’s comedians?
Finntroll have a reputation as a happy-happy folk metal band, so it may have come as a bit of a surprise to some when they hit the stage with blastbeats, genuinely heavy guitar riffs and vocals that sound as if Vreth is intentionally trying to vomit up his own intestinal tract. Of course the happy folk melodies and jigs are all a part of Finntroll’s sound – but they aren’t quite as lightweight and fluffy as their reputation may suggest and there is a bit of an edge to their music too, something that sets them apart from most of their contemporaries in the somewhat overloaded folk metal scene (some would say bandwagon...) these days. The crowd reaction to Finntroll is immense, from windmill headbanging through their faster, heavier parts to jig-pits and even a spontaneous (and absolutely huge!) conga line forming during their bouncier songs – with, as you’d expect, Trollhammeren being the song that had seemingly the entire arena trying to dance ever more stupidly! The perfect festival band.
Following Finntroll was ex-Emperor frontman Ihsahn making his first UK festival appearance as a solo artist. Ihsahn now has three solo albums to his name and all of this 45 minute set was drawn from those with no nods back to his previous band – which, given the set length was probably a wise choice. The band aren’t as visually exciting as Finntroll, with noticeably less movement onstage – indeed it’s the heavily dreadlocked keyboardist who seems the most active, swinging his locks around during the heavier sections of the band’s music, but the performance is no less enjoyable. What’s nice to see is that while Ihsahn himself, obviously, takes centre stage there is a definite band vibe there and it’s not just “frontman + faceless session musos” up there. Ihsahn himself switches between clean and growled vocals with ease (and is ably backed up by the aforementioned keyboardist providing some great harmony vocals at times – and even taking the lead during Unhealer) and displays just how good a guitarist he is, switching between six and eight stringed variants depending on the song. The progressive nature of songs like Called by the Fire and set-closer Frozen Lakes on Mars may not have been to everyone’s taste but I thoroughly enjoyed the set.
Next up were Wintersun, a band who were booked to play this event last year but dropped out to concentrate on working on the band’s second album Time – an album that is rapidly becoming the Chinese Democracy of melodic Finnish metal!
Therion were the next band to take the stage and, despite rumours of the band playing older stuff and a heavier set what we actually got was a fairly ballad heavy set. Therion are one of the bands who I feel can actually pull off the symphonic metal sound though and have a grasp of how to blend the two elements without losing the ‘metal edge’ and while their set choice was perhaps questionable for a festival crowd, perhaps in part leading to what was quite possibly the smallest crowd watching a mainstage band I’ve ever seen at Bloodstock, (and I definitely could’ve done without the horrendously tight leather jeans one male, ahem, member of the band decided to wear!) I thoroughly enjoyed the set, with the closing pair of To Mega Therion and The Rise of Sodom and Gomorrah being particularly good.
After Therion had finished I took my leave of the mainstage for just the second time this weekend, leaving Rhapsody of Fire to play what would turn out to be their final performance with Luca Turilli while I grabbed some food before watching NWOBHM legends Angel Witch on the Sophie stage. Angel Witch have really garnered themselves a cult status over recent years and by the time they take the stage the tent is packed with a mix of people from die-hard fans of the band to interested onlookers that have only ever heard the band’s self-titled anthem. The likes of White Witch and Angel of Death are classic heavy metal the way it should be - big riffs, great solos and a chorus that gets everyone singing along. As you might expect though it is set-closer Angel Witch that gets the biggest reaction with vocalist / keyboardist Kevin Haybourne looking overwhelmed as everyone in the tent sings the song’s chorus, unaccompanied, back to the band at such volume I swear the roof of the Sophie tent actually lifted! One of the sets of the day and no mistake – oh, and I suppose I should make the obligatory mention of Carcass / Firebird man Bill Steer being the band’s lead guitarist these days... so, yeah, he is.
Moving back out to the main Ronnie James Dio stage to see Saturday night headliners Immortal I picked my spot just in front of the mixing desk – and noticed that, somewhat fittingly, there was a full moon overhead. The stage lights cut to black and through the pyrotechnics and dry ice guitarist/vocalist Abbath and bassist Apollyon stride out playing the title track to current album All Shall Fall, backed ably by Horgh whose drumming provides a solid backbone for the riffs. Judging by the amount of corpse paint, bullet belts and black metal shirts on show around the campsite and arena today (and indeed the whole weekend) Immortal’s first UK show in nearly a decade was one of the most anticipated events of the weekend and everything from relatively newer songs like Sons of Northern Darkness and Damned In Black to old favourites like Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark) and Call of the Wintermoon are greeted with furious headbanging and people aping Abbath’s now legendary ‘crabwalk’ – with even a ‘crab pit’ spontaneously forming at one point!
At times the band do veer very close to self-parody but the band are more than aware of how they’re perceived by many and use this to their advantage by playing up to the larger-than-life image without resorting to full on “Carry On Immortal” style farce and interesting those who might otherwise not listen to their brand of icy black metal. I’ve definitely seen the band play better but judging by the amount of happy people drifting away from the arena after their set they proved themselves a worthy headline band.
Sunday
Sunday was kicked off by the very storied NWOBHM band Hell who finally managed to release their debut album this year, almost twenty years after originally being formed who play in front of quite possibly the largest crowd for any opening band I’ve ever seen at Bloodstock. To say the band are theatrical would be somewhat of an understatement with new vocalist David Bower apparently being an actor he literally performs every word, with expansive gestures, wild eyes and even a spot of self-flagellation at one point! All of this is backed up by some truly brilliant old school heavy metal with Kev (original band member and brother of vocalist David) and a certain Andy Sneap making quite the guitar duo. They started off with a large crowd anyway and the ranks only seemed to swell throughout the set, with live performances like these, a great ‘debut’ album and still many songs left to record from their demos look for Hell to really catch some attention in the forthcoming year.
Following a performance like Hell’s was always going to be tough and, if I’m honest I’m not really the greatest fan of 1349’s old-school high velocity, tremelo-picked black metal but today the sound was so appalling that the guitars were reduced to just a formless fuzz which was impossible to decipher any riffs through and they sounded like one long blastbeat. Disappointing.
Perversely it was sound problems, of a sort, that made Primordial’s set one that will go down in Bloodstock history for all the right reasons. Two songs into their set of distinctive black / folk metal vocalist Nemtheanga suddenly, and somewhat bizarrely, lost his voice. At first there was confusion both onstage and off, with lots of people wondering what was going on, was it part of the show or some eccentric joke or what? It soon became clear though that he really had lost his voice – and where some bands may have thrown a tantrum or walked offstage downhearted the band played the rest of their set with the audience singing the songs word-for-word loudly and proudly while Nemtheanga battled on at the front of the stage, working the crowd and occasionally trying to get at least a couple of lines in. Obviously Primordial would have preferred to be able to do their set properly but this was a unique set and they truly triumphed over adversity.
I’ve genuinely lost count of how many times I’ve seen Napalm Death over the years now but they’re never less than entertaining. In complete contrast to how 1349’s blast-beat heavy sound had been decimated earlier in the day Napalm’s riffs cut through and batter the eager crowd into submission. Whether it’s a new song or an old favourite the crowd never stop moving and at times it seems the entire area between the stage and the mixing desk is in perpetual motion – as is frontman Barney who still runs around the stage like some bizarre cross between a drunk dad at a wedding and a small child that’s had too many E numbers non-stop for the duration of the set, pausing only momentarily between songs to introduce them with either a rant, a joke – or more usually some combination of the two.
It’s hard to imagine a band more polar opposite musically to Napalm Death’s chaotic fury than HammerFall. Where Napalm death songs are violent bursts of noise with a message in their (often undecipherable) lyrics, the Swedes are purveyors of polished slabs of melody with big singalong choruses dealing with fantasy topics and the glory of metal. If there is a tie between the bands though it’s that they both have hyperactive frontman with a great line in stage banter – some of Joacim’s more memorable ones today include “stop! Hammertime!” (sadly not followed by any MC Hammer-esque dancing) and “I’ve got a big hammer in my pants right now” during Let the Hammer Fall. The songs from the somewhat poorly received new album work much better live – and who can resist changing the lyrics to Hearts on Fire to “Arse On Fire”?
After what seems like an age Exodus finally take to the stage (something they later blame on HammerFall) but hit the ground running with a huge guitar sound. Opening with first two tracks off their latest album The Ballad of Leonard and Charles and Beyond the Pale they only have time for another four songs and we get three from their classic debut Bonded by Blood in this somewhat truncated set. During the show itself the band are as tight as you’d expect and vocalist Rob Dukes proves himself an able replacement for the legendary Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza both as a vocalist and a frontman. Although it’s disappointing they don’t have time to play crowd pleasers like Piranha and War Is My Shepherd who can argue with a finishing pair of Bonded by Blood and The Toxic Waltz?
A mere three years after At The Gates played the “last ever At The Gates song to be played in the UK” the band returned – and actually slightly lower down the bill this time, so in the sunshine this year. Kicking off with the title track to the Slaughter of the Soul album – complete with the traditional 90% of the audience trying to join in with the “GO!” at the start of the song and completely mis-timing it – it’s clear that the band mean business right from the start with the band sounding tight and powerful and vocalist Tomas Lindberg leading from the front. As you may expect a good deal of the set is based around Slaughter of the Soul numbers but we get at least one song from all the band’s other releases with Raped by the Light of Christ and Windows being particular highlights for me. Up until now Hell had stolen the show for me with their over-the-top theatrics really making them stand out but At The Gates were just as good for me, for the entirely opposite reason - their no-nonsense approach with Tomas screaming his lungs out from the front of the stage mixed with one of the best setlists all weekend as well as probably the best mainstage sound really made them stand out.
Under normal circumstances I would have been overjoyed that the next band up was Morbid Angel but I must admit I had a lot of trepidation after the, frankly, piss-poor recent album and how poorly received it’s been by the majority of the band’s fan base. The band kick off like they have something to prove though, which quite frankly they do, with a trio of classics in Immortal Rites, Fall From Grace and Rapture. It’s at this point the band start airing songs from that aforementioned new album, Existo Vulgore is the first one and is the best song on the album by a long margin and actually fits in quite well with what’s gone previously and Nevermore, although not a great song by any means, is passable. It’s I Am Morbid that is the real stinker here though, with its crap riff and throwaway shout along chorus it threatens to derail the whole set. Fortunately the band return to the classics straight after and the rest of the set is absolutely blinding, from the paciness of Chapel af Ghouls to the headbanging grooves of Where the Slime Live and God of Emptiness and a surprise airing of Angel of Disease the band turn in a spectacular performance full of energy and never miss a beat. Despite the dodgy middle section of the set Morbid Angel proved that, even touring a rubbish new album and without Pete “Commando” Sandoval behind the drum kit that they’re still a live force to be reckoned with.
Following Morbid Angel were possibly the biggest headliners any Bloodstock event has ever had, certainly the first ones where even when my friends and workmates who aren’t into metal asked “who’s playing this festival you’re going to then?” recognised the name of at the very least. Judging by the amount of Motörhead shirts around all weekend they were certainly one of the most anticipated bands of the festival too. It’s sad then to report that this was hardly the band’s finest hour. From the off it was obvious something wasn’t right with songs being played at half-speed (even given the band’s advancing years the likes of Iron Fist and Stay Clean were noticeably slower than I’ve ever heard them before) and Lemmy was slurring his vocals more than ever – and singing verses and choruses in the wrong order.
Once again the Bloodstock organisers did us proud with a great set of bands - and we get to do it all again at the same time next year! See you all at the bar!!
by Neil Woodfin
2010 - BOA
Thursday
Thursday night is the traditional pre-festival “party night” and this year we returned to having bands on in the new, much larger, SOPHIE stage (named in tribute to Sophie Lancaster) and it fell to previous Unsigned Stage alumni Hospital of Death to open proceedings bandwise this year. Musically they sit somewhere between the heavier ends of power metal and the more classic metal sounding thrash bands – Overkill, early Anthrax etc come to mind, with the lyrics having a more Lawnmower Deth-esque edge with big monsters and getting drunk being the order of the day It’s clear that a large amount of people in the rammed SOPHIE tent have seen the band before and they get a great reaction for their own songs as well as the closing cover of part of Iron Maiden’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Just a few hours in and we’ve already gotten the first great performance of the festival and if there’s any justice in the world it won’t be long before H.O.D. are seen on the big stage here.
After a somewhat extended lay off between bands due to Gorgoroth finishing early Sonata Arctica finally hit the stage with an fifteen extra minutes due to them being moved up the bill because of Behemoth’s absence. Once again Sonata Arctica aren’t a band I’m overly fond of but their set seemed to be a bit of a damp squib for most people. Tony Kakko’s voice was strong but they had their fair share of sound problems, noticeably a distinct lack of volume, and their set seemed to be mostly comprised of newer material and I heard many people complaining about their choice of songs. As I’ve already said, Sonata aren’t really my cup of tea but when large sections of the band’s own fans are complaining about a performance then that’s surely not a good sign... and it does leave me wondering why the considerably better received Cathedral couldn’t simply have been slotted in above Sonata in Behemoth’s original place.
Following Sonata were highly-rated Swedish tech-metallers Meshuggah... who are yet another band who have never ‘clicked’ with me. Having never seen them live before I was hoping that I’d finally ‘get’ them and it would all fall into place for me... sadly though that wasn’t to be. The band were certainly brutally heavy and everyone in front of the stage was going mental but to me it sounded like they were playing the same chord over and over again over some very clever drumming – without an awful lot in the way of memorable songwriting going on.
Tonight’s headliners Opeth stepped in at the last minute after the sad death of Ronnie James Dio and, in complete contrast to their previous headline appearance at Bloodstock Open Air 2008 where they were a bit lacklustre tonight they were simply stunning. The band weren’t quite perfect and were clearly a little under-rehearsed with the lateness of their inclusion on the bill but where in 2008 they played perfectly but were a bit on the bland side here they made a few mistakes but created the atmosphere that the band’s music thrives on much more successfully. With a setlist taking in everything from the most recent album to the rarely aired classic The Moor and usual set closer Demon of the Fall the band were captivating from start to finish with frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt’s stage banter being as amusing as ever. The real highlight of their set though was a hugely emotional cover of Rainbow’s Catch the Rainbow with a guitarless Åkerfeldt admitting to being intimidated to be doing it because he “can’t really sing and I’m about to do something by one of the greatest singers of all time”. He needn’t have worried because not only did he, and the entire band, pull it off with aplomb but it was also a genuinely spine-tingling moment and one that I’m proud to have been there to witness.
Saturday
Once again mornings proved to not be my friend and I missed the first two mainstage bands of the day, Andromeda and Leaves Eyes. I did make it to the arena for my first visit of the weekend to the New Blood Stage (formerly the Unsigned Stage) in time to see Scottish “blood metallers” Achren though. I’d not seen the band in some five years but that gap and a change of bass player hasn’t dulled their ferocity one bit! Mixing elements of black, thrash and death metal together in a similar manner to the likes of Desaster and Necrophobic the band play tightly and give the kind of performance that would put some of their better known peers to shame, with any luck their appearance at Bloodstock will lead on to bigger and better things for them.
Heading out of the New Blood stage I catch the end of Evile’s set. Obviously Evile are a band that have dealt with their own tragedy recently with the death of bassist Mike Alexander last year but as entertaining as the band can be on their day I don’t think they’ve ever truly lived up to their hype and they failed to really engage me with the last ten minutes or so of their set.
Onslaught, however, are a band that I’ve never seen play a bad set. I’ve heard criticism of their performances on large stages from other people but today they were brilliant. With the first real burst of sunshine breaking through for their set, from the opening Killing Peace to the closing Onslaught (Power From Hell) the band are tight and powerful with vocalist Sy, whose voice would put most power metal singers to shame, stalking the stage getting people involved and the band look like just as home on the Ronnie James Dio stage as they do in the cluttered confines of the toilet circuit that the band normally find themselves playing in over here.
Following Onslaught’s performance was never going to be easy and today that job fell to Edguy, a band that I’ve seen no less than five times before – and have never made it past the third song before getting bored and walking away yet! Perhaps that doesn’t make me the best person to review them then but while I did make it to the end of the performance this time I’m still yet to “get” Edguy. I’m always told how much fun they are but aside from vocalist Tobias Sammet’s admittedly impressive voice I see little to recommend them, the songs are average at best and their performance was rather sloppy – not to mention that they were outdone in the “fun” stakes by both Hospital Of Death on Thursday night and Cathedral the previous day. The band’s own fans clearly lapped it up so maybe I’m just missing something, though I can’t imagine that after seeing the band six times and not finding “it” that I will now...
Another band I’ve seen many times is Floridian death metallers Obituary, I’ve never left before they finished a set before though – and nor did I today. Admittedly starting with the instrumental Redneck Stomp is a bit of a false start, not least because it’s at least two minutes too long but once the band, including ‘new’ bass player Terry Butler of Massacre, Death and Six Feet Under fame, hit their stride with On the Floor then it’s business as usual. Obituary are all about huge riffs and John Tardy’s inhuman vocals and they never fail to deliver with even the raft of sound problems the band have today, including John’s vocal mic cutting out completely at one point, not managing to derail them. Obituary are never going to wow you with technicality but there’s few better at delivering huge riffs to headbang like a demon to – and if anyone ever doubted the “singalong” ability of death metal then they’ve never heard several thousand people doing their best John Tardy impressions in unison!
Following Obituary were veteran Finns Amorphis, a band who are a bit of an odd one for me because I never seem to choose to listen to them all that often and yet when I do I always really enjoy them and think that I should listen to them more often. Strange. Starting their set with Silver Bride from their most recent album the band have garnered quite a crowd from the off with vocalist Tomi Joutsen swinging his absurdly long dreads around – and singing through a custom mic that appeared to be modelled on some sort of hairdryer! Though we got nothing from The Karelian Isthmus it was a nice surprise to get The Castaway from Tales From the Thousand Lakes in addition to the expected Black Winter Day and Against Widows is a personal favourite of mine that it was great to hear get an airing. I enjoyed their set immensely and yes I shall be endeavouring to listen to them more often from now on in. No, really.
After Amorphis’ set I went back to my campsite for a bit of a sitdown before The Devin Townsend Project (I’m getting old you see and can’t quite hack the pace of standing in the arena all day, every day any more) and this is where I need to have one of the few moans about the weekend. You see, when deciding to go back to the arena five minutes before Devin and his band were due to start I discovered that the queue to get back in the arena stretched most of the way back down the campsite, which led to me missing a good ten minutes or so of the set. From what I gather a large part of that time was taken up by Devin doing what was essentially a stand up routine due to some equipment failures but still, it’s something I would have preferred not to have missed. Lesser musicians may have faltered in the face of such adversities but once all the equipment problems were sorted and The Devin Townsend Project started with a couple of songs from the recent Ki album he was as entertaining as ever with the band playing brilliantly and Devin constantly posing and making jokes, at one point referring to himself as a “Canadian Animatronic Douchebag”. Personally the highlight for me was Life from the Ocean Machine album as it’s a personal favourite of mine but the whole set was entertaining. I’m sure both he and the band would have preferred not to have the problems they had at the start (which resulted in at least one song being dropped from the set) but it was a unique, entertaining show nevertheless.
Perhaps somewhat ironically it was Fear Factory that followed Devin today, a band whose current line-up includes the rhythm section of Strapping Young Lad. Fear Factory are one of those bands whose early work I love but lost favour with me, and many others, with a run of albums that were average at best in the late 90s and early 00s and several lacklustre live performances. Today though this ‘new’ line-up looks and sounds more energised than they have done in a good fifteen years with drum legend Gene Hoglan powering the band along in his trademark fashion. Burton C Bell’s growl is as powerful as ever and he proves himself still a capable frontman constantly working the crowd and even changing the lyrics to Powershifter to “Pandashifter” when noticing someone dressed in a full panda costume in the crowd! If there is a weak part of the set though it’s Burton’s “clean” voice which he audibly struggles with every time he attempts it and more often than not he’s painfully out of key. Even despite this it’s an enjoyable performance though and it’s nice to hear songs like Martyr and Self-Bias Resistor that were a big part of my teenage metal years being played live with a bit of “oomph” behind them again.
The task of finishing Saturday night off this year fell to Finns Children of Bodom, yet another band I was a huge fan of but have become increasingly disenchanted with... and yet another than won me back over with a surprisingly enjoyable performance.
After an intro track, presumably aimed at those who deride Alexi for his almost constant swearing onstage, which I’m fairly sure was actually all of the swearing from The Big Lebowski compressed down into a couple of minutes the band break into the title track of Follow the Reaper which is quickly followed up by Hate Crew Deathroll and Needled 24/7! As someone who has regularly criticised bands for only playing songs from their most recent couple of albums over recent years it was great to get a set full of songs like the aforementioned three, Angels Don’t Kill, Kissing the Shadows and Silent Night, Bodom Night. Admittedly we got nothing from the band’s debut Something Wild but it was still more of a trip through their back catalogue than many bands bother with these days.
Alexi was clearly as drunk onstage as ever and yet, while he still missed the odd note here and there, the band were nowhere near as sloppy as they have been the last few times I’ve seen them and the sense of fun from the stage clearly pervaded the crowd with lots of headbanging, singing along and air guitar and keyboards being played! In all honesty I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing Children of Bodom again but they actually ended up giving one of my favourite performances of the weekend.
Sunday
Despite a very heavy Saturday night I actually managed to drag myself up in time to see the first bands on Sunday morning, possibly in part because this was the only really sunny day of the festival and my tent was far too hot to stay in after about 8 in the morning! Even having dragged my carcass up so early I still managed to miss first mainstage band of the day Bonded by Blood though because I wanted to see highly rated British black metallers Old Corpse Road in the New Blood tent. The band lean much more to the more melodic/atmospheric side of the black metal spectrum and, despite quite a few sound problems, I was very impressed with the atmosphere the band managed to create at this time of the morning. They manage to pull off some pretty impressive four part harmony chanting at several points, though the “bluebells, bluebells” line was pretty surreal it was also one that me and my mates were singing even on the way home from the festival the following day! I wouldn’t say they’re the finished article yet but if you have any liking at all for the melodic, atmospheric side of black metal they’re definitely one to keep an eye on.
The real reason for me dragging myself up so early was death metal legends Suffocation’s ludicrously early set. Even barely after 11 in the morning, when even the band would usually be asleep according to vocalist Frank Mullen, the band manage to play as tightly and ferociously as ever hitting levels of intensity that many have tried to reach but few have ever managed. With just half an hour the band only manage a handful of songs but when those songs are as good as the likes of Thrones of Blood and the all-time classic Pierced From Within you’re always going to be on to a winner. As always, imposing vocalist Frank Mullen leads from the front, sticking his tongue out and doing his trademark “death chops” (AKA “that thing that Frank Mullen does with his hand” – search for the page on Facebook if you don’t understand what I mean) and stalking the stage like he’s looking for his next victim with the band locked into a tight, brutal groove behind him. The closing Infecting the Crypts garnered an impressive circle pit for the time of the morning and the size and reaction of the crowd gathered to see Suffocation showed that they deserved a longer set than a mere thirty minutes.
Following a Suffocation performance is a difficult task for anyone and as much as I like Holy Moses I don’t think they quite pulled it off today. The crowd was noticeably smaller than it had been for Suffocation and, despite the odd flurry of hair down the front, it was certainly a less active crowd as well. Not that the band don’t put the effort in of course, they play a tight set of some of their best known songs such as Master Of Disaster, Nothing For My Mum and Life’s Destroyer with frontwoman Sabina sounding, if anything, even more aggressive as she gets older but it all felt a bit flat after Suffocation. The set was also marred by some confusion at the end when it seemed the band had overrun their slot and were cut off, perhaps ironically, after End of Time without playing their usual set closer – a cover of the Dead Kennedys’ Too Drunk To F***.
After Holy Moses was a bit of a change of pace with the “Metal Queen” Doro Pesch who chose to play a set packed with songs from her old band Warlock. Though I’m not usually a fan of this kind of anthemic 80s rock she’s undoubtedly a great frontwoman and songs like Burning the Witches, Running From the Devil, the inevitable set closer All We Are and an excellent cover of Judas Priest’s Breaking the Law are very enjoyable in the heat of the early afternoon and get quite a few people (including myself) singing along.
Doro was followed by a band that have proven themselves to be the perfect festival band many times in the past and Korpiklaani don’t disappoint today. Playing a blend of upbeat folk music and fast, happy thrashy riffs that come across like Skyclad’s more upbeat moments mixed with Tankard, the band have people singing and jigging along to the likes of Wodka and Happy Little Boozer throughout their set. It was somewhat surprising that Wooden Pints didn’t get an airing but in all honesty no-one seemed to mind and the band appeared to be as happy as the crowd – with vocalist Jonne practically having to be hooked offstage at the end of the set such was his desire to tell everyone how much he loved them and how close Britain was to his heart and how they needed to come here even more often!
Almost as soon as Korpiklaani have finished the entire stage and everyone on it gets covered in all manner of plastic, binbags and as much ‘waterproof’ clothing as possible – not because of the weather but because of the imminent arrival of GWAR!
Before that though I headed back over to the New Blood tent to catch up and coming thrashers Mutant who played an entertaining set of high energy thrash. I’d heard a lot about this band beforehand but had never actually heard any of their music but on this evidence I’ll be checking them out a lot further since they’re certainly one of the better live performers of the “new wave of thrash” bands that I’ve seen.
Returning to the Dio stage to see GWAR, I’ll have to admit that I really don’t care for the band’s music and would never choose to listen to it at home but if there’s one band that you can enjoy without even knowing any of their music it’s GWAR because they’re all about the show! Dressed in utterly ludicrous monster / alien costumes and killing off everyone from Jesus / Hitler to the Nazi Pope – and coating anyone and everything near in multi-coloured fluids GWAR are nothing if not entertaining. While their pantomime schtick could get boring after you’ve seen it once it’s kept fresh by frontman Oderus Urungus’ hilariously over the top stage banter which takes in everything from not-so-sly digs against Lordi to promising to give out “free AIDS” after they’ve finished playing. Perhaps if I’d been sober I wouldn’t have enjoyed them nearly as much but half way through my fourth day of near constant drinking they were hilarious!
French metallers Gojira were an altogether more serious proposition than GWAR with their blend of old school Morbid Angel / Death esque riffing and Meshuggah influenced rhythms. That’s not to say that they weren’t fun in their own way though and it was surprising just how much the band moved around onstage without ever seeming to drop a beat! As I said there’s a clear Meshuggah influence in Gojira’s sound but in contrast to the Swedish band’s rather tedious set on Friday the Frenchmen have got interesting guitar parts going on over the top of the rhythmic madness to hold your attention with plenty of old school death metal grooves going on, added to some Cynic-esque jazziness which contrasts nicely with the brutality of the rest of their sound. Gojira prove themselves to be that rarest of things – a band that have been massively hyped that actually deserve the plaudits they’ve been given!
Following Gojira was the death metal ‘supergroup’ Bloodbath, making only their seventh ever live appearance and their first ever UK show. As most will know by now the band features members of both Opeth and Katatonia and were formed as a tribute to the old school death metal bands that the members of the band grew up with... which makes it somewhat ironic that Bloodbath are now bigger than most of those bands put together! As you may expect from a band that’s played live so infrequently the playing is a little on the sloppy side – but that’s no big deal with old school death metal to be honest, it’s meant to be a bit sloppy after all – but the band’s presence as a whole is strong and Mikael Åkerfeldt’s sarcy stage banter is probably even more suited to Bloodbath than Opeth. If the band do fall down anywhere it’s in their song choice with perhaps a few too many from the recent albums and the likes of Cry My Name and Brave New Hell being noticeably absent. Oddly it was Mock the Cross, a song that so blatantly rips off Morbid Angel’s Where the Slime Live that I’m surprised David Vincent and Trey Azagthoth don’t get co-writing credits for it, that garners one of the biggest reactions of the set along with the Dan Swanö penned set closer Eaten. Overall it was a good, solid set if not quite one that I was blown away by though.
After Bloodbath’s tribute to old-school death metal came one of the legendary names of American death metal Cannibal Corpse. Personally I felt there was something just a bit lacking from the band’s set at first, they were playing well enough but there was just a lack of ‘spark’ about the band. That is until George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher began to introduce I Will Kill You about a third of the way through the set telling the crowd in a tone so deadpan even legendarily curmudgeonly comedian Jack Dee would have been proud of it that they should try and keep up headbanging with him throughout the song – they’d fail but they could at least try – and from that moment on the band began to fire on all cylinders. The band even manage to throw a few curveballs at those of us who have derided them for being too predictable by dropping F***ed With a Knife and playing Scattered Remains, Splattered Brains from the band’s debut album – apparently the first song Cannibal Corpse ever played live. By the time the brutal one-two of the classic Hammer Smashed Face and Stripped, Raped and Strangled close the set what surely must be the biggest circle pit ever seen at a Bloodstock event was whirling around in front of the stage. They took a while to get going but once they did burst into life there was no stopping Cannibal Corpse and the second half of their set was superb.
As the final chords of Stripped, Raped and Strangled were ringing out I took a quick run to the SOPHIE stage to see the end of black metaller’s Winterfylleth’s set (and thus missing out on the announcement of Immortal as one of BOA 2011’s headliners!). I’ve seen Winterfylleth live several times before but this was by far the largest stage I’ve ever them play and it has to be said that they didn’t look out of place on it at all. I only managed to catch ten minutes or so but the band looked comfortable on the bigger stage and the general reaction of the crowd to their hymns of heathen pride and English tradition suggests that the band might well be destined for greater things.
Back out to the Ronnie James Dio stage, on the night that the “little man with the big voice” himself should have been up there with Heaven & Hell, it fell to Twisted Sister to stand in for a genuine legend of heavy metal – and by the end of the set I really couldn’t think of anyone else who would’ve made a better job of it! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves by jumping straight to the end though.
The band have ditched all the make-up and it’s now the music that takes centre stage – and the band more than proved that they have enough great songs to keep people entertained with a set full of all the obvious songs as well as songs that even non-fans might be surprised to realise that they know all the words to! Dee Snider gave a masterful performance, not only were his vocals as strong as ever but he worked the crowd brilliantly with some hilarious banter – and he also knew just when to take a back seat and let the rest of the band have their moment(s) in the spotlight.
It says something about how good a band’s performance is when I even enjoyed the dreaded drum solo, something that will usually send me straight to the bar! There were two noticeable highlights of the set for me though, firstly the extended version of I Want to Rock which came complete with a recreation of the “Donington Special” moment from when the band played Monsters of Rock in 1983 which apparently had an NME journalist from the time saying that despite hating the band it was a moment that would stay with her for the rest of her life – which was the crowd jumping in the air, fists raised all shouting “ROCK!” in unison. Yes it sounds cheesy and it probably was but, trust me, when you’re down at the front of a crowd is was a fantastic moment and, much like that NME journalist from twenty seven years ago, it’s a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The other highlight was Twisted Sister’s own tribute to Ronnie James Dio, after an emotional intro speech from Dee the band played a truly stunning version of Rainbow’s Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll and, in contrast to Opeth’s spine-tinglingly beautiful cover on Friday, this was a truly celebratory, upbeat version with everyone singing along in unison the way I’m sure Ronnie himself would have wanted it.
Though I’ve attended most Bloodstock events over the years I have missed a few but even without seeing all of them I feel justified in saying Twisted Sister are the best headliner that the festival has ever had – stretching all the way back to the days of the Indoor festival at Derby’s Assembly Rooms.
In conclusion then, in its 10th year Bloodstock managed to put together a brilliantly mixed bill and has proven itself to be the best metal festival in the country as far as I’m concerned – and with Immortal already confirmed for a U.K. exclusive performance at next year’s festival it looks set to go from strength to strength – here’s to the next ten years!
by Neil Woodfin
2009 - BOA
This is a compilation of reviews by Neil Woodfin and Lynn Wyeth. Please bear that in mind while reading through it!
2008 - BOA
The first time I ever attended Bloodstock was back in 2003 where the headliner was a relatively unknown female fronted band from Finland called Nightwish so it’s perhaps fitting that the first Bloodstock I attend for MusicXtra is headlined by the now altogether well known Nightwish.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
All too quickly the final day of what had already been a highly enjoyable Bloodstock 2008 was upon us.
Review by Neil Woodfin
2006 (Indoor)
Friday
This is just one of many reviews of the experience that is Bloodstock. I’ll say it now, and get it out of the way - it wasn’t as busy as Bloodstock 2005. There were probably less bands that I wanted to see this year, but that doesn’t make it a poor line-up. There were some great bands performing, with My Dying Bride putting on a tremendous, doom laden set to close the event and show that they are indeed in a different class to every other band that played.
But anyway, Awaken started the show rolling on Friday in the Darwin Suite. This was my first experience of Awaken, so it was all new to me. The opening set of a festival can always be tricky, as people are still coming in from outside, or browsing the merchandise or bars to kick off their own day. Awaken rose to the challenge and produced a half hour of lively, headbanging music that everyone who listened enjoyed. The band seemed to enjoy it too, so that was a good start to the festival.
From there I went off to listen to Marshall Law briefly in the main hall, and gave short listens to Captive Audio and Majesty before leaving the venue to get some food. One of my main criticisms of Bloodstock is that the on-site catering tends to be over priced and under quality, and if you want a decent meal you need to leave the venue which means, inevitably, you miss some bands.
Axel Rudi Pell was up next on the main stage, but was frankly, boring after a couple of songs. The final act in the Darwin Suite was To-Mera who, after a false start and some grumpiness from the stage manager, put on a very impressive set of their unique blend of musical influences. This band are amazingly good at what they do, although I do understand that they may not be to everyone’s liking. They are still well worth a listen.
Friday night seems to be Power Metal night on the main stage, and if you like that, then you would have enjoyed Primal Fear .
The PM bands on the main stage on Friday seemed to have one thing in common, which was that after three or four songs, their songs all started to sound the same. My view is that many of them were tedious in any set longer than fifteen minutes, and some of them I couldn’t listen to for as long as that. Again, having said that, lots of people enjoyed what these bands were putting out, so that can’t be bad.
Saturday
Saturday kicked off with The Boy Will Drown, who I thought were just dreadful. Having said that, they looked very young, so fair play to them for getting the gig, and I do wish them well.
Illuminatus over on the main stage put on a good show. They’ve been around a while, so they have that little element of stagecraft to make their performance interesting.
Then we gave Isiah back in the Darwin Suite some time, but while their guitar work was decent, the extreme vocals were not to my taste. Spellblast over at the main stage failed to retain any interest, so we didn’t hang around there long either.
Meanwhile, back in the Darwin room, the celtic doom phenomenon that is Mael Mordha took to the stage in battle dress of blue paint and painted on wounds, and what a show they gave. They attracted a fair size of crowd too, and were my band of the festival so far. This was their first time playing outside Ireland, and I can only hope it won’t be their last.
Hunger pangs were hitting hard now, so, it was off to find some edible food.
The plan was to get back in time to see Machine Men, but between one thing and another, only the last song was experienced, and it didn’t seem like much of a loss. Tourettes Syndrome had been moved to the Darwin Suite from the main stage, and frankly, could have been moved to another festival.
It’s at this point that important decisions need to be made. Do you a) hang around the main stage for the rest of the night to get a good spot for the headline band or b) try to see some of the bands in the other room, knowing that you’re likely to end up near the back for the headline band. My choice was a), so it was into the Main Hall to catch the end of Brainstorm from the seated area. I must confess I was so enthralled by this band that I nodded off and missed the last three or four songs from their set.
Once they finished it was a case of heading for the barriers in time for Onslaught to begin their own high energy, entertaining show. I can’t say I’m a big fan of thrash, and in fact, I hated most of what Onslaught did, but they put on a good show for their fans, encouraging pit antics and getting the crowd moving. Which is, I guess what many people came for.
Next up was Deathstars. Again, I didn’t know much about them and when the drummer stalked onstage amidst all the smoke, in full upper body white makeup and his shades on I really did wonder what we were getting. The rest of the band duly appeared all ‘goffed’ up and started making some fairly decent noise. When their front man pranced on in a truly OTT camp style I got the joke and started to enjoy what they were doing. This was a really entertaining performance as they put on a parody of gothic style solid metal that got most people bouncing. There was a little bad mannered behaviour from some parts of the audience, but the band just ignored that. Even when the singer lost the zipper on his trousers, he just carried on, inviting some female audience members onto the stage to help him sort it. He got no takers for that task.
Deathstars were entertaining in their forty minute slot, although one criticism is that there was too much smoke, obscuring the band and their posing on stage. Don’t let their appearance put you off, they make look like a teenage goth pop band, but they play good music, and were worthy of their billing here.
And then, there was My Dying Bride. This was my first time seeing them. They have a very simple show, with just the guitarists to either side, and Aaron standing and twitching, occasionally falling over in the centre of the stage.
They played a stonking thirteen song, ninety minute set that had this reviewer mesmerised. Aaron really seems to feel the pain as he grinds out his lyrics, and looking into his eyes through Cry of Mankind (yes, I was that close to the stage) was like looking out across a frozen artic landscape with the katabatic winds howling down from the North Pole, they were so chilling and devastated. Having said that, we were treated to a rare smile, right before Dreadful Hours. Or maybe it was a grimace.
The sound of My Dying Bride is totally unique, with thundering guitars, filled out with occasional keys, and Aaron’s painful liturgy expressing all the deep despair that all people feel at some time. The new songs offered to the audience were received gratefully.
It is a bit disappointing that the numbers that had been around earlier for Onslaught, and even Deathstars seemed to have dwindled a little, but in all honesty, anyone that missed the show will have missed the point.
A truly great set, and, for this reviewer, the band of the festival, and a strong candidate for my gig of the year, was undoubtedly, My Dying Bride.
Bloodstock displays a wide range of the sub-genres of metal. When you go, expect to hate some bands, expect to love others, and the rest will give varying degrees of boredom. For me, half a dozen bands that I enjoyed made it a worthwhile weekend, and as for the rest well, other people enjoyed them, so that’s OK by me.
Review by Alan Thomson
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