The history of Bloodstock

Bloodstock Open Air 2018

What a festival we’ve had this year. Excuse us if we get all proud of ourselves for a minute here, but we reckon we deserve it...

The numbers speak for themselves. We sold out completely – in terms of tickets sold, not artistic integrity! – With our biggest attendance yet, even though we increased the licence capacity from 15,000 to a mighty 20,000 headbangers. We also added more camping fields, rejigged the site layout slightly to accommodate more campervans and campers, and still kept standards high, with a line-up that we think is among the best anyone has seen all year. Ready for some highlights?

 Well, if the main course of our headliners Judas Priest (Friday), Gojira (Saturday) and Nightwish (Sunday) weren’t enough for you, never fear – we were offering a truly metallic smorgasbord for every appetite. As always, we aim to feature the best new and old bands on Earth, so it was with massive pride and pleasure that we saw how many of you grabbed a beer and headed over to see a mighty range of new and new-ish metallers including (deeeeeeeeep breath) Hundred Year Old Man, Skiltron, Bloodshot Dawn, Arkona, Garshkott, Memoriam, Sodomised Cadaver, Body Harvest, Kamikaze Test Pilots, Underdark, Nailed To Obscurity, Alien Weaponry, Evergrey, Alestorm, Suicidal Tendencies, Negative Thought Process and many, many more.

Still not enough for you? Well, snack on Amaranthe, Combichrist, Fozzy, Wednesday 13, Jasta, Pallbearer, Devildriver, Bloodbath, Conjurer, Doro, Orphaned Land, Ten Foot Wizard, Power Trip, Septicflesh and Mr. Big (acoustic ballads ahoy!) Proof, if you needed it yet again, that metal is alive, well and kicking its critics in the family jewels harder than ever before.

With a line-up like that, listing the best and most bangover-inducing moments of BOA 2018 is a tricky task, but we’ll have a go, just because we can. If you wanted to hear some blood-dripping death metal, where better to go than the biggest DM band in the world, Cannibal Corpse? We threw the horns as George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher took us into ‘Hammer Smashed Face’ like a trooper. Then there was At The Gates, whose signature moment – singer Tomas Lindberg shouting ‘Go!’ – gave us a massive jolt of adrenaline, a bit like slamming a pot of coffee in one, but without offending anyone with horrible breath afterwards. And old-school death metal vibes from this country were emitted with great savagery by Memoriam, led by the near-legendary Karl Willetts. Does it get better if you’re into unnervingly brutal music? Hell no.

Talking of hell, who doesn’t like a bit of super-evil black metal with their morning croissant? In that case, it doesn’t get more frightening for your local vicar than Cradle Of Filth, Emperor and Watain, three old-school BM-ers whose collective shrieks would unnerve even the most dedicated birdwatcher. There was something for everyone into the blackened stuff, with Emperor playing the entirety of the none-more-classic Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk album and youthful black metallers Underdark showing us that a new generation of devilry is upon us.

 And if musical categories aren’t your thing – and why should they be? Rules are just mind control, maaaaaan – then you could sit back and immerse yourself in music that was just different, unorthodox, progressive, weird or just strange. Take Skiltron for example. They’re a power metal band with bagpipes. What the deuce? Then there was the mighty, mighty Gojira, who hit the stage with the full production (fire, lasers, bombs and what have you) to better illustrate how simultaneously forward-thinking, catchy and nuts their music is.

On the same note, if you were looking for straight-ahead heavy metal that doesn’t mess about, you could dive into Nightwish, whose symphonic metal excellence is matched only by their phenomenal way with a riff; Devildriver, groove monsters whose singer Dez Fafara is the most charismatic man on the planet; and – oh my God – Judas Priest, the Year Zero of heavy metal, without whom none of us would be standing here.

 So what was our favourite moment? It had to be when Judas Priest singer Rob Halford walked on stage and yelled “Hello Bloodstock! The Priest is back!” That level of consistency and perseverance is our entire goal in life. Like Rob, we’ll keep coming back. See you in 2019, headbangers!