Finishing the Friday of Bloodstock this year are one of the most renowned Blackened Death Metal bands around; Behemoth. With their Vocalist Nergal having only recently recovered from Leukaemia this set is one of their first major festival appearances and their chance to show the world that they fit and ready to play again. Following on from such acts today as Watain, Sepultura, Iced Earth and Grand Magus they had a challenge against them to pull out the best show of the day!
Behemoth rose to this challenge soared showed everyone here and all those watching on the live stream why they were headlining. The whole set had an excellent light show, as well as plenty of fire jets to add to the atmosphere too! Their set props included their trademark custom made microphone stands depicting their symbols. The band all had excellent stage presence, especially Nergal who made sure the crowd kept revved up and wanting more. With horns being thrown, lots of roars, crowd surfers and even a Polish flag nearing half the length of the stage being held aloft by the crowd it was obvious who everyone was out to see tonight. As well as getting the crowd revved up via a great stage presence, Nergal also broke up the set to talk to the crowd, acknowledging the great honour it was to play here, with last time they were booked to be at Bloodstock having to be cancelled due to his illness this set obviously meant a lot to the newly recovered frontman. Part way through the set the band set alight to 2 inverted crosses on the side of the stage, adding more to the already thick and intense atmosphere they had created on stage with their pyrotechnics and lighting. As a band with a huge discography they had plenty of songs to draw from, including such tracks as Demi God, The Left Hand Of God, Slaves Shall Serve and Conquer All.
The set finished with a culmination of all their stage tools, with the lights blazing, fog machines working at full capacity and jets of fire shooting up the stage, the ending of this set was signified by the firing of huge amounts of glitter across the crowd which span across the smoke filled and impenetrable sight of the stage. As the music drew to a close so did the light as the fog slowly creeped back to show their amazing set had come to the end.
This Friday night has set a high bench mark for the following headliners Machine Head and Alice Cooper of this festival to try and outdo, Hail Satan for the triumphant return of Behemoth!