BLOODSTOCK are excited to announce their first headliner for 2019! Swedish metal warriors, SABATON will headline Friday 9th August in what will be their only UK show in 2019! Check out what they had to say about returning to Catton Park’s hallowed turf to headline the festival this time around – https://youtu.be/a_m5jrhKUZs. The band have always been a huge hit with BLOODSTOCK’s crowd in years prior, so we’re excited to see them step into a headline slot. Remember their 2015 set when they brought their tank?! Watch them blast through ‘Metal Crue’ here – https://youtu.be/nt2pF7Bf944.
Stay tuned for more band announcements soon!
Standard weekend tickets are also currently available at ‘early bird’ prices (just £132 for four days of metal fun), so grab yours now at the ticket store – http://bloodstock.seetickets.com – if you want to save a few quid. Camper van passes are also available in limited quantities, but be quick, half the available spaces have sold already!
For those who want their VIP spot guaranteed, BLOODSTOCK’s first wave of 2019 Serpents Lair VIP tickets are also available, priced at £290. A second wave, including the Deluxe VIP packages (Luxpads, Bellepads, Podpads, etc) and a limited amount of VIP upgrades (for those who’ve already purchased standard weekend tickets) will then become available on 16th December at 9am. For full details click to http://www.bloodstock.uk.com/pages/vip-camping.
We trialled the deposit scheme for VIP tickets in 2018, but please note, there will be NO DEPOSIT SCHEME for VIP tickets this year.
In other excellent news, BLOODSTOCK is very proud to announce that the 2018 event raised a total of £11,872 for TEENAGE CANCER TRUST, via the guest list scheme, on-site donations and the charity stall at Catton Park. A great result for a very worthy cause so a giant THANK YOU to everyone who donated.
BLOODSTOCK will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 8th-11th August 2019. Get additional information over at www.bloodstock.uk.com.
The final night of Bloodstock 2018 is here, and there’s a distinct chill in the air, closing the main stage are symphonic metal heavyweights – Nightwish. From the moment they were announced last year, Nightwish have been a controversial pick for fans on the forums and social media, a band known as much for their ongoing drama as for their music. Indeed tonight’s showing will be the third lead vocalist BOA has seen with the band (Tarja Turunen; 2003, Anette Olzon; 2008) as Floor Jansen takes to the, ahem, floor.
A giant flip-clock on the stage video screen suddenly appears, and begins counting down from one minute, and as the timer hits zero the band burst on stage in a cloud of smoke, straight into ‘End of all Hope’. Jansen energetically jumps around in a leather jacket, but for some reason her mic seems to be criminally quiet for the first half of the song and gives the impression that she isn’t a strong vocalist.
Thankfully, as the backdrop changes to an icy waterfall reminiscent of those hilariously kitsch moving paintings you stare at whilst waiting for your Chinese food order, ‘Wish I had an Angel’ has Jansen’s mic issues fixed and we get our first real chance to compare and contrast. Let’s not pretend we aren’t all doing it, and of course Jansen isn’t hitting the notes of Tarja, but she brings a strong, raw quality to the song. It’s different that’s for sure.
In ‘Come Cover Me’, Tuomas appears to be well and truly locked in a love affair with his keyboards and there are a whole host of expertly choreographed pyrotechnics accompanying the entire show, makes a change from the seemingly random barrage of flames some other bands seem to employ. Jansen asks “…there’s so much energy here after 3 days and boozing I hope?…” and lets us know we’re in for a trip Floor headbands. Looks like she’s having a great time. Studded dress?
Wearing a studded dress that looks a bit like a portcullis, Floor is headbanging and wind-milling her hair for all she’s worth, and gives ‘Amaranth’ a decent effort, but if you’ve spent nearly a decade getting used to Annette Olzon’s high notes, it does feel a bit weird singing along.
‘Devil in the Deep Dark Ocean’ is beautiful, with Marco calling out “Dear citizens of UK… I bring you greetings from… Finland. You deserve something nice… a love song!”, but it’s the firm fan favourite ‘Nemo’ intro that garners the biggest crowd roar. With a white curtain of rain as the backdrop and visuals of the iconic Once album cover, it’s the epic pinnacle song we’ve all been waiting for – and their prowess as one of the slickest metal bands out there is clear.
Closing out with ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ and ‘Ghost Love Score’ to a huge explosion of blood red fireworks above the stage and a billowing CGI Decades banner on screen, Nightwish leave with a wave and a quick plug for their UK tour dates. Notable omissions from the set included ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and the huge ‘Wishmaster’ – but I suppose the point of the Decades tour is to play a lot of stuff that normally doesn’t see the stage. I get it, but at a festival – I think it’s fair to say, we appreciate the hits more than the obscurity.
Gojira have been long awaited as a headliner here at BOA, and it seems as though the entire population of the festival – some 18 thousand metalheads, have turned out for them tonight. The band waste no time in racing right into the heavy stuff with ‘Only Pain’ and ‘The Heaviest Matter of the Universe’ against a brooding mountain range backdrop, as giant plumes of smoke are blasted out from the front of the stage.
The intro for ‘Love’ has vocalist Joe Duplantier screaming out “Lemme see your fucking hands c’mon” as an added lyric, and the video backdrops depict a spinning cage whilst the band burn through those heavy Gojira riffs. Calling out “This is fucking beautiful thank you” in response to the sea of raised horns, Duplantier looks almost surprised as a streamer-cannon goes off next to him, followed by a burst of on-stage fireworks. Whilst ‘Flying Whales’ definitely is not a comedy track, hell, it kinda sounds like an Attenborough script, there is something really funny about the British need to kitsch everything up. There must be about 10 or so inflatable Orcas being bopped about in the crowd, ‘flying’ if you will.
If the band has noticed, they haven’t let on – “Bloodstock you know what we wanna see now… a giant fucking mosh pit… I’m sure you can make that hole a little bigger guys, come on, stand back”, and in response the place goes absolutely mental for ‘The Cell’. The lightning flash backdrop and accompanying strobe-effects hit a little close to home though as we’ve all been waiting in the pouring rain for the last hour, but guitarist Christian Andreu is paying the drizzle absolutely no mind, spinning around like a whirling dervish as he shreds.
For a confusing minute we get an up-close and personal as drummer Mario Duplantier ditches the kit in favour of a, um, spear. No clue why, but he’s brandishing it about the place and yelling “It’s an immense honour to headline bloodstock today… thanks for sticking out the rain”. Up next, ‘Silvera’ is stunningly beautiful, with it’s almost ambient mellow passages, and after a somewhat excessive drum solo we’re getting down to the wire with the heavy but melodic ‘The Shooting Star’, which is heralded with a rain of fireworks from the stage roof.
Pulling absolutely no punches, Gojira blast into encore/finale song ‘Vacuity’ supported by a barrage of on-stage pyrotechnics and a massive set of flaming red fireworks from behind the stage as they finish, calling out “Thank you so much bloodstock that’s all from us tonight. Stay safe, stay happy, stay healthy. Goodnight!”. It’s the perfect set and there’s no denying that Gojira are absolute masters of their craft, we have definitely been pulled right into the moment with them and sincerely hope we’ll be seeing them back at BOA soon.
It’s Friday night at Bloodstock and we’re gearing up for the mighty Judas Priest, the stage is set with giant ‘Devils tuning fork’ backdrops and standing props and smoke is billowing in from the sides. Entering to Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ and a barrage of stage lights, Rob Halford is still rocking the signature fringed leather and sunglasses look, despite the now dark skies. Kicking off with brand spanking new track ‘Firepower’ – a polished but ultimately traditional Priest sound, it’s clear we’re in for a treat.
Halford shouts out “C’mon Bloodstock the priest is back! Are you ready for some heavy metal?” to a roar of approval in reply and a sea of horns are raised across the arena. Busting through hits like ‘The Ripper’ and ‘Turbo Lover’, we’re getting nothing but pure old-school heavy metal – which is especially poignant since Halford is almost dressed in heavy metal himself, sporting what look to be silver chaps, a la Tinman from Oz.
A pride flag waves in the middle of the crowd, presumably as a tribute to Halford himself who publicly revealed his homosexuality during an MTV interview, and became an early advocate for LGBT presence in the metal community. Indeed, metal for everyone; inclusion and diversity, is always a line that Bloodstock has kept at the forefront of their festival ethos.
The stage screen backdrops change to scrolling newspapers and an image of Big Ben for ‘The Ripper’ and there’s a distinct possibility of permanent retinal damage with the insane amount of strobe light use during ‘Saints In Hell’. Yelling “Thank you so much! Heavy metal is forever right?” the metal certainly does just keep on coming. Now dressed in an extraordinarily sparkly trench coat reminiscent of a giant disco ball, and wielding a blue lightsabre for no clear reason at all, we get right into the good stuff. ‘You’ve got another thing coming’ has everyone headbanging along with the band as a Black Country flag flutters on the screens – particularly relevant here in the Midlands. As is traditional, Halford rides his motorcycle on stage wearing yet another fringed jacket and leather baker-boy cap for ‘Hellbent for Leather’, which frankly is something to aspire to. If you ever get the chance to include a motorcycle as part of your essential stage kit – well you’ve definitely made it.
The encore sees guitarist Glenn Tipton join the band on stage, who has recently revealed that Parkinson’s disease would require him to step down from performing. Despite this, Tipton absolutely smashes Priest super-hit ‘Breaking The Law’ to crowd-wide chants for him, it’s a really powerful moment. Halford calls out “Thank you so much. Thank you for having us back home, this is where we’re from, the home of metal” and indeed this sort of homecoming for the band, with almost 50 years under their belts, must feel all the more special. Closing out with new record ‘No Surrender’ and finally ‘Living After Midnight’, this really has been one of the best Judas Priest gigs we’ve had the pleasure of attending, and we’re sincerely hoping it’s not the last. As Halford crows; “We'll be back, we are Judas fucking Priest!”.
The countdown is on, three weeks until Catton Park is overrun by a hoarde of the weird and wonderful, your punks, goths, metalheads, geeks and freaks. Yes, it’s almost time for Bloodstock Open Air – the UK’s premier Metal fest.
Let’s take a look at what BOA 2018 has to offer…
BANDS
Headlining Friday night at BOA are the mighty Judas Priest, tipped to be bringing some ahem, serious fire-power, alongside material from their new album… ‘Firepower’. It’s going to be a memorable show that’s for sure, but it’s not all about the headliners at Bloodstock – Friday offers up a plethora of bands we rarely get to see at other festivals in the UK, like Emperor and Suicidal Tendencies. We also can’t wait to walk with zombies Wednesday 13 and get our thrash on with Onslaught, we are coming fully prepared to leave this festival with RSI of the neck.
On the Sophie Lancaster stage we’ll be looking out for metal goddess Doro, and we’ll definitely be checking out the New Blood stage to fill our boots with brand new music to add to our playlists.
Gojira are back after a year off, but this time taking the Saturday headline slot to showcase their unique brand of metal and having seen them hit BOA in 2016, it’s pretty clear we’re in for an incredible night. Also on Saturday’s menu, the beautifully weird juxtaposition of Scotland’s own pirate power-band Alestorm, followed by New York death metallers Cannibal Corpse. I’m down for that sort of variation, it keeps things interesting. We’ll also be turning out for Combichrist, and Israeli band Orphaned Land over on the Sophie stage.
Sunday’s finale spot, perhaps somewhat controversially goes to Nightwish, a band who are no stranger to drama throughout their career. Indeed this will be the third time the band have headlined the festival, with yet another different vocalist – Floor Jansen. However Nightwish undeniably deserve the accolade of closing out Bloodstock, having topped the bill twice before and drawing from a massive eight studio albums worth of music, we’re catching them on the ‘Decades’ tour, which is bound to be celebratory. Also on Sunday, SFG are looking forward to At The Gates, Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed fame, and Evergrey but the biggest hype by far is for American rock crooners Mr. Big. We simply cannot wait to karaoke the hell out of ‘To Be With You’ in the cheesiest way possible. Might even slow dance. There’s something fantastic about Mr. Big featuring on the same bill as Watain – over on the Sophie stage, who we will also be sure to catch. If you’re heading there too, take a poncho for the gore and keep your phone in your pocket. Trust us. It’s gonna be a wild one.
ENTERTAINMENT
If the music isn’t enough to satiate your appetite over the weekend, or there’s a bit of a lull in your lineup, you’ll find plenty of other stuff to see and do at BOA this year. Take a stroll through the BOA RAM Gallery which features the incredible artwork of Paul Raymond Gregory, various photographers’ shots from previous years, and new this year – an entire Judas Priest wall.
Meet your heroes and get your stuff signed! Bloodstock has always had a great band-to-fan signing tent with loads of opportunities to meet and greet, so make sure you take along any special CD sleeves for your favourite band and check the signing times.
Muscles 2 the Masses – BOA’s very own Strongman/Strongwoman competition now has an amateur division for festival-goers (who have competed in qualifying heats already) to be crowned Bloodstock’s Strongest Man, in a series of events which centre on… well, you know, lifting stuff up, mainly. If that doesn’t take your fancy, we’ve heard Battle Reenactment is back on the menu – who doesn’t love armored dudes beating seven shades of hell out of each other?
Late night DJ’s and movie screenings after the bands are finished are also being laid on for the drunks and nosferatu among us, so if all your mates have crashed and burned for the evening, pull up a pew for Spinal Tap and make some new pals.
FOOD
There’s no slacking on the food front either, for a smaller festival the options are excellent whether you’re a straight up carnivore, a vegan or somewhere in between. Grab yourself a brisket sandwich between bands, pick a veggie paella or an entire Sunday dinner in a Yorkshire pud, but for my money – I’m making room for a crazy hot chili in a bread bowl also known as Bunnychow. Oh and you’ll find your morning hangover cure over at the famous Motley Brew, I particularly love their ‘Sweet Chai o’Mine’ mugs and the fact that you can also get a massage while you convalesce.
MERCH
BOA’s main arena boasts a massive array of shops in which you are sure to find anything and everything a metal fan needs – you’ve got your patches and pins, your leather chaps, extremely obscure black metal tees, jewellery emblazoned with skulls, studs on absolutely everything and of course, viking drinking horns. If you’re looking for rare vinyl or CD’s – Bloodstock has your back, particularly brilliant if you’re looking for something better than the programme to take into the signing tent (I once found a vinyl of The Final Countdown and got Europe to sign it, they were not thrilled to recall their hairstyles…).
As for official merch, you’ve got your straight up festival tees with the incredible Bloodstock artwork, and a heap of other stylish variations, but this year I’m after some of the new offerings, particularly the leggings, hip flask and leather cuff. It’s great to see BOA venturing into more merchandise variation, and we’ll definitely be getting hold of the branded reusable cups for our beers too.
So what are you waiting for? Tickets are on sale HERE
Would it even be a Download weekend if there wasn’t at least the threat of rain? It’s grey but holding off as we head into the arena for a day of pure rock and metal shenanigans. The first notable difference is the somewhat extreme, and numerous bag checks. We’d been warned via the site and social media that only A4 sized backpacks and smaller would be allowed into the arena, but didn’t realise that there would also be multiple check-points between the car-park and actually getting in to see the bands. Not to worry though, the checks are pretty quick and efficient, and soon we are cresting that hill for the first amazing sight of the arena.
I’d also like to do a quick shout-out at this point to Download’s ever evolving experience enhancements. Big plastic tracks have been installed around the second stage area making both walking in general and getting to the Accessibility platform via scooter or wheelchair easier than ever, and they have employed professional BSL music performance interpreters for the Main and Zippo Encore stages, giving even more fans access to this incredible event. They have also increased accessibility shuttles from the campsites, provided a wheelchair charging station and increased their accessible portaloos by 50% on last year. This continual thought and attention to feedback is impressive, and Download is one of the few festivals out there who seem to be really improving access year on year, in all kinds of different ways. Bravo.
So, the Arena. If you’re a rock or metal fan and you haven’t been to Download before, all I can say is, it’s like coming home. All the beautiful freaks are right here with their astral hair, their pleather and fishnets, jackets covered in patches and piercings in every available inch of spare skin, tattoos blooming from black tshirts and ripped jeans. Oh and at this point in the day, approximately half of them are jammed in a never-ending queue to buy merch. Bah. Tips for next year DL – employ at least twice as many staff for this please, it was obnoxious.
Extortionately priced t-shirts in hand, we stride down the hill to catch up with the mighty Dragonforce who have gathered a massive crowd for ‘Cry Thunder’, prophetically as the rain begins to spit. Thankfully that’s where the correlation ends, but it is still pretty ridiculous when they yell “We are Dragonforce… we come from right here in sunny England…”. Frontman Marc Hudson also lets us know that they “…are filming every single song of this set… so the rest of the world sees how fucking crazy the UK is” which obviously sparks a frenzy for the next song, only to fall foul of technical difficulties. If sod wrote a law, the page would be titled ‘Dragonforce’ today. Laughing “It’s so great when your mic cuts out in front of thousands of people…” they deal with it gracefully and end on a high with ‘Through the Fire and Flames’. Oh and no, I’m still not over Herman Li’s majestic hair swishing. Werk.
Yorkshire band Marmozets fronted by enigmatic Becca Macintyre are straddling the line of hipster rock, almost too current-cool for Download but they certainly know what they’re doing. Yelling out “Last year I was camping with you lot” Becca hops around in bright pink trousers whilst a Darth Maul in the crowd is going absolutely mental with his inflatable lightsaber.
Over on the Zippo Encore stage, self-professed king of the party Andrew WK has amassed an army of bemused onlookers, if not actual fans. Yes he’s kitschy, yes he rocks up in pre-dirtied white jeans and yes he pulls faces like a more demonic Jim Carrey, but well, he’s our weirdo. The rock community is strangely proud of him. Fan fave ‘She is Beautiful’ is silly and fun and I really rate a dude who can build anticipation with the line “…and now it is time… for me to play a guitar shaped like a slice of pizza”. No really, damn I love that pizza guitar. As if he wasn’t margarita-cheesy enough he calls “It’s not Andrew UK… it’s Andrew DOUBLE UK, double the power!” and then proceeds to do an actual 100-1 countdown for anthem ‘Party Hard’. It is frankly ridiculous that everyone likes this terrible track so very much. I of course am bouncing around with them.
Now for something completely different, in the form of Danish metalheads Volbeat. Now Volbeat are no strangers to DL but they never seem to be hyped up either, someone you know but wouldn’t flock to. Not so today my friends, Volbeat are here to slay. The enormous crowd that has surrounded the main stage is singing along to ‘Lola Montez’ and frontman Michael Poulson’s Elvis-esque lilt is refreshingly different to your standard screamer vs. power vocal camps. As if to highlight the difference in fact, Barney of Napalm Death fame (who have a set later on) is brought in for a quick collab on ‘Evelyn’ with his distinctly unintelligible shrieking, but oh we do love a bit of Barney don’t we. ‘Still Counting’ goes down a storm for their last song and honestly, I think they are arguably the band of the day for me.
On the zippo stage, Hell is for Heroes have about 30 people down the front watching them, which is kinda sad actually as they were by no means awful at all, and their cover of The Cure’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ was decent. However, I think they definitely fell foul of their timeslot – everyone seems to be getting their food and booze situation sorted before tonight’s headliners.
That’s something we should really mention actually, the food. It’s been getting steadily better every year at DL but this year was off-the-charts excellent. An incredible variety but also quality, gone of the days of rat-burgers and CMOT-Dibbler style saugages-inna-bun. Truth be told, you can still buy a box of suspect noodles if you want the real Doningtons-past experience but why would you? We instead grabbed ourselves a stack of butter-milk chicken in a brioche bun and a side of poutine. Effing decadent.
In the Avalanche tent Bad Religion are shutting it down, rocking on to an intro of ‘My Sharona’ and looking decidedly less punk than they used to. No worries though, they sound exactly as good as they ever have with the likes of ‘Recipe for Hate’ and Tony Hawk Pro Skater hit ‘You’. Yelling “Everyone gearing up for a big weekend huh? I got some bad news… we can’t stay for the whole weekend… there was a backstage clause, Axl kicked us out…” the band head into the excellent ‘Anesthesia’. ‘Infected’ is the sound of the 90’s and the packed out crowd is straight up loving it.
As we head back out to the main arena for Avenged Sevenfold, as huge crowd has already gathered and though we are donning toastier clothing for the chilly night, we’re still damn thankful for the minimal rain today. To read what we thought of A7X’s headline show, click the link below!
Weather report: still holding, patches of sun spotted but we’re keeping quiet because we don’t want to jinx it. Still packed a poncho.
Monster Truck are providing the heavy rock sounds as we head into the afternoon, already drunk people are taking enormous risks with their phones on the high-flying sky-swing (do it for the ‘gram y’all) and lunchtime calls for another foray into the plethora of nourishment offerings. Seriously, vegan sushi, paella, duck fat roasted potatoes, a bowl of crumble and ice cream, wings, burritos, tapas, full roast chicken dinner? You want it, they have it. Oh and the now famous Motley Brew are serving up an array of hot beverages in real mugs, and they even have seats. You can take your Coachella VIP champagne and caviar and shove it up yer arse, we’re British. We like a CUPPA and a GOOD SIT DOWN.
One very notable thing on walking/squeezing around the arena today – it is RAMMED. Day sales for G’n’R must have been good this year because it is truly packed. Local lads The Struts give it big on the main stage shouting “You know we used to live in Derby just down the road… and we used to come to this festival and stand where you’re standing now… it’s incredible to be up on this stage” to a roar from the crowd. We love a hometown hero, but I’m less convinced on their actual show. I mean, they’re not bad as such, just a bit wet compared to everything else I’ve seen this weekend. The Temperance Movement however, muster all the southern soul a grey afternoon needs to get with the programme, and indeed they seem to bring out the sun a little. ‘Trouble’ and ‘Midnight Black’ are phenomenal and it’s more than a little hard to believe boho frontman Phil Campbell, with his maracas and tambourine, swaying in a lace shirt – is actually Glaswegian.
Thunder step on stage to AC/DC track, er, Thunderstruck. Well, why wouldn’t you. ‘Wonder Days’ and ‘River of Pain’ are pretty epic, it’s so great to see a band who are just absolute pro’s at what they do. Joking “Hands up who wasn’t even born in the 90’s” makes for disturbing viewing (thanks for that, Thunder, so kind) but they are absolutely killing it so I’ll let them off.
Over at Zippo Encore, there is no longer any visible section of floor. This is the busiest I’ve ever witnessed this arena without it being a headliner for sure. It seems like Babymetal’s fan base is a lot larger than anticipated and to be honest, sheer fascination seems to be driving a large portion of people in rather than actual fandom. Podium platforms for dance showcase the three firecracker leads who are sporting gold and black Xena-warrior-princess style outfits. Yeah it’s super kawaii nonsense but the music is actually decent and hit ‘Chocolate’ is both ridiculous and annoyingly catchy. I sort of love them.
Onto something we can pretty much all agree on. Kentucky kings Black Stone Cherry are Download’s biggest love story. A band championed by fans ever since their first showing here back in 2008, a decade of repeat requests for their billing, and it’s no wonder why. They are honestly flawless, vocalist Chris Robertson is arguably one of the best rock and roll singers going, he soars through ‘Blind Man’ in the now blazing sunshine, and everyone around us is singing their hearts out alongside him. Thankfully this time ‘Rain Wizard’ doesn’t coincide with a hideous downpour, as it did a few years ago, and ‘Me and Mary Jane’ has the entire crowd bouncing. A cover of Hendrix’s ‘Foxy Lady’ is made for this Wayne’s World worshipping crowd – yes, we did dance like Garth, yes it was magical. ‘Like I Roll’ and ‘Blame it on the Boom Boom’ see crowd-surfers flailing towards the front and ‘Lonely Train’ is just, incredible. Closing up with ‘Family Tree’ from the new album, this has been yet another epic showing from BSC and we hope to see them back again soon.
With a huge chunk of time before Guns’n’Roses we lope off in search of sustenance, beer and portaloos as the evening draws in. It’s been an incredible day here at Donington and we are suitably amped up for the closest we’ve ever been to a full G’N’R lineup…
WOAH. It is HOT today. Not England hot, like equatorial hot. Everyone either has the sheen of well slathered sunblock or is already burnt to a crisp and the whole place after three days of booze and no showers, smells like an armpit. A rowdy afternoon starts with the likes of Turbonegro and Kreator on the Zippo Encore stage and Hatebreed are throwing down on the main stage, yelling “This is for Dimebag, Lemmy, Chris Cornell, Chester (Bennington)… I wanna see every fist in the sky” for ‘Perseverance’. It is at this moment that a small bi-plane flies overhead with a banner reading “Jesus loves every 1 of U” and the fists become horns. Hard to tell whether it’s a joke or we’re actually the subject of some local zealot’s fear, but either way everyone is laughing and trying to take poor phone photos of it.
In This Moment bring the strange and unusual next, with everything from priestess costumes, skulls and pentagrams to choral music and interpretive dance. I don’t really know what to make of them if I’m honest. They sound like metal-Bjork. Is it a good thing? I mean I do like the toilet-paper costume, but their mini cover of Metallica’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is a little upsetting. I did laugh at the Game of Thrones Cersei-style ‘Shame’ poster situation, but there is a nice sentiment behind it all; “…this is what I was told when I was just a girl, that I would amount to absolute shit, that I would become nothing at all… this last song is about rising above other people’s perceptions” – for ‘Whore’, accompanied by huge white balloons being batted around the crowd.
Black Veil Brides sport pyrotechnics and screaming, standard. It’s decent but they are eclipsed by next up: Shinedown. Super appropriately it is scorching hot right now and they are smashing their way through some straight up great rock and roll. Motivational as ever, frontman Brent Smith invites everyone to shake hands with a stranger next to them, and hit ‘State of my Head’ goes down a storm. “Take a look at the history you’re making this afternoon… ladies and gentlemen you look absolutely spectacular today” yells Smith, and I must sincerely disagree, we look fried, tired, sweaty and smashed. But I do appreciate the love.
Over in Avalanche, happy pop punk legends A are playing to a packed out tent, which is suspiciously full of pale people avoiding the sun-monster. Riffing on their age “hands up if you’re over the age of 30… hands up if you’ve got 2 properties… you know when bands re-form and they’re like 20 years older and you’re like why are they bothering? We just really fucking enjoy this” the band speaks to a place in all of us, who are genuinely here for the same reason – even if we’re sort of proper grown ups now. Oh and they start an over-30’s circle pit, cause it’s funny to go home to your office job with two black eyes, right?
Now, was anyone else truly alarmed by the sight of Marilyn Manson in daylight? I was. I thought he was going to spontaneously combust, burst aflame, incinerated by the power of sunlight. I mean he’s so pale as to be almost translucent – at one point he turned sideways and I swear I could see a passing plane through his face. However, it’s an absolute treat to have the master of the macabre here at Donington and he does not disappoint, rolling in with ‘Irresponsible Hate Anthem’ backed by a giant inverted monochrome crossed American flag.
Sporting a knuckle-duster mic and a long black trench, it takes all of about two minutes before he looks as though he’s sweating his ass off and has to ditch the look, pogo-ing down the runway he calls “Thank you for coming out in daylight… it’s like the opposite of our lives… do you like daytime? I don’t… we’re kind of stuck here together with daytime… let’s deal with it” perhaps displaying a little animosity towards the scheduling. It’s true, his show and music both lend themselves to a dark and brooding atmosphere, it’s a little hard to get caught up in the bloodlust when the big tattooed bloke standing next to you is eating a 99 with a flake.
‘Disposable Teens’ is obviously solid gold but it’s more than a little amusing that due to there being no option to control the lighting, we get to see people rush on an off stage during the show to dress Manson in various different outfits. More amusing still is that it is genuinely too hot for any of it and he keeps having to peel it all off himself within minutes. He’s clearly frustrated about it too “It’s very difficult, but together we can accomplish it… like having sex with the lights on”.
‘mOBSCENE’ comes with a vampiric Manson backdrop and during ‘Kill4Me’ he drags a crowd-surfing mega-fan on stage with him. She’s head to-toe Manson-merch and is sporting an “I’d Kill 4 you” flag, obviously ecstatic to hug him as he slaps her ass and sends her on her way, before togging up in an enormous Howl-like (of Moving Castle fame) black feathered trench-coat. Think, demonic Big Bird.
Talking to us as he emerges from a corner of the stage “I was just having a moment with my personal physician, with my eyesight and the sun…” it’s not clear whether that’s a joke or he’s ahem, getting medicated, but it seems extremely apt that we head into ‘The Dope Show’. ‘Sweet Dreams’ is breathy and brilliant, there’s some writhing around a smoking podium which looks rather uncomfortable, and a little bit of using drum sticks to hit a bass guitar. It’s a bit off, and I can’t put my finger on why. Dani Filth joins the action for ‘The Beautiful People’ and unfortunately he finishes up a little slow with ‘Cry Little Sister’. I’ll be honest – Download have definitely seen him better, and I hope next time we can at least give him the night.
Closing up the Avalanche for the weekend are Sweden’s mischievous mayhem peddlars – The Hives. We’ve seen them in white suits, we’ve seen them in black suits, and today – they’ve sown them together for half and half suits. Aesthetic on point. Yelling “Did you miss us? It’s good to see again isn’t it? Did you miss this face?” it’s clear they are here for fun, and they have lost absolutely none of their famous energy and life. ‘Die, Alright’ is awesome and ‘Hate To Say I Told you So’ brings back a wave of college memories, of afternoons in dingy pubs and cover bands. “We have come to the part of the show where we expect way more applause than we are getting…” garners a massive roar from the absolutely packed tent, and “…this is reparations for all the shit we stole from you in Viking times… we’re giving it back in the form of musical treasure!” makes everyone laugh. They are an unstoppable force, jumping from amps and swinging mic stands around their heads with wild abandon, they just look like they’re having the absolute best time, and so are we.
As the sun begins to set we head back to find a spot in the main arena, cover up our burnt bods and grab a beer before our final headliner – Ozzy Osbourne. It has been yet again an incredible weekend and if you’ve never experienced Download before, I can scarcely describe it to you without gushing. It’s a well-oiled machine and you don’t get this kind of bang for your buck anywhere else, I have witnessed a host of the best in rock and metal, in a field with my friends. Does it get better than that?
It’s possibly the sunniest day of Download’s entire history and we’re collectively scorched after spending our Sunday rocking out to a wealth of amazing bands and artists. The swirling masse of black clothing is now contrasted by a beautiful tinge of red sunburn and vampiric-sorts are cowering under their parasols awaiting The Prince of Darkness himself… Ozzy Osbourne.
O Fortuna rings out heralding Ozzy’s return, both to Download – having performed last with Black Sabbath in 2016, and been a previous host of festivals at Donington with his own Ozzfest before – for this metal Brummie, it’s pretty much home. Two giant rectangular screens flank a cross-shaped one in the centre of the stage, which begin to scroll through a timeline of Ozzy-through-the-ages, including a school mugshot which elicits an ‘ahhh’ from the crowd. Like some kind of surreal supermarket of the damned, Ozzy’s unmistakable disembodied call comes across the tannoy “I can’t fuckin hear you… louder…”. Anyone who’s ever seen him before knows that this is pretty much all he’s going to say, for the next two and a half hours, no matter how much you yell back. He probably genuinely can’t hear us.
Anyway, finally legging it out in a black leather trench coat – and I do mean legging it, this is actually a pretty spritely Ozzy we’re getting tonight, and at 69 years old it’s no mean feat. Starting off with a site-wide howl we’re treated to ‘Bark at the Moon’ replete with moon and wolf visuals and Ozzy very literally throwing his head back for a howl. I was genuinely concerned he was going to tip over backwards at one point but was immediately distracted by guitarist Zakk Wylde’s indominable shredding on his signature swirl Les Paul. The man can honestly do no wrong.
As a crowd-surfing inflatable T-Rex bobs along the front row, Ozzy ditches his jacket revealing a sparkly bat top – it seems old tropes never die, and 1980 release ‘Mr Crowley’ harks back to a time where bat-munching was just, so on trend. Black Sabbath track ‘Fairies Wear Boots’ has the whole arena singing along but it’s not easy to forget the magic of seeing Iommi himself rocking this a mere two years ago. Truth be told, it doesn’t have the same gravitas.
‘No More Tears’ and ‘Road to Nowhere’ are both heavy hitters but it’s once again the Black Sabbath tracks that really get the stamp of approval with this crowd. The stage screens are aflame and air raid sirens wail in the night; ‘War Pigs’ is a wall of voices chiming in on a veritable metal anthem. If you don’t know the lyrics you’re basically desecrating Donington’s unholy ground, to be honest.
Ten minutes worth of Tommy Clufetos’ rumbling drum solo has everyone cheering, and gives Ozzy a bit of a break before heading into ‘I Don’t Want to Change the World’ and ‘Shot In The Dark’ which is accompanied by the most magnificent 80’s Tron-esque visuals. With a chant of “one more song” arena-wide, ‘Crazy Train’ is as massive as it ever was and Ozzy is doing a frankly stellar job considering he’s just shy of 70 and basically pickled with his history of drugs and alcohol. After a brief interlude, he’s back on for ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’ to the dismay of many (it is crap though isn’t it…) and as per the technology age we view a blanket of phone-lights in place of cigarette lighters thrust into the air. Anyway, it’s all quickly made up for with a rousing performance of ‘Paranoid’ to cap off the night in style.
Say what you will about Ozzy’s singing – he’s pretty much always sounded like that, I will always be appreciative of getting to witness one of heavy metal’s greats in the flesh, because there’s nothing in the world quite like live music, and this is history in the making.
Day two of Download and arguably the most anticipated revival in rock history topping the bill tonight. Yes yes, we’ve all seen some other iteration of Guns’N’Roses… the one where Axl turned up an hour late, got bottled and slipped over… the one where everyone hated Chinese Democracy… the one where Slash just came and did his own thing and everyone completely loved it and uh, Velvet Revolver. But this is it. As close as we’re ever gonna get to a feud-less, most-members, sort-of-real G’n’f’n’R. For those of us born too late to have worn snakeskin and chains in the heyday, when leather was acceptable for every item of clothing, it’s a chance to jump into a bit of history and live the 80’s Sunset strip for a couple of hours.
In an extraordinary turn of events (which I am led to believe is mainly due to extremely fierce contract rules) the band hit the stage BANG ON TIME. It’s so incredibly unlikely and unheard of, it appears to take the crowd by surprise and a frantic legging-it-back from portaloos and food stalls ensues as the first notes of ‘It’s So Easy’ ring out.
Emerging in jeans that are more rip than denim and the inevitable plaid shirt tied around his waist, Axl’s unmistakable nasal tones signal the start of something special. Massive runway steps around the stage promise great views for even those at the back of the main stage arena, which is helpful considering this is probably the most packed it has ever been here at Donington.
Blasting through ‘Mr. Brownstone’ with hilarious backing vocals by… everyone, we’re so happy that even ‘Chinese Democracy’ itself doesn’t upset us. This is undeniably what we came here for, I mean even if Axl isn’t rocking a kilt and wellington boots, Slash looks precisely the same as he ever did (have we ever seen his actual head before?), Duff is still rocking a Prince logo on his bass, visuals of the band logo are plastered over all available screens and they sound downright incredible.
A crowd-wide Guns-and-Roses chant arises as the epic intro for ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ begins, and of course Axl milks the “you know where you are?” part. I just wish, just a little bit, that he’d have customised it for “you’re in Donington baby!” but oh well, he’s donned a different leather jacket and a hat for this so I guess that’s, interesting.
Classic Wings cover ‘Live and Let Die’ is spectacular, but honestly they kinda ruined Velvet Revolver’s ‘Slither’. It’s just not made for Axl’s rasp. ‘Rocket Queen’ in the blazing sunshine is the stuff rock and roll dreams are made of, and Axl has swapped into a fetching white leather jacket with a Crocodile Dundee-esque hat. I’m not sure I totally understand the outfit swaps to be honest, are they just all his favourites? Like a kid taking too many soft-toys to bed? They don’t seem to bear relevance to the set list, I mean if he’d come back on stage dressed as a rocket, or for that matter a queen, I’d be considerably more impressed.
Now I won’t lie, there’s a bit of a lull here in the middle. It’s a 3 hour set which seems to have been set up to include Appetizer, Siesta, Dessert, as far as planning goes. There are some absolute highlights of course – Terminator track ‘You Could Be Mine’ with a host of tron-esque graphcs is amazing and obviously any time Slash is rocking a solo you just shut up and enjoy. The Godfather theme tune ‘Speak Softly Love’ isn’t exactly ripe for the sing-along, but it is pretty spectacular.
Now clearly ‘Sweet Child O Mine’ is going to be well received no matter what, but Axl-more-changes-than-RuPaul-Rose goes wild, with er, a red bandana and tan hat combo. It’s a dream to hear live and the entire crowd is air-guitaring along with Slash, as it should be. A beautifully soulful cover of ‘Witchita Lineman’ has the younger contingent scratching their heads a bit, and Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ is top notch too, but it’s now dawning on us that at least half of this 3 hour behemoth of a set isn’t actually going to be Guns n Roses songs. Go figure.
‘November Rain’ sees a raft of on stage pyro simulating rain due to the unusually dry conditions this year, which we are all super thankful for by the way, and a giant black grand piano is wheeled out, with a teeny weeny motorbike stool for Axl to sit on. It’s more than a little bit comical. Sorry. Then again I’m sure he cares not a jot, seeing as we’re treated to some up-close shots of his hands tickling the ivories, and one of them is adorned by an obscenely huge rectangular sapphire ring that looks like it could knuckle-dust you into another dimension. Slash is now up on the top gangway wailing for all he’s worth, and the skies are turning pink and blue above us, it’s so perfect I want to puke. As if that wasn’t enough, we’re treated to (yes, another cover…) Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’ with an intro suspiciously familiar to Westworld fans in the crowd, which honestly makes me wary that Axl has actually been replaced by a host. It’s the only explanation for his turning up on time.
Snapping back to the big guns we’re treated to ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ with Axl in a fringed jacket, and then the absolute classic ‘Night Train’ before an extremely brief pause for the encore. The signature whistle signals the intro for ‘Patience’ and Axl quips “…we’re going to play an English folk tune” before launching into a cover of The Who’s ‘The Seeker’ whilst wearing a Union Jack emblazoned hat. Finishing up with a final change into a studded leather jacket we get the big one, ‘Paradise City’. It’s everything it should be, loud, large and classic. Fireworks top off what was an incredible, if slightly lengthier than it needed to be, show. There’s no denying Guns’n’Roses were meant for Download Festival, it’s been a long time coming.
The rain has held off all day, we’ve weedled our way into the middle of the black sea of metal-tees – beer in hand, and it’s time for the first headliner of Download Festival 2018 – Avenged Sevenfold. Heading out onto the Donington stage for the first time in 2006, A7X have been firm favourites at the festival, returning in 2011 and then 2014 to headline, but this is something else entirely.
The stage is set with a raft of giant screens depicting stone murals and front-man Shadows appears in his now signature garb of a red and black plaid shirt and an Axl-style bandana strapped around his head, yelling something or other about Jesus, as the band scream straight into the entirely apt ‘The Stage’. ‘Afterlife’ is heralded by a bombardment of pyrotechnics in the form of massive flame cannons, which serve to singe the whiskers off anyone in the front five rows, and to the surprise of many around us – they’re absolutely nailing it. I suppose the problem with A7X has always been their willingness to explore so many different styles of rock and metal, from prog to hardcore and everything in-between. They’re not ‘that’ polarising band that you either love or hate, they’re just somewhere in the middle, where a song or two might chime with what you like. As such, it can be hard to accept their set as anything other than a mash-up of whatever they feel like that day, but honestly, today it’s more like an expert tour through metal as a genre.
Vengeance and Synyster are back to back, playing intricate harmonies and it’s clear that from a sheer musical perspective, they deserve their top of the bill spot here at Download. Yelling “It’s our favourite goddamn place in the world to play” is always guaranteed a roar from the crowd in the UK, whether it’s true or not, but the sheer force and power of ‘Hail to the King’ rings the sentiment true, and here’s where it gets interesting. Taking more than a small cue from metal legends Iron Maiden I’m sure, a giant zombified king is ushered in from the back of the stage to ‘crawl’ above the band and inexplicably, to sing along. This kind of production is usually the reserve of giants like Maiden or Viking Power-metal bands who just really believe in their storyline, but hey, maybe that’s what the current festival scene is lacking? The 90’s and noughties saw a phase of rock and metal where any kind of gimmick or even loud clothing was considered tacky and unprofessional, leaving a hole in big-scale shows which covered the entertainment factor, as well as musical prowess. Are we due a proper resurgence of pantomime metal? I’m not sure it’s a bad thing, it keeps things interesting in a long set at the end of a busy day of bands, and who doesn’t love an enormous skeletal king having a sing-song anyway?
With a sobering video tribute to former drummer James “The Rev” Sullivan who died in 2009, they head into ‘So Far Away’, followed by the massive ‘Nightmare’. Yelling out “…we’re taking it back to the beginning, none of that shit we’ve been playing all year, this one’s just for you” the band roll into a track from their second album – ‘Eternal Rest’. Just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder, yet another giant installation is floated out above them on stage… a humungous skeletal space-suited spectre, as grim as it is spectacular, and the screens change to dark starry skies as the night truly sets in over Donington Park as the band hit the ahem, high notes of ‘Higher’.
A cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ is dedicated to celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who was reported to have committed suicide in the early hours of the morning, and Shadows implores anyone who is struggling – to seek help; “…we lost Anthony Bourdain today. It may seem silly but he’s a guy that showed us all different cultures and different people… that we’re all equal… so reach out, we all feel the same way”.
Bringing things back to a safer, louder space ‘Shepherd of Fire’ inevitably sees the stage… well… on fire. Pretty much all of it in fact. You’ve got to wonder what their total carbon footprint is for this entire set. Joking “We’re gonna have some fun… all the people who hate us have gone back to their tents”, A7X finish up with ‘A little piece of Heaven’ a delightful song about murder and necrophilia, and then ‘Unholy Confessions’. No really, and the entire crowd is singing along as if it were as normal as a school assembly hymn. I mean, metal has always been known for hitting up risqué topics but there’s something undeniably jolly and therefore unnerving about this. If there’s one thing you can say about Avenged Sevenfold, it’s that they’re not afraid to go there. Well, anywhere really. Tonight was a triumph of their absolute willingness to do whatever the fuck they want. Bravo I say.
Joining us in a Friday Ronnie James Dio main stage slot are British thrash icons ONSLAUGHT. The band are working on their new studio album set for release later this year via AFM Records, so expect the world premiere of a brand new song at BLOODSTOCK! The band tell us “ONSLAUGHT have always loved playing at BLOODSTOCK, the UK’s finest metal festival and this year the show is going to be something special indeed! We’ll see you maniacs at the front!” Get warmed up by watching the video for ‘The Sound of Violence’.
Also nabbing a Friday slot opening the main stage are British metal crew, FEED THE RHINO. The quintet’s latest album, ‘The Silence’ landed last month via Century Media with lead track, ‘Heedless’ landing its premiere via Daniel P. Carter on the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show. Have a listen! The band tell us “We are beyond honoured to be performing at this years BLOODSTOCK Festival. See you in the Pit!"
Japanese power metal ladies, LOVEBITES join us for a slot on Friday’s Sophie Lancaster stage. The five piece release a new mini-album, ‘Battle Against Damnation’ on 6th June, but if you’re not up to speed on the band, make sure you investigate this video for ‘Shadowmaker’ and additional news info over at their Facebook page.
London death metallers, DE PROFUNDIS join us in a Sophie stage slot on Friday. The band are readying the release in May of new album, ‘The Blinding Light of Faith’. Get a load of this new track ‘Bastard Sons of Abraham’ and then view the array of purchase options (digital, physical and special bundles) over on their Bandcamp page.
Brit thrash outfit REPRISAL also land a Friday Sophie slot. Their new album, ‘None Survive The Sun’ lands this Friday 30th March via Hostile Media. Feast your eyes on the video for ‘Nephila’ and head over to pick up a copy of the album at
http://reprisal.bigcartel.com.
Progressive death metal New Yorkers UNCURED land a slot on Sunday’s Sophie stage. Having just wrapped a 28-date US run with Soulfly, the four piece come to Europe this Summer to play shows with their friends in JASTA. Check out their video for ‘Stygian Valley’ below and if you're curious for more, get further info on the band over on their Facebook page .
Our first phase of BLOODSTOCK club nights start on Monday 16th April! More will be added for June/July, so don’t despair if your local rock club isn’t listed. Get along to one of the following events, check out some tunes from BLOODSTOCK bands old and new, and be in with the chance of winning weekend tickets or related giveaways. Expect fun ways to win tickets – previous year’s events featured the likes of bucking broncos, endurance tests, and air guitaring! Check your local club for details, as dates may be subject to change. Events for April/May run as follows:
