Bloodstock
Last weekend me, sleeperwaking, metalfeast666, Grover, Tanwen, Rich M, Emma, Amy, Jake and David G all went to Bloodstock. James, Flo, Rhys and a few others from Cardiff were also there but didn't camp with us. All in all it was a great little festival, awesome bands throughout and not a single disappointment.
I got the train down to Birmingham with Tanwen on Thursday afternoon, then got a train from Birmingham to Lichfield after meeting up with Andy T and Grover on the train to Lichfield City. We met Emma outside the station, then took a couple of taxis with some other festival goers to the festival site. In the queue it started tipping it down, which was fun, but fortunately it stopped raining again by the time we came to set up our tents. We camped next to an Australian man living in Britain named Tom and a couple of kids named Adam & Sam, all of whom were pretty cool. As the afternoon wore on into the rest of the Cambridge lot started appearing. David brought a huge 6-man tent with him which I helped lug from his car to the camp site. We spent the evening hanging out and Grover got very very drunk, much to everyone's amusement.
The first band of the next day was Evile, who were very good and had a much better sound than when I saw them supporting Megadeth, although the rhythm section still overpowered the guitars in places. After Evile finished a Gemma appeared and I helped guide her to the campsite and bring her stuff from the car. The next band we saw were Tyr, who were pretty good although the sound was somewhat lacking. Akercocke were next and delivered an awesome slab of satanic extreme metal, followed by Destruction and their devestating thrash attak. Again, sound not great for either band (this was something of a running theme of the festival - it improved as the weekend wore on though) but good sets and great crowd reaction made up for it.
After Destruction we headed back to the campsite to rest and ended up missing most of Primal Fear's set, but we made it back in time for Metal Is Forever which is basically all I wanted to hear from them anyway. I didn't fancy Soulfly so I headed into the unsigned stage to see what was in there and ended up seeing a fairly generic but competent and extremely fun power metal band called Sorceror's Spell. How can you not love a band who finished their set with a song that goes JAGERMEISTER METAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL! \m/
Next were Helloween, who played basically the same set as Hellfest except it wasn't as good because there were no giant inflatable pumpkins and Gamma Ray didn't come on to do the encore. Still very good fun and I also bumped into the singer from Alestorm between songs. After Helloween we brought our chairs into the festival area and chilled out to Opeth, who had much funnier stage banter at Bloodstock than at Defenders of the Faith.
Saturday started out with a drive to Sainsbury's to restock our depleted beer and food supplies, followed by checking out hetfields_beard's friend Nick Ruskell (a.k.a. Necroskull)'s band Witchsorrow, who were DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. The next band I saw were Eluveitie, who were awesome and got a great crowd reaction (although I prefer a bit less pit and a little more jig in my jig pits). Went back to the campsite for food and rest, then decided to check out Communic on a whim, which was a mistake as they were crap. Slow, plodding and completely devoid of any capacity to rock. They were followed by Moonsorrow who were very good though. The first couple of songs were very raw and very black metal, which I'm not sure was deliberate or the fault of the sound mix, but either way it was good, then they got gradually folkier as the set wore on (and you could actually hear the keyboards).
After Moonsorrow I saw Napalm Death, who were very good and had some pretty brutal pits. Started to rain after their set though and I headed back to the campsite and couldn't be arsed going back for Soilwork as I don't really know their stuff. Everyone else went to see them though so I hung out with a bunch of random crust punks for a bit instead. After Soilwork finished I headed into the unsigned stage to meet up with Andy T to catch the beginning of the Berzerker. On record I don't like them because I can't stand their drum tone and to be honest they sound exactly the same live, but the incredibly brutal pits made up for it. I was going to leave a quarter of an hour in to catch Iced Earth, but just as I turned to leave I heard the unmistakeable drum intro to Corporeal Jigsore Quandary so I stayed for that and ended up missing Iced Earth's first song. Iced Earth were very good though, very strong set although once again the sound left something to be desired. An awesome hour and a bit (they were due for 90 mins but left early) from Dimmu Borgir complete with great pyro and a kickass light show rounded off the night.
Sunday started off with another shopping trip (I didn't go this time round though, just chipped in money). First band I saw was Alestorm, who as usual played an awesome set (to be fair with just one album that contains not one bad song it's hard not to) and were a good laugh. Crowd went wild for them with pirate flags and costumes galore. Next up were Grand Magus, who were great fun to rock out to although - you guessed it - sound wasn't great. Bit too bass heavy, which isn't so bad for a doom band but you still need to be able to hear the big big guitar riffs. Happened to see the girls from Eluveitie in the crowd so Gemma and I went up to congratulate them on their awesome performance the previous day. They didn't seem to want to stick around though so we let them be.
Afterwards I decided to check out Mob Rules, which was a good idea as they were really good and had great frontman - really energetic and smiley throughout. Then I met up with the Cardiff crew for Kataklysm, who played a brutal set and had a giant pit before they even came on stage! Buggered off back to the tent afterward because I couldn't give a toss about As I Lay Dying, then Gemma and I decided to go to the Mob Rules signing on a whim. Was tempted by the Kataklysm signing as well but unfortunately it clashed with Overkill, who were absolutely amazing. Killer setlist, great sound and awesome crowd reaction with non-stop circle pits throughout. Best band of the festival for me but incredibly tiring. They were followed by At the Gates, who really lived up to their reputation with an awesome set of classic Gothenburg melodeath. The festival was finished off by Nightwish, for whom I also brought my chair into the arena, who were touch and go. Their set was pretty boring for the most part and the best songs of the night would've been better with Tarja singing anyway as she suits those particular songs a lot better than whatsherface. Good light show and lots of pyro though. Also lol fishmaster. Still, IMO At the Gates deserved the headline slots more.
After Nightwish Gemma buggered off home as she had work in the morning, so I said my farewells then headed into the Lava Stage to check out the 4 DJs of the Apocalypse and the metal kareoke with Rich, Emma, Tom and Adam, which was a laugh and a fun way to end the festival.
Over all I woudln't rate tt quite as good as Hellfest (Hellfest's line up was better although I think I preferred the weather at Bloodstock - give me the odd light shower over non-stop oppressive sun any day of the week), but I think it was actually better than Wacken. Wacken was great, don't get me wrong, but I think I prefer the smaller atmosphere of Bloodstock (if nothing else it means less walking!) and quite a few bands disappointed at Wacken where as none did at Bloodstock.
I got the train down to Birmingham with Tanwen on Thursday afternoon, then got a train from Birmingham to Lichfield after meeting up with Andy T and Grover on the train to Lichfield City. We met Emma outside the station, then took a couple of taxis with some other festival goers to the festival site. In the queue it started tipping it down, which was fun, but fortunately it stopped raining again by the time we came to set up our tents. We camped next to an Australian man living in Britain named Tom and a couple of kids named Adam & Sam, all of whom were pretty cool. As the afternoon wore on into the rest of the Cambridge lot started appearing. David brought a huge 6-man tent with him which I helped lug from his car to the camp site. We spent the evening hanging out and Grover got very very drunk, much to everyone's amusement.
The first band of the next day was Evile, who were very good and had a much better sound than when I saw them supporting Megadeth, although the rhythm section still overpowered the guitars in places. After Evile finished a Gemma appeared and I helped guide her to the campsite and bring her stuff from the car. The next band we saw were Tyr, who were pretty good although the sound was somewhat lacking. Akercocke were next and delivered an awesome slab of satanic extreme metal, followed by Destruction and their devestating thrash attak. Again, sound not great for either band (this was something of a running theme of the festival - it improved as the weekend wore on though) but good sets and great crowd reaction made up for it.
After Destruction we headed back to the campsite to rest and ended up missing most of Primal Fear's set, but we made it back in time for Metal Is Forever which is basically all I wanted to hear from them anyway. I didn't fancy Soulfly so I headed into the unsigned stage to see what was in there and ended up seeing a fairly generic but competent and extremely fun power metal band called Sorceror's Spell. How can you not love a band who finished their set with a song that goes JAGERMEISTER METAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL! \m/
Next were Helloween, who played basically the same set as Hellfest except it wasn't as good because there were no giant inflatable pumpkins and Gamma Ray didn't come on to do the encore. Still very good fun and I also bumped into the singer from Alestorm between songs. After Helloween we brought our chairs into the festival area and chilled out to Opeth, who had much funnier stage banter at Bloodstock than at Defenders of the Faith.
Saturday started out with a drive to Sainsbury's to restock our depleted beer and food supplies, followed by checking out hetfields_beard's friend Nick Ruskell (a.k.a. Necroskull)'s band Witchsorrow, who were DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. The next band I saw were Eluveitie, who were awesome and got a great crowd reaction (although I prefer a bit less pit and a little more jig in my jig pits). Went back to the campsite for food and rest, then decided to check out Communic on a whim, which was a mistake as they were crap. Slow, plodding and completely devoid of any capacity to rock. They were followed by Moonsorrow who were very good though. The first couple of songs were very raw and very black metal, which I'm not sure was deliberate or the fault of the sound mix, but either way it was good, then they got gradually folkier as the set wore on (and you could actually hear the keyboards).
After Moonsorrow I saw Napalm Death, who were very good and had some pretty brutal pits. Started to rain after their set though and I headed back to the campsite and couldn't be arsed going back for Soilwork as I don't really know their stuff. Everyone else went to see them though so I hung out with a bunch of random crust punks for a bit instead. After Soilwork finished I headed into the unsigned stage to meet up with Andy T to catch the beginning of the Berzerker. On record I don't like them because I can't stand their drum tone and to be honest they sound exactly the same live, but the incredibly brutal pits made up for it. I was going to leave a quarter of an hour in to catch Iced Earth, but just as I turned to leave I heard the unmistakeable drum intro to Corporeal Jigsore Quandary so I stayed for that and ended up missing Iced Earth's first song. Iced Earth were very good though, very strong set although once again the sound left something to be desired. An awesome hour and a bit (they were due for 90 mins but left early) from Dimmu Borgir complete with great pyro and a kickass light show rounded off the night.
Sunday started off with another shopping trip (I didn't go this time round though, just chipped in money). First band I saw was Alestorm, who as usual played an awesome set (to be fair with just one album that contains not one bad song it's hard not to) and were a good laugh. Crowd went wild for them with pirate flags and costumes galore. Next up were Grand Magus, who were great fun to rock out to although - you guessed it - sound wasn't great. Bit too bass heavy, which isn't so bad for a doom band but you still need to be able to hear the big big guitar riffs. Happened to see the girls from Eluveitie in the crowd so Gemma and I went up to congratulate them on their awesome performance the previous day. They didn't seem to want to stick around though so we let them be.
Afterwards I decided to check out Mob Rules, which was a good idea as they were really good and had great frontman - really energetic and smiley throughout. Then I met up with the Cardiff crew for Kataklysm, who played a brutal set and had a giant pit before they even came on stage! Buggered off back to the tent afterward because I couldn't give a toss about As I Lay Dying, then Gemma and I decided to go to the Mob Rules signing on a whim. Was tempted by the Kataklysm signing as well but unfortunately it clashed with Overkill, who were absolutely amazing. Killer setlist, great sound and awesome crowd reaction with non-stop circle pits throughout. Best band of the festival for me but incredibly tiring. They were followed by At the Gates, who really lived up to their reputation with an awesome set of classic Gothenburg melodeath. The festival was finished off by Nightwish, for whom I also brought my chair into the arena, who were touch and go. Their set was pretty boring for the most part and the best songs of the night would've been better with Tarja singing anyway as she suits those particular songs a lot better than whatsherface. Good light show and lots of pyro though. Also lol fishmaster. Still, IMO At the Gates deserved the headline slots more.
After Nightwish Gemma buggered off home as she had work in the morning, so I said my farewells then headed into the Lava Stage to check out the 4 DJs of the Apocalypse and the metal kareoke with Rich, Emma, Tom and Adam, which was a laugh and a fun way to end the festival.
Over all I woudln't rate tt quite as good as Hellfest (Hellfest's line up was better although I think I preferred the weather at Bloodstock - give me the odd light shower over non-stop oppressive sun any day of the week), but I think it was actually better than Wacken. Wacken was great, don't get me wrong, but I think I prefer the smaller atmosphere of Bloodstock (if nothing else it means less walking!) and quite a few bands disappointed at Wacken where as none did at Bloodstock.