Bloodstock Open Air 2008
Line up -
NIGHTWISH : DIMMU BORGIR : OPETH : HELLOWEEN : ICED EARTH : OVERKILL : AT THE GATES : SOILWORK : AS I LAY DYING : PRIMAL FEAR : COMMUNIC : MOB RULES : MOONSORROW : KATAKLYSM : TYR : SWALLOW THE SUN : ELUVEITIE : NAPALM DEATH : UNITING THE ELEMENTS : DESTRUCTION : EVILE : AKERCOCKE : PRAYING MANTIS : CLOUDSCAPE : ALESTORM : SAINT DEAMON : CROWNING GLORY : PRO-JEKT : GRAND MAGUS : KELTIC JIHAD : MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED
› The Great HeadBang Adventure; Bloodstock Open Air 2008
Disclaimer: Anything said herein does not necessarily reflect the view of HeadBang as a body, merely this reporter’s personal interpretation of the weekend. Please don’t sue us, we don’t have any money.
› Friday 15th August
Right, so it’s Friday afternoon, we’ve been here half an hour and I’ve already found one fellow Yorker who’s taken it upon himself to be a Lemmy doppelganger for the weekend passed out to Ackercocke. We’re off to a good start, hey? Well, let’s start a bit further back at about 10am this morning…
Hi, Alex here. This is what happens when you give us press passes, a car we can fill with beer and no responsibilities for the weekend. We’ve got some pictures too, and check out the interviews with Moonsorrow and Destruction, they’ll prove I wasn’t the only one several pens short of a stationary set this weekend!
The great Bloodstock adventure began at my nana’s house, with me, three Australians who’ve developed a taste for Carling and my fellow Headbanger-in-crime, Becki in Leeds. We’ve got ourselves a hire car for the weekend, so we’ll take the leisure 2 hour drive down to Catton Hall with an air of confidence. Two hours and a wrong motorway later, we finally make it past Sheffield to the cries of an already drunk guitarist needing a slash after having done five cans of in the time we’ve been driving. We’re in high spirits as the weather is holding out and we cruise down the roads to some truly awesome tunes, and we eventually arrive in the car park that by Monday morning, you’d see mudbaths so big you’re surprised not to see chicks wrestling in bikinis. The carpark works well, despite not being able to park by your tent, it’s a good job really because the main campsite is verging on cramped.
Having missed the first few bands, I’m told Saint Daemon were storming. Catching the final notes of Ackercocke, a strawberry blonde Australian tells me they were brutal. It turns out around 8,000 of us rocked up this year, and before you can say ‘80’s German trash’, Destruction get our weekend off to a flying start, hitting us with classics such as ‘Nailed To The Cross’ in a truly terrifyingly Teutonic tempest. We managed to have a chat with their drummer, Mark, who seemed to be channeling Adrian Edmondson as the Baron Von Richtoven. That being said, he’s a charming bloke and is happy to have a natter with Becki and I.
Back at the campsite, things are off to a good start. We have, in no particular order over the weekend; roving Manowar fans, the Game ™, free hugs, annoying meme of 2008 in Family Guy quotes “Buttscratcher”, Gazebo City, Tarpaulin Haulin’ which closed after one or two injuries, a woman who tries to suck out your belly button with a plunger, drunk Australians looking for a fight, roving Bill Bailey fans and some old boy with a Reading ’77 patch on his hat. Marks for perseverance, sir.
Up next onstage we have Bloodstock veterans Primal Fear, making their fourth appearance since 2001. Having seen just how good they can be, it’s a little disappointing to see them stick to mid-tempo numbers such as ‘Running In The Dust’ and ‘Battalions Of Hate’. Ralf and the boys do break out the speed towards the end, with ‘Nuclear Fire’ rousing some voices and grand finale ‘Metal Is Forever’ has ensured that none of us can now speak properly for the rest of the weekend because we were dumb enough to think we can sing the song. A solid performance, made all the more amusing by Ralf Scheepers’ wardrobe.
The special guests of the first night are German power metallers Helloween. Opening with ‘Halloween’, they deliver a barn-storming session of Keeper-era hits, including ‘March Of Time’ and ‘Dr Stein’. Andi Deris is in terrific form, hitting high notes Kiske can only dream of these days, Weikath grins like the smug bastard he is for holding Helloween together for thirty years and Sascha Gernster bounces around like an ADHD sufferer minus his Ritalin. Via a dashing costume change into a questionable orange blazer, out follow ‘If I Could Fly’ from ‘The Dark Ride’ (2000) and then we have the great medley of ‘I Can/Power/Perfect Gentleman’, which is hampered by a slightly too long singalong. But hey, what do we care? We’re drunk and we’re given seventy five minutes of happy rock music, all topped off with perennial set-closer ‘I Want Out’.
Friday night closes with prog-death-Ikea-metal legends Opeth. Despite an amazing lightshow, and interesting setlist and the deadpan humour of Akerfeld in between songs, it seems somehow a step down in terms of atmosphere from the ‘get up and jump’ vibe of Helloween. If any veterans are reading this, remember how Brainstorm raised the roof at the final indoor festival in 2006, and then the damp squib of Deathstars and My Dying Bride brought the day to a bleak close? It’s a similar situation, and I was dying for Opeth to give me more, to be the greats that they were on record, but to no avail. They weren’t bad, but being ‘not bad’ doesn’t cut it for a headliner act. Sorry, boys.
After Opeth, I took a wander around the festival ground proper. This year there’s a Guitar Hero 3 contest, so all you fuckwagons who can beat DragonForce on expert can show the whole festival just how small your penises are. The metal karaoke as always is hilarious, but this year as well as the usual butchered classics, it’s always good to see the people who put the words on the screen can bugger it up too. We have shiny shiny (ooh, shiny!) fairground rides, one that is a big arm with a cage on the end, some bumper cars, and both have a five song repertoire of Kiss or Aerosmith songs respectively. At times during the festival you can be at the back of the crowd and the noise will all but drown out the bands on the mainstage. It was a good idea if you like that kind of thing, but next year keep it outside the arena?
We finally call it a day at about 4am, and with some of the world obviously not content with sleeping just yet with the only dry night we had, I drift off to an uneasy sleep.
› Saturday, 16th August
Mornin’ all. Despite drinking myself to sin last night and not getting to sleep until it was light, 8.30am is a despicable time to be awake, yet all of us are in high spirits, especially Becki because she [ That’s enough, otherwise I’m fired – Alex]. Before I forget, our mighty leader Bazford got married today, so many congratulations to him and his new wife Claire. As it’s impolite not to toast the newlyweds, we get cracking. Despite Becki not being up for drinking in the mid-morning, yours truly reminds her it’s always beer o’ clock somewhere in the world, and an Australian reminds her that there’s nothing like a bit of smack in the morning.
First stop is the unsigned tent, where we call in on York’s stoner-metal three-piece, Mantra. I’ve been told that the newly reformed Evil Scarecrow delivered a rip-snorting (?) performance by some fellow campers. This lot has a new album out in October called The Black Cross, it’ll definitely be worth a listen. As will their live shows, it seems. Having not seen Mantra for a good 18 months, it’s great to see that they’ve upped the game and deliver the best performance on the Scuzz stage of the weekend. Popping our heads out of the tent, we catch the last 10 minutes of Eluveitie, who deliver one half of a double-whammy of folk metal today. Not being too familiar with their work, I resign to watching people jig and shouting “Polka!” as they do so. Moonsorrow follow next, and as Eluveitie were a rather happy bunch, Moonsorrow insist on taking the festival by storm with their dark and brooding take on a sub-genre that has become popular in the metal community over the last couple of years. Oh, and there’s fake blood too, smoke and some awesome strobe effects.
Communic are up next, and we remember them from their stirling performance at Prog Power UK 2007. Sadly, we either missed ‘Under A Luminous Sky’ or they didn’t play it. Nevertheless, they deliver a set of Nevermore-esque progressive thrash which once again wins over the crowd and keeps them simmering at a decent temperature. The rain looms ominously overhead, but no one is put off as heads bang and horns are raised as the underdogs on today’s bill pull out a very good show.
Oh, dear. Firstly, the clouds have closed in and a light rain begins to fall as Napalm Death take the stage. Founders of grindcore, they deliver a set of what I assume is classic grind. Seems a bit silly to me, there wasn’t even one singalong chorus. Well, never send a power metal fairy to do a grindcore set, as the old saying goes. Secondly, it turns out Iced Earth have been held up so I don’t get to talk to them this weekend. As it turns out it’s a good thing, because 45 minutes later I run out of tape interviewing Markko from Moonsorrow because I just can’t shut the bastard up! It’s a crying shame because everyone I’ve talked to backstage this weekend has been an absolute diamond, bands and agents included, and would’ve been happy to keep talking to Markko for another hour. In between waiting, I get manage to watch a good half hour of Soilwork, who deliver a set of melo-death that would make In Flames turn green with envy.
As night begins to fall, the rain eases up. There’s one band who have a lot to live up to this weekend, and that’s Iced Earth. Matt Barlow has recently returned to the fold and as a fan, I’ve been waiting six years to see this. And it was worth the wait. From the first notes of ‘The Dark Saga’ to the final words of ‘Iced Earth’, the band work the crowd over like their personal plaything, delivering classic after classic including the brutally heavy ‘Pure Evil’ and the timeless ‘Melancholy’. Jon Schaffer is still doing his Billy Connolly impersonation on the side, but who really gives a toss when a band with this much hype actually turn out to be that good?
Finally, Demon Burger (Dimmu Borgir for the un-Metalocalypsed among us) take the stage as the rain just about holds off. As usual, they’re dressed like a bunch of complete and utter fairies. And, as usual the sound for a black metal band is a pile of arse. Not pointing the blame at the sound techies, who did an excellent job all weekend, but the high gain hiss that washes over most black metal, and indeed Dimmu’s sound, all but ruins their performance. As with Opeth, their light show is very impressive and raises the stakes with a well choreographed pyrotechnics display. It seems that once again the headliner has been outdone by their special guest, but not through any fault of their own. Saturday’s headliners do deliver a solid show, but the frenzy that has surrounded Iced Earth has left them in shadows somewhat.
Still, a lot of people go away very happy, and as we head back to the campsite, the rain begins to fall. I crawl back to the solace of my tent, and as the heavens open I drift off to sleep to the sound of rain hitting the fabric. It seems the rest of the field had the same idea, as they’re either too drunk to play at roving bandits or they’ve had the same idea and are tucked up in bed by midnight.
› Sunday 17th August
Bugger me, my face hurts. Despite keeping my journalistic integrity and not getting too drunk until after Iced Earth, I have the hangover from hell. There’s only one thing for it, at 9am we crack open the remnants of our rapidly dwindling party supplies. It’s the final day, and boy are we starting to show the signs. We’ve not showered since we left civilization and ‘earthy’ is the only way to describe our aroma. Not one to waste too much time, we soldier on to the battlefield.
Up first are Heaven’s Basement, who’ve changed names so many times it seems they have the attention span of goldfish. All jokes aside, they deliver a blistering performance of hard rock to start the day, and knock aside the competition on the mainstage until well into the day, especially Crowning Glory who fall flat like a flan in a cupboard.
Finally, it’s the turn of Scottish pirateers Alestorm. Being somewhat disappointed with their album, what I expect to be Running Wild-lite starts off with, I shit you not, The Fresh Prince rap. Following that, 45 minutes of absolute hell break loose, complete with bodyboard crowdsurfers, cries of “Yarr!”, “Avast!” and yes, “Roger the cabin boy!” because we still have the mentality of twelve year olds. I somehow get caught up in a very muddy folk pit along the line as well. Christopher Bowes leads us through the most fun I have all weekend with the swashbuckling ‘Terror On The High Seas’, the lusty drunkenness of ‘Wenches & Mead’ through to the cutlass waving crescendo of ‘Captain Morgan’s Revenge’. Alestorm have made their mark in the last year, and despite their studio output being average, their live shows are outstanding.
I decide to give As I Lay Dying and At The Gates a wide berth. As my mother said, if you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all. Sandwiched between the two tutu wearing WI groups [Listen to your mother - Ed] are New Jersey thrashers Overkill, playing their first show in six years on these shores. Similar in sound to Testament in that they have a very given a melodic edge to the thrash sound, Overkill deliver metal in the oldest of the old school US thrash. They sound as fresh and relevant to the scene as they must have done twenty years ago, showing the metalcore brigades either side of them on the lineup how it’s done. Fifteen minutes in, and I’m somehow persuaded to go and watch Adam Bomb in the karaoke tent. Looking back, I should’ve set fire to whoever made me go. There’s something amusing about an aging man dressed like Marc Bolan circa 1974 acting like he’s headlining Woodstock to a small crowd. A bland performance is followed by him throwing his guitar at his manager which was the only thing worth watching, if only for a cheap laugh.
Nightwish top off the bill to a tiring crowd; despite being three days in we’re still in the highest of spirits. Anette Olzon hasn’t had the easiest of rides, seeing as there are still a bunch of gothy diehards who probably have a voodoo doll of her [Not that you’re generalizing much – Ed] and want Tarja back. I’m overjoyed to see them proved wrong as Nightwish launch in to ‘Bye Bye Beautiful’ and begin an hour long (sadly cut short for various reasons I’m not going into here) barrage of songs, mostly from ‘Once’ (2004) and ‘Dark Passion Play’ (2007). Olzon takes command of the stage alongside strategically shaven yeti Marco Heitala as they march through a wealth of material from ‘DPP’, including ‘7 Days To The Wolves’ and ‘Amaranth’, as well as fan favourite ‘Wishmaster’ (not ‘Fishmaster’, as some internet joker has transcribed the song on YouTube). Having not seen the band with Tarja, I can’t draw comparisons, but I can say that Nightwish headlining a Bloodstock event for the second time was a fantastic event to witness, complete with another spectacular pyro and light show as has been fitting for all three headliners.
Post-match activities included another visit to the karaoke tent with another set of the usual offenders (dis)gracing the stage, more beer, and getting wet as the rain began to come down in sheets. We all finally crashed about 3am to be woken up the next morning and greeted with a damp, grey field, a killer hangover, and a long journey back to North Yorkshire.
Bloodstock Open Air 2008 was a huge success, and although many still haven’t forgiven the mistakes of 2007, this year has gone a long way to healing those wounds and those who mourn the passing of the indoor event would have heartily enjoyed this weekend. It felt like Bloodstock and the majority of the bands were ‘classic’ Bloodstock in sound. See you next year, boys and girls!
Alex
August 15th - 17th. 3 day ticket - £85
This years Bloodstock Open Air is looking to build on the success of last years festival. With bands like Nightwish, Dimmu Borgir, Iced Earth and Opeth it is clear that the festival’s success is spreading and bands are actively wanting to make it a stop on their festival schedule.
An unavoidable note is that the price of the festival has gone up to 85 quid, which is steep for what is undeniably still a small festival by comparison to it’s major rivals. It used to be that folk could afford to go to download with Bloodstock as a nice festival on the side. Now, I’m not sure if bloodstock have gone and put themselves in direct competition with Download. A bold if slightly suspect business move.
For the fan however, I feel assured that folk can look forward to the usual party atmosphere and camaraderie that the festival made it’s name for.
Whilst perhaps not the strongest line up Catton Hall has ever seen, this year's Bloodstock features power/death/thrash bands galore, with Moonsorrow, Tyr and Eluveitie more than satisfying your inner viking.
Bloodstock offers something that isn't seen as the more mainstream festivals in England, such as Download and Reading, because of the general atmosphere. Whilst at other festivals the line-up spans so many genres, there is bound to be ill-feeling amongst different fans, Bloodstock inspires a friendlier attitude, whilst still appealing to a range of metal fans.
Although, as mentioned above, ticket prices have gone up, and although some other festivals (such as Wacken) offer a stronger line-up, for me, Bloodstock is still 3 awesome days of metal and beer!