Bands you'd love to see Bloodstock who have never played before?
Here's my list:
- Deep Purple
- Electric Wizard
- Sleep
- Fu Manchu
- Dragged into Sunlight
- Coven
- Autopsy
- Unto Others (pulled out before)
- L7
- Sisters of Mercy
- G.B.H
- Carnivore A.D.
- Dream Theatre
I'm sure I'll think of more later!
Decided to revive this thread from the old official Bloodstock website forum days if anyone remembers it? I always thought it was a fun way to sum up my thoughts for the festival each year so here goes for my twelfth one!
The Good:
- Overall vibe of the festival: Absolutely incredible. I had my own concerns about the potential atmosphere this year in light of all the online controversy but I didn't encounter a single dickhead all weekend. Noticed people were much more polite than usual this year when making their way through the crowds during bands too.
- Arena layout: Movement of the EMP stage to the back of the arena was a total boss move. Found there to be much more space around the main stage, even when I stood towards the front.
-Extra water points in the arena: Much needed and I only queued once at the most popular one by the Sophie tent for about two minutes. The extra one near the VIP entrance was pretty quiet all weekend.
- Bands: Saxon's headline slot was pure heavy metal class. Played banger after banger including my favourite, The Eagle Has Landed. Carpenter Brut was a stellar choice to close the festival. Total palette cleaner and my feet still hurt today from dancing! Wednesday 13 were also great, spooky fun and loved the Murderdolls tunes. Castle Rat also blew me away with their storytelling and theatrics.
- Entry: We arrived at about 9am and were let in around 10.30/11am which was appreciated. Quick and painless experience overall.
The Bad:
- Tangerine Fields tents: Noticed this year that those pre-erected tents now take up the majority of the Asgaard campsite. Would be interested to know how popular these are because surely they're reducing space for regular campers resulting in people having to camp in walkways in other campsites the last couple of years.
- Arena entrance queues: Only a slight niggle but the queue extending to the end of Midgaard on the Thursday night was pretty crazy to see. I only got caught in the queue a couple of times over the weekend but maybe they need to signpost separate queues for those with or without bags for searches.
- Toilets: More still need in the campsites. Noticed more in Midgaard this year but an extra block is probably needed in Ragnarok or Hel.
The ugly:
- The guys in Ragnarok using a hexi stove on the ground for no apparent reason. Just incredibly stupid given how dry the ground is and they weren't even cooking anything on the flame?
- Unattended children in the arena. More than once I saw extremely small children walking through busy crowds at the main stage completely unattended. It's downright dangerous given that there's intoxicated people around and mosh pits breaking out. I'd add to that the small children crowd surfing too. If they get dropped or another crowd surfer lands on top of them then who's liable? The way I heard some parents speaking to their children in Ragnarok was concerning too - made me wonder how they're treated at home.
- The guy who stood next to me during Priest, asked if I could shield him while he peed in a cup, then said he thought he'd peed himself before heading towards the pit - wtf? 🤣
Overall, another fantastic year that's over too quick. Roll on 2027! 🤘