Feedback from the zoom chat with Adam and Rachael from Bloodstock
Hey everyone, so following on from my last post, a couple of us here did the Zoom chat with Adam (and Rachael from Bloodstock also joined) this evening.
My last post was seen by over 27K people and I had nearly 200 messages from people on here. The Zoom call was for an hour and it did run over, so I had to condense a lot into the four main issues that people had raised, and to allow those taking part time to have their say too. My apologies, but it was just impossible to raise everything.
So the four main topics discussed were:-
Practical health & safety: long queues for water, water pressure, more shaded areas needed & security taking sealed bottles of water off people
Feedback: Adam and Rachael acknowledged the water issues, and said they have strict health and safety protocols in place for dealing with heatwaves. They follow the Purple Guide for festival standards. They also made a point to say that even when the festival is technically sold out, they factor in a few thousand less people in this, so Bloodstock is never oversold.
After the heatwave in ‘22, they brought more water into the site (more than was used). I believe Rachael said they may be installing more water taps/troughs by the SOPHIE stage this year. People can also get free water at the bars which none of the group were aware of, and we suggested signage behind the bars to improve this.
There are no plans for more shaded areas. They pointed out the existing shaded areas such as the SOPHIE stage, the smaller band tents, the art gallery and the gaming tent. They said shaded areas don’t reduce the heat much and they’d been recommended to use camo netting from the army under the canopy in the SOPHIE stage which is more effective.
With regards to sealed water bottles being taken off people by security, they recommended people bring in only empty bottles to use at the water taps due to people trying to bring alcohol into the arena. However, they did say they have a more relaxed policy with sealed water in exceptionally hot weather.
Women’s safety (harassment/groping etc), racially motivated incidents / LGBTQ safety
Feedback: They reiterated their zero tolerance stance on this, said Bloodstock is a friendly family festival that is welcoming to everyone, regardless of gender/identity, race etc. Any incidents are escalated through a structured chain and logged, with police being notified when necessary. They stated that they take this all very seriously, and anyone caught being troublesome will be debanded and thrown out.
With particular regards to women’s safety, Rachael explained that she’s recently attended a Safer Spaces course, and that there will be increased signage/posters/screen time highlighting how people can spot sexual harassment, what it is and how to report it. Bloodstock will also be running a social media campaign leading up to the festival to increase awareness. Adam also mentioned that he has two daughters who attend the festival so it’s a main priority for him that women feel safe attending.
We discussed concerns over security/stewards not taking people seriously when reporting these problems, and not escalating the complaint up the chain. They said they will be having a meeting with the company that they source the security/stewards from to investigate this further, and that a review with security is done on site everyday. They also advised that if anyone is not satisfied with how security/stewards address their complaint, that they should speak to someone at the Info Tent who have a direct line to Adam and Rachael, so it can be escalated and dealt with properly.
Nazi flags/symbols in the campsite, neo-nazi group harassing people & vendors selling nazi crosses/right wing merch
Feedback: With regards to vendors, they were aware of one a few years ago and this vendor has not been allowed back since. They have two people (spotters) employed who regularly check what vendors are selling and report any problems to them. Bloodstock itself does not have any legal powers to physically confiscate merch, but said anyone caught selling offensive material will not be allowed back.
Nazi flags - they said they were aware of one offensive flag which was reported last year, but that there was some initial confusion as to whether it was actually a Celtic symbol or not which is why immediate action was not taken. They reiterated the zero tolerance policy and said anyone caught flying nazi/neo-nazi flags will be debanded and thrown out.
The group expressed concerns of multiple people reporting numerous nazi flags in the campsites, and also the neo-nazi group harrassing people, and being ignored/dismissed by security/stewards. They said this will be addressed in their meeting with the security company next week and made it very clear that this was not acceptable at Bloodstock.
Slaughter To Prevail
Feedback:
Adam went into a lot of detail about StP and said Alex Terrible is a parent now who has changed his ways, learnt from his previous behaviour and moved on from his past. He said Alex is also now working with the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, and that society should allow people a second chance to be better. They said they do a lot of research into the bands they book, and pride themselves on helping to elevate bands to headliner status, giving Sleep Token as an example.
They reiterated that Bloodstock has a zero tolerance policy, and any band doing anything offensive on stage that goes against that will not play Bloodstock again.
They said Bloodstock is a family friendly festival where everyone is welcome to be themselves and have a great time.