666 : What is Bloodstock's secret sauce?

Always the same, always different. This is how the legendary John Peel used to describe his beloved The Fall. However, it works equally well if we re-purpose it to describe Bloodstock Open Air. You see many components of the festival haven't changed in two decades. Its feeling of geographical familiarity is one of the many reasons that many of us describe it as “home”. For the 15 years I've been religiously attending, the Main, Sophie Lancaster and New Blood stages have been constant in their placement. Governments come and governments go, but the setup and layout of Bloodstock never changes. Blindfold me and would still be able to show you exactly where the rock society tent, Merch Booth and most importantly Lemmy's bar were situated. 

However, this desire for consistency doesn't mean that the festival has fallen back into comfortable complacency. What has evolved massively is the scale and diversity of bookings. More than any other metal festival in this country (and beyond) Bloodstock has been willing to take risks. They were the first event to elevate Ghost and Parkway Drive to headline status, something that now seems taken for granted. Whilst numerous names make regular appearances on the billing, there is also an innate desire to book bands that take the festival way outside of its comfort zone. 

When I attended my first Bloodstock in 2009 the idea of Slayer headlining felt like foolish daydreams. Yet a simple four years later that daydream become a reality. Bloodstock has evolved and has been wise enough to expand its particular musical confines. Metal is a myriad of catacomb-like subgenres. Bloodstock has skilfully managed to rise above the keyboard warrior baiting discussions about what is true metal or not and engaged a policy of if it's good and if it's heavy then it’s in.

A case in point is this year’s quite stunning Saturday night doubleheader of Malevolence into Architects. If even five years ago you had raised the subject of the latter headlining, there would have been an awful lot of tutting and raised eyebrows amongst the faithful. But Bloodstock has diversified, and we have moved well beyond that very blunt classification of there are Bloodstock bands and there are Downloads bands. The real skill here though is that they manage to take this expansionist stance without alienating their core support. Bloodstock has not shifted its musical policy, it has expanded it. You flick through this year’s billing and there are still plenty of bands with a musical lineage that can be traced straight back to the Bloodstock of old. As an example, if you want true metal, go and check out Eternal Champion on Friday in the Sophie Tent. 

Bloodstock's special sauce, the thing that allows it to develop and evolve in the way that it does, is its vehement independence. When interviewing Vicki last year (available here) the overarching impression was that we were speaking to somebody who was a music fan first and a festival promoter second. The fact that this is her festival means that she can book the staff that she thinks will work. Another example is Flogging Molly who will tread the boards right before my beloved Carcass on the final day of the festival. Not traditional metal fayre but the cheers that went up when the name was announced at last year's festival is a portent for the Hedonistic fun that their set will usher forth.

The Bloodstock faithful trust the organisers. We know there are going to be bands that we like and we know that there will be bands that will allow us to hit the bars or peruse the stalls. The one thing that will unite all the acts is that they deserve to be here. Bloodstock has evolved well beyond its power metal beginnings (though there is still plenty of that genre to be found). It has reached the point where what is now champions is good music and he can't say fairer than that.