Why Bloodstock 2021 will be super special!

Yes, Bloodstock is always special. It’s Christmas for metalheads for Lemmy’s sake. But this year it will be extra special sauce special. This year will be the Metal party to meet all Metal party. And here are the reasons why:

We have waited 23 months and 361 days for this – The Festival landscape in 2020 was a desolate waste land. Fields stood fallow, tents sat gathering dust in the nation’s lofts, garages and sheds and stages were left un-constructed. We sat, we browsed, we waited.` The enforced hiatus has made us even more desperate for Metal and beer in field.

It’s FIVE days – This is a super-sized Bloodstock. There is a whole extra day to enjoy. This is your opportunity to check out the up-coming bands that you usually miss out on because you head has been turned by Soilwork or Amorphis on the main stage. On the bonus day you have no excuses about going to see the young guns in the Sophie or new blood tents. And there really are some gems to find. The run of Ashen Crown, Luna’s Call and Urne is lip smackingly good. All have released excellent new records and all show what a healthy scene we have here in the UK.  

Every set is a special set. – Usually Bloodstock is one stop on a band’s summer roadshow of European festivals. Not this year. This year Bloodstock will be bands first and last stop. For many, it will be the their first show in 16 months, for a number it will be their only show of the year. Vio-lence are flying in from the States and going through all the accompanying quarantine business just to play 45 minutes of brutal thrash in the Derbyshire sunshine. For every single band this is not simply a show, this is a celebration of once again getting to do their jobs, of once again fulfilling their god given potential. Expect lots of “Fuck Yeah’s”, expect tears, expect lots of emotional “you lot are beautiful”. Essentially do not expect anyone to be going through the motions.

Super-Subs to the rescue – Ask Vicki exclaimed in the recent Facebook live , they have booked three festivals worth of bands for this year’s editions. Alongside bands not being able to get to the UK and bands deciding to stay hibernated until 2022, we have also had bands splitting and essentially every eventuality under the sun. The resilience of Vicki and her team has been astounding and a number of bands have found themselves in positions that they never expected. Venom Prison, probably the most exciting new British band out there, find themselves in a prestigious fifth from top slot on Friday. This is their chance to show twenty-five thousand people why their corrosive focused brand of Death Metal is so exciting. Kreator are bloody headlining. Their ascension to the top spot has been welcomed with open arms by everyone, but really would it have happened if weren’t in these circumstances? And I haven’t even mentioned the fact that Onslaught, Lawnmower Deth, Napalm Death, Phil Campbell & the Bastard Sons and Evil Scarecrow have been all drafted in to rip the Sophie Lancaster tent to shreds.

Newbies everywhere. - I do not know a single Bloodstock attendee that hasn’t fallen in love with the festival at first sight. Most people attend Bloodstock because of the event and not the bill. Hell, they could book Steps, Chas and Dave and the geezer who shouts “come on Barbie! let’s go Party!” as headliners and we would all attend (don’t get any idea Vicki). This year, there will be a tsunami of refugees sent our way by the cancellation of nearly all other Metal related festivals. What will be wonderful will be watching their collective eyes light up as they discover the wonder of being able to wander back to your tent between bands, being able to stand  at the Lemmy bar and watch bands and an ale and cider selection that isn’t about certain brands buying the right to be the sole choice on offer. We are about to gain a shedload of new evangelists who are about to become as equally in love with the festival as we are.

Judas Priest – the godfathers of Metal. They are doing ONE solitary show this year and it is at Bloodstock. This is about as special as it gets. I am getting goose bumps already thinking about the setlist and fifty-years’ worth of Heavy Metal gems that they have to play with. At around half nine on Sunday night all the Metal Leyl Lines across the world will converge on the Ronnie James Dio stage. This isn’t a gig; this is something special

ROCKFLESH are in the House – the ROCKFLESH crue (including his satanic Majesty) will be there in our ill-fitting ROCKFLESH tops spreading the gospel of Rock. We will be reviewing, posting, and capturing all the mayhem. This satanic majesty may even take part in a bit of rum fuelled axe throwing. Come say “Hi!”.

So, if you haven’t got a ticket, sell your gran or your goldfish, buy a ticket from the see-ticket resale site and we will see you in the pit.