MTUK METAL 'ZINE - BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR FESTIVAL GUIDE

If a few years ago somebody had told me that they predicted England would be getting its own proper metal festival that would even succeed in getting visitors from places like Germany (the home of the metal festival) over here, I would have laughed in their face.
However this is what Bloodstock had in fact been gearing up for since it began back in 2001 at The Derby Assembly Rooms, a venue more akin to performances of pantomimes, crass British circuit comedians and fading TV celebrities.
Derby never had it so good and thanks to the hard work of organisers Paul Gregory and Vince Brotheridge, 2002 saw the festival rise from strength to strength. Although firmly rooted in booking bands of the traditional and power metal orientation it was already beginning to expand with the likes Return To The Sabbat, Primordial and Bal Sagoth keeping fans (including myself that year) of the harder stuff happy. Securing headliners such as Saxon and Blind Guardian as well as highlighting the talents of up and coming British bands it seemed as though Derby was becoming the spiritual home for metal heads, well at least for one day a year.
2003 saw Nightwish headline and there were other European heavyweights such as Children Of Bodom coming over to play the following year but in 2005 the organisers took the brave step of expanding things to include the first open air edition. Perhaps with hindsight the financial strain on doing this was slightly ill conceived but it was the dedication of the team behind Bloodstock that made this happen and those that made the open air enjoyed the likes of Children Of Bodom, Sebastian Bach and Mostly Autumn and plenty of camping space to enjoy the event. If they had combined this with the indoor festival which had Within Temptation, Hammerfall, Amon Amarth and Within Temptation this would no doubt have been a much more packed event.
Sure enough despite braving this format in 2006 something had to give and last year saw Bloodstock becoming just an open air in the grounds of Derbyshire’s Catton Hall and bands such as In Flames, Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, Dream Evil, Finntroll and Korpiklaani finally proving that Europe was getting used to the idea of Bloodstock now being part of the ‘grown up’ metal festival circuit.
2008 saw the festival go from strength to strength with Dimmu Borgir, and Nightwish headlining along with many other European and bands from further afield joining the party. At The Gates played a special reformation show, Napalm Death tore things up, Iced Earth and Helloween kept the traditionalists happy and thrashers were at home moshing away to Overkill, Destruction and Evile. There was also the cream of the unsigned on the indoor stage meaning that if anything there was too much to enjoy and clashes to be dealt with. Luckily the stages were a stones throw from each other so mad dashes were common and possible.
So what to expect in 2009?

The most important part of any festival obviously and this year things are looking better than ever. The heavy duty Carcass, godfathers of grind will be a highlight for sure playing some gnarly old hits from yesteryear. Both Blind Guardian and Saxon, firm favourites of the festival return. Cradle Of Filth will be on hand to bring a dark pantomime performance and more serious black metal fans can look forward to Enslaved and Satyricon. Swedish riffs are going to be dished out by Arch Enemy, The Haunted Entombed and Amon Amarth, The Finns bring out Katatonia, Insomnium, Turisas and Swallow The Sun, German old school thrash sees shows from Sodom, Kreator and of course dishing up a fine coating of cheese there will be a rare UK performance from the one and only Europe!
This year sees both an unsigned and Sophie Lancaster stage displaying plenty of talent from Abgott to Pythia, The Rotted, Eibon La Furies, Primitive Graven Image and an absolute host of others.
An up to date list can be found here