In just two weeks’ time, Bloodstock, the festival which caters to the most metallic of metalheads, will be opening its doors once again for a long weekend of leather & denim, Viking battles, bin jousting and all-round eardrum shattering, pyro fueled excess.
The festival is now in its 24th year, minus 2020 lost to Covid, and has expanded from humble indoor beginnings within the walls of Derby Assembly Rooms into a five-stage outdoor festival with big name headliners and a capacity for 20,000 people.
Bloodstock distinguishes itself from near neighbour Download by showcasing the hardest end of the metal spectrum, and the contrast is more pronounced than ever this year; whilst in June Donnington Park embraced pop punk in Fall Out Boy and Sum 41 and pop without the punk in Busted and Wheatus, in August, Catton Park headlines 2024 with perfectly cast, thoroughbred metal in the form of Amon Amarth, Opeth and Architects. All three bands will be performing UK exclusive sets.
And while the music might at times be extreme, the distances between the stages is not. Bloodstock is small and perfectly formed. No one stage is more than five minutes’ walk from any other and if you need to return to your tent for an afternoon chill-out, you don’t have to dedicate half your day to it.
The undercard on the Dio stage is excellent too. Also choosing Bloodstock for their solitary UK festival appearance in 2024 are Malevolence, Deicide, Rotting Christ, Septicflesh and Hatebreed, the latter delivering a special 30th anniversary set.
New for this year, the late, great, Lemmy Kilmister will be honoured with the festival commissioning a bust of the Motörhead frontman that will incorporate some of his ashes. Fans will be able to view the installation and pay tribute to Lemmy and his legacy in the RAM (Rock and Metal) Gallery on site.
The memorial will be part of a bigger picture theme for the festival this year to commemorate the wider remarkable legacy of Lemmy and Motörhead. The RAM Gallery will be extended to accommodate an expanded Motörhead theme, including a full wall of Motörhead artwork, as well as archive memorabilia. On site this year, festival-goers will see the Motörhead Bomber in the arena, witness various bands paying tribute to Motörhead in their live sets, and the opening and closing of the festival will be marked with a sounding of the famous Motörhead air raid siren. Bloodstock will also welcome Motörhead’s Phil Campbell to the festival this year.
The second stage at Bloodstock is named in honour of Sophie Lancaster, who at the age of 20 was murdered by a gang of teenagers for looking ‘different’. Sophie subscribed to goth subculture and it comes as no surprise that a strong camaraderie for the cause of defeating societal prejudice towards minority groups exists among fans of the most extreme metal genres. This is part of what makes the atmosphere at Bloodstock so special. It can get pretty rowdy in those mosh pits but everybody looks out for and respects each other.
The Sophie Lancaster Foundation was formed to stamp out prejudice, hatred, and intolerance everywhere and Bloodstock has supported the charity for many years. In 2024, the festival is also supporting Derbyshire Blood Bikes, who offer a free medical courier service to local NHS hospitals; moving blood, human milk for premature & ill babies, biological & diagnostic samples, medication, and other urgent medical equipment wherever they need to go in the UK. Every single pound helps and we’re hoping Bloodstock can give both organisations a big boost.
The extremely eclectic Igorrr headline the Sophie Stage on Friday, with the Finnish folk metal of Korpiklaani on Saturday and Norwegian black metallists Satyricon closing out the weekend. For early arrivals who can’t get enough headbanging into the standard three days, the Sophie tent has an abridged lineup on Thursday too, where Swedish progressive metal band Evergrey are the headline act.
As well as a small performance space in the VIP bar, there are a couple of other noteworthy stages at Bloodstock. The EMP stage is tiny; a tarp stretched over a few hundred square feet and the very small and personal nature of this space makes for some really special up-close experiences. The EMP tent is a stone’s throw from the Dio stage and the bands on here have to alternate with it in order to hear themselves play. The less energetic metal fan can fill an entire day at Bloodstock between these two stages and not walk more than a couple of hundred yards. It’s definitely worth making time to check out some of the lesser-known artists here.
Finally, the Hopical Storm New Blood stage showcases the very best up and coming talent honed through heats of the hotly contested Metal 2 The Masses competition. Friday’s line-up welcomes Stoke champions Smother, plus Absolence who clinched first place in the Burnley final. Saturday adds Oxford hard rock victors Stone Soup, Cheltenham’s nu-metal/hardcore band Convey, and Brighton’s top pick Chub. Sunday includes South Wales winners Root Zero, Hitchin deathcore chiefs Dead Flesh, Space Pistol who took the gold for Northants, plus Devon & Cornwall’s Atom Smasher, Bristol’s Froglord, and finally Crucible, who claimed Coventry’s crown.
Bloodstock takes place between 8th and 11th August in the grounds of Catton Park, Derbyshire. Tickets are selling fast but can still be purchased here.
You can see our coverage of the 2023 event here.
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Words and photography by Simon Reed. His website Musical Pictures is here and you can visit his author profile for Louder Than War here. He tweets as @musicalpix and is on Instagram.
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