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Bloodstock Open Air
2008 – Words by Chris Davison, Pics and additional words Strawbs
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| Sunday began with
Heavens Basement. A decent enough sleazy rock band,
they nether the less find themselves stranded on a metal bill, and a
crowd that doesn't care for tunes of sexual decadence and Guns 'n
Roses based shlock. |
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| Crowning Glory
fared much better, and reminded everyone of just why it is that they
are regarded by many as one of the best, greatest hopes for the
future of British metal. They played an awesome, tight set that
brought many fresh converts to their cause. Strawbs and I, having
both reviewed their debut EP, were struck by how much better they
are live. Classic metal never sounded so fresh or vital. |
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Alestorm prove that their star
has risen in the last 12 months. Their Napalm records debut “Captain
Morgans Revenge” has proven so popular that a huge crowd amasses
prior to their set, and they have the largest queue for fan signing
of the festival. Inexplicably coming onto stage to the tune of “The
Fresh Prince of Bel Air”, their smile-raising songcraft and stage
banter, “Who likes Ninjas? I fucking hate Ninjas. This is...erm...a
song about killing Ninjas” lift a tired crowd from their fatigue,
and has the audience living dreams of nautical adventure.
Grand Magus play a workmanlike
set of their doomy heavy metal, but somehow fail to set pulses
racing despite the strength of their material.
Mob Rules would have been better named Mob Sucks if
their horrid set of cheese overload is anything to go by. |
Kataklysm had come to conquer,
and conquer they did. A massive wall of sound from their bottom end
utterly obliterates all those who have come to listen, and even
material from their not universally applauded new long player
“Prevail” sound huge. Kataklysm left the stage having secured
themselves a whole new legion of converts.
As I Lay Dying tried hard, but were treated by many with
a mixture of amusement and contempt as their derivative metalcore
drifted off in the wind. (Chris)
Overkill: By now the weekend
was taking its toll on not only myself, but most of those around me,
and to be honest it would need to be something way out of the
ordinary to get me firing on more than two cylinders – enter
Overkill. Backstage awaiting the chance to photograph them, all the
talk was of the legends about them, Bobby Blitz has apparently had
more near death experiences at festivals than I’ve had overpriced
beers, so he must have done a lot of festivals. But on this night,
no such event, just taking to the stage and captivating the whole
audience. The biggest moshpit I saw all festival, and music so
infectious I was in at the edge when I recalled that I had some
rather expensive camera |
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| gear in the
sac on my back and so retreated to the ‘making my neck ache’ section
just a couple of rows back. They were tight, polished, and well
deserving of their place on this bill. Not sure I’ll go for all of
their back catalogue, but I may well dip for some of it, there has
to be a place for Overkill in my life. (Strawb) |
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At The Gates played to an expectant crowd as the skies
finally delivered the rain that had threatened to dampen spirits all
weekend. Not even a torrential downpour could dampen the brilliant
set that was culled from every ATG release. Though heavy with tracks
from the “Slaughter of the Soul” album, it was perhaps the material
from the earlier albums that made the most impact. A grinning Tomas
Lindberg was clearly having the time of his life, and when he
finally announced that this was “The last At The Gates song to be
played in Britain...ever...”, the audience were clearly aware that
they had just witnessed something very special indeed. We then made
our excuses and left before the prima-donnas in Nightwish could ply
their Lloyd-Webber on acid fares.
The Scuzz unsigned tent had three clear winners that were head and
shoulders above their peers. Overall winners for me were
Ravens Creed, featuring Ben Ward
(Orange Goblin), Fraser Craske (ex-Sabbat), Jay Graham (ex-Skyclad)
and Steve Watson (ex-Iron Monkey). Despite being advertised
previously as being extremely Venom like, I was pleasantly surprised
to find this more in the vein of gnarly old Germanic thrash, not
unlike Destruction colliding head on with Morbid Tales era Celtic
Frost. Direct, nasty and brutal. Even if Ben had to occasionally
look at the lyrics sheet! Taking second place were
Denounce from Gravesend, a
melodic death / thrash band that nearly burned the tent down with
the sheer heat generated from their onstage intensity. Playing
tight, sharp metal with furious vigour, they shamed most of the
other bands with their professionalism and enthusiasm.
Witchsorrow take bronze with
their power trio of classic doom – mesmerising all in their path,
even if cheekily pinching the main riff to “Born too Late”. (Chris)And the final words go to Strawb: |
| In summary – many bands played well. Highlights for me were Primal
Fear, Iced Earth, Overkill. The best period however was Crowning
Glory followed by Alestorm, two acts who gave all and lived up
totally to my expectations, which were set very high for both of
them. When Chris speaks of the longest signing afterwards, Alestorm
had the longest queue 30 minutes after they had started signing, and
later told me that they signed for an hour and 20 minutes. I spoke
to them, having previously seen them at the slightly cramped
surroundings at the Park at Peterborough, and they have indeed
deservedly risen to their current heights. Along the way they have
had lots of highlights, and are currently occupied on a tour,
involving many festivals, and access all area passes, which meant a
very close encounter only a few nights previously with Mr Snider
and his twisted sisters, which they had enjoyed. After their set, no
backstage or VIP areas for these boys, they were in the public area,
buying from the same bars as the great unwashed, and no doubt being
told just how good they had been. Approachable and bloody good guys!
Likewise Crowning Glory were a revelation. Reviewing CDs for this
site means listening to what groups want you to hear, but a bit like
photoshop with my piccies, slight alterations are possible and major
lies a breeze. This band gave their all in a set that deserved all
that it got from a large crowd [including a soon to be on stage
Chris from Alestorm]. They had energy to spare, but damn well |
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did their best
to expend it all for our pleasure. And once we had realized that
their tent was pitched next to ours, it was only a matter of time
before we got to speak with them – actually to the lead singer and
his passenger, whose sole attributable comment was ‘have you got a
cigarette?’. The band had, apparently, enjoyed every minute, and
again approachable and a good guy. An album is in the wings and
eagerly anticipated by both of us.
Special thanks to
Adam the organizer – without him just 10,000 drunkards in a field –
buy him a beer whenever you see him, otherwise we’re fucked
Simon Hall for all of his efforts in the number 2 tent
SOS – Sites On Site – hosted the press for free, gave us
electricity, charged our phones gratis, gave us free interweb – come
back next year – please.
Jagermeister – the festival fuel – add headache pills to a litre and
it makes you sleep, in a field, very near to a loud karaoke, and in
a tent with CD and his brother in the next compartment doing only
what South Lincs brothers do…..
Alestorm – just for being who they are – and a great festival band. |
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Additional Sunday
Photos |
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Alestorm Signing |
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Grand Magus |
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Kataklysm |
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BOA 2008 :
Friday |
Saturday |
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