2015 - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

[houston4044]

Good:
Mates, bands, beer and no rain

Being able to go from camp to mainstage in 5 minutes

Actually being able to sleep at night (somehow)

Bad:
I swear every headliner played 15 mins less than they were supposed to, minor annoyance but can't help but feel a tad shortchanged

Band positions could have been better Nuclear Assault had a bigger crowd than Dark Angel; Sabaton had the biggest crowd of the weekend and Orange Goblin+Korpiklaani had bigger crowds than some of the bands after them. (I know other factors would be involved in this.

The amount of wasps about, dear god.

Not rotating the songs on the screens between bands more, I swear I heard that Decapitated and Cradle of Filth song more than any sane person should; they seemed to get the hint by Sunday though.

Ugly:
Some of the injuries people sustained while bin jousting, good god looked like concussion city

Starting the Jager stage bands while main stage bands were still playing, just why? People on the right side of the RJD stage get terrible sound bleed from both stages at once and the Jager act gets next to no one watching before the main stage act finishes

[RB2610]

This was my first Bloodstock since 2010, so it was great to be back after a 5 year hiatus

THE GOOD:

• The IRC camp and meet up, it was really good to see people I've not seen in so long again, and new peoples too.
• Enslaved.
• Ihsahn.
• Sabaton, as other people said, they should really be headlining now.
• Delain.
• Korpiklaani when they were playing the fun songs.
• Opeth.
• Agalloch, I particularly liked that they upped the tempo of Falling Snow for a live show, it was cool to hear a much more upbeat version what I usually consider more laid back atmospheric music, especially since that's probably my favourite song of theirs.
• Orange Goblin, really lively crowd.
• The couple of Sepultura songs I did know.
• Ensiferum, particularly ending on Two Of Spades, the dancers were a bit of an odd choice though.
• Rob Zombie.
• The food in general was a big step up from the dodgy "Gourmet" vans they had all over the place back when I last came in '09 & '10, the BBQ place that did the turkey legs was great, giant chunk of meat and BBQ sauce, perfect for a festival. Also the curry at Deli Kate's on Thursday was lovely.
• The toilets were surprisingly really clean.
• Finding a couple of CDs someone had made for the IRC camp in 2010, and going on a parade through the campsite with the mystery CD, which turned out to be a bizarre selection of cheese.
• Watching the usual night-time shenanigans like bin jousting.
• The Halfords people were really helpful sorting out my inflatable mattress when it broke.
• The weather, not a drop of rain all weekend.
• DANGER CAN.

THE BAD:

• Korpiklaani wanting to play 'serious' music for the first half of their set instead of the fun stuff everyone wanted.
• Going to check out Within Temptation halfway through their set only to arrive just as the sound issues started.
• Zakk Wylde's excessive solos and chest thumping nonsense. I quite like BLS's music on record, but live it just seems to be full of so much tedious wankery. The seemingly endless solo half way through was incredibly dull. In comparison, John 5's solo bits during Rob Zombie were fairly long, but they were actually varied and enjoyable to listen to.
• The bar at the campsite only selling bottles or cans in the £40 slabs. It's annoying that if you want to get a few drinks to keep you going after the bar's closed once your own supply has ran out you have to either get an entire crate or nothing at all.
• The first mattress I bought deflating in the middle of the night. And feeling old for needing a mattress at a festival in the first place.
• DANGER CAN.

THE UGLY:

• The obligatory large very sweaty shirtless men and Hairy Bubble Man, although I have to respect his joyous frolicking with the bubbles a bit. Relieved to not have seen a single mankini this year though.
• Campsite chants about a certain wobbleboard waving pervert, especially when random people joining our originally fairly innocent beatbox parade were chanting it, it felt necessary to distance ourselves as much as possible from them .
• DANGER CAN.

[rainer]

Good
John 5's solo being better than Zakk Wylde's
Sabaton being better than every headliner
Rob Zombie's dancing

Bad
Opeth being boring as shit
Not enough power metal

Ugly
Fat men shouldn't take their shirts off

[einherjer]

The Good
Overkill
Nuclear Assault
Anihilated
Onslaught
Cannibal Corpse
Dark Angel
Death
Orange Goblin 'Baby' Headlining next year.
Savage Messiah
Wolf
The security staff who patrolled Midgard with the Posh Wash shower brigade.
How you showed such restrained and professionalism is beyond me.

The Bad
Korpiklanni. What were you thinking. Sedate. Lackluster, Boring.
Zombies.
Posh wash shower brigade. You really are a bunch of knob heads. To the conga of arse holes who wound their way round my tent and in the process breaking it, Rest assured your names have been taken. Retribution will be sought.
To the lad with the ghetto blaster blasting 90s Hip Hop. You are lucky I did not catch up with you and did not see you again. Please all of you, stick to download where I'm sure you can enjoy Nickelback or something worse leaving us Metalheads to have our fun.

The Ugly
Women borrowing corsets from their fit younger sister. Buy something that fits.
Men who think everyone wants to see them semi or fully naked.
Men in dresses.
Men in dresses.
Men in dresses.
Gimp man. Keep for the bedroom, Hoss.

[thespis_mellie]

The Good:
-MUCH better variety this year. I divided all the bands into four categories: "Must-see," "Kinda-want-to-see," "Meh," and "Avoid Like the Plague." I had a pretty even spread of bands in all categories, (and I'm grown up enough to understand that a huge festival will cater for more than just my tastes ). So it did seem like they got the genre balance right.
-They also seem to have listened to the feedback - the forums were full last year of people clamouring for folk metal and doom and both those subgenres were represented. Well done, Bloodstock
-No rain! Yay!
-Some absolutely fantastic bands. My top 10 favourite performances were from The Mighty Wraith, Martyr de Mona, Triaxis, Delain, Sabaton, Messiah's Kiss, Winter Storm, RedRum, Within Temptation, and Savage Messiah. (Definitely a Messiah theme going on. Shame the dude that dressed up last year as Jesus wasn't anywhere to be seen!)
-The toilets. I got ONE bad one all weekend. Fantastic.
-Showsec
-My first year as a RockSoc member - that was an AWESOME investment. We were able to go sit in the shade and still see the bands (and chat with some lovely folks); the access to Serpent's Lair was appreciated (husband and I are CAMRA members); the backstage tour was really cool (thanks, Lee, you were lovely)! Totally doing RockSoc again.
-Getting to see the people that I only see at Bloodstock.
-Camping with some really lovely folks.

The Bad:
-Clashes - I missed "We are the Catalyst" and "Hell's Gazelles" (both of whom I really wanted to see). However, clashes are always going to be inevitable.
-Within Temptation's sound glitch I was looking forward to hearing that song too, as I've never seen them live before and I don't have the Hydra album so wasn't as familiar with their newer stuff. But, these things happen!
-Despite having put them in my top 10 bands that I listed earlier, I am a little disappointed at WT's HEAVY use of backing track for the male vocals in their duets. It would have been nice if maybe they'd organised for a vocalist from another band who was performing that day to come and guest...or they could even hold a competition - "Video yourself singing the male part to this song and the winner will join us onstage". (Probably a logistical nightmare, was just a thought I had.) Or they could not perform the duets in their live shows. I'm not a 'BACKING TRACKS ARE THE DEVIL" purist but vocals...in a duet...pretty important. The rest of the set was bloody awesome though, so still in my top 10.
-Sound in the Sophie tent on Thursday night. It got better throughout the weekend. My husband was really looking forward to watching Arnocorps but the sound was so fuzzy that we couldn't hear the lyrics, which...is kinda the point. The engineer in the Sophie tent seems to follow the Motorhead school of sound engineering, (turning everything up louder than everything else). Though it did get better throughout the weekend.
-It was so busy that I didn't manage to see all the people who I normally see at Bloodstock .

The Ugly:
Got stung by a wasp. I managed to make it to age 34 without being stung. It hurt a LOT when the beer wore off.
Got drunk-motional and nearly cried at Primo Victoria...and nearly cried at Delain playing "We are the Others" in the Sophie tent.

[digideus]

Good:
- The whole bloody crowd - its the best experience ever, and we were amazed at the polite crowd helping me and my wife out on her scooter and making an effort not to get in the way. Best crowd!
- Being mistaken for the bass player from Korplikanni three times on saturday!
- Dark Angel - 24 years since I last saw them. still hungry
- Mr Teas and the utterly amazing toasties!!!
- CONAN'S GUITAR SOUND
- Sumer and King Leviathian on the New Blood stage

Bad:
- Main Stage Sound - Consistently bad and had problems all weekend. I dont think the current rig is up to the job.
- Triviums whole show and asking "Who is Dio?" - from the first note, it was like a painting by numbers set from a band who didn't learn their stage craft early on. I have yet to meet someone who liked their set and their over inflated position in the metal world. I was hoping for much more and was utterly let down. Hearing they asked who Dio was however made me facepalm so hard
- Whoever puked in the disabled toilet in VIP and the fact that it wasnt cleaned up even though there was a cleaner in the ladies
- Some of the food prices - To be fair, some of the stalls arent too bad, but there are some charging £8-10 for a bun with meat in it - FUCK THEM

The Ugly:
- Tattoo & peircing at a festival - Honestly? how do you look after a tattoo or peircing at a festival? its also suspect cheap charging £20 for a tongue peircing. Honestly, if youre gonna get one at a festival you may as well just paint the word "dick" on your face

[Slev]

Good:
+Awesome bands: Sumer, Diatessaron, The Mighty Wraith, The Parallax Method, Wretched Toad, Blind Haze, Fire Red Empress, Loft, Endeavour, Savage Messiah, Lawnmower Deth, Godflesh.
+Awesome people, lots of random conversations with random strangers.
+Band members coming up to me because I'm wearing their t-shirt.
+Getting hit on on Thursday night. Still got it!
+Showsec and fest staff being excellent.

The bad:
+It was at least 10C too hot most of the weekend. I was generally only comfortable between the hours of 9pm and 8am.
+One of my crew breaking his ankle in two places on the Friday night.
+Ensiferum really do seem like they can't be bothered any more, even when not sticking the the poor material from recent albums.
+VIP catering was atrocious. I normally rely on this for food. The hog was covered in a glaze that made it taste awful and destroyed the flavour of the meat. The burgers where massively over-seasoned, all I could taste was pepper. For the love of sanity, bring back whoever was running it until two years ago!
+No coke in the arena. This left my only drink for the whole weekend being water. Caffeine withdrawal headaches at the end of each day are not fun.
+Clashes suck.
+Numpties smoking in the tents
+Numpties sparking up in the arena, although not as bad as previous years.

The ugly:
The results of eating from stands in the arena. And of the VIP Hog.

[jwh20]

GOOD:
-General atmosphere and people - you may get a better lineup, but you don't get that atmosphere at European festivals
-Stilton Paninis from Deli-kates
-Savage Messiah, Conan, Delain, Jasad, Ethereal, 1349, FGA, Bast, Napalm Death
-Sharon Den Adel sounded amazing on Fire and Ice
-Being high as all fuck for Conan and feeling like a mountain was collapsing on me, and getting in the moshpit.
-Going over the barrier during Scum, meeting Napalm Death, Dan Lilker and Ihsahn
-DANGERCAN

BAD:
-Nuclear Assault not playing Hang the Pope
-Having to pay £40 for a slab of beer
-Belphegor are just dull these days
-WT's short set for a headliner, even with the sound problems they didnt' have long enough
-Delain would've been better on the main stage, even with WATO being dedicated to Sophie
-Getting the stage times wrong in my head and missing fifteen minutes of Bast
Opeth are boring as fuck and having to sit through all of that to get near the front for WT

The Ugly
-Our ride was meant to be at 8am with us getting to the festival for Midday. Shithead let us down and we didn't leave until like 6:30 in the evening - had to wait for another mate to finish work. Time we had set up our tents in the dark we'd missed all the Thursday bands
-Getting so drunk on an empty stomach after only getting 3/4 hours sleep on Sunday afternoon that I passed out in the arena for nearly three hours according to some girl sitting nearby, missing all of Ensiferum and only waking up in time for I Cum Blood. Only band I was excited for all day and somehow slept through nearly all of it. Luckily the panini I had bought was still in a bag on my stomach so that softened the blow.

[Raven]

Why are people commenting on what people are wearing? So what if fat blokes want to walk around with there tops off? It was fucking hot,stop being so judgemental...you do know why it's called the Sophie stage right?

[nihility00]

In this thread:

People complaining about things that Bloodstock organisers have 100% control of like wasps, heat, sunshine and their own lack of personal organisation/ability to administrate themselves for 4 days out of a house. Dry 'em and get a grip

Good:

*Security doing prowls at irregular intervals

*Road crossing

*Toilets were kept on top of where I camped

*Pro-active litter picking

*Line up not peppered with random pagan/cletic/viking power or battle metal filler bands.

Bad:

*Main screen playing Decapitated "Instinct" on a loop over and over and over. I've been a fan of Decapitated for maybe 16 years but it even got on my nerves after (no exageration) 8 loops. The main screen just didn't rotate through enough variety.

*We bought food in VIP area, a Yorkshire pudding with beef and spuds for £7.50, my mate bought a Thai green curry for £7; the size of the curry was pathetic. Same goes for the indian place in main arena.

*White line security frenzy. I understand the need for access/egress of emergency services to any point on a camp site but people were made to move tents that went over by a few inches.

*Signs for water points but no taps in Valhala.

*Bands scheduled to meet/sign for fans but only half the band turning up.

*Not many by any means, but photographers swastika-ing around the stage during a set or standing on stools in front of people who are watching a performance.

Ugly: (ie, the people who actually attended)

*People body washing, brushing teeth, scrubbing nails and generally having a dig out at a water point where people collect water to drink. YOU DIRTY BASTARDS! no wonder people were complaining of being sick.

*Crowdsurfers: If you want to crowd surf, ask those around you for help to be carried like a degenerate flailing flid, don't just assume it's fine for you to launch your 200lb flabby greggs pasty bulk on one of my shoulders or I'll just shift my weight and watch you fall on your disgusting faces again and again hoping you'll get an open fracture, now that's funny to watch. Be considerate, don't have a fit mid air and just have a quick think whether or not your blackmetal shin pads, armlets, collar and belt are going to detach Johnny aged 16's retina and de-glove his birds spine whos at the front.

*People talking shit in queues (personal nonconstructive gripe). Thanks Captain Charisma but no-one cares.

Best Bloodstock yet, keep the effort up.

Nih

[ScrumpiesVeteran]

The Good:

Lawnmower Deth, Overkill, Rob Zombie, Armored Saint and Red Rum to name a few
DeliKate
Seeing so many nice people
The glorious weather
The vastly improved arena toilets
Friendly ShowSec staff - particularly the guy who got the major giggles during
Lawnmower Deth

The Bad
Bands who yabber yabber rather than playing songs
WT - why ???!?!?!!??!
Wasps
Whilst I will defend anyone's right to wear what they want, why is it always the people who should wear more, that wear the least ?

The Ugly

My arms after being stung TWICE by evil wasps
Parents not making sure their kids wore ear protection

[some_thing_wild]

I sincerely am sorry to anyone I annoyed in Midgard with my megaphone.
I had a great time though

Ne Obliviscaris blew my mind, as did Hang The Bastard, Sepultura, Death, Opeth and Fleshgod. Campsite was just chock full of banter and I got just the best tan.

I did see far too many naked people though, and not the good kind

[Manadh]

The Good

* Thought the main stage sound was much better than in previous years
* The main bands I was looking forward to playing cracking sets
* DeliKate and some good choices from other venders too
* Clean loos. Didn't even have to open up my tissues. Over heard a woman on the Sunday saying "I've just had the worst portaloo - It had no toilet paper or hand wash", which I felt about summed up the loos for the weekend!
* Good friends and good times
* Rob Zombie was better than I expected

The Bad

* A bit too warm for my liking. It was OK when the clouds were over the sun
* When people waltz into the crowd, stand right in front of you, then proceed to just talk and not watch the band at all. Normally they're talking loud enough and bobbing their heads about so as to hear each other so all you can really hear is them, and you can't see anything. Happened a few times this year. If you want a chat, don't stand in the middle of the crowd!

The Ugly

* Nothing really - I seemed to have missed all the worst sights listed here ...

[NeglectedField]

Keeping this to variables within the organisers control (i.e. not the weather, wasps, personal health/hygiene etc)

Good
- Professionalism from bands: Some of them had technical problems, others lost luggage with airlines, but everyone seemed to be really sporting about it. I don't think I saw a single band who were sloppy or anything
- Positive vibes: Whilst there's no such thing as a festival without pricks or drama, generally speaking I experienced less of this than in previous years so well done, y'all. I also ended up chatting to a few known 'characters' that are at every BOA (nobody here I don't think) and they turn out to be quite alright. Security and staff in general all very pleasant
- VIP bar: Great selection of booze as always
- VIP showers: Well kept, decent power from them as well
- Well-behaved kids: One thing I've noticed about kids being brought to metal festivals is they're always pleasant. Never seen any throw tantrums or get upset. Well done, the kids!
- Food: This year BOA did food right. Deli Kate does more awesome stuff and more ace new stalls like the Texas Smoke House place were much welcomed by my belly

Bad
- Lineup overall: Kind of flogging a dead horse but they really could have tried harder on the headliner front
- Technical problems: I feel sorry for Within Temptation especially, and I'm not even a fan. Xerath's thing on the other hand was confirmed to me to be a string breakage and a lack of backup guitar (or rather the backup was fucked also)
- People with 'edgy' t-shirts and anyone feeling the need to wear Dani Filth style corpse paint. It's a mucky festival, what have you got to prove?
- Pit idiocy: Heard some stories of some people being inconsiderate mouth-breathing douches, but that's standard. I also saw some guy being wheeled away from the pit in agony.
- No Saturday night disco in VIP. Griz explained why, something along the lines of having to keep with the metal theme of the festival, which is fair play. Think it'd be different if Darren Toms was there on Saturday doing his usual thing.

Ugly
- Well, I saw some pretty hirsuite folk that you could make a jumper out of. It boggles my mind how people can have hairy shoulders
- This is gonna sound horrible but festivals make me realise there's definitely a 'fat metaller' thing going on. I'm no Arnie (my own fault entirely) but I look at some people and think "what's your excuse?"
- VIP bar discount late Sunday night: They decided to have a clearout so it was £2 a pint some time after midnight. This is why I hurt.

[TrimGoat]

Ugly - the guy walking around with his bollocks out showing everyone how he'd managed to pierce his scrotum with a pin badge, nice.

I'm ashamed and embarrassed to say that that guy was a member of my camp and that badges were of my band. Not to make excuses for him but he was acting completely out of charcter all weekend and, after various revolting shenanigans, we had to get him ejected from the festival before he got himself knocked out. Most likely by me!

So apologies for that.