BLAKEYBLOKIZARD wrote:Well that's what I mean; Immortal, Behemoth, Emperor, King Diamond, Slayer. Those sorts of bands. And yes, you're probably right, but who do you think will be next? As I said, the amount of 'big' bands that are small enough to play bloodstock is dwindling. Then we will see it go one of three ways:
1) Back to booking real headliners
2) Repeat bookings of Machine head and Rob Zombie
3) Starting a new tier of bump-ups (first uk festival headlining appearance). Then we'll have Asking Alexandria, Black Veil Brides and Animals As Leaders headlining bloodstock 2019
My prediction is Mastodon, Korn and Marilyn Manson to headline this year.
Ah ok we are on the same page I believe I wasn't sure if you were one of the "nothing from later than 1985" fans or just more into the less mainstream stuff irrespective of age.
Bloodstock as a festival is in an awkward state right now it's too small for the Iron Maiden's, Black Sabbath's and the Metallica's of this world but at the same time it's too big for the bands you've listed. So we wind up with the disappointing middle ground. Bands who play middle of the day at Download who can't pack out the field at Bloodstock for love or money. I'd be very happy for some Mastodon if i'm honest.
It's very clear that Bloodstock is in an identity crisis and i think for the time being we will have to suffer more headliners who fail to even retain the crowd the special guests perform to much less pack the field.
Skippy wrote:They still have a few options left. Like you said, Korn, Mastadon, at a push Manson. If Trivium can do it Five Finger Death Punch probably can. If we see Limp Bizkit I'll probably stab someone, but they are a possibility. Bullet for My Valentine. I could see Bring Me the Horizon doing it soon, they have a bit more respect than some of the others. I'd hate most of those but I think they aren't that likely to run out, especially if they do go full gaycore and book Asking Alexandria or something.
I'm more interested who you think they could get as a "real" headliner. Only one I could think is maybe Manowar, and there are many issues with that anyway. I'd like to see Savatage, Helloween or Blind Guardian, but I'm not sure any are big enough. Give Watain a few years and another album and they might headline, other than that don't think there are any big enough extreme bands - if Behemoth can't, who else is there?
My predictions would be something like: Dream Theater, Korn and Judas Priest, but honestly I have no idea.
Thing is that comes down to whether you think Trivium "did it" or not. From where i was standing there was shit loads of empty space between the pre sound tower audience and the camp chair brigade and their reaction from the crowd seemed pretty lukewarm in general.
I think your suggestions in the shape of things are well grounded although i have my doubts about Watain (even though i'm a big fan of theirs) I am not convinced they will ever top Lawless Darkness or the level they hit with that album and hence the time that they may have been appropriate headliners is in the rearview mirror for them I think but i would genuinely love to be wrong about that.
I'd be happy with Mastodon, Nightwish, Judas Priest. If I were booking my ideal festival were i could pick bands irrespective of their size Nightwish wouldn't even make my top 50 headliners list but I do think they're one of the better options still on the table at the festivals current size.
