Bloodstock 2016 - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

[Bizza]

Good:
The weather! massive relief after Drownload
Going Roc Soc for the first time, worth it for the VIP bar alone!
Gloryhammer - Glorious! more of this next year Bloodstock!
Gojira being unexpectedly good.
Isarnos
Ghostbath - hilarious walking back through the campsite afterward and hearing everyone Ghostbathing
Twisted Sister
Aklash
Satyricon
Venom
Fury
Rotting Christ
Bigger Sophie tent
Deli Kate's as always godly panninis
Kraken Ice Cream and getting a free hoodie!
Andrew O'Neill's History Of Heavy Metal, fucking hilarious! HALFOOOOORD!

Bad:
Mastadon - Dull as fuck
Slayer - see above
Dickheads bin jousting for 45 mins right next to our tents in ironwood on Saturday night, where the fuck were security?
Aforementioned binjousting leading to my lift home wanting to pack up and leave on the Sunday, never done that before. Never again.


Ugly:
Getting absolutely fucked on Friday night and loosing my beer horn
The current state of my bank balance.

[Impetus]

Good:
The weather, especially after this years Download.
Rotting Christ were fantastic.
Was pleasantly surprised by how good Ghostbath were. Also made me laugh when people in the crowd were imitating the screams.
Gloryhammer - not a huge Power Metal fan but that was some glorious cheese.
Vektor smashed it in the tent. Gutted I can't make there tour dates in the next few days.
Other honorable mentions - Satyricon, Behemoth, Paradise Lost, Anthrax, Vallenfyre, Venom and Slayer.
The Kraken Rum bus, those drinks were perfect in that sorta weather.

Bad:
Getting ridiculously drunk and ending up asleep in a portaloo for a hour on the Thursday. Managed to wake up in time for Psykosis...
How long it took to get served for a pint at the Lemmy bar. At one point I just gave up and went to the bar in the New Blood Stage.
Forgetting to take a roll mat/air bed. My back is feeling it now.
Unearth were dreadful.

Ugly:
The amount I spent on Friday purely on Kraken Rum...
The sunburnt I have on the back of my neck. Ouch..

[onona]

The good

I had a mostly good weekend. The weather was great, and I ended up having a fairly easy schedule to work to, so had a lot more time for hanging out in between working than I usually do, which was nice.

Can't say I especially loved any of the bands (I listen to very little metal these days, so that's more of a personal taste thing than anything else) although Twisted Sister was, predictably, quite fun, and the bit I saw of Slayer (one of the few bands on the bill that I really like) wasn't too shabby. And Rotting Christ were great.

Oh and while I generally never eat festival food, I decided to eat some of the pizza from the place in the VIP area that was doing wood fired pizzas, because I had a long drive back last night and needed some fuel to keep me going, and they were surprisingly good. So props to them.

The bad

Mastodon, whom I generally like, was a bit disappointing, definitely seen better shows from them.

The annoying Judge Dredd guys in the VIP area. Why anyone would be entertained by them banging those pistols and pretending to arrest those other guys is beyond me. I know it's a kind of show but it's puerile and irritating and I wish they'd fuck off.

The tedious "everything evil is awesome" attitude of so many metal heads. It's like they're mentally stuck at the age of 14.

The ugly

The horrendous cough/cold I've had since Sunday night.

The only really negative point for me at the festival was to do with the parking; every day when I arrived onsite, I was informed that the media parking was full. And yet I couldn't spot a single car there with a media/guest parking pass. Point is, the stewards fucked up and it meant that people like myself who have to haul a shit ton of heavy gear to the shuttle pick up point, end up having to walk much further than we usually do. There's a reason why we are supposed to be able to park there, and it's to make our lives a bit easier. Unlike the punters, we are not just there for a lark, it's a working weekend and lugging heavy bags of camera gear halfway across the car park twice every day is not fun. I was waking up each morning with my shoulders still covered in red marks from my bag straps from the day before. This was my fourth time working the festival and it's the first time there's been a problem with the parking; I do hope it doesn't happen again.

[bloodofthekings]

The Good:
The weather (2 years in a row - long may it continue!)
Twisted Sister - absolutely amazing. completely blew everyone else away.
Anthrax - great show and completely upstaged Slayer who weren't bad, but couldn't match Anthrax.
Nick Holmes' dry Yorkshire humour
The food - Deli Kate's paninis,the Paella stall - good variety compared to other UK festivals
The water points being in full working order all weekend
The stand-up comedy - good use of the 3rd stage, hope this becomes a regular fixture

The bad:
The line-up not being as strong as previous years overall, particularly on Saturday and the lack of power and folk metal - the balance really needs to be redressed and Bloodstock really need to make more of an effort to go back to booking the kind of bands that this festival was built on.
Worst band of the weekend for me was Akercocke - really don't see what the hype was all about. Completely one-dimensional and did nothing for me.
The same bloody 3 promo videos being played constantly on the screens throughout the weekend. If I never those bloody Wakrat and Airbourne songs again I'll be happy.
The people who were "woo-ing" all the way through the comedians on the Saturday night. Seriously, stop being so attention-seeking. You're a crowd at a comedy show, your job is to laugh when something's funny, not to try and draw attention to yourselves at the expense of whoever is on stage - grow up.

The ugly:
My sunburned legs after Friday. Ouch.
The guy using two Jagermeister bandanas for underpants and not wearing anything else. Grim.

[houston4044]

Good

- The weather
- The sound on all stages was (save for the odd niggle) good throughout the weekend, however some bands unfortunatly had the bass very low in the mix
- No major problems with the toilets, seemed in very good nick all weekend (or I just got very lucky)
- The bands, save for the odd one or two poor ones it was high quality throughout. Even bands like Unearth and Dragonforce were great when I wasn't expecting much
- Enjoyed the RAM, Strongman and battle of the nations this year, enjoyed the little side shows added to the experience

Bad
- Forgetting the gazebo so having no shade from the sun between 10-4, painful.
- Hearing that same Airbourne song the best part of 100 times all weekend
- The fair ground rides were constantly pumping out music all weekend, if they did it inbetween bands on Sophie that would be fine.


Ugly
- Seeing a guy randomly pick up and eat 3 slices of pizza that had been near me on the floor for at least 2 hours that I know of ergh
- Some poor sod who had such bad sun burn by Sunday he just had massive peels of skin falling off the back of his neck
- Some guy in Midgard just standing by the septic truck taking large breaths of air as they were cleaning the toilets... near vomit inducing

All in all a very good year for me, same time next year eh Bloodstock

[Beastly]

Nice review kid. Classic film too.

[phuqsticks]

Good - Twisted Sister, COC, Rotting Christ, Vodun, Anthrax, Footprints in the Custard.

Bad - Slayer are on stage, their backdrop is 2 inverted crosses spouting flames and they are playing Raining Blood. If you were one of the 6 people within 5 yards of me who decided that filming the performance was preferable to watching it, you don't know how close you came to having your mobile slapped out of your hand. Knobheads.

Ugly - Those Battle of The Nations dudes don't mess about do they? Plenty of work for the medics in attendance.

[metalicbear]

The Good - The Weather, The big SOPHIE tent, Comedy, Strong Man Competition, the Battle Knights, Twisted Sister, Chilled out festival with bags of room, Close proximity of camp to arena, toilets were generally good as were security.

The Bad - The Car Park seemed to be a mile away from the campsite/arena. Hel camp was way too small; people were walking away in their droves as they couldn't find anywhere to camp in Hel. Food was ok; not as good as other festivals I've been to. Bland boring bands like Gojira, Misery Loves Co. Mastodon, Fear Factory etc. Can we have more upbeat festival bands. No signs for majority of water points.

The Ugly - Andrew O'Neil telling the same jokes all weekend.

[Turbo]

Well it was my first in five years...kind of glad I finally get the chance to post here.

The Good:

The weather*.
Really happy of the still current familiarity with the way its set out. I was a bit worried I wouldn't find anything.
Bar at least in the original camp site (I assume its called Midgard but yeah the one when there only used to be one). *GOOD IDEA*
Another new thing for me was the camping store, another good idea particularly when for some reason my tent did not come with tent pegs.
No known instances of theft in the camp sites, correct me if I am wrong. Was a big problem when I last went which is why this came up.
Dodgems! Also thanks to the person who found my wallet on the dodgems and handed it in with all my money and bank card in attendance.
Whatever that pyro show was on the Saturday, I love fire.
Bin jousting made me laugh...some things never change Bloodstock!

The Bad.
I over heard Metal Allegiance butchering one of my favourite songs at the camp site, please if you couldn't.
Having to suffer Dragonforce while looking for something I fancied eating.
Black guide ropes: Please if your tent comes with anything but florescent guide ropes, don't use them ever. In fact, check the weather forecast: there was no high winds forecast and therefore don't use them at all.
£40 for a case of Carling, fuck sake.
I miss my camp already.


The Ugly.
*how cold the last night got, fucking hell. I am considering getting a much better sleeping bag than the one I got, reminded me of November.
Carling Cider.
The humongous shit I did when I got home.
Nudity from the camp next door. Oh yeah and they were pillocks.
People...I assume new people to BOA who sat near the fence in our camp site because it was shady...yeah I understand you are new to the festivals and that but id stay clear of fences...not a square inch between the fence itself and about 3 feets grace that wasn't pissed on...and you sat there.

[nihility00]

Oh it's the thread for people to say what they would have/nearly did/wanted to do to people/person/bands in a passive-aggressive tone. Great!

[Skippy]

The Good
Pretty much every band I saw, especially Shining, Twisted Sister and Symphony X. Overall, pretty much every band seemed to be on form.
The weather. The nights got a bit nippy, but otherwise it wasn't too warm or too cold - exactly perfect for a festival.
The usual Bloodstock crowd - lots of friendly people mixed with general craziness. Some knobs but that's to be expected.

The Bad
Some absolutely awful clashes and large gaps with nothing to do that could have easily been avoided.
Slayer closing the festival. I get that they have to headline, even if 45 minutes would be enough, but stick them on the Friday, especially if you have something like Twisted Sister that actually act like a headliner.
The music on the screens. Slowly getting worse and worse to the point that now we have a whole one song and a bunch of adverts.
The traffic coming home.

The Ugly
The strongmen. I suppose us guys get the strippers at night, so some bulky man torso is fair enough?
In much the same vein, Footprints in the Custard and their mankinis. Just what I needed after food.
The rabbit that came to sleep in my tent on the last night. Very manky looking fellow.
The state of the campsite on Monday. And the state of my feet.

[thespis_mellie]

Good:
Friday and Sunday line-ups
-Twisted FUCKING Sister <3!
-Evil Scarecrow, Gloryhammer, Fury, Symphony X, Dragonforce (when the sound issues were fixed!), Beyond the Black, Pythia, Chasing Dragons, Pulverise, Vice
-Footprints in the Custard playing to a packed out New Blood tent
-Good weather
-Chilli bowls from the vegetarian/vegan place - super filling and tasty for £8, AND you can eat the bowl. Nom. (Normally I'm a Deli Kate's girl but the lines were SO LONG.)
-Mr Tea's
-Sound, overall (Sophie on the last day was getting a little bit 'everything louder than everything else' during Pythia, but otherwise well done to the sound crew)
-Toilets were great (for festival toilets), especially in the VIP bar
-Selection of ales in the VIP bar
-Friendly security who seem to have struck a good balance
-Being able to bring my own food and drink into the arena. Ironically, this probably meant that I wound up spending MORE because I was already tipsy so didn't really balk at paying £4.20 a pint. (My liver would put this into 'The Bad'.)

The Bad:
No signposting from the North on the A38, so missed the junction and had to turn around. (This was our 10th Bloodstock, no idea how we could have missed it!)

Didn't have enough time to do everything I wanted to do (lines at the Kraken ice cream place meant I didn't get black ice cream, kept meaning to go to the art gallery, but had a drink or food with me whenever I passed it, etc.)

The "tea" in the campsite from 'Gallops Farm'. (Tasteless, lukewarm brown water. Thank the gods for Mr Teas.)

The only real negative...

I met my first really mean person at Bloodstock. (I had some jerk call me fat and other things on the forums a couple of years ago, but in person everyone I've spoken to at Bloodstock has been amazing.)

As I said before, this was my 10th Bloodstock and everyone I've ever met has been lovely - until Saturday.

Mastodon had finished, and my friend and I were sitting toward the back of the field chatting while we waited for my husband to go to the bathroom. A loudmouthed jerk came up behind my friend at the end of Mastodon, after listening to our conversation (supposedly), and called him a hypocrite. When my friend asked why he said that, he rambled on something about tattoos on women - which wasn't the topic of our conversation at all.

This random jerk was adamant that my friend was then denying what he had (supposedly?) said about women and tattoos, so he called my friend a liar and a cunt. He kept leaning over my friend in quite a threatening manner (we were both sitting down in lawn chairs). My husband came back from the toilet and asked what was going on - so this guy started on him too, and it only finished when I said that he needed to go and get on with his festival or I would get security.

It was really worrying because Mastodon had been finished for awhile at this point and there weren't that many people around - all our friends had gone to watch Acid Reign or back to the campsite. It felt a bit like this guy was spoiling for a fight, but he staggered out toward the campsites so hopefully he went to sleep it off and didn't try to pick an argument with anyone else.

This was the only really negative thing about the festival that I experienced!

The ugly:
My bank balance
My husband's godawful snoring
My hair - after four days of sweat, bug spray, sunblock, moisturiser, etc., when I took it out of the bobble, it stayed in place (until I had a shower). Gross.
Some really awful nasty blisters (ouch).

Had a brill time at Bloodstock, chatted to loads of interesting people, got to meet several people I only knew online...really looking forward to 2017

[Ferrers1471]

As one of the guys in armour smashing seven shades out of each other twice a day I was mostly focused on a different sort of metal.... But when I did get out-
Good: The Bloodstock crowd. This was my sixth consecutive visit and apart from the odd pissed up idiot the vibe was brilliant.
ShowSec: Helpful, friendly and professional.
Twisted Sister: Absolutely epic
SymphonyX and Paradise Lost: Exactly as hoped
Dragonforce: They rose above the curse of the Dio stage to give their usual blistering show. Not metal enough for many of you I know but I still like them.
The Bad: Nothing worth writing about
The Ugly: The guy passed out holding an inflatable pink cock and balls. Bad enough without it being obvious that he'd shat himself

[CharlesDexterWard]

The good:
The weather, almost burnt to a crisp again.
Security, big shout out to them as they were a pleasure to talk to.
Catching up with old friends and meeting some new ones.
Anthrax surpassing all my hopes and expectations (again).
Twisted Sister signing off in damn fine style.
Behemoth, never seen them before and they were excellent.
Phil Campbell - great entertainment for the first night and damn poignant when certain songs were chanted along to.
Gloryhammer - I never thought I would be at a metal festival singing songs about towns in Fife - lovely stuff.
VIP showers and toilets.
The pulled pork rolls, damn they were a life saver.

The bad:
Metal Allegiance - a band with those members should frankly be a lot better.

The fact that I had to walk from VIP to Valhalla if I wanted a coffee before 830 am. Hardly the end of the world but as I am normally up at 7am it was a nuisance and surely there could have been a small stall in the tent area.

The bus journey back to Glasgow, if I win the lottery I am coming by helicopter next year.

The Ugly:
The guy staggering around Valhalla on Thursday afternoon who had clearly had far too much to drink and shit himself as it had leaked through the front and back of his shorts for all to see.

My sunburn, no matter how much sun tan lotion I used I still got burnt.

[fearoftheduck]

The Good:

Evil Scarecrow, Gloryhammer
Watching the bin jousting as shooting stars went on overhead and some guy played the lord of the rings theme on a whistle
The battle guys
The kraken cocktails that cured a hangover in a second

The Bad:

Metal Allegiance, a waste of a good day slot. If it had been a Thursday band fair enough but why stick covers on during the day. Also, the only way he could have been less sincere is if he wrote his stage banter on his autocue

BREEAAAAKIING OUT OF HEEELLLL GENERATION FUCKED GENERIC BLACKSTONE CHERRY TYPE SONG x 50 between every band

The Ugly

Is there a rule that short chubby guys in full BLS gear have to be arseholes? There was one during the Slayer pit determined to "get" some guy because said guy knocked his mate over. The mate was in a yellow high vis vest and was so steaming he would have fallen if a fly had landed on him.

Also, the idiot who crowd surfed during Slayer and grabbed my head like a bowling ball and jammed his fingers in both of my eyes, at least I was able to wrench at his knee when the rest of him went over, with any luck it forced him to sit on the grass for the rest and not repeat it.