The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

August 11 - 14, Catton Park, Derbyshire
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Aaaarrrrgggghhhh
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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Aaaarrrrgggghhhh » Tue Aug 16, 2022 9:30 am

AKA The 'It was fucking hot thread'

Have at it.

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Jokermunro » Tue Aug 16, 2022 10:01 am

It was Fucking hot.

Still not enough water points or shelter in the arena and no way were some of the food prices same as last year (case in point, Falafel wrap, £8 last year, £11 this year) but was a great festival none the less.
Warlock AD, Desenser and Nanowar of Steel my fave bands of the weekend and everyone who chatted, apart from the oik who slagged off me and my Ghost t-shirt friday :lol:

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby einherjer » Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:06 pm

The Good.
Band I wanted to see and saw.
Security dishing out water etc. Really do an outstanding job

The Bad
Bloodstock leaning ever harder into Vicky's pronoun debarkle. This is Bloodstock not a Pride march. I haven't oppressed anyone and I just want to listen to music, meet like minded people and share a pint with friends old and new.
Its cynical corporate virtue signalling. Vicky can think what she likes.
Do we need to over correct to the point it felt like I was at a Pride convention.
Nothing wrong with a Pride convention just they already exist.

The Ugly
Weather. Water points.
Food prices. This is beyond a joke now.
Tits everywhere. Taped or not. Oooh you lot are so edgy.
Imagine the uproar you all caused to the 14 year olds who have never seen a titty up close.
It's always darkest before it goes completely black.

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Powerslave » Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:47 pm

einherjer wrote:The Bad
Bloodstock leaning ever harder into Vicky's pronoun debarkle. This is Bloodstock not a Pride march. I haven't oppressed anyone and I just want to listen to music, meet like minded people and share a pint with friends old and new.
Its cynical corporate virtue signalling. Vicky can think what she likes.
Do we need to over correct to the point it felt like I was at a Pride convention.
Nothing wrong with a Pride convention just they already exist.


i was there all weekend and genuinely have no idea what you're referring to here

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Aaaarrrrgggghhhh » Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:55 pm

Agreed, no idea what you're on about here einherjer

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Ghost » Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:57 pm

Powerslave wrote:
einherjer wrote:The Bad
Bloodstock leaning ever harder into Vicky's pronoun debarkle. This is Bloodstock not a Pride march. I haven't oppressed anyone and I just want to listen to music, meet like minded people and share a pint with friends old and new.
Its cynical corporate virtue signalling. Vicky can think what she likes.
Do we need to over correct to the point it felt like I was at a Pride convention.
Nothing wrong with a Pride convention just they already exist.


i was there all weekend and genuinely have no idea what you're referring to here


:lol: Me neither. Wearing pink on Sunday maybe?
I see the bad moon arising.

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Aaaarrrrgggghhhh » Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:07 pm

Probably. Someone didn't understand the reason for that I'm guessing...

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Bizza » Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:22 pm

Good:
Water point by the entrance queue - absolute life saver
The slushie stall - those lemon and lime slushies saved my weekend
Showsec staff going around cooling people down with spray bottles
The Bands I saw
The cheers around the campsite when a cloud covered up the sun on Saturday :lol:
All of the extra seating in the arena this year, please keep that!


Bad :
The endless unrelenting heat - I'm all up for a bit of sunshine but that was horrific
The entrance queue on Thursday, ended up not getting into the arena on Thursday night as I was so wiped out from standing in that heat with all my gear for over an hour.
Missing a lot bands due to said heat
Water point queues in the arena
The "Shaded" areas were a joke, who though that netting would actually provide any shade?
£6 for an Ice cream
£35 for a Mercyful Fate shirt
Machine Head as the secret band
The water point near out camp in Midgard hardly worked all weekend

Ugly:
The state of me on Monday morning as usual
BOA - '07, '08, '09, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, '15, '16, '17, '18,' 19, '21, '22, '23.
Warhorns '12 '15 '16
WOA - '15
Damnation - '12
Download - '16 (Never fucking again)

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby kanet666 » Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:34 pm

Been a while since I posted on here but I though it was good to give some feedback, especially as I took my partner for the first time.

The Good:
Security - as always they were friendly and on the ball all weekend. Particular shout-out to the guy in Midgard who went around everyone on every lap of the camp making sure there were no issues and everyone was surviving.
Toilets - at least the ones I used at the campsite were clean and emptied regularly, didn't smell overly unpleasant etc. Only really had use for the urinals in the arena and they didn't overflow so better than previous years.
Allergy advice in food vendors - My partner has a serious allergy so it was good to see vendors with full charts and information readily available. This was her main concern and there were no problems at all
Food quality - Has improved massively over the years and was definitely good here. As always for me the stand out being the paella stand.
The bands - Overall decent quality this year, of the ones I saw there were only one or two damp squibs.

The Bad:
The heat - self-explanatory but it did mean a lot of tactical returns to camp and to shade and severely limited how much time I spent watching bands.
Sophie stage layout - Limited to only the sides, the tent felt a lot stuffier than the past and offered less channels into the bar, which meant if you got caught in the wrong place during busier bands you got stuck in a constant flow of people which took away from the band somewhat
Secret band - Great idea but should have been on the main stage, unsurprisingly a band of that size attracts a massive crowd, especially if it offers shade as well. The above point on the Sophie tent largely comes from the experience here.
Water points - Unlike above I'm not too fussed on the number as I just timed it to avoid queues, but there were water pressure problems at some points in Midgard which forced people to use only one of the points and caused unnecessary queues.
Food prices - I read that prices were going to be frozen this year but a lot of places seemed much more expensive. Paying £20 and not even getting two meals in a lot of places is insane.

The Ugly:
Noise - I've been camping in Midgard for years so I'm used to some noise for at least part of the night but there was one camp blasting very high volume music all night long (not stopping until 6-7am) both Saturday and Sunday nights to the point where I know at least one couple left to get a hotel in the middle of the night, and at least one couple put their tent down at 3 in the morning on Sunday night to get away. By far the worst experience I've had camping at BOA and really didn't help with the heat.
Dress - No problem with people wearing what they want but people dressing in just a single sock for example when there are small children running around will always rub me the wrong way.
Steam = Starchild

Catch me at:
2022
Nightwish - London

2023
Gojira - London
Sabaton - London

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby samlewis45 » Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:51 pm

Good:
All of the bands that I wanted to see were great, with some of the highlights being The Night Flight Orchestra, Mercyful Fate, Lamb of God, and Sylosis.

The food choice was probably the best of the recent fests with a lot of variety (and everything I had tasted great).

The toilets were pretty much always clean and filled with bog roll/sanitiser.

The availability of water. This could have been better in the arena itself, but the point in Asgard and the two on the path towards Asgard from the arena hardly ever had big queues - so it was always easy to get some even if it meant a short walk.

The overall vibe generally felt very chilled, perhaps more so than usual. This was likely down to the heat though! In Asgard it was pretty much silent all night, which was welcome.

The fact that it cooled down at night, so I could actually sleep.

Bad:
The heat! An obvious one, but it did effect my enjoyment of the festival at times - especially due to the lack of shade in the arena itself. As someone said the netting put up did not provide any shade at all. I was very glad for the endless water, but had to take a few breaks on the path to Asgard where there was some shade.

The fact that the queue to get in was awful - again! In 2019 it seemed to have been fixed as it took me about 10mins to get in (I may have just got there at the right time), but in 2018 it was probably closer to 2 hours (I didn't go last year so not sure what it was like). It was probably an hour this time, which was unbearable in the heat. I don't see why it has to take so long, especially as no-one looked in any of my bags whatsoever.

The general lack of traditional/melodic/power/etc. metal, besides a small handful of bands. I may have missed some on the smaller stages, but some more clean vocal bands throughout the weekend would have been welcome as it really was a barrage at times - despite enjoying many of the bands that played.

Machine Head really should have been on the Main Stage. The idea was good on paper but it was a nightmare around the tent during their set and I imagine lots were disappointed by not being able to get in. Doyle was playing to practically no-one on the Main Stage at the time, too. It was likely a memorable experience for some, but I am not sure the plan really worked quite as intended.

The absence of the big CD/LP retailer that usually shows up, although in fairness I probably saved a fair amount of money without them there.

The food prices are getting to the point where you really have to decide if you need to go without sometimes. The quality of the food was always good, but I didn't go near some of the stalls due to their prices. I always went for something I could just about stomach paying. It will get to a point where the higher prices are just a false economy, as people won't pay and ration their meals.

Exodus clashing with Heathen. I know clashes are inevitable but that one really should have been avoided given the connection between the two bands.

Ugly:
The line-up announcement for next year. Outside of the two headliners I have no interest in any of the bands. Sadly I think this reflects on the wider shift in focus that the festival has been taking for a while now, but it looks like I will not be going in 2023 unless the next few announcement are packed full of traditional/melodic/power/symphonic/prog/thrash metal. I am really not sure who genuinely wanted King810 back, and the amount of core is worrying. I'm sure the Saturday day ticket buyers from 2019 will be happy though, which was probably the aim.

The amount of grime that came off in the shower when I got home thanks to the layers of sweat and suncream!

The smell of the bogs being emptied in Asgard on Saturday when it was blown across the campsite on an otherwise welcome breeze!

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby jaymzcd » Tue Aug 16, 2022 5:41 pm

Good: The usual friendly atmosphere and size and social aspect is why I keep coming. Staff and security all good. Toilets exceptional given the context. How tidy most people where in terms of rubbish, always nice to see.

Bad: Heat - but in particular no real effort to actually account for it. There was no difference to the provision or amount of water points *in* the arena and the queues where horrendous. Given the notice of the heatwave I was surprised there wasn't at least one extra sorted at short notice. I still don't understand why there can't be some sort of platform under them too to stop the ground directly beneath turning to mud.

I don't rate the food at all. It's far too overpriced and often just bland and unhealthy by default. The fish and "chips" for instance - it's just frozen fries. It's not chips. Seems petty but just all the corners on this stuff. I'd rather a Soba cup noodle than anything from the noodle bars.

Ugly: Surprised this hasn't come up already but I found the paper cups for beer shocking. Repeatedly order a pint, decant into my plastic cup to find it comes to about 400ml. We switched to the milk jugs since at least they were obviously poured to the line properly since you could actually see it.

Also in VIP camping there was some nutcase from midnight to 6am wandering around screaming he was going to stab someone. It went beyond the usual drunken fool unable to find a tent to something genuinely concerning. That it went on without any kind of interaction from security to remove him was a joke. Put a few of us on edge that first day, thankfully quiet for the remainder.

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby eyesore » Tue Aug 16, 2022 6:44 pm

The good:
-the bands I saw (with one exception).

The bad:
-festival line-up. I've seen all but 2 BOAs and this year's one was the worst by far. I bought my ticket on the strength of Mercyful Fate and a strong US thrash contingent plus a few others like Life of Agony. Sacred Reich pulled out, Exodus and Heathen clashed and Life of Agony pulled out too. Even if none of that bullshit had occured and I'd seen all of them it still would've been slim pickings. But it only added insult to injury. I only saw 3 bands on Saturday. Next year's announcement does not bode well.

The ugly:
-me perspiring profusely.

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Ste996 » Tue Aug 16, 2022 6:48 pm

Good. Just being away with the lads enjoying the company of likeminded people.

Bad. Price of food in arena was a bit rich. Rebranding the beer. What is a pint of Bloodstock. I like to know what it is before I waste a fiver on a pint of cats piss. If I know it’s cats piss then I don’t order it.

Ugly. Who’s bright idea was it to put the BBQ area in campervan field 1 in between the toilets and Porta potty point. There are 3 other perfectly good fences on that field where it could have gone. One on each fence ideally.

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby Skippy » Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:46 pm

The good

Precious little this year, certainly in the way of bands, but Night Flight, Nanowar of Steel, Avatar, Cyhra and Sleep Token in particular were fantastic.

Just being away. It was a late decision to go this year as the line up was pretty poor to my tastes, but I had some personal stuff and it was nice to get away with friends.

Honestly, the heat. Yes it was sweltering hot, and it meant I lacked the energy to see some bands but I love the sun and its better than rain all weekend.


The bad
The organisation this year was terrible. Between the lack of water points (in the arena, specifically) to the lack of shade throughout. The gazebo situation was very poorly addressed as well - a facebook post on the day of the festival, saying they are allowed when its far to late to actually buy one anywhere except at the festival. Appalling communication and appalling planning for a heatwave known weeks in advance.

The venders. Clearly saw the situation and their eyes lit up. The price for a cold bottle of water crept up over the weekend, and even then some still attempted to overcharge me. One even turned off the tap in Valhalla for a while. This is all on top of the already extortionate prices for poor quality food. Greedy.

Toilets. Not really enough of them in Valhalla. Nor were there really enough BBQ points. I had to time it, or go to the ones just outside the entrance.

More organisation issues, but clashing Heathen and Exodus was stupid. Easy for me, as I'm not a fan of Exodus, but Heathen's crowd was smaller than it should have been and I felt bad for them. Clashing Cyhra and Warlock AD - two of only three power metal (ish) bands on the line up was equally stupid.

Machine Head on the second stage. Downright dangerous. My friends had to help take someone out of the tent who had fainted because of the heat, coupled with how full that tent was.

The lineup in general to be honest. Everything was either a repeat, or some poor core band. Coupled that with Megadave headlining yet again next year, and a poor crop of bands announced with him and it reeks of a festival running out of ideas.

The walk from the car park. Why was there such a big queue just to cross the road? And why have they still not done anything about the overgrown and uneven path all these years later, other than shut off the only other option of the drop off point closer to the festival a few years back? Thankfully the actual queue to get in the doors was better managed this year, at least when I arrived.

The hot cider. Just when I thought it couldn't taste more like piss.

The Ugly.

The dried grass. It got EVERYWHERE.

The festival in general felt quiet this year. Whether it did sell badly, or everyone was just staying in the campsite away from the heat I don't know, but aside from one or two exceptions the festival just felt really tame. And somewhat tense.
BANDS I LIKE FOR BLOODSTOCK!!!

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Re: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly BOA 2022

Postby metaldinosaur » Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:29 pm

Only did the Saturday and Sunday and i had a hotel, so i can't comment on the camping

The Good:

As always, the atmosphere was great.
As always, security where also great.
(The above are always worth mentioning as they have such a big effect on your experience)

The bands I saw were all good, great or fantastic!
Finally seeing Sameal, and the chance to catch Mercyful Fate was great, and neither disappointed! Loved Venom playing black Metal too!

May have been due to having a room to go back to, but I loved the sun, it gave everything a nice easy-going vibe. (I know people struggled- I'll get back to this)

Beer is OK priced (it may sound like faint praise, and maybe it is, but it's better than some fests)


The bad:

Food Prices. Really the fucking food prices are disgusting! Basically I went hungry. What the fuck is happening here. Even Leeds fucking fest is better in this regard. Unfilling portions that rape you wallet. I feel genuinely ripped off. It was really bad last year, but it was beyond that even. Honestly, as bizarre as it sounds I'm going to have to start factor in this cost into my attendance decision going going forward (how crazy is that!).

I really missed the record store. Mercian Storm is good, but its an extreme specialist store, so no PM or Trad stuff to buy. I hope it, or something like it, is back next year, it was a big miss for me.

Friends of mine had to go home before LOG due to the heat. The lack of shade and water in the arena did for them. As others have said, there was time to prep, so more should have been done. Two of them vowed to never go back if there was sun all weekend again! Oh dear.

The official taxi company pretending not to hear me at the peak time on Saturday- classy guys. And the awful scalper taxis' charging people £60 for a £15 fair. Twats.

Edit:- the lack of power and Trad metal was a real shame. It would have been great to get some of this in the warm sunny vibes. Night Flights hard Rock/AOR melody whent down a storm, do why no melody-love on the main stage this year? Next year's announcement lacked trad/power too! Very disappointing tbh.

The Ugly:

Girls thinking its OK to get their breast out infront of young children. Some had tape (maybe that's OK after the last band, and all the kids have gone - it is a fest after all, I don't know, its on the line I guess) but some had them just out. Have some self-respect, and also have some empathy for how others feel. Look beyond your selfish bratty ego you silly children. Your not empowering, reclaiming or doing anything that actually benefits anyone, you doing it for selfish and conceited reasons. You don't get to set the standards for propriety at a family friendly festival, even if you think you do. Stop it, you bag of dicks.
Last edited by metaldinosaur on Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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