Next Announcement

[bloodfiend]

I think they know they are struggling this year, booking bands and then knocking them up higher than they should be. I hope they at least change tack to not book massive headliners, the lineups felt more balanced until three years ago.

Are the headliners massive? Judas Preist yes, but Behemoth and Devin are pretty small in comparison to the usual size of headliners.

It either seems like they've spent a bomb on Preist or are just having a cost cutting year this year with a much cheaper line up.

[Cassius]

I think the issue is that last year weekend ticket numbers were clearly massively down. It was easy to tell from any of the campsites by how much more room there was than normal and by the quicker queues to get in on Thursday.

They had probably already booked a load of the big acts like Priest expecting the normal level of sales so were probably then left with a diminished budget for booking the rest

[bloodfiend]

And someone above said there wasn't that much that appeals to them on the Brutal Assault line up....really? Mercyful Fate, Alcest, Katatonia, Evoken, Cradle Of Filth, Asphyx, Arcuturus, Havok, Mayhem, Myrkur, Mysticum, Obituary, Suffocation, Paradise Lost, Razor, Sigh, Venom, Vader....it's completely wipes the fall with Bloodstock.

I started coming to Bloodstock for the power, folk & NWOBHM, so no most of BA's line-up doesn't entice me.

Well apart from the last 3 bands on Saturday, you're a bit shafted then!

I'm very into black, death and old school stuff, so BA is great for me.

Bloodstock is easy to get to, but in terms of a festival experience it's pretty bland unless you do VIP, so the line up has to be good to tempt me, so I line up this bad immediately has me looking elsewhere.

[houston4044]

Gandalf makes a good point, BOA's either sleepwalked into cornering itself in a busy marketplace or hasn't dominated any corner of the market allowing competition to find a niche.

UK Death Fest/Damnation/Incineration- Death/Black. BOA can compete with them by booking the bigger bands (ala Behemoth) but can't cater to that audience to the level those fests can.

Tech Fest/Radar Fest- Prog/Tech metal. Same as above.

HRH- Lots of variants/events and with cheap tickets BOA can't compete on price. Add in the 3 subs this year have played HRH events in the last 3 years. Apart from bigger headliners and a few more bigger acts can't see what BOA has over HRH. (The sophie stage often looks like the undercard to a HRH event too)

DL- The "DL bands". Can compete on price and DL only has a few token heavier acts but DL can book bigger acts and outbid BOA on bands.

Knotfest- TBD but given it's so close to BOA it could challenge for audience share and bands

Ironically, whereas consensus on here has been the budget has been blown on the headliners; is that the only way BOA can compete? The biggest selling point is the only differentiation from their competitors?

Also, one of the few demographics I can't find a biggish fest for is Power Metal, which everyone wants BOA to book. Could be I'm not looking in the right place (happily stand corrected if I've missed it) but does show there isn't the market for it here.

[Cassius]

Also, one of the few demographics I can't find a biggish fest for is Power Metal, which everyone wants BOA to book. Could be I'm not looking in the right place (happily stand corrected if I've missed it) but does show there isn't the market for it here.

Im not into Power Metal but a lot of friends are and the closest iv seen something come to the UK fest for it is Power Metal Quest Fest but that doesnt look that big. Iv never got the impression its a big genre in the UK

[Bearintown]

Also, one of the few demographics I can't find a biggish fest for is Power Metal, which everyone wants BOA to book. Could be I'm not looking in the right place (happily stand corrected if I've missed it) but does show there isn't the market for it here.

Im not into Power Metal but a lot of friends are and the closest iv seen something come to the UK fest for it is Power Metal Quest Fest but that doesnt look that big. Iv never got the impression its a big genre in the UK

Power Metal Quest Fest is in a club with maybe 250 there?
Power metal fests have been tried before and unless its kept small there simply isnt a market for them. Much to my disappointment!
But having said that mix it up a bit and Bloodstock itself proves that it can be done.
Was 2013 BOA with its strong traditional lineup less well attended than 2019??

[Skippy]

Gandalf makes a good point, BOA's either sleepwalked into cornering itself in a busy marketplace or hasn't dominated any corner of the market allowing competition to find a niche.

UK Death Fest/Damnation/Incineration- Death/Black. BOA can compete with them by booking the bigger bands (ala Behemoth) but can't cater to that audience to the level those fests can.

Tech Fest/Radar Fest- Prog/Tech metal. Same as above.

HRH- Lots of variants/events and with cheap tickets BOA can't compete on price. Add in the 3 subs this year have played HRH events in the last 3 years. Apart from bigger headliners and a few more bigger acts can't see what BOA has over HRH. (The sophie stage often looks like the undercard to a HRH event too)

DL- The "DL bands". Can compete on price and DL only has a few token heavier acts but DL can book bigger acts and outbid BOA on bands.

Knotfest- TBD but given it's so close to BOA it could challenge for audience share and bands

Ironically, whereas consensus on here has been the budget has been blown on the headliners; is that the only way BOA can compete? The biggest selling point is the only differentiation from their competitors?

Also, one of the few demographics I can't find a biggish fest for is Power Metal, which everyone wants BOA to book. Could be I'm not looking in the right place (happily stand corrected if I've missed it) but does show there isn't the market for it here.

Its fairly obvious that the organisers don't know their shit when it comes to power metal - they don't know who they should be booking, they'll maybe book a biggish band who've just finished a tour, but they can't get the exclusives. As a genre though, to say there isn't a market for it here in the UK these days is bullshit. Every major power metal gig I've been to in the last few years has sold out, including bands like Powerwolf, Gloryhammer, Sabaton, Blind Guardian, Kamelot (maybe that didn't quite sell out but it was pretty full), and even the likes of Delain and Epica if you are including them (Delain selling out the same venue Cradle of Filth had half filled the day before). There is the demand for them (and the fact that HRH are giving Rhapsody of Fire the chance to basically carry their metal festival next week shows that), its just Bloodstock isn't making any effort to fulfil that niche.

As for your other point of other festivals fulfilling a niche better....sure, of course specialised festivals will do that. What Bloodstock always had though was the ability to book a wider scope of rarer, bigger bands that the niche festivals could only find as headliners, wouldn't (at the time) be given the time of day at Download (or would be given an incredibly short slot in a tent) and satisfy a wider range of fans. Sure, I love power metal but I wouldn't really be excited by a whole festival of it. But at Bloodstock you could see Moonsorrow followed by Iced Earth, and be excited by both because it was the only chance you'd get to see either that year.

There just isn't that same excitement lately. I like Gloryhammer, Skindred and Devin Townsend but I watched them all last year. The only major band that excites me is Dark Tranquility, I've not seen them before, but the rest of the lineup feels like the filler you'd find on a HRH event, or bands Download couldn't find room for. The niche festivals have caught up and Bloodstock has sleepwalked into being just another festival.

[henryburch4]

could the lack of bigger special guest and other bands on the main also be because the sophie stage is getting bigger each year ect. alot of the bands throughout the day are bands i would have expected on the main ie exhumed, obvs unleash the archers.. would say memoriam but i know they asked for a sophie slot. hell even green lung in reality would have been a band i would expect to open the friday on the main.

[bloodofthekings]

could the lack of bigger special guest and other bands on the main also be because the sophie stage is getting bigger each year ect. alot of the bands throughout the day are bands i would have expected on the main ie exhumed, obvs unleash the archers.. would say memoriam but i know they asked for a sophie slot. hell even green lung in reality would have been a band i would expect to open the friday on the main.

Nar, whilst the top 2 (maybe 3) bands on the Sophie stage each day are probably bigger than say, 5 years ago, the rest of the Sophie stage line-up has fallen off a cliff in recent years in terms of stature. Once you get past the top 2 or 3 bands, you get into pub-filler territory that you wouldn't pay more than a fiver to see down your local boozer.

[bloodfiend]

could the lack of bigger special guest and other bands on the main also be because the sophie stage is getting bigger each year ect. alot of the bands throughout the day are bands i would have expected on the main ie exhumed, obvs unleash the archers.. would say memoriam but i know they asked for a sophie slot. hell even green lung in reality would have been a band i would expect to open the friday on the main.

Is the Sophie stage really that big? It looks pretty half arsed compared to previous years.

Yes Unleash The Archers should be on the main stage, and maybe Winterflylleth, but it looks pretty weak apart from that, if bands like Bossk, Necrot, Exhumed and Green Lung we'd all complain.

Even the headliners look budget....I know Hatebreed (shit as they are) are big, but I don't consider Cattle Decapitation big enough to headline, and Bloodywood and Night Flight Orchestra I'd never even heard of.

[Skippy]

The Sophie stage I would count as their biggest failure to be honest. It was 2012 they first expanded it into a full day event - and really the quality of bands on the stage hasn't grown since then. Alcest even back then were bigger than Cattle Decapitation and Bloodywood are now, and I'd argue Anaal Nathrakh and Orange Goblin are too (sure, maybe not as big as Hatebreed but that seems like a special case - they wanted to throw them in somewhere), and the rest fo the lineup seems similar as well - if anything there are more interesting bands, more UK rarities than there are this year. At this point the stage should be a viable alternative, but it isn't, its a second New Blood stage.

[cheesemason]

If they really want to get to 20,000+ which I believe they do, they have to improve the Sophie Stage. I've made some good discoveries there, but the bands are nowhere near big enough for a decent size festival Damnation's lower stages always have much bigger bands than Bloodstock and that's a fraction of the capacity.

What I really thing they need to do is have two 'main' stages like a lot of the Euro fests

[robin8585]

I couldn't disagree more about the Sophie stage, it's what's kept me coming the last few years. I can see what their idea of what the bigger bands they want to book are by looking at the main stage, and I'd rather they just kept on doing what they're doing on the Sophie. Granted it's not looking all that impressive right now, but that's not uncommon at this stage of the year, it's always the late announcements that make it.

[Nicktrix]

The bands I enjoyed most last year were on the Sophie stage - Grand Magus, Bong Cauldron, Taake, Guardians of Tome, Boss Keloid, Witch Tripper etc. This year not looking quite so interesting at the moment, but you never know - there's still time.

Looking forward to Night Flight Orchestra, Green Lung, and Unleash The Archers though.

[someone else]

I enjoy lots of bands on the Sophie, problem is most of them you can see for a tenner at an all dayer quite easily, so not part of a line up I'd really pay 140 quid for, so its the main stage that makes me keen or not. While there's lots of bands that are 'fine', either by how much I like them or bands like PL, OG etc that I've seen loads of times, so its the right side of ambivalent, but nothing to get the bunting out for.

Complaining about some of the direction is a bit old-hat - there have been bands like Hatebreed on for nearly a decade and they have had big crowds, so the notion that its stepped away from 'its core audience' is a bit out of date - comparing to the line up of Brutal Assault etc is fine, but there are many who came to the very early days would see that as much step away from the 'core audience' as the hardcore stuff.

One idea could be have fewer 'name' bands and have longer sets - seems to be a fetishization of '120 bands over 4 days' when only about 20 will actually get people through the gates - quality over quantity.