Next Announcement

[houston4044]

No chance Ghost have dropped below headliner.

I'd assumed that was more referring to the possibility of Tribulation being booked.

Yep, meant Tribulation (which was wrong anyway haha)

Bloodywood- Credit due for being a new booking that changes things up but would of been good getting a similar slot to Burgerkill as putting them as headliner just looks weak. Pretty average for me tbh.

Memoriam- Good band but they seemingly play every other year now, probably end up watching but would of preferred someone new (especially since they follow Paradise Lost who themselves are regular repeats).

Ramage Inc and Bossk- Yet more repeats

Green Lung- Sound alright, don't do much for me but don't put me off.

Cattle Decapitation- New album looks to be a banger so will be good to see them when i'm fully acquainted with the the new material. Shame they aren't on main though, would of been great to swap them and Diamond Head

Some great gems on that line up that make it better than the last 2 years for me but seems now the slide to mediocrity has started.

[Skippy]

The fact that they are announcing this before Christmas is a terrible sign. These are the big hitters that you are trying to sell early bird tickets off? Oh dear.

Bloodywood should not be headlining the Sophie. I'd never heard of them. They aren't that bad, sound a bit too nu-metally for me but I'd maybe give them five minutes, but stage headliners they are not.

Cattle Decap and Memoriam I can respect where they are, really not my thing though. Also, what the hell was the idea of having them both on the SATURDAY? They'll both end up if not clashing then playing immediately before and after Behemoth. Have they still not learned why having bands of the same genre closing a day is a bad idea? I'm incredibly put off by going now, because it means my Saturday finished at 8.15, and that's if I like the Special Guests enough to watch them.

Bossk and Ramage, Inc. are both decent bookings. Repeats, sure, but they are the kind of band that fills out the Sophie quite well. Still, not sure why they've been announced now.

Green Lung sound like an average stoner band to me. I could watch them, but I probably wouldn't bother.

[bloodfiend]

Green Lung are the biggest metal band to come out of the UK in years /quote]
Citation needed. They're good, but really?

They've got no Wikipedia page and their last London gig was at Dingwalls, so they seem pretty tiny tbh.

[metaldinosaur]

Nothing for me there. Concerning last year's Sophie headliners this is a big let down.

I'm still a 'no' on the weekend ticket atm.

[SlaytanicBacon]

My hope is not lost as this is only an announcement for Sophie Stage bands and we still have the majority of the main stage bands to be announced, along with 2 of the special guests.

[Smerphy]

As far as shows go they seem to still be playing pretty humble venues, but they have 20000 monthly listeners on Spotify(more than Memoriam, Venom Prison etc.) and 1000 album sales on Bandcamp, may not seem like much now but those are very respectable numbers for a band who just released their debut in May. Only UK band to put up those kinds of numbers right out the gate in recent years was maybe Saor?

[phuqsticks]

Bloodywood are the kind of band I'd be interested in seeing if they were somewhere down the bill on the Sophie Stage, but headliners? Really?

I like Green Lung, but sadly there is still nowhere near enough announced to make we want to buy a ticket

[Bizza]

Wow, garbage, repeat bookings I wasn't interested in the first time and bands I've never heard of and wish I still hadn't. If Bloodywood are headlining then I dread to think what the rest of the Friday Sophie stage is going to look like.

Guess this is what happens when you spunk all of your budget on Priest and Devin.

[metalicbear]

Guess this is what happens when you spunk all of your budget on Priest and Devin.

I'm guessing more likely on Priest. Behemoth and Devin aren't even headliner worthy. Devin especially he's playing low down at other festivals like Hellfest.

[jwh20]

Especially Devin, the one who sells out the Roundhouse, Hammersmith Apollo and Royal Albert Hall? He's a MUCH bigger headliner than some others from the last few years, and bigger than Behemoth.

As for your Hellfest comment, he is a stage headliner at a festival that has ALWAYS booked much bigger bands than BOA

As for the announcement, never liked Memoriam, and who on earth are Bloodywood and Ramage INC? CD are obviously great.

I thought the lineup had potential but they have clearly started booking the tripe already. Still, there are more bands I like than previous years, so if MF are announced then it would be a good weekend.

[SlaytanicBacon]

Devin especially he's playing low down at other festivals like Hellfest.

Devin is headlining Into The Grave the same weekend as Bloodstock and his Hellfest slot is headlining one the other stages which I'd argue isn't a low down slot?!
Most of his UK shows in December are also sold out.
Whether you guys like it or not Devin IS BIG ENOUGH to headline now.

[someone else]

That he isn't as big on the continent is neither here nor there - he recently played the Trix in Antwerp, which I've been to several times and is much smaller than the venues he's booked into here, which is what matters in this context.

[Methuen]

Size of his following aside, my question on Devin would be - is proggy noodling a good choice for a festival headliner ? Especially a 'party' festival like Bloodstock where someone like Dee Snider or Evil Scarecrow draws a massive 'good time' crowd ?

[bloodfiend]

Devin especially he's playing low down at other festivals like Hellfest.

Devin is headlining Into The Grave the same weekend as Bloodstock and his Hellfest slot is headlining one the other stages which I'd argue isn't a low down slot?!
Most of his UK shows in December are also sold out.
Whether you guys like it or not Devin IS BIG ENOUGH to headline now.

Yes but which other bands are headlining that stage at Hellfest? I'll tell you - Obituary, Sepultura, Mayhem, Wardruna and Watain. Are any of them even remotely big enough to headline Bloodstock?

I personally can't stand Devin's music, he's undoubtedly very popular with his fans, but I'd argue a lot of Bloodstock attendees aren't necessarily Devin fans, and thus he isn't really a good headliner for the festival, whereas a band like Behemoth are much more popular with Bloodstock fans.

[Skippy]

Size of his following aside, my question on Devin would be - is proggy noodling a good choice for a festival headliner ? Especially a 'party' festival like Bloodstock where someone like Dee Snider or Evil Scarecrow draws a massive 'good time' crowd ?

You've clearly never seen Devin live. He fits in right alongside those "good time" bands.

He's definitely big enough over here. I'd argue the one that isn't is Behemoth, and it certainly looks a bit odd having both of them headline the same year. It really does look like Priest are eating the budget, but even last time they played they booked Nightwish the same year, a reasonably big band. Maybe they are overreaching from booking too many expensive bands in the last few years.