Being the first time I've been to Bloodstock, I was surprised at how organised it was, bar a couple of things
Good points:
- Atmosphere was great, no assholes
- Mornings were very quiet, so one is very likely to get a good night's sleep
- Poor security, a good thing as one can smuggle in some beers into the arena!
- Being a very small festival compared to, say, Wacken, it is very easy to get a good spot to see a band
Bad points:
- Too many people with flags in the arena!
- Poor security, a bad thing as people can take anything into the arena, also a couple of times they've done spot checks, which holds up the crowd
- Mixing was poor for many of the bands, but then again they only get half an hour to set u, and in the unsigned tent they only get 15 minutes
- Typical prices for a British festival for food and merch
Onto the bands:
Evile - Sixth time I've seen them live. Matt Drake's stage banter was a bit tiresome and the mixing was a bit poor, but other than that the performance was great
Akercocke - Good show, but I enjoyed them more when they played Rios last year
Destruction - Awesome, nuff said
Helloween - Not a big fan, but I was very impressed with their performance
Cloudscape - Very good live band, despite being on at just before 11 in the morn
Witchsorrow - Checked them out because I liked their nam, crushing doom metal
Swallow The Sun - Played pretty much what they played at Wacken, still great nonetheless
Moonsorrow - Brill once again
Napalm Death - Mental, and I don't think Barney will ever get that ice cream
Iced Earth - Although performed very well live, and it was great to see Matt Barlow in the flesh, but the choice of songs was a bit disappointing
Alestorm - played a bit sloppy to be honest
Grand Magus - Very good band live
Mob Rules - Left after about 3 songs because they weren't as good as I was hoping
Overkill - Haven't heard much of their stuff but they were brilliant
At The Gates - Was really surprised as I wasn't expecting them to be very good
Nightwish - Set got cut short by about 2 songs as they were on really late, pretty good though
Hightlights: Helloween, Destruction, Napalm Death, Overkill, At The Gates
