So, last month I attended my third Bloodstock! Again, I just came for one day, although I'm starting to regret having missed Parkway Drive the night before, who I believe played the show of their lives. (Read my reviews of 2018 HERE and 2017 HERE)
As I arrived, it was pissing with rain and I could hear that Ross The Boss had just started on the Ronnie James Dio stage as I was making my way through security. I manoeuvred my way as quickly as possible through the mud to start my festival with some quality old school Heavy Metal!
As I arrived, it was pissing with rain and I could hear that Ross The Boss had just started on the Ronnie James Dio stage as I was making my way through security. I manoeuvred my way as quickly as possible through the mud to start my festival with some quality old school Heavy Metal!
If you didn't know, Ross The Boss is the original Manowar guitarist. He's in the same boat as many solo artists who've left big bands. Let's be brutally honest here, most of the crowd weren't fussed about Ross' solo records. They wanted to hear the Manowar classics. Ross clearly understood this and gave his fans exactly what they wanted. They played Kill With Power, Fighting The World, Hail and Kill, and Hail To England amongst other classic tracks..
Ex-Judas Priest guitarist, and a personal hero of mine, KK Downing joined them onstage for The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown) and Priest classics Heading Out To The Highway, Running Wild, and Breaking The Law. It was great to see him on stage again, and I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to see him back with Judas Priest where he belongs.
I headed over to the S.O.P.H.I.E Stage to catch some of Solitary's set. I've had their debut album Nothing Changes since the late 90's and hadn't seen them play for many years so I decided to check them out. They haven't changed at all. Musically, they're very much a traditional Thrash band and sound to my ears like early Testament mixed with Xentrix. My only criticism here is that there are hundreds of Thrash bands out there that look and sound just like Solitary. It's all a bit generic and pushes no musical boundaries whatsoever. However, they are very good at what they do and Bloodstock is the perfect platform for them. Their performance was razor-sharp and they went down well with the crowd, so it was a job well done.
Soilwork were one of the bands I was looking forward to seeing the most. I really enjoyed then on the Kreator tour a couple of years ago (see my review here) and their latest album, Verkligheten, is also excellent (click here). They played a strong, slick set covering plenty of their records, which included killer tracks like Full Moon Shoals and Stabbing The Drama. They finished off with Stålfågel off their latest album, which is now one of my favourite Soilwork songs and made for the perfect closer to a magnificent set.
I'm not familiar with Hypocrisy, so I watched a bit of their set then headed off to find some food. They sounded like an Extreme Metal band fronted by a singer whose voice switches from Death Metal growls to sounding just like Udo Dirkschneider. A lot of people seemed to absolutely love them, so maybe I'm missing out. I'll give their studio work a listen at a later point.
Dee Snider is one of Rock and Metal's greatest front-men and, although I really like Twisted Sister, I always felt that his voice was better than the songs he sang. That was until I heard For The Love Of Metal (read my review here). It was an unexpected masterpiece (particularly unexpected given how bloody awful his previous solo album was) and I was extremely interested to see him performing these new tracks. Dee absolutely nailed it. Considering his age, his voice sounds as good as it ever did, and he exudes the energy and enthusiasm you'd expect from a performer less than half his age.
Naturally, he played a few Twisted Sister classics alongside his new songs which went down a storm as expected. However, it was hearing the latest material that made the show for me, as Dee and his band tore through those tunes with the passion and precision needed to do them justice. It's rare for an artist to put out the best album of their career when they're approaching retirement age, but that's what Dee has achieved, and now he has a new band that has given him new life in the live arena too. Absolutely superb.
Cradle of Filth were originally due to play on the Saturday, but high winds meant that their set had to be moved. The organisers made the cool move of allowing anyone with a Saturday wristband entry on the Sunday at no extra charge.
It was evident that Cradle of Filth were one of the most popular acts at Bloodstock, and the buzz in the crowd before their show was undeniable. They certainly brought the fire both literally and figuratively with flames shooting from the stage throughout their set. Cradle of Filth never fail to be hugely entertaining and great fun. Naturally, with a back catalogue as vast as theirs, there will always be a few fan-favourites that don't make the list, but with material this strong and consistent, it really didn't matter what they played. They put on a killer show with a mix of songs from their legacy including Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids, my personal favourite, Nymphetamine (Fix), and the awesome set-closer Her Ghost In The Fog.
The last time I saw Queensrÿche, I was a spotty teenager. The band has changed considerably since the Promised Land tour when I first saw them, but their long overdue return to 'Metal' and their awesome new(ish) singer Todd La Torre made them a 'must see' band.
After opening with Blood Of The Levant from their new album (read my review here), the band played a good mix of fan-favourites. Personal highlights included Walk In The Shadows, Queen Of The Reich, Jet City Woman, and show closer Eyes Of A Stranger.
Queensrÿche is one of those bands that is so slick and 'on-point' that watching them is almost like listening to a CD. Everything is tight, precise, and the band is clearly on top of their game right now.
Batushka is a weird fucking band. They have a religious image, not a million miles away from Ghost's, yet their music sounds more like atmospheric Black Metal. I personally consider what they do to be more like abstract art than conventional Metal. I hadn't listened to them before, but what I saw of their set was interesting to say the least. They looked really cool, but the music just wasn't my thing. I'm in a minority here though, as the tent was absolutely rammed.
When the Scorpions announced their retirement a few years ago, I thought I'd missed my chance to ever get to see them live. Fortunately, Bloodstock was to the rescue, and now I've ticked another band of living legends off my bucket list.
Let's be honest here, watching the Scorpions in 2019 was never going to be as good was watching them in their prime several decades ago. It would have been unrealistic to expect that. However, they still put on a great show and smashed through a set of truly great songs. Considering singer Klaus Meine and rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker are both 71 years old, they have my utmost respect.
There's a reason that the Scorpions have been a major act for such a long time. They have some classic and timeless songs. Naturally, some favourites will inevitably be missing, but the set was really strong. Personal favourites included Is There Anybody There?, The Zoo, Send Me An Angel, Wind Of Change, Bad Boys Running Wild, Blackout..aaarrgghh! There were just so many massive tunes. Let's not forget the monster that is Big City Nights and the phenomenal Rock You Like A Hurricane, which was not only the perfect song to close the main stage at Bloodstock, but possibly the best song played all weekend by anyone.
It was also nice to see ex-Motorhead drummer Mickey Dee behind the kit again. The man is a power-house and undoubtedly brought a renewed energy to the band as a whole.
Standing in a field with thousands of Metal fans watching the Scorpions was an absolute joy and the perfect way to end a festival.
Ex-Judas Priest guitarist, and a personal hero of mine, KK Downing joined them onstage for The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown) and Priest classics Heading Out To The Highway, Running Wild, and Breaking The Law. It was great to see him on stage again, and I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to see him back with Judas Priest where he belongs.
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| Ross The Boss at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Marc Lopes - vocalist for Ross The Boss at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Ross The Boss with KK Downing at Bloodstock 2019 |
I headed over to the S.O.P.H.I.E Stage to catch some of Solitary's set. I've had their debut album Nothing Changes since the late 90's and hadn't seen them play for many years so I decided to check them out. They haven't changed at all. Musically, they're very much a traditional Thrash band and sound to my ears like early Testament mixed with Xentrix. My only criticism here is that there are hundreds of Thrash bands out there that look and sound just like Solitary. It's all a bit generic and pushes no musical boundaries whatsoever. However, they are very good at what they do and Bloodstock is the perfect platform for them. Their performance was razor-sharp and they went down well with the crowd, so it was a job well done.
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| Solitary at Bloodstock 2019 |
Soilwork were one of the bands I was looking forward to seeing the most. I really enjoyed then on the Kreator tour a couple of years ago (see my review here) and their latest album, Verkligheten, is also excellent (click here). They played a strong, slick set covering plenty of their records, which included killer tracks like Full Moon Shoals and Stabbing The Drama. They finished off with Stålfågel off their latest album, which is now one of my favourite Soilwork songs and made for the perfect closer to a magnificent set.
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| Soilwork at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Soilwork at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Soilwork at Bloodstock 2019 |
I'm not familiar with Hypocrisy, so I watched a bit of their set then headed off to find some food. They sounded like an Extreme Metal band fronted by a singer whose voice switches from Death Metal growls to sounding just like Udo Dirkschneider. A lot of people seemed to absolutely love them, so maybe I'm missing out. I'll give their studio work a listen at a later point.
Dee Snider is one of Rock and Metal's greatest front-men and, although I really like Twisted Sister, I always felt that his voice was better than the songs he sang. That was until I heard For The Love Of Metal (read my review here). It was an unexpected masterpiece (particularly unexpected given how bloody awful his previous solo album was) and I was extremely interested to see him performing these new tracks. Dee absolutely nailed it. Considering his age, his voice sounds as good as it ever did, and he exudes the energy and enthusiasm you'd expect from a performer less than half his age.
Naturally, he played a few Twisted Sister classics alongside his new songs which went down a storm as expected. However, it was hearing the latest material that made the show for me, as Dee and his band tore through those tunes with the passion and precision needed to do them justice. It's rare for an artist to put out the best album of their career when they're approaching retirement age, but that's what Dee has achieved, and now he has a new band that has given him new life in the live arena too. Absolutely superb.
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| Dee Snider at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Dee Snider at Bloodstock 2019 |
Cradle of Filth were originally due to play on the Saturday, but high winds meant that their set had to be moved. The organisers made the cool move of allowing anyone with a Saturday wristband entry on the Sunday at no extra charge.
It was evident that Cradle of Filth were one of the most popular acts at Bloodstock, and the buzz in the crowd before their show was undeniable. They certainly brought the fire both literally and figuratively with flames shooting from the stage throughout their set. Cradle of Filth never fail to be hugely entertaining and great fun. Naturally, with a back catalogue as vast as theirs, there will always be a few fan-favourites that don't make the list, but with material this strong and consistent, it really didn't matter what they played. They put on a killer show with a mix of songs from their legacy including Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids, my personal favourite, Nymphetamine (Fix), and the awesome set-closer Her Ghost In The Fog.
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| Cradle of Filth at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Cradle of Filth at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Cradle of Filth at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Cradle of Filth at Bloodstock 2019 |
The last time I saw Queensrÿche, I was a spotty teenager. The band has changed considerably since the Promised Land tour when I first saw them, but their long overdue return to 'Metal' and their awesome new(ish) singer Todd La Torre made them a 'must see' band.
After opening with Blood Of The Levant from their new album (read my review here), the band played a good mix of fan-favourites. Personal highlights included Walk In The Shadows, Queen Of The Reich, Jet City Woman, and show closer Eyes Of A Stranger.
Queensrÿche is one of those bands that is so slick and 'on-point' that watching them is almost like listening to a CD. Everything is tight, precise, and the band is clearly on top of their game right now.
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| Queensrÿche at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Queensrÿche at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Queensrÿche at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Queensrÿche at Bloodstock 2019 |
Batushka is a weird fucking band. They have a religious image, not a million miles away from Ghost's, yet their music sounds more like atmospheric Black Metal. I personally consider what they do to be more like abstract art than conventional Metal. I hadn't listened to them before, but what I saw of their set was interesting to say the least. They looked really cool, but the music just wasn't my thing. I'm in a minority here though, as the tent was absolutely rammed.
 |
| Batushka at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Batushka at Bloodstock 2019 |
When the Scorpions announced their retirement a few years ago, I thought I'd missed my chance to ever get to see them live. Fortunately, Bloodstock was to the rescue, and now I've ticked another band of living legends off my bucket list.
Let's be honest here, watching the Scorpions in 2019 was never going to be as good was watching them in their prime several decades ago. It would have been unrealistic to expect that. However, they still put on a great show and smashed through a set of truly great songs. Considering singer Klaus Meine and rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker are both 71 years old, they have my utmost respect.
There's a reason that the Scorpions have been a major act for such a long time. They have some classic and timeless songs. Naturally, some favourites will inevitably be missing, but the set was really strong. Personal favourites included Is There Anybody There?, The Zoo, Send Me An Angel, Wind Of Change, Bad Boys Running Wild, Blackout..aaarrgghh! There were just so many massive tunes. Let's not forget the monster that is Big City Nights and the phenomenal Rock You Like A Hurricane, which was not only the perfect song to close the main stage at Bloodstock, but possibly the best song played all weekend by anyone.
It was also nice to see ex-Motorhead drummer Mickey Dee behind the kit again. The man is a power-house and undoubtedly brought a renewed energy to the band as a whole.
Standing in a field with thousands of Metal fans watching the Scorpions was an absolute joy and the perfect way to end a festival.
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
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| Scorpions at Bloodstock 2019 |
