Anna has been a festival fanatic since her first ever outing to Download Festival back in 2001, she's got eclectic tastes and covers everything from metal to EDM and loves a chance to try out new festivals. Anna has covered a few European festivals like Snowbombing and Wacken Open Air, but mainly hits up her UK faves; Download, Bestival and Bloodstock!
Following the phenomenal response to news of their forthcoming All Points East reunion show on Sunday 24 August 2025, The Maccabees have announced the first wave of special guests including Bombay Bicycle Club, Dry Cleaning, The Cribs, Nilüfer Yanya, The Murder Capital, Divorce and Prima Queen – with many more still to come.
The show will be The Maccabees’ first show in eight years and coincides with the tenth anniversary of the landmark album Marks to Prove It. The announcement on Monday was the news fans have been waiting for since the band paid an emotional farewell in 2017 with a sold-out three-night run at Alexandra Palace.
Guitarist Felix White says: “In the intervening years we’ve been to All Points East a lot, separately. It’s become a bit of a landmark festival for us, always checking who’s on the line-up. I’d go and have a great time throughout the day, but there was always this pinch of regret watching headliners that we could’ve done it ourselves one day too. I thought that moment had passed, and it was something I was prepared to come to terms with that I was always going to miss. I think we’re all kind of shocked and excited that we get to do it together again.”
As if the return of The Maccabees wasn’t exciting enough, the addition of special guests Bombay Bicycle Club guarantees one of the biggest events of the year in British guitar music. Since Bombay Bicycle Club formed in 2005, accolades have included the NME Best New Band award and an Ivor Novello Award nomination for the 2010 album Flaws. The band returned in 2023 with their sixth studio album, the joyful My Big Day, and this year they followed that up with Fantasies, an EP of infectious indie-pop collaborations with the likes of Lucy Rose and Matilda Mann.
With many more names still to be announced, the bill is already packed with exciting talent. Modern post-punk icons Dry Cleaning have won a dedicated following with their mix of jagged guitars, driving rhythms and spoken-word vocals on absolute bangers like ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ and ‘Strong Feelings’.
Perfectly formed rock indie classics will be delivered at All Points East next year by The Cribs. If you have any doubts of the band’s pedigree, ask Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who even joined the band for a few years, or check out the blistering live album, released last year, of a performance in Liverpool’s The Cavern in 2020. Nilüfer Yanya is a genre-defying musician and songwriter, who this year released the gorgeous album My Method Actor album on Ninja Tune. Pitchfork praised it as “an album of everyday luxury”. A remix edition is on the way in November.
Also on the bill are Dublin post-punk heroes The Murder Capital, who have been delivering exhilarating dark anthems since 2019’s debut album, When I Have Fears. Their latest release is the primal roar of the single ‘Can’t Pretend To Know’ and a third album is currently in the works.
2025 is set to be a big year for fast-rising Nottingham band Divorce, with the release of debut album Drive to Goldenhammer. The infectious, soaring single ‘All My Freaks’ was described by So Young as a “refreshing, sharp commentary on the music industry, delivered with the warmth and authenticity that Divorce have made their signature”.
Plus one of pop’s rising stars, Prima Queen will head to All Points East next summer. The melodic partnership of Louis Macphail and Kristin McFadden delivers tunes that are made for the airwaves and perfect for a sunny day in Victoria Park. Latest single Fool was described by Clash as “a whip-smart piece of alt-pop that is both striking and oddly understated”.
Speaking about the The Maccabees’ reunion as plans to headline All Points East came together, guitarist Hugo White said he was inspired, in part, by watching The Strokes at last year’s All Points East: “I could see that they were enjoying it , realising how great what they had created together was. Being a band, you are usually in a mindset of, ‘We can do better’ and you’re always chasing something else. This is an opportunity to realise that whatever we had in that moment was pretty special and get to enjoy it again. It’s a chance to appreciate everything, and especially how it impacts other people and created a community.”
For 2024, All Points East welcomed another round of huge headliners Kaytranada, Loyle Carner, Mitski, LCD Soundsystem, APE presents Field Day and The Postal Service & Death Cab For Cutie and carefully curated guest lineups for each day. Between the weekends, In The Neighbourhood returned for four days of activities and free entry in Victoria Park.
It’s showtime! In honour of it being Halloween week, BLOODSTOCK was going to treat you to a spooktacular vampire pun. But it sucks.
So let’s creep it real with some more bands joining the bill, because we all know that you ghouls just wanna have fun. And in case you missed the fangtastic news about more weekend tickets being released, read on for further details and mark your calendar for 9am, November 5th, for that’s when they go on sale! No tricks! Hot on the heels of the monstrously good news about MASTODON joining the bill last Friday, here’s another 15 bands to bewitch you…
BLOODSTOCK is pleased to welcome thrash-lovin’ Norwich metal maestros SHRAPNEL, innovative Canterbury doomsters FAMYNE, and Danish blackened death/doom metal merchants KONVENT to the Ronnie James Dio stage on Friday. Emerging from Germany’s extreme metal void with a fresh take on all things black/death, THE SPIRITare added to Saturday’s bill. Sunday’s lineup now includes atmospheric, dark symphonic metallers GHOSTS OF ATLANTIS, and ONE MACHINE, the heavy metal brainchild of Steve Smyth (Nevermore, Forbidden, Testament) which also features members of Biomechanical, Savage Messiah, and Savage Grace in its ranks.
BLOODSTOCK also has these spine-tingling acts to unmask for the Sophie Lancaster stage! If you like your heavy psych, don’t miss Belgium’s prog stoners MY DILIGENCE, performing on Friday. Joining them that day are well established Finnish symphonic black metal squad SHADE EMPIRE and Vikings EIHWAR, who promise “pagan dancefloor” music, composed of Nordic folk sounds, ritual chants, shamanic drums, and electro machines!
Spicing up Saturday, self-proclaimed “dirtbags of the North” WATERLINES bring their blend of nu-metal and EDM-flavoured metalcore, melodic metal outfit PHOENIX LAKE will no doubt delight fans of Within Temptation and Evanescence, and if that’s not enough, the live spectacle of rock beasts NEONFLY (complete with fire-breathing guitarist) ought to get your pulse racing. Sunday’s no slouch, adding instrumental riff machine WALL (formed by the twins from Desert Storm) and status quo challengers DOGMA, who are keen to wield their music as a weapon against ignorance and oppression.
Last but not least for Sunday, don’t miss SIGLOS, from Ministry alumni Sin Quirin, offering up a unique dose of extreme metal (think black, doom, & industrial) combining ancient indigenous chants and brutal gutterals.
More boos? Why not treat yourself to a devilishly good bottle of “Iron Maiden Darkest Red” wine this Halloween. Full bodied, rich & moody….not for the faint hearted. You don’t have to be prehistoric, but you do need to be over 18.
Our friends, IRON MAIDEN and THE BOTTLE CLUB, want to give Bloodstockers 6.66% off with code BOA666. Why don’t skeletons fight over drinks? They don’t have the guts!
Snap up your bottle of “Iron Maiden Darkest Red” here.
Additional weekend ticketsFestival HQ saw a lot of social media posts after weekend tickets for next summer’s event sold out, with fans disappointed they missed out on tickets. While a limited number of day tickets will be made available in due course (once more of the line-up has been announced), festival HQ has managed to acquire some extra camping space in a new field.
It’s important to note that BLOODSTOCK is not increasing its capacity – the festival will have the same maximum number of headbangers. However, the number of day tickets available each day will be reduced to a smaller quantity to accommodate some additional standard weekend tickets.
Details of the new standard weekend tickets
This new campsite – called Kyrr – will and needs to be quiet camping. Please be respectful of that. The Ragnarok campsite will also remain quiet camping. The name comes from an Old Norse word meaning calm & peaceful! To avoid overcrowding in BLOODSTOCK’s existing campsites, the new standard weekend ticket will have a different wristband – you will only be able to camp in Kyrr.
On arrival, you will collect your wristband directly at this campsite.
Kyrr is situated directly behind Vanaheim (campervans) and is approximately a 10 minute walk from the arena entrance. You will walk through the Hel campsite to get there (not through Vanaheim).
As an additional benefit, there will be a car park right next to the Kyrr campsite. The new weekend ticket will be available to buy with or without parking in this car park. This parking is only valid in this specific Kyrr car park. The new standard weekend ticket is the same cost as the original standard weekend tickets. This is much cheaper than buying 3 individual day tickets as some fans were considering – and you get Thursday included too!
These tickets will go on sale from theticket store at 9am on November 5th. We expect them to go quickly so be ready!
EARLY ACCESS!!If you already have a weekend ticket, Wednesday early access is available for an add-on cost of £25 for those who want to max out their BLOODSTOCK experience, staying in any of the standard campsites (including Kyrr) or the campervan field. This option is not available at present for the VIP or accessible campsites. Head to the ticket store to see all currently available options including car parking.
If you’re looking for sold out tickets or need to sell your tickets on, BLOODSTOCK’s secondary ticketing partner, Tixel, might be able to help. Simply set an alert for notification if your tickets of choice become available, or pre-authorise your card in advance,so no need for constant checking back. Tixel also allows you to safely re-sell tickets to a new home if plans have changed. You can sell ALL ticket types, including instalment plan purchases, plus any tickets sold via Ticketmaster or other third party ticket outlets. This partnership helps BLOODSTOCK streamline all resale tickets into one place to guarantee the safety of the sale, avoiding social media scam bots and rip-off pricing. It’s a very simple process for the customer and most importantly, it’s a trusted platform. Click through to https://tixel.com/uk/bloodstock-tickets for more information on how it works.
BLOODSTOCK’s 2025 Ronnie James Dio stage headliners are TRIVIUM, MACHINE HEAD, and GOJIRA. Headlining the Sophie Lancaster stage will be ME AND THAT MAN, KATAKLYSM, STATIC-X, and OBITUARY. You’ll also be able to see MASTODON, NAILBOMB, MINISTRY, EMPEROR, FEAR FACTORY, LACUNA COIL, HERIOT, ORANGE GOBLIN, CREEPER, KUBLAI KHAN TX, CAGE FIGHT, RIVERS OF NIHIL, FLOTSAM & JETSAM, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, FEUERSCHWANZ, LORD OF THE LOST, PALEFACE SWISS, AUGUST BURNS RED, WARBRINGER, UNDEATH, SPIRIT ADRIFT, THROWN, ALL FOR METAL, BREED 77, HIGH PARASITE, and 3 INCHES OF BLOOD.
Keep your eyes peeled for many more bands and on site activities will be announced over the coming months. Get full festival information over at bloodstock.uk.com. Watch a trailer here.
BLOODSTOCK will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 7th-10th August 2025.
This news needs no added fanfare. Time for a mic drop!
BLOODSTOCK is thrilled to announce that special guests on the Ronnie James Dio stage on Sunday will be…. wait for it…. none other than highly revered, four-headed metal behemoth MASTODON.
The group are just off the road in the USA with festival alumni pals LAMB OF GOD, dropping the collab track ‘Floods Of Triton’ to celebrate their co-headline Ashes Of Leviathan tour. You can check out a ‘making of’ interview here. Perhaps you caught MASTODON headlining BLOODSTOCK all the way back in 2016? Investigate the treasure trove of live tracks from that set on BLOODSTOCK’s YouTube at your leisure, including ‘High Road.’
If you’re extra crushed now you didn’t manage to snap up a weekend ticket before they sold out, read on for good news…
Additional weekend ticketsFestival HQ saw a lot of social media posts after weekend tickets for next summer’s event sold out, with fans disappointed they missed out on tickets. While a limited number of day tickets will be made available in due course (once more of the line-up has been announced), festival HQ has managed to acquire some extra camping space in a new field.
It’s important to note that BLOODSTOCK is not increasing its capacity – the festival will have the same maximum number of headbangers. However, the number of day tickets available each day will be reduced to a smaller quantity to accommodate some additional standard weekend tickets.
Details of the new standard weekend tickets
This new campsite – called Kyrr – will and needs to be quiet camping. Please be respectful of that. The Ragnarok campsite will also remain quiet camping. The name comes from an Old Norse word meaning calm & peaceful! To avoid overcrowding in BLOODSTOCK’s existing campsites, the new standard weekend ticket will have a different wristband – you will only be able to camp in Kyrr.
On arrival, you will collect your wristband directly at this campsite.
Kyrr is situated directly behind Vanaheim (campervans) and is approximately a 10 minute walk from the arena entrance. You will walk through the Hel campsite to get there (not through Vanaheim).
As an additional benefit, there will be a car park right next to the Kyrr campsite. The new weekend ticket will be available to buy with or without parking in this car park. This parking is only valid in this specific Kyrr car park. The new standard weekend ticket is the same cost as the original standard weekend tickets. This is much cheaper than buying 3 individual day tickets as some fans were considering – and you get Thursday included too!
These tickets will go on sale from theticket store at 9am on November 5th. We expect them to go quickly so be ready!
EARLY ACCESS!!If you already have a weekend ticket, Wednesday early access is available for an add-on cost of £25 for those who want to max out their BLOODSTOCK experience, staying in any of the standard campsites (including Kyrr) or the campervan field. This option is not available at present for the VIP or accessible campsites. Head to the ticket store to see all currently available options including car parking.
If you’re looking for sold out tickets or need to sell your tickets on, BLOODSTOCK’s secondary ticketing partner, Tixel, might be able to help. Simply set an alert for notification if your tickets of choice become available, or pre-authorise your card in advance,so no need for constant checking back. Tixel also allows you to safely re-sell tickets to a new home if plans have changed. You can sell ALL ticket types, including instalment plan purchases, plus any tickets sold via Ticketmaster or other third party ticket outlets. This partnership helps BLOODSTOCK streamline all resale tickets into one place to guarantee the safety of the sale, avoiding social media scam bots and rip-off pricing. It’s a very simple process for the customer and most importantly, it’s a trusted platform. Click through to https://tixel.com/uk/bloodstock-tickets for more information on how it works.
BLOODSTOCK’s 2025 Ronnie James Dio stage headliners are TRIVIUM, MACHINE HEAD, and GOJIRA. Headlining the Sophie Lancaster stage will be ME AND THAT MAN, KATAKLYSM, STATIC-X, and OBITUARY. You’ll also be able to see NAILBOMB, MINISTRY, EMPEROR, FEAR FACTORY, LACUNA COIL, HERIOT, ORANGE GOBLIN, CREEPER, KUBLAI KHAN TX, CAGE FIGHT, RIVERS OF NIHIL, FLOTSAM & JETSAM, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, FEUERSCHWANZ, LORD OF THE LOST, PALEFACE SWISS, AUGUST BURNS RED, WARBRINGER, UNDEATH, SPIRIT ADRIFT, THROWN, ALL FOR METAL, BREED 77, HIGH PARASITE, and 3 INCHES OF BLOOD. News of many more bands and on site activities will be announced over the coming months.
In this, the month of Gothmas; the evenings have drawn in, inviting all the beautiful creeps out into the darkness. Ahem, ok I mean me. I am out traversing the canalways of Brindley Place in Birmingham to get to the Utilita Arena tonight for the one and only, Gothfather of Shock Rock – Alice freakin’ Cooper.
The Meffs
Up first tonight are edgy Essex duo The Meffs, a rowdy powerhouse of shouty punk. ‘Stamp It Out’ and ‘Broken Britain, Broken Brains’ are belted out with force, but their whole style absolutely requires a front standing section of moshing teenagers… and instead we have seated VIP’s.
‘Stand Up, Speak Out’ gets a better audience participation level, as the crowd warms up and remembers their angsty youth origins, as it’s easy to get into. I also enjoy their cover of The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’, but their real stand out moment is a very punk middle finger; “This is a Love Song to the British government, it’s called Clowns”.
It’s a short and sweet set, bookended by a promise that they’re coming back “sometime in January”, and I think I’ll be trying to catch up with them then – in hopefully a more fitting environment where I can do some thrashing around.
Strutting onto the stage in a sparkling diamanté pinstriped suit, lead singer Bobbie Gillespie with his signature sullen-faced swagger, surveys the crowd. The band kick off with ‘Love Insurrection’ but a couple of bars in, Gillespie motions everyone to stop. “Wait stop, we fucked that up. Start again… it happens.”
The second try, “Oh there we go, the right key this time” is a smooth transition into their unique blend of funky electronic rock. The gorgeous soaring melody of the trio of backing vocalists really comes alive in ‘Ready To Go Home’, but the overall vibe in the room is left slightly flat by the complete seating area in the front. Primal Scream are a band to boogie to, and every other time I’ve seen them has been at festivals with room to groove, which just… isn’t this. Despite the rock-block of the setup, when Gillespie says “30 years ago we released Screamadelica… I dont know if you guys and girls know it… the first song was called ‘Movin’ On Up’. So if you want to sing along please do” the collective sigh of relief around the audience was palpable – here’s a song we can all sing along to – and we do. ‘Country Girl’ is an exercise in weaving that evangelical deep south church sound into a Glaswegian ditty, but it has the hook I can’t deny. Gillespie yells “Ladies, Gentlemen, Creatures, Thats theys and thems… let me fuckin hear you!” before they plough into their final iconic song ‘Rocks’ to end the set.
Alice Cooper
Slicing through a giant newspaper sheet printed with ‘BANNED IN ENGLAND’, using a cutlass, and employing one of the most iconic resting-bitch-faces in the world? Peak Alice Cooper behaviour. After this most excellent entrance, Alice is front and centre in his signature top-hat and leather trousers garb – sporting three belts and a frilly shirt, launching straight into ‘Welcome To The Show’. I am glad we as a country, have stopped trying to actually ban Alice Cooper from performing here, extremely embarrassing (three times) for us. Not that we don’t have other things to be embarrassed about, mind.
From the off, it is clear that Alice’s voice and energy is still absolutely top notch – something I can’t say about most other performers who’ve been going as long. The man is 76 and he’s careening around the stage and now swinging a crutch above his head like it’s nothing. ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ features a quick change into a custom battle jacket (which I would dearly like to pilfer), followed by a confetti gun used to spray the crowd in sparkly faux money for ‘Billion Dollar Babies’.
Bombshell guitarist Nita Strauss is absolutely ripping it up, under the watchful awe-struck eye of Alice. One thing I will note is that there is space made on this stage for every single artist to take the spotlight, and Alice showers all of them with reverence. It’s a nice thing to see from an artist as singular as he is, on the face of it.
Throwing a black cane to a fan on the front row, in order to take up his giant yellow snake who seems completely unbothered by the huge crowd, and is instead trying to see what guitarist Ryan Roxie is doing. I couldn’t find out the name of this snake (if anyone knows, hit me up) but I would like to do a quick mention of some of Alice’s previous snake-pals because they’re too good not to share. So big ups to; Julius Squeezer, Cobra Winfrey and Count Strangula. During a musical reprieve Alice can be seen just chatting to the snake and pointing things out to it, and now I have a vision of him walking around Birmingham taking his snake on a tour of the sights.
‘Lost In America’ sees Alice in a flag-adorned leather jacket, and he plays at murdering actors playing photographers (I do feel slightly targeted…) with the opening bars of the anthemic ‘Hey Stoopid’. The green lighting pulsing across the crowd now reveals a much more lively atmosphere, as people are standing and dancing along.
Two giant sets of prop stairs are wheeled around to face the crowd, with Alice atop one, bathed in spotlights and smoke for ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’, followed by his rather rough treatment of a very Sia-esque mannequin during ‘Cold Ethyl’. I also love him for brandishing four bulbous yellow maracas, and I’m not sure if they really are an instrument that can be played seductively – but he’s managing it, in a Gomez Addams sort of way.
An enormous cheer ripples around the arena for the iconic notes of ‘Poison’, and Alice is now rocking a gorgeous burgundy brocade jacket and a riding crop – another amazing souvenir for a lucky front row fan later on. ‘Feed My Frankenstein’ will never fail to give me chills, but I am a child of the Wayne’s World generation I guess. The giant stumbling monster comes out to lurk behind the guitarists, and he has more than a slight resemblance to Ozzy Osbourne with those upturned palms and shambling gait. I don’t think it’s on purpose, but we are in Birmingham so who knows.
‘Black Widow’ features on screen clips of Vincent Price, and an incredible Nita solo, before Alice’s straitjacket scene for ‘Ballad of Dwight Fry’. Kneeling on the riser, in a perfect beam of white light but uplit in green, Alice looks delightfully unhinged whilst being ‘tasered’ by his on-stage goons. Now enter Alice’s actual wife Sheryl Cooper, in her Marie Antionette get-up, to take him to the guillotine and then dance with his disembodied head. Each time I have seen this bit, I have wanted the head to sing along, alas.
‘Elected’ uses one of the stair sets now covered in stars and stripes, as a pulpit for Alice’s presidential speech (and yes he is still in the straitjacket, a nice touch). There’s a barrage of red white and blue spotlighting, and streamers sprayed out into the front rows, before the stage goes dark. As the school-bell rings, the lights go up on a stage filled with smoke-bubbles and Alice in a white tailcoat and tophat, brandishing another cane. Giant balloons are pushed out into the crowd and when they’re batted back to the stage, he pops them with a blade to expose bursts of sparkling confetti within.
“Birmingham England… Alice Cooper finally speaks to you!” he laughs, and introduces all of the members of the band, who have been predictably phenomenal tonight, ending with “She’s deadly, she’s delicious, she’s my one and only… Sheryl Cooper! …and playing the part of Alice Cooper tonight… big lights on… ME!”
“It’s great to be back in Birmingham, and it’s almost Halloween… so from all of us – to all of you, may all of your nightmares be horrific, Goodnight!” Alice bows to the audience. I would see Alice Cooper on every night of this tour if I could, standing front and centre. There is something quite magical about this type of show, that I don’t think is going to be on the menu in 20 years, which is a bit sad. Immersion, theatre, a willingness to take life with a pinch of whimsy – alongside truly iconic music, taken as a tonic in an uncomfortable world.
In the immortal words of Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, we truly are not worthy.
SETLIST
Lock Me Up (Shortened)
Welcome to the Show
No More Mr. Nice Guy
I’m Eighteen
Under My Wheels
Bed of Nails
Billion Dollar Babies
Snakebite
Be My Lover
Lost in America
He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
Hey Stoopid
Drum Solo (Glen)
Welcome to My Nightmare
Cold Ethyl
Go to Hell
Poison
Feed My Frankenstein
The Black Widow (Vincent Price segment)
Guitar Solo (Nita)
Black Widow Jam (Full Band Solo)
Ballad of Dwight Fry
I Love the Dead (Opened with Killer snippet)
Elected
Encore:
School’s Out (With Another Brick in the Wall snippet & band introductions)
Off the back of BLOODSTOCK’s first announcement of 19 bands for 2025, tickets have been flying out the door in record numbers. Adult standard weekend tickets are now sold out! A limited number of day tickets will be available in due course, once more bands have been announced. Missed out on the type of ticket you wanted? Sign up to Tixel, BLOODSTOCK’s official resale partner and avoid social media ticket scams!
For those of you who have already snapped up your tickets, here’s 13 more bands to whet your appetite for next summer’s metal extravaganza!
The Ronnie James Dio stage on Friday is pleased to welcome classic thrashers FLOTSAM & JETSAM. Joining them will be hotly-tipped deathcore upstarts PALEFACE SWISS.
Industrial metal icons MINISTRY jet in as RJD stage special guests on Saturday night, in their first ever BLOODSTOCK appearance. Also added to the RJD line-up that day are LA legends FEAR FACTORY (playing their seminal 1995 album ‘Demanufacture’ in full!), fast-rising metalcore moshers HERIOT, full-pelt thrash overlords WARBRINGER, and furious hardcore bruisers CAGE FIGHT.
If you were having trouble picking your favourite day already, Sunday’s main stage additions aren’t going to make it any easier, adding boundary pushing, tech-death squad RIVERS OF NIHIL. Still want more?
On Friday, the Sophie Lancaster stage is proud to confirm the infamous and uber rare NAILBOMB. Let’s make BLOODSTOCK 2025 as iconic a set for NAILBOMB as Dynamo 1995! Self-proclaimed death popsters HIGH PARASITE (feat. Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride) will get you warmed up earlier in the day.
For your Saturday shenanigans, the Sophie stage now includes New York-based, death metal crew UNDEATH. Texan doom-come-trad-metal headbangers SPIRIT ADRIFT and brutal Swedish aggressorsTHROWN join the affray on Sophie, on Sunday. We’ll see you down the front.
If you already have a weekend ticket, Wednesday early access is available for an add-on cost of £25 for those who want to max out their BLOODSTOCK experience, staying in any of the standard campsites or the campervan field. This option is not available at present for the VIP or accessible campsites. Head to the ticket store to see all currently available options including car parking.
If you’re looking for sold out tickets like VIP, weekend, or campervan passes, BLOODSTOCK’s secondary ticketing partner, Tixel, might be able to help. Simply set an alert for notification if your tickets of choice become available, or pre-authorise your card in advance,so no need for constant checking back. Tixel also allows you to safely re-sell tickets to a new home if plans have changed.
You can sell ALL ticket types, including instalment plan purchases, plus any tickets sold via Ticketmaster or other third party ticket outlets. This partnership helps BLOODSTOCK streamline all resale tickets into one place to guarantee the safety of the sale, avoiding social media scam bots and rip-off pricing. It’s a very simple process for the customer and most importantly, it’s a trusted platform. Click through to https://tixel.com/uk/bloodstock-tickets for more information on how it works.
To relive 2024’s metal glory, head over to BLOODSTOCK’s official YouTube channelfor some exclusive live videos, including most recently, the full set from GREEN LUNG plus choice cuts from CLUTCH, WHITECHAPEL, and VINTAGE CARAVAN. There’s also three epic tracks from MEGADETH in 2023, and hours more footage for you to delve into.
BLOODSTOCK’s 2025 Ronnie James Dio main stage headliners are TRIVIUM, MACHINE HEAD, and GOJIRA. Headlining the Sophie Lancaster stage will be ME AND THAT MAN, KATAKLYSM, STATIC-X, and OBITUARY. You’ll also be able to see EMPEROR, LACUNA COIL, ORANGE GOBLIN, CREEPER, KUBLAI KHAN TX, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, FEUERSCHWANZ, LORD OF THE LOST, AUGUST BURNS RED, ALL FOR METAL, BREED 77, and 3 INCHES OF BLOOD. Stay tuned for news of 100+ more bands and on site activities to be announced over the coming months.
It’s that last drip of summer, the deepening skies and smell of woodsmoke in the air. Autumn is on it’s way but we have one last hurrah in the form of The Long Road festival. Nestled in the woodland and fields surrounding Stanford Hall, these Leicestershire lands play host to a little slice of Americana once a year. Bring your cowboy boots and your Stetsons, it’s time to throwdown at the hoedown.
Friday at Long Road is a relaxed affair, with the main stage not being open today there is ample time to wander around the other areas and find our feet. We catch a little of American Aquarium over at The Interstate tent, who start off sounding a lot like punk-rock but eventually settle into a more country style. After a quick tour around the food offerings we opt to take seats on one of the many long benches set out in front of The Interstate, and choose Bayou Kitchen cajun shrimp bowls. This is my go-to food at TLR, so I’m glad to see they’re back again.
We mosey around, stopping to listen in at The Front Porch and once again I can’t help but admire the choice to theme this stage. If you don’t know, The Front Porch is a cabin with… well, a front porch. Bands perform on the porch as if you’re in their backyard, there are rocking chairs and smoke pours from the little chimney. While there is always a small standing crowd up front, this stage is the place to go if you want to have a chilled sit-down to enjoy the music, and tonight there are many doing just that – under the soft festoon lights and dwindling sun.
Taking a stroll around the various shopping stalls, boots and hats enticing us at every turn, we are drawn into the Solo Stove area where bright fires are crackling into the pink sky. The merch stall is already full of people grabbing their TLR t-shirts and caps, and this year there’s an incredible knitted blanket on offer that catches my eye. We decide to finish up our night with a pot of Crumble (incredible festival food choice) and joining in with the line-dancing class at The Front Porch. It won’t be the last time I hear Rascal Flatts this weekend, but hey – now I can Cowboy Hustle to it!
Today, the arena is in full swing and we are heading in for a day of rootin’ tootin’ antics, off first in search of some lunch. Today we hit up the Brisket wagon, which is a truck that houses proper southern style smokers, for some low and slow fall-apart meat on top of cheese-fries. Heaven.
Suitably satiated we take to the main stage for Kristian Bush (yes, of Sugarland fame), who is bringing some melodic country rock and his dry humour to the proceedings, alongside his brother Brandon on keys.“You tighten one butt-cheek at a time, this is for all you men out there going “oh I have to dance?” that’s how you do” giggles Bush, as they drop into hit ‘Trailer Hitch’ – which I absolutely love for it’s lyrics.
In another smooth move, Kristian talks about loving the UK show Taskmaster, and how he’s watched all of the seasons (huge cheers from the crowd) before telling us that he should get paid more for bringing the sunshine here today and yelling “…this is for all you people who still believe in summertime!”.
“I’ve won loads of country music awards and never wrote a song about drinking. I apologise. Have you ever been at the bar and suddenly you can’t walk? It just happens…” is his leading line into ‘Flip Flops’, a song that will resonate well with anyone who has ever been on a bender… which let’s face it, is the entire UK population.
Kyle Daniel is up next, shouting “Let’s boogie” and launching into some classic country rock with ‘God Bless America (Damn Rock n’ Roll)’ which is, as you can imagine; very singable. A huge crowd has come out to see him today, probably in large part thanks to the exceptional performance he gave here a couple of years ago, albeit with a different backing band. We also get a taste of his epic collaboration with The Cadillac Three – ‘Summer Down South’, which comes with the comedic timing of a side of rain.
We take off after that to check out the Fort Worth x Weber grills area, new to the arena this year. To the side there’s a tiny bar where they’re mixing up cocktails and giving out bandanas and tiny hip flasks as freebies, as well as providing a hot-branding station for leather boots. On the other side under cover, Weber are doing the most mouth-watering cooking demos you can imagine, but there are A LOT of people waiting for taste today so we shuffle off to grab our own food elsewhere. Jonah Kagen is giving the Interstate a good giggle, saying that his British Airways pilot on the way here, sounded like David Attenborough.
The Yeti custom shop has brought back it’s very successful laser-cutter custom shop again, and a double size space to house all the amazing goodies on offer. I don’t know in what world I will ever need a travel cafetière that makes 10 cups of coffee, but I sure do want one now.
Oklahoma kid Wyatt Flores is giving a fantastically energetic performance over on the Rhinestone, but unfortunately the rain is moving in fast and heavy. We run for cover under the Visit Austin barn, and manage to snag ourselves some more freebies in the form of bandanas and tote bags – which have armadillos on them. Cute. There’s even a photobooth in there, nice swag Austin, nice.
After the downpour abates, we hop over to The Showground to watch the annual Hot Dog Eating Contest. Last year was beset by calamity in the form of Brioche buns – and the winning contestant only managed a measly three dogs. No such silliness this year, as the very standard buns are brought over in giant catering trays, to the gingham-clothed table.
Drawn from a hat, the contestants fill the tables and are told that they have 7 minutes in which to chomp as many hot dogs as they can, that there’s a sick bucket behind them, and that the ambulance service people off to the side are trained in the Heimlich maneuver. A girl named Jordan (who didn’t even enter) is filling in for her absent boyfriend, and is expertly dunking her bready buns into water cups to consume faster, Aussie Harry seems entirely unbothered and looks like he’s just there for lunch, but the winner is Miles with 8 hot diggity dawgs. Congratulations man! Although I must point out, that champion scoffer Joey Chestnut has just recently downed 83 dogs in 10 minutes at his most recent match. So, there’s that.
Brittney Spencer is our next pick, she’s rocking an incredible laced-flared 70’s floral two-piece and has the most phenomenal voice, one of my favourite performers of the weekend by far. It might be overcast and cold today, but there’s no standing still when she shouts “Get your drinks up, put your tequila whisky or water up!” for ‘I Got Time’, so we are all dancing along with her.
Following Brittney is ethereal moonchild Paula Cole, who is giving ‘next-door neighbour who is actually a witch and will help you hex your ex’. “This song is about my mother” she says about ‘Follow The Moon’ a beautiful melancholy ballad. If you like Tori Amos, Sinead O’Connor or Kate Bush – this is your jam at TLR. ‘Where Did All The Cowboys Go’ and Dawson’s Creek tv show theme tune ‘I Don’t Want To Wait’ close up the show with a big old dose of the 90’s, and it’s really interesting to hear her speak on her most well-known hit; “I wrote this for my grandfather. He came back from Okinawa with more than just physical scars. It affected my whole family.”
Afterwards we take a chance to re-fuel with some delicious chicken and gravy sandwiches from the Roaming Rotisserie, and catch Brittany Spencer taking on (extremely unsuccessfully) the buckin’ bull rodeo game – kudos for trying though, that thing looks difficult.
The ‘American Troubador’ Don McLean is tonight’s Rhinestone headliner, heading to the stage with a big ensemble and not much other fanfare, smiling in his shirt and jeans. Touring through the back catalogue ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Winterwood’ come interspersed with tales of his musical career, “…don’t know how I found myself in Nashville, but I went and I stayed there, and I have been treated so well by the country music community. I’m sort of a misfit… I have songs from here there and everywhere because I’m interested in everything”.
A cover of Roy Orbison’s ‘Crying’ is lovely, but it’s clear that Don’s voice is waning as he cracks through a couple of notes. My Mum used to sing ‘Vincent’ to my sister when she was little, so we all croon along to that, but it honestly takes until the obvious choice ‘American Pie’ to get the whole arena joining in. With red white and blue strobing stage lights, Don takes the crowd’s enthusiasm for a ride – doing an extra chorus and verse to finish up. All in, I’m glad I saw him live, but I wouldn’t say it was a spectacular set otherwise.
Kaitlin Butts is giving us gorgeous sunshine vocals on The Interstate as we head over to Lil’ Possum County kids area to play some cornhole and skittles, before hitting up the Weber area for a Chilli tutorial (culminating in tasters of the delicious Elk chilli, made Texas-true – no beans!).
Vincent Neil Emerson is giving a soulful banjo-picking performance in Buddy’s through the woodland walk, and we take the opportunity for a beverage and a sit down. It’s a shame the low tent stage facilitates so few people here, this is one that I wish would grow a bit for next year.
Brooke Eden is stunning in an all-white fringed outfit on the main stage, she’s enigmatic and funny, bringing her loud and proud pop-spiked brand of country to our little corner of the world.
“Have you ever fallen In love with your best friend… I did and she was a girl” she says, to cheers. “I moved to Nashville from Florida… Florida’s beautiful but you know craaazy” she laughs, before telling us “I’ve performed with my Dad’s band in country bars since I was 6yrs old… and you know I thought I’d meet a country guy there, and get married… but I met my wife.”
“They told me if I wanted to keep my career in country music I had to stay silent. Did that for 5 years and… don’t do that. I don’t recommend it. I came out 3 years ago with a music video with my wife in. I just had to scream it from the rooftops.” She says, as she leans into her Trisha Yearwood cover ‘She’s In Love With The Boy’ with altered lyrics to ‘Girl’. Her own single ‘Outlaw Love’ for “…anyone who has had to fight for their love” is the true star of the show though, it’s a cracking set. I will also celebrate anyone who has the courage to be vocal about diversity in a traditionally conservative genre.
Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors sing about family and home in Tennessee, and chats to the crowd like an old friend. Some helpful fan decides to help Drew with the pronunciation of our location and yells “It’s LESS-TAH”, to which he chuckles and says “Thank you for that, a couple of weeks ago we were in Sweden and I got their town really wrong, felt like an idiot”.
Drew also tells a story about his Grandad, who was a ‘big fish’ telling tall tales. Apparently he once told a story about being invited to a dog show at Sandringham, and accidentally getting in a car with The Queen. Years later, when his Grandfather died – they got a letter of condolences from The Queen’s office. The song ‘Dragons’ is a gorgeous tribute to him. Drew also plays the harmonica, signs the jackets of fans, and is just all-round nice. ‘Find Your People’ is maybe my favourite add-to-playlist song of the weekend, and had the whole crowd dancing along.
Bringing earlier Interstate performers The National Parks on stage for a boogie during their collab ‘Dance With Everybody’, it’s a great ending to a wonderful set. Call me a new fan.
Randall King, self-proclaimed purveyor of honky-tonk and some classic rock n’roll, is bringing deep south to the rain-spattered main stage; “Do you know what time it is? It ain’t time to go home y’all… it’s tonk time!”. ‘You In A Honky Tonk’ conjures the image of The Blues Brothers having bottles thrown at them unless they play Rawhide on repeat. Randall might be trying to re-write the honky-tonk lore, but if you’re from the UK – you were brought up on cowboy depictions from the movies. “You stood out in the wind the rain, all to listen to some of our songs… I really do appreciate it so much. I get to live the dream on this stage” he says. You can’t go far wrong if you’re nice, nice to look at, and have a great voice. Randall gets my vote.
Referencing our bank holiday Monday; “I heard you guys have a holiday tomorrow? So we’re gonna go big tonight right?” is slightly overshadowed by the immediate and hefty downpour – which he is nicely shielded from under the capped stage. ‘Love You Like I Used To’ has everyone up and dancing along despite the soggy conditions, and new song ‘Bones’ garners a roar of approval from the arena.
Russell is a fantastic performer, it’s such a shame that the heavens have opened though, as many people are packing up and defecting to other stages or even home to campervans. There’s plenty to keep everyone occupied around the arena still, with bands continuing on other stages and entertainments all over. Despite the rain, the beautiful soft festoon lights and the roaring fires are highlighting golden joyful faces, a sign of a festival well-done. There’s no other way to describe this festival than overwhelmingly friendly and consciously chilled out.
The tagline for The Long Road is ‘Welcome Home Old Friend’ and after a few years of attending this truly amazing little festival, I fully feel in the fold. Let’s hope for sunnier climes in 2025. See you next year, old friend.
After weeks of nice sunshine, OF COURSE it is widdling it down the day we’re heading out to Camp Bestival Shropshire. Regardless, we are determined to have an excellent time and head into Weston Park with glee to collect our wristbands.
After wrangling two very excited children, four adults, ten tonnes of snackage, a crate of fancy dress and a partridge in a pear-tree into our home for the weekend – a fancy shmancy bell-tent – we are all knackered and hungry. The arena calls us, with it’s beautiful silk flags waving in the wind (the rain has thankfully subsided). We make our way over to The Feast Collective, find a long bench to house everyone, and go about selecting some delicious dinners to fuel our tanks. Plant-based tacos, chicken katsu bowls, steak frites, smoothies and cocktails served in pineapples… you name it, you can find it at Bestival.
After dinner, a walk around the site is in order and I can definitely say that more attention to layout and decoration has been taken this year. There seems to be something fun to look at everywhere you turn, and things seem to flow more easily than in last year’s set-up. The new Navigation Town, tacked onto the back of Caravanserai and the bandstand, looks absolutely beautiful, and I love the new stamp-able passport initiative for the kids.
We spend the rest of the evening playing in smoke bubbles at the Bubble shop, and buying a Cheshire cat tail at the Tail shop, from a lady dressed as a disco lemur. 10/10 Bestival evening of weirdness, but we defect to camp to get some much-needed sleep before the big weekend.
A morning of pancakes and delight at the fact that the rain has gone, is followed by donning our brightest funnest clothing and heading out to see what’s up. There’s already a huge queue for the World’s Biggest Bouncy Castle, heaps of people already queuing up for water sports like paddle-boarding and wild swimming, and lovely morning Yoga going on at Slow Motion. You couldn’t pay me to take a dip in the ice-bath though, I’m just not that person.
We talk a walk through the woods, which have been significantly developed since last year – now housing the Scouts and woodland activities such as fabric weaving between trees, bug catching and even mini-archery. We have a go at toasting s’mores on the open fire, crack-out the dressing up box on the woodland stage for a quick soliloquy, and have a good old crash around in the Orchestra of Objects. I particularly liked the teaspoon and tea-pot glockenspiel.
On the main stage, Hacker T Dog & Katie Thistleton from CBBC are getting rowdy in the crowd and blasting interesting versions of the theme tunes from Paw Patrol and Fireman Sam, which is obviously going down a storm with the small beings (and the Dads). During the explosive Braniac show, we pop over to pick up our Kids Pass food packs – at a mere £40 for the entire weekend, I genuinely Believe this is the best initiative a UK festival has ever come up with.
So first up, we show our QR codes to pick up the pack itself, which consists of a Camp Bestival printed drawstring bag (which is a really nice quality souvenir in itself) and a printed water bottle, as well as our sheet of vouchers. The vouchers consist of; 1 lunch, 1 snack, 1 dinner and 1 sweet treat per day. In the next tent over, we go to pick up the lunch items for day one – hand in our token and are offered a choice between a sandwich, a wrap and a pot of pasta. These are full-size meal-deal type offerings, which are then supplemented with a fruit snack bar, a squeezable yoghurt, a box of fruit juice and then two pieces of actual fruit (which you can go back and get more of at any time of day, unlimited. Filling up the water bottle with filtered tap water is also a nice touch, it tastes better than the other water points on site.
I realise I am waxing lyrical about a food scheme here, but I can’t tell you how much stress it took off our shoulders for the weekend. We didn’t have to think about whether the kids would like their lunches – it’s all kid-friendly options, we didn’t worry about getting nutrients into them thanks to the fruit, we could carry the snacks around all day instead of being blindsided by “I’m hungry” every two minutes. The main meals were redeemable at heaps of outlets around the site (personal pizza, kids tacos, hotdogs and chips, even ramen bowls!) and ours chose exclusively ice-cream as their daily sweet treat, of course.
So after our picnic lunch, we took a squiz at all the other entertainments on offer across this area, including skate ramp lessons, a giant game of football and roller disco. Everywhere we wandered had stamp stations for the Navigation passports, so we spent a good deal of time trying to get those done as well.
Rick Parfitt Jr. covers pop bangers from U2 to The Black Eyed Peas, but Say She She really bring the party, with their funky disco sounds. All three of them are not only mesmerisingly beautiful, but incredible vocalists – if you have the chance, they are a must-see.
McFly are my stand-out band of the weekend, coming in with so much energy and joy you can’t help but get up and dance with them. A huge crowd is going absolutely bonkers for ‘Where Did All The Guitars Go’, Tom is jumping around the stage, we get a cover of Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ mixed with the ‘YMCA’… what’s not to love? Kids on shoulders are rocking out to ‘All About You’ and ‘Five Colours In Her Hair’ like it’s the early noughties all over again, and I’m here for it.
After Orbital’s Phil Hartnoll gave his first performance at the CBeebies Bedtime Story Tent (reading Doggy Dance Off), its time for the sonic sounds of gorgeous ambient rave from their decks in the Big Top. Spiraling soft lighting provides a backdrop to their dance party antics, and I can’t stress this enough – if you don’t like ‘Chime’, there’s something wrong with you. Go see a Doctor.
Rick Astley closes the main stage for Friday night, looking truly debonair in a coral coloured suit and his inimitable coiffured hair he struts out to a deafening cheer from the crowd. Honestly he looks like he’s just stepped right off the Hairspray musical stage into Weston Park.
A rousing carousel of his own hits and a few covers ensues, peppered with jokes and anecdotes about his time as a performer. “I’m 58, my knees are shot, my ankles are shot… Not really, I’m fit as a fiddle, drink me in! I don’t really dance as much anymore, I just stand here looking gorgeous. Camp Bestival, do you want to dance with me?” laughs Rick, as he salsas his way across the stage.
“There are people here young people, people whose mums and dads weren’t even born when these Songs were out” he giggles before dropping into 1988’s ‘Hold Me In Your Arms’. After thanking everyone in the entire festival; “…massive thank you to the staff and crew, the security, Brownies over there, Hot Dogs… Chunky Chips, let’s hear it for the Chunky Chips!” and a rendition of AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’ which he plays on the drums, our anticipation is finally satiated with the reverse-rickroll, the one we’ve been waiting for – ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. It’s a delight to see and hear this in person to be honest, iconic and nostalgic. I bought a t-shirt with it on too because I want to rickroll everyone in my daily life, forever.
The night is still young, so we take a stroll around to the truly beautiful Caravanserai, my spiritual home. Everyone is dancing or crammed into tiny caravans drinking fun cocktails, children are sleeping in trollies or dancing in bubble trails, Bestival at night is the most magical and hard to explain experience, the whimsy and carefree vibe is unmatched. Alas, the small ones will wake with the sun regardless of my wish to live in the night, so we mosey back to camp for bed.
A morning of Soft Play (for the under 5’s) gives us the gift of post-breakfast energy burn, followed by a couple of goes on EarthBot’s slides, and then seeing Bluey (for real life!) in the CBeebies tent, complete with take-away colouring pages which proved very useful for downtime later on.
Mr. Maker has everyone drawing shapes in the sky with their fingers, and roaring along to his very questionable rendition of Old McDonald (no, Tigers are not traditionally farm-animals, unless you’re Joe Exotic I guess). Morning of the Misters continues with Mr. Tumble who is playing to an absolutely enormous crowd of shrieking children, but we are having a picnic lunch off to the side.
Having hastily chosen our movie only a couple of weeks ago and scrambled to put together outfits, we, the cast of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, scamper over to LoveBot to enter the Fancy Dress Competition. This year’s fancy dress theme of ‘Time & Space’ of course meant that there were about 5 Delorean/Marty McFly teams in attendance, The Flintstones were pretty amazing too, but my vote would absolutely have gone to the Dune-themed family who had turned their festival trolley into the coolest disco sandworm ever. Unfortunately we came second, and the competition went on so long that the kids’ patience had run as dry as Arakis, but we all got rosettes so were pretty pleased with ourselves regardless.
In an effort to appease a tiny gromp, we take to the Carousel for some old-timey action and witness one child screaming (not with joy) their way around the at least 4 minute long ride. Not one to be offput by this, ours thoroughly enjoys herself and then asks to go on the Helter Skelter as well. Seeking a little shade and a sit down, we pop round to Josie’s Post Office, which is set up with colouring and craft tables – a perfect break, especially with the relaxing sounds of Joe Fleming at Caravanserai in the background.
On the main stage, The Amy Winehouse Band are giving us all the hits in the sunshine – though it is bringing back memories for me, of seeing Amy Winehouse at Bestival in 2008, a few years before her death. At that show, she rocked up 80 minutes late and stumbled her way badly through what was left of the set – getting absolutely slated for it in the press. She might not be here today, but it feels like I’m hearing what it should have been like – bittersweet.
Hak Baker brings us a soulful set full of feel-good songs “I see a lot of smiles that’s good, I need that today”, before Gok Wan (who does his own intro “He’s six foot and gorgeous, iiiiiit’s GOK WAN!”) brings his bouncy fun DJ set to the arena. We defect early in search of food, today’s choices include pie, roasted duck fries, and pasta Bolognese with garlic bread.
The Darkness kindly ask if we, the parents would like a censored set from them “…the next song has quite a few expletives, do you want the dirty or clean version? I can swap some of the words, one beginning with C becomes coconut, which has three syllables rather than the original word… so, dirty or clean?” to which everyone obviously screams “Dirty”. It’s an absolute firecracker of a show, with Justin’s undefeatable rock-and-roll frontman sensibilities and the bands’ undeniable energy. I wouldn’t call myself a fan, but it’s hard to deny they have star quality and the songs are unquestionably singable – especially when accompanied by Justin doing a headstand on the drum riser and clapping along with, er, his feet.
Eardrum bursting ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ is the anthem of the evening, every Dad in the arena is rocking out – and, asking an entire crowd of kids to yell Motherfxker is just funny, I don’t care who you are.
Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters fame) dances across the stage with wild abandon in a blue velour tracksuit, accompanied by drag queen Snow White Trash on the saxophone, for a super fun set. It’s an absolute party on stage, and we too are capering about to the classics ‘Take Your Mama’ and ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’.
In the Big Top, Junior Jungle fresh off the back of hosting the Fancy Dress comp, have kids up on stage with them, throwing an absolutely insane house party, followed by Besti in-house antics from veterans The Cuban Brothers. “This song is about bastards… it’s about the Tory party” Miguelito minces no words and the tent erupts in laughter, before we are treated to their heady mix of hip hop, soul and funk along with some breakdancing and a lot of lewd discourse. I sadly have to love and leave them to run to tonight’s headline act.
Paloma Faith hits the main stage in a cacophony of red, looking like she’d skinned Elmo for fashion, every bit the starlet we expect. ‘Bad Woman’ is “…dedicated to all the girls in the audience. No more ‘boys will be boys’, boys need to act right so we have space to be naughty. I sing this every night to my little girl to remind her to take up space”.
After fighting with her furry red coat and accidentally pulling off one of her grinch-coded gloves, Paloma jokes “I just find drunk people a bit boring” about song ‘Stone Cold Sober’ while she pauses to remove some of her glove from her gob “I’ve got fur in my mouth”.
Telling us “The new album is about my breakup with my kids dad… and about feeling better but guilty and ashamed and bad. So I wrote this song and had a word with myself a bit, for people who will relate to this song – this is for all the single parents out there.” Paloma brings us a little of the new alongside the old. ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’ is gorgeously sensual, and cements the Hackney pop Princess’ position at the top of the Camp Bestival bill.
Sunday morning feels restful, even here. There’s a lazy quality to the sunshine today as we head over to Woodland Tribe, listening to the Indian Drummers and relishing the slight breeze alongside the waters edge at the Park Pool.
There’s a bit of a queue for Woodland tribe, but once in, the kids are completely fascinated by the chance to hammer nails into bits of wood, paint anything they want to, and just generally being allowed to do things they normally wouldn’t. A sprawling wooden hodge-podge between two Tardis-like doors, kids everywhere are engaged in the very serious business of BUILDING. Building what is anyone’s guess at this point, but I do like that someone has chosen to spend their time making a suspicious looking wooden cat.
Elsewhere in Spinney Hollow Craft Village there is basket weaving and sword making, around the corner from Art Town, Textile World and African Drumming. There’s not enough time in the weekend to get to all the activities on offer here, and to be fair quite a few of them are aimed at older children than ours, but you’ll never be bored.
With the sun up and getting hotter, I wish I’d brought my swimmies with me – but I have things to do and don’t fancy a dip in the old undercrackers. Maybe next time! Instead we head over to Navigation Town to catch an amazing aerial hoop artist, and then a hat juggling performance, with a cheeky mojito in hand from the cocktail bar next door. These are truly the moments I cherish here, sitting in the sunshine watching something that puts the unmistakable expression of sheer awe on tiny faces.
Each performer even had their own stamp for the kids to collect in their passports following the show, which is such a lovely touch. We hang out a little to join in with Nick the Piano Man doing a singalong, and then some Open Mic sign-ups, where a tiny girl called Lotta belted out Taylor Swift’s ‘Our Song’ with the confidence of a main stage artist.
We also watched a contact-juggler doing crystal ball tricks that even the Goblin King would have been proud of, before making our way over to the main stage for Ellie Sax. Dressed head to toe in shiny metallic sparkles, Ellie gives us classic club tunes with a side of saxophone, that you just didn’t know you needed but absolutely do. I LOVE this set, it is such a highlight – and Ellie running down the front barrier high-fiving kids is exactly the kind of wholesome star-struck experience you want them to have. We dance the kids down to the front on our shoulders and have a good old boogie. Ellie finishes up with Klingande’s Jubel, in the sunshine – perfect.
Craig Charles gives a funky, chilled DJ set – “This is how we roll… we play funk and we play soul” and I enjoy his Come Together/Crazy In Love mashup, but it does feel like a bit of a comedown after the raucous Ellie Sax. Level 42 are another outlier if you ask me, they’re good don’t get me wrong, but it’s a thin crowd down at the front, and we take the opportunity to get food and have a sit down.
Sara Cox is plagued by sound issues at the beginning of her set, but spins classics such as ‘Like A Prayer’ with stage dancers who are doing the most, followed by Britney’s ‘Baby One More Time’ and LMFAO’s ‘Sexy and I know It’. It is possibly some of the worst mixing of all time but she’s very fun and everyone loves her so, that’s that.
Luckily Faithless are up next, this time as a full band supporting Sister Bliss’s epic DJ skills, and it is clear from the gargantuan riser filled with an array of different decks, that she means business. No time is wasted in getting to the big guns, ‘Salva Mea’ and ‘Insomnia’ hit as hard as ever and are made even more robust with the addition of the big band accompaniment. Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ given the Faithless treatment is one of my absolute favourites, but seeing Maxi Jazz in the matrix (well, on screens) is going to bring a tear to any old clubber’s eye.
“Camp Bestival, WE COME 1” shouts Bliss “Thank you for being with us on this incredible journey… if you make enough noise, we might have one more for you!” before dropping Dido’s ‘Thank You’ mixed up with some heavy drum and bass to end, replete with lasers and huge smoke bursts. It’s a stellar show, but what comes next is somewhat unexpected. There are no fireworks, there is no ending. No Rob da Bank and Josie coming on stage to say goodbye to everyone and thank them for coming – something that has been done at every Bestival and Camp Bestival forever.
The waiting crowd showed me that my disappointment was mirrored. We saw the fireworks of Dorset a few weeks ago, if this isn’t the kicker feeling of least-favourite-child, I don’t know what is. I felt in my bones that something was untoward – and to be proved completely right, a few days following the festival it was announced that Camp Bestival Shropshire would be “Taking a break next year”.
Whatever the reason, the way this one ended does not fill me with hope for a return. Though the push since has been “Come to Dorset instead”, it just isn’t that simple. We are a five hour journey from Dorset, our friends would be almost 8 hours away with young children in the car (and that’s without factoring the extra cost of travel). Shropshire was so perfectly primed for catching all those outside the Southern circle and I’m truly gutted to have to tell my kid that it just doesn’t exist next year, as after 3 – she’s already as much a Bestival native as I am.
I don’t want to end this review on a sour note though, because we’ve once again had an absolutely incredible time at this little festival. Camp Bestival is a lesson in love, in families taking time out to focus on each other. In parents being able to give their kids magic, in kids being able to see their parents be silly and free. The dancing, singing, hugging, the unmetered joy – something so rare, but so abundant here.
I am crossing everything for 2026, because in this ridiculous world, we all need to be more Bestival.
Taylor Swift – 19th August 2024, Eras Tour London, Wembley Stadium
Right. I’m going to be brutally honest with you here, and caveat this with a plea to Swifties not to rain fury down on me for being an imposter in their midst… but I am categorically not, a Swiftie. Yet here I am, dressed in a very loudly pink floaty skirt and heart shaped handbag, covered in hastily acquired bead bracelets, masquerading as one.
All things considered, I have a very eclectic musical taste which leans more towards rock and metal than anything else. That said, I do like a good pop song and have enjoyed many of TSwiz’s hits (I even own the Fearless album on CD, give me a gold star immediately). Believe it or not I am even wearing a Taylor tee, though in order to assert some kind of childish pushback it is one with her name made up in black-metal lettering, I couldn’t resist.
Having made it down the M1 and queued to get into the Wembley red carparking, we traipsed our way over to grab our tickets, following a trail of fans taking photos in front of all the Taylor themed backdrops dotted around the arena. Upon grabbing said tickets we discovered that we would be in the left stage standing area, and didn’t really realise what that meant at the time – more on that later.
The process of getting into the arena itself is really straightforward and easy, head to your colour coded entrance area, scan your ticket and push through the turnstile, quick bag search and get your wristbands (including a very cool light up one specific to the tour). After that the concourse is yours to inspect the merchandise shops (lots of small ones about instead of one massive one, really helps with the queue situation). As we were running a little late we headed down to our entrance and launched ourselves out onto a set of steps, and the absolutely breathtaking view of thousands upon thousands of people and one of the biggest stage set-ups I’ve ever seen in my life.
First support act Maisie Peters modifies her song ‘Lost The Breakup’ to include “er… I’m kinda busy like, I’m with Taylor tonight!” in a starry-sequinned white mini dress and stompy black boots. Having seen her earlier this year at Hyde Park, I knew to expect a good set and she did not disappoint – her lyrics are fun, she has a beautiful voice and her songs are ultimately singable. What’s not to love.
Tennessee punk-rock royalty Paramore are up next, representing the other side of the girlhood-coin with a barrage of loud and rowdy songs. Talking Heads cover ‘Burning Down The House’ is a consummate banger (I love the original too, to be fair…) but we are whipped into a frenzy by the epic anthem ‘Misery Business’. Hayley Williams, wearing a slinky black punk princess dress – even comes to visit us at the stage side and I kid you not, I could reach out and shake her hand we’re so close. I don’t though, because that would be super weird. It’s a cracker of a set, albeit short.
As Paramore’s amazing transparent orange drum-kit is forklifted from the stage, I am already in awe of the slickness of production that has gone into this. The stage is cleared in what seems like seconds, a *ahem* Swift turnaround if you will… we are suddenly staring at a countdown clock on the enormous stage screen, and the crowd erupts in the most deafening scream I have ever heard in my life. I’ve been to a lot of rock shows, but the pitch range is a lot lower – this is the force of 90k soprano shrieks entering my eardrums at speed.
The screaming only increases as the countdown finally ends and giant billowy silk-sheeted petals fan out from centre stage, on the backs of cat-walking dancers. They remind me of something you’d see on Pandora from James Cameron’s Avatar, but that’s probably not the kind of thing normal people talk about at a Taylor Swift concert is it. Anyway the nice leafy things make their way to the centre diamond of the runway and flop down on top of each other in a circle before popping up to reveal the queen herself, resplendent in a pink bedazzled bodysuit and matching boots.
Starting off with ‘Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince’, she is lifted skyward on a centre riser, making her visible to every eye in the audience which obviously, elicits yet another wild scream. Ending the first song with a strong power stance, Taylor shouts “Of all the wonderful sights you could come to London to see… I’m sure this view I’m seeing right now is absolutely the best one!”. Taylor then spends a little time pointing at various sections of the crowd to get them hyped up, before ‘holstering’ her gun-finger at her side with a wry smile. It is at this point that my sister and I both opt to jam loop earplugs in, I refuse to go deaf over teenage fanaticism.
Now wearing a pink sparkly double breasted suit jacket, she says “Wow, I can feel it immediately going to my head… the way you’re making me feel tonight… a sold out show for 92 thousand people… you’re making me feel like I’m The Man” leading into the namesake song, where she climbs an abstract office building set up on the stage. The dancers are incredible, I know there’s such a thing as stage clothing but anyone who can do that in a full suit gets my admiration.
“London what a delight, and an honour, and a privilege… London welcome to the Eras Tour!” yells the pop princess on this penultimate night of the European leg of Eras, now standing centre stage holding a pink acoustic guitar. She spends a minute thanking Maisie Peters, who she credits with amazing songwriting skills, and then Paramore, stating “We grew up together as teenagers, and now we got to travel Europe together”.
‘Lover’ features dancing couples overtaking the stage, including same-sex pairings – I will always applaud platforming inclusivity on a large scale, particularly with the state of the world at the moment. The song is gorgeous I have to admit, but the transition into ‘Fearless’ means I am finally at a part I really know and I’m… ready for it. You see what I did there right?
With an incredible downpour of firework rain from right across the top of the stage, Taylor reemerges in another bedazzled fringed bodysuit and a matching sparkly guitar, her signature red lipstick in stark contrast. “You wanna go back to high school with me?” is the herald into ‘You Belong With Me’, and then ‘Love Story’. I actually know all the words to these ones, I think I’m doing an excellent job of fitting in frankly.
Onto the next section with barely a pause, red balloons signal the beginning of Red with ‘22’ and Taylor wearing a t-shirt saying “This is not Taylor’s Version’, and the iconic black hat. I am reliably informed that every Swiftie has been awaiting the drop of ‘Rep TV’ which for quite a long time I thought was some kind of weird streaming service she was launching. No, they of course mean Taylor’s Version of Reputation – the re-recording of her earlier works to eclipse the contract-locked originals. Anyway, is this t-shirt she’s wearing an easter-egg of epic proportions for an announcement, or is she just trolling you all in the funniest way? Answers on an Eras postcard.
The iconic 22 hat is gifted to a rather small girl who is crying her eyes out and shouting “I love you so much” repeatedly, which is too cute not to shed a small tear at, but the bit I’m enjoying the most is all the giant cheerleading megaphones and the confetti cannons, it feels like a proper party now. The t-shirt is whipped off (thank you Chippendales for bringing velcro clothing to the people) to reveal a black and red ombre sparkle outfit for ‘Never Getting Back Together’. Apparently the enigmatic dancer known as Kam, says something different in the refrain each night, but tonight it is “Are you havin’ a laugh?” in a Cockney accent.
‘Trouble’ blows up with giant plumes of smoke erupting from the stage every time she hits the high notes, and Taylor stops for a breather to chat. “Are we enjoying the Red era London? This show is my favourite I’ve ever gotten to do… better crowds than I ever imagined I’d play for in my entire life. You have every song memorised, every lyric. This is a dream crowd”.
The black diamante encrusted matching trench coat and guitar is absolutely the number one thing I want to steal from the Eras closet, imagine how good I’d look swishing round Download festival in that thing. However, 10 minutes of ‘All Too Well’ is a little past my threshold, so we take a chance to go grab some water. Here I have to mention that there are free water points all along the barriers of the standing areas, with cups being constantly replenished. The standing areas as well, although sold out – are not overcrowded at all. You can comfortably move and stand without being on top of anyone, something I find seriously unusual and at the same time, fantastic about this show.
Speak Now’s ‘Enchanted’ might be a standalone, but it does feature a delightful Cinderella-esque ballgown, before being swapped out for it’s antithesis aesthetic – a one legged black jumpsuit covered in red snakes, to match the writhing snakes on screen. Red and white lights adorn our pulsing wristbands to welcome Reputation to the chat with ‘Are You Ready For It’. I think I like this Taylor best in terms of aesthetics, she’s in her zero fucks era, her clapback era, I love that for her – but especially with the caged Barbie dancers in ‘Look What You Made Me Do’.
Eventually the snake on screen slithers into a firefly lit, serene woodland, signalling the beginning of the Folklore/Evermore portion of the night, featuring a giant swamp shack set-up and some really weird trees that have grown directly from the stage. Apparently this is known as ‘The Folklore Cabin’ but as this is my least favourite album you’ll forgive me for not being up to date on the history. Taylor is kind enough to fill me in anyway though, “The folklore cabin is the imaginary cabin I pretended I lived in while I was writing this album, during the pandemic… confused and isolated… but I still wanted to connect with people”. Explaining that, during this album she deviated from autobiographical songs to write about characters as the narrator, she flits through the light, airy songs to arrive at the moss-covered piano for Evermore. Unfortunately a technical issue slightly tarnishes the mood “Um ok, this is in the wrong key… how do I get into here?” Taylor asks a techie who comes out to fix the problem, inadvertently showing us all that the grand piano is in fact merely a house in which an electronic keyboard sits. Slight chink in the armour there, but she recovers quickly.
We however are starting to feel the halfway mark of being on our feet, and take a trip to the barrier for a sit-down during the slow stuff. Another huge kudos to the arena staff here as we were repeatedly asked if we were ok, and handed water whilst we were sitting down. You can even see most of what’s going on from there thanks to the enormous screens.
No respite from the fan-screams though, even Taylor takes a few minutes to stand in awe of the constant wall of noise after she finishes; “That might have been the loudest sound I’ve ever heard in my entire life”. ‘August’ has all the Folklore girls swooning and swaying (they’re all dressed as elven forest maidens – some of whom have fallen backwards through a bush, but in a cute way).
The sun has finally gone down on Wembley and the light up wristbands are really coming into play. The dark blue forest backdrop and blue tinged soft lights of the bands for ‘Willow’ are so beautiful. On stage sparkly dementors are swishing some glowing orange balls about, and appear to be summoning something, but I personally am watching a pair in the crowd next to us who have done the absolute genius cosplay of bringing a yellow balloon each, and using their phones to light them up and join in. Bravo niche-Swifties, good work.
Back to the party stuff with 1989, Taylor hits the stage in a sparkly miniskirt and top for ‘Style’, ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Shake It Off’ while the wristband lights flash orange and blue to match her split outfit.
‘Bad blood’ is accompanied by huge bursts of fire from pyro cannons around the stage and on top of the lighting rigs, before we swap over to newest release The Tortured Poet’s Department. Taylor is resplendent in a white dress and microphone with black sparkly gloves, the floor is decorated with projections of stained glass windows, and ‘Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me’ is sung with wild abandon by every single voice around us. She zooms around on a silver robot platform during ‘Down Bad’, laments and swoons on a giant bed set with typewriters and then throws on a white military dress jacket to march the stage for ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’.
Ending lying on stage with the remnants of a burned white flag, the theatre of this show is unmatched. After being posed on a broken heart couch by two tailcoated helpers, she is made to move like a marionette and re-dressed in a silver ringmaster set to absolutely crush ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’ – the wormiest earworm of all her new material. I won’t lie, a lot of the most recent album feels quite samey to me overall, but this is a total hit.
Next up, purple lighting and another outfit swap for the much anticipated secret songs section, which turn out to be a ‘Long Live’ and ‘Change’ mashup, then ‘The Archer’ mixed with ‘You’re On Your Own Kid’. I’m really out of my depth here, but it’s clearly important because everyone in my vicinity is hugging and crying, while she plays on a floral painted piano.
We’re two and a half hours in at this point and I’m not sure how she has anything left in her. She’s barely had a 30 second breather between playing, singing, dancing, talking and costume changing – and she’s got to do this all again tomorrow. In answer to my disbelief, she takes a running jump into a stage pit, and then projections of her swimming down the length of the runway pull her towards crashing waves on the screen, amidst the soft deep blue of our sea of wristbands around the arena.
At this point, some very weird paper mâché looking clouds atop rolling ladders are wheeled out, for the start of final section Midnights, with ‘Lavender Haze’. Of course she has an outfit for this – a giant furry lavender coat, that looks like she skinned a muppet to get it. ‘Anti-Hero’ featuring the weirdest line “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby” if you hear it that way (and I do, every time) but is probably the most audience-sung-song so far. Dancers with umbrellas hide Taylor for a costume change into a sparkly star and moon bodysuit, and chairs are placed on the centre risers for a very saucy burlesque routine during ‘Vigilante Shit’.
Our wristbands flash all different colours during ‘Bejeweled’ and the girl in front of us who has hand sewn giant jewels all over her top, responds by turning the rainbow lights on inside her mesh skirt. 10/10 no notes. Enduring the endless screaming once again, Taylor comes up for air “I cannot believe a crowd exists this loud… but also that you did this on a Monday night!”.
Closing out with ‘Karma’, in yet another pink sparkly jacket, this time with fringing – is deservedly the anthem of the night. I cannot believe she’s made it to the end of this still looking as absolutely magical as she does. Either her makeup artist is a real life wizard, or she is actually the ethereal being she portrays, because I look like a toad who has been zapped back to life and propped upright against the barrier. It even rained tonight and her hair still looks good, TELL ME YOUR SECRETS TAYLOR.
There’s fireworks, there’s confetti, there’s screaming, there’s crying, there’s hugging and dancing. It’s a truly celebratory ending to a mammoth night of entertainment, one that I can scarcely believe has been upheld by a single artist.
So what were my main takeaways from tonight you ask? Well, firstly… someone has to spend presumably aeons sticking tiny rhinestones to every single thing Taylor Swift owns, from guitars to boots to trenchcoats and mic stands. This is fabulous, I’m so down with that part.
Next, Swifties have a seemingly endless reservoir of tears, and will cry at almost anything – including but not limited to, if you give them a bracelet that matches their outfit, or if Taylor looks their way at any point in the night. I now understand the real need for the water refill stations everywhere.
Following that train of thought, the Eras tour is one of the safest and best run events I’ve ever been to (and I’ve been to a LOT). The attention to detail and thought about logistics has been second to none, but more than that – all of the staff members have been genuinely fantastic, helpful and nice. I wish it wasn’t unusual in live music, but it is.
After the show I found out that Taylor Lautner (and I think his partner… Taylor Lautner… who are all friends with… Taylor) was hanging out in the VIP section, alongside TSwiz’s very own parents, and that I could have sidled up there as it was next to our section. Damn it. Where have I been Loca?! Anyway, as we head out of the arena after collecting some confetti to put with our tickets… I sense my sister, who is with me (also a phony-fan), is already on the turn towards Swiftdom – she has given two security guards bracelets, marvelled over the police dogs who have bracelets all the way up their leads, and bought us both tshirts.
So finally, to close this ridiculously long review (which really is an ode to a ridiculously long show) my thoughts boil down to this. Taylor Swift has an incredible voice, clever songwriting, and the ability to back-to-back intense 3 hour shows, in which she never stops. I might not be the kind of Swiftie that can sing all the lyrics, nor the kind who knows the ex-boyfriend lore, or even the kind who talks show tactics on the forums. BUT. When she inevitably comes back around, you can count on me to be there with silly bracelets on singing the same 5 songs I know, at the top of my voice. So long, London!
Image credit: TAS Rights Management
SETLIST
Intro
(The Alchemy/Fearless/End Game/Speak Now/gold rush/TTPD/evermore/Red/Lavender Haze/Lover/Bejeweled)
Lover
Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince (shortened)
Cruel Summer (extended outro)
The Man (spoken intro)
You Need to Calm Down (shortened)
Lover (spoken intro; extended outro)
Fearless
Fearless (shortened)
You Belong With Me
Love Story
Red
Red – Intro (contains elements of “State of Grace”, “Holy Ground” and “Red”)
22
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Kam Saunders: “you having a laugh?!”)
I Knew You Were Trouble (shortened)
All Too Well (10 Minute Version; spoken intro)
Speak Now
Speak Now – Intro (contains elements of “Castles Crumbling”)
Enchanted (shortened)
Reputation
…Ready for It?
Delicate
Don’t Blame Me (shortened)
Look What You Made Me Do (extended outro)
Folklore / Evermore
cardigan (shortened)
betty (spoken intro; shortened)
champagne problems
august
illicit affairs (shortened)
my tears ricochet
marjorie (shortened)
willow (extended)
1989
Style (shortened)
Blank Space
Shake It Off
Wildest Dreams (shortened)
Bad Blood (shortened)
The Tortured Poets Department
Female Rage: The Musical (contains elements of “MBOBHFT”, “WAOLOM”, “loml”, “So Long, London” and “BDILH”)
But Daddy I Love Him / So High School
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? (shortened)
Down Bad (shortened; with “Fortnight” outro)
Fortnight
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived (shortened)
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart (extended intro)
Surprise Songs
Long Live / Change (spoken intro; mashup on guitar; tour debut for “Change”)
The Archer / You’re on Your Own, Kid (mashup on piano)
Back to Bloodstock for my 22nd year, yes you read that right – from it’s humble beginnings in Derby Assembly rooms and my humble beginnings as a baby greebo, here we both are once again. The sun is shining in a menacing sort of way that tells me I’m going to end the weekend a delicious shade of rouge, but I am so ready to headbang my way through BOA 2024’s delectable musical offerings.
Green Lung hailing from London bring their stoner metal flavour to the RJD stage, which is set with an odd collection of Jim Henson-esque monsters for some reason. I really like the furry viking head thing but that horse-raven thing at the side is absolute nightmare fuel to be honest. “This song goes out to anyone who has ever suffered with depression” says frontman Tom Templar, before the band play recent hit ‘One For Sorrow’.
Grand Magus’ set is besieged by technical difficulties early on as the PA appears to be off on it’s own musical adventure when they’d stopped playing, but wow did they recover. Swedish heavy metal may as well be a brand in it’s own right at this point, but I have a theory that bands that unironically wear their own t-shirts – are always great. Next we catch supergroup Haliphron over on the Sophie Lancaster stage for some screamy doomy funtimes with a frontwoman who is possibly of Targaryen descent; “We are honoured to be on the Sophie stage, may she be remembered forever”.
Off for a wander we say a quick hello to local(ish) Tamworth legend SpudMan who is yelling funny things at everyone whilst scooping ungodly amounts of cheese onto potatoes, in the best way. Battle reenactment in the square is drawing a massive crowd of cheers, because who doesn’t want to relive their primary school field trips at a festival? The biggest cheer is reserved for when one from the blue team manages to smack the helmet off a very tall member of the green team (don’t quote me on that, the colours were a blur of shields and swords) as the compare shouts “Aww what lovely long flowing locks he has” just to really dial down the cool-factor.
Next we catch Rotting Christ, who despite their name are actually a band of very nice and friendly looking men doing a lot of shouting and hair windmilling. Black metal in the sunshine really hits different than it does on Spotify I tell you, they’re even *smiling*.
Norwegian metalheads Enslaved come out swinging with their Norse mythology inspired works and runes tattooed all over them, but the tone is immediately sobered as they say “We had some sad news this morning, a friend of ours passed away yesterday” referring to Dave Sweetapple of American band Witch.
Hatebreed up the tempo later on, as the heat of the day finally starts to wane a little, yelling “This is hallowed ground Bloodstock”, “It’s our job to make sure you wake up tomorrow with no voice left” and inciting some giant circle pits. Even the inflatable dinosaurs are up for a crowd-surf this evening, despite them being quite hard to navigate where you’re actually grabbing/passing them above your head…
In what seems like a day of laments, there is also the matter of the Lemmy Forever vigil which is brought to the main stage. A giant bust of Lemmy Kilmister (of Motorhead, in case you’ve been living under a rock for… well, ever) is ceremonially wheeled out onto the stage flanked by the Bloodstock organisers Adam and Vicky, and Phil Campbell. They each take turns to explain a bit about how much Lemmy loved Bloodstock, and what an impact he’d had before the portion of ashes bequeathed to Bloodstock were locked up in a tiny safe inside the bust. It’s quite a cool thing to do really, send parts of yourself to everywhere you loved – what a nice idea. Anyway, during the weekend you can go and ‘visit’ Lemmy inside the BOA art gallery, before he is relocated to Nottingham’s Rock City venue for the next year. If you do visit him, let me know if you also think his bust has very Iron Throne vibes, it’s so cool.
After a brief reprise for a bag of hot donuts, my most-anticipated band Clutch absolutely smash the metaphorical doors off the place with their signature brand of fast paced rock n roll. I will always find it absolutely hilarious that the rest of the extremely normcore coded band stay almost stock still mid-stage for the entire set while enigmatic frontman Neil Fallon wreaks body-contorting frenzied havoc about the place for a solid hour. “I didn’t think I needed sunscreen in the UK, that was a mistake” he jokes, before launching into earworm (and favourite of mine) ‘Sucker for the Witch’.
The awesome cosmic backdrop sadly isn’t on any of their tour merch, which incidentally was almost sold out completely before they ever even made it to the stage, so here’s my petition to Clutch to get it done. In another little stage sound mishap for today; “Hold on the guitar isn’t working… did you turn it off and on again? That’s good enough for rock and roll fuck it” doesn’t impede them for long and we get the excellent ‘In Walks Barbarella’. If you don’t singalong “Weaponized funk” there’s something wrong with you.
On the Sophie stage, The Vintage Caravan look exactly as you imagine they would – sporting the white Stetson, bootcut flares, double denim and jorts style of the US south. Except that they’re from Iceland. Oh. Anyway, I flippin’ love them. Guitarist Óskar Logi Ágústsson may be delightfully twee and joyful to watch, but his work is impeccable clean and complex – straight on my playlist they go.
Operatic all-lady quartet MAB burst the seams of the EMP tent with a huge crowd, but really needed to be elsewhere for the full effect I feel. There’s something slightly janky about trying to contain soaring vocals into an itsy bitsy tent, that is also a bar, that is also surrounded by shops with their own music playing.
Final band of the day for us is main stage closer, Sweden’s premier prog gods Opeth. Now, I will preface this with – last time I saw them I was unenthused. Mainly because I’m not all that into prog, but also because it was daytime and it felt all wrong listening to that kind of music in the blazing sunshine. Tonight however, the crowd is full, the sun has gone down and we are ready for some gloomy good times. ‘The Grand Conjuration’ opens the show and it really is impressive, despite it lasting for around eleventy billion hours. No I’m only joking, apparently the average Opeth song is only (ONLY) 8 minutes and 19 seconds long…
Mikael Åkerfeldt is in a much more talkative mood than last time as well, which is nice because the BOA crowd are feeling a bit heckle-y tonight it seems. “I LOVE YOU MIKAEL” an enormous man in the front row yells, drawing a laugh from the band before someone else shouts “Play Freebird!”. Taking it in his stride, Åkerfeldt shouts back “Freebird? That’s a good song… but no”.
“We have a new record… but we don’t know the songs yet… were gonna come back and play some songs sometime in the UK. Our manager is really angry with me right now for not saying the date but I can’t remember” they joke, but there’s no doubt the new stuff is met with trepidation from ‘Oldpeth’ fans. ‘Deliverance’ for the encore more than makes up for it, it’s a gorgeous, sumptuous show… for Opeth fans. For the rest of us uncultured swine, it’s a litany of lengthy poetry and I am too sleeeeepy.
The Grand Conjuration
Demon of the Fall
The Drapery Falls
In My Time of Need
Heir Apparent
Ghost of Perdition
Sorceress
Encore:
Deliverance
SATURDAY
A showery start to Saturday has us all worrying we’ve brought the wrong clothing, but it soon clears up to be another spicy day in the sunshine, and we’re headed to the Sophie stage to catch the rather beautiful goth goblin that is Ludovico Technique. As the Ringwraiths, ahem, band, make their way to the stage we catch a glimpse of vocalist Ben V swigging something viscous from a plastic cup, that looks suspiciously like he’s downing a blood bag.
The Dementor’s amp up and he creeps into centre brandishing his giant claws at the crowd. I’m really into this resurgence of industrial spooky metal, it has a very MM feel with a bit of a grungy Silverchair esque edge to it. I even like the orc-blood drool (which I guess was the contents of the curious cup).
On the RJD stage, Forbidden are bringing us some classic old school thrash metal, lots of hair and screaming, with Craig Locicero absolutely wailing on the guitar. The dinosaur meet-up on the EMP stage for today’s fancy dress theme, is somewhat of a distraction though. Especially when someone plays a metal version of the Jurassic Park theme.
Mimi Barks is ripping up the Sophie stage with her unique brand of doomy rap over electronic metal beats. Wearing a plastic yellow two-piece with a zip around the entire crotch region, and some impressively scary white-out contact lenses, she looks like some kind of otherworldly futuristic voodoo doll. I dig it, and her music is memorably feral. There’s a huge crowd in here, all going as berserk as she is, which really is the measure of any act I feel.
Unleash The Archers couldn’t be more of a whiplash change of pace, bringing Canadian power metal to the main stage. As you might imagine, they are extremely smiley and nice, but that doesn’t mean they can’t throw down. Frontwoman Brittney Hayes is capable of singing incredible highs AND windmilling her raven black hair at neck distorting speed. Joking about the weather here today, which has now become uncomfortably hot “We recently played rock en seine and it was 40 degrees… So I’ll take this any day” laughs Brittney, despite guitarist Andrew Kingsley being possibly the most sunburn prone ginger man I have ever seen.
Anyhow, I know it isn’t cooool but I enjoy some melodic/symphonic metal and I’d like to see a bigger return to it on future BOA bills.
The chaotically fun Nottingham band Red Rum bring all the pirates to the yard, well tent, for a very silly set of drinking and yelling about drinking. A very sweaty “Open up a circle here bloodstock! No, not for a pit… for a heavy metal conga!” to you all.
On the main stage, Deicide are hotly attended but I wish I could actually hear the guitars over the screaming, and I’m too hot. Whitechapel bring crowdsurfers galore over the barrier, including one lad dressed as a giant inflatable penis, but it’s Combichrist who really up the ante with a scorching electronic set of pure wild abandon. If you’re into NIN and Rob Zombie, Combichrist are gonna be one of your top bands this weekend – and I WISH they’d played the main stage because there wasn’t even an inch of space left unoccupied inside that tent.
Malevolence too go hard the minute they hit the stage, calling for the crowd to split into a giant wall of death, but they are also caught with some sound hijinks like a few other bands so far this weekend; “We are having some technical difficulties but I promise you we’re gonna have a good night together”. After the resolution, vocalist Alex Taylor yells that he wants everyone over the barrier, and the crowd surfers never stop coming.
“We are Malevolence and we’re from Sheffield, but we flew 300 miles to get here because we weren’t fucking missing this” is backed by a crowd-led chant of “Yoooorkshire, Yooorkshire” before an attempt is made at a very silly circle pit. “Show me the biggest fuckin circle pit Bloodstock has ever seen… Hold on make some space. I think I asked for it to go back around the sound desk. Push people out the way. I’m not leaving this stage until it happens”. At this point it occurs to me that they have no idea that there’s actually an ice-cream truck backed up to the sound desk, and very little real estate for any kind of interesting behaviour, but the people give it a go regardless. It looks a bit more like a goth fun-run than a circle-pit but I applaud the effort.
“This is the third time we’ve played Bloodstock, It’s a dream come true to be up here. We hold this festival very close to our hearts” they shout, and leave us with a record breaking 901 count for crowd surfers. Manic.
Sylosis are beset by horrendous technical issues one song in, downing play for over 15 minutes and some very awkward calls for solos. Frontman Josh Middleton (who is rocking a Deicide tee) is visibly beside himself with annoyance as his guitar output goes completely kaput, and refuses to reboot despite several attempts from techies. Eventually he comes back sans guitar and they give us everything they’ve got without it. It’s heavy and the pit is boisterous, but I feel really sad for them to have done it this way.
Main stage headliner Architects blow us all away with their heavy opener ‘Seeing Red’ and a heck-tonne of on stage pyro. “Malevolence earlier had a 901 final count of crowd surfers… we are going to give it shot. Do you have the energy in you? Get on your friends’ shoulders and get over this fucking barrier” shouts Dan Searle before calling Bloodstock “Hallowed ground”.
It’s a strong headline set, but there’s a bit of me that wishes it hadn’t been quite so clinical – a little nod to some of Bloodstock’s history is something we’ve come to expect from bands here, especially UK ones who know what BOA is to the scene, but this felt every bit like a stadium show to me. Regardless, they certainly play tight and the pyro/ticker tape always adds a bit of excitement to a set.
“There’s a guy there with a sign that just says I love anal… I ain’t about to kink shame you brother that fuckin rules” laughs Dan, before some heartfelt shout outs “We would not be a band if it wasn’t for my brother Tom”, Dan’s twin and Architects founder, who sadly died in 2016. “Another person who has really helped this band… Make some noise for Josh from Sylosis” their ex-guitarist who performed earlier today.
‘Doomsday’, ‘Nihilist’ and ‘Animals’ finish up a very respectable set from the Brighton boys, and if you like that Enter Shikari type of sound, they’ve definitely scratched that itch tonight – but I’m hoping next time they’ll feel more woven into the BOA lore.
Seeing Red
Giving Blood
deep fake
Impermanence
Black Lungs
These Colours Don’t Run
Hereafter
Gravedigger
a new moral low ground
Curse
Royal Beggars
Doomsday
Meteor
when we were young
Encore:
Nihilist
Animals
Like any festival worth its salt, the night-time entertainment doesn’t stop at the headliner, but BOA goes one up and has a Sophie Stage headliner too. Finnish folk-metal heroes Korpiklaani take that top spot tonight to an absolutely rammed tent, for a night of Lappish cultural tales dressed up in some downright dirty heavy metal. Frontman Jonne Järvelä is dressed like a Saami Jack Sparrow in a hide-tophat and fringed clothing combo, and he reads as extremely cheeky and prone to hijinks. Ideal.
In a bid to get us grooving, their fiddle and accordion-led music is amped up for ‘A Man With A Plan’ and we can’t help but enthusiastically join in, the constant stream of crowd-surfers over the barrier tell me that everyone in here is having a ball. If all of that didn’t satisfy your needs tonight, Jonne also gets his arse out – so there’s that. 10/10 I love Korpiklaani.
Onto the final day of BOA and it’s another absolute scorcher out there, lots of extremely pink people are gathered at the main stage for the gorgeously melodic Soen. Billed as Swedish Prog metal, but definitively different to everything else I’d put in that category, Soen are captivatingly soft and sombre, as well as remaining heavy and singable. I’m not surprised they’ve had a big turn-out here, I really enjoyed their set.
In a complete 180, Beast In Black are a gut-busting dose of fast and furious power-metal with an electronic edge. A massive neon Tokyo nights backdrop, retina-burning neon green and pink guitars that would look at home in any Goosebumps episode, and incredible themed outfits are the name of the game and I am here for all of it.
Sometimes you just need a band to come out and BE FUN. Beast In Black deliver across the board – I particularly like their choreographed headbanging/guitar swishing, but there’s no doubt about their musical talent either, the riffs are tight. Frontman Anton Kabanen (who looks like he’s ready to host the cyberpunk Crystal Maze), shouts “Are you ready to travel with us to a beautiful country called Japan? We’re gonna spend one night in Tokyo my friends!” and we are treated to a very cheesy but ultimately very catchy afternoon of metal.
Warpstormer have filled the EMP tent to bursting for their low and slow thrash, and Septicflesh are throwing down the hair-swishing gauntlet in the fiercely strong sunshine. “We are Septicflesh from Athens Greece! Are You ready to move with us?” is met with sword-wielding enthusiasm from the front (no really, one guy actually has a sword) but there are a lot of heat-suffering people trying to muster up the energy around the arena.
Ankor in the Sophie tent bring us stunningly energetic punk-edged metalcore, and I sincerely hope that this is a band we see on a BOA stage again very soon – not least because their pocket-sized drummer is an incredible thrash-Queen and their lead singer can screeeeeam.
The Night Flight Orchestra are a Swedish classic rock band, who sound exactly like the montage part of every 80’s action film ever made. Like if you’re going to drive a sports car around winding roads to get to your next Roadhouse, or spend some time learning how to do a crane-kick – The Night Flight Orchestra have your back buddy. Lead singer Björn Strid (of Soilwork fame) is resplendent in an iridescent cape, his backing singers are dressed as retro air-hostesses and the drummer is wearing a full suit and cravat. I don’t know what to say, but I like it all very much.
“Did you bring your dancing shoes Bloodstock? Did you?” yells Björn, and the crowd screams back at him – it seems there are a lot of NFO fans in the BOA crowd today. Instant earworm ‘Satellite’ sees the entire arena start bouncing, and the band call for a group of people dressed as pilots to join them on stage – “Security we need our people on stage, our crew, get them up here”. After hugging everyone, the fans on stage are instructed to begin a conga line with the air-hostesses, as a matching conga takes up in the crowd.
“This is the very last festival for us, make us proud!” he shouts as they hit ‘West Ruth Ave’ which sounds like it would be perfect for a 70’s cop show. I can’t overstate how much I have loved this entire set, and I love Bloodstock for being able to book something so ridiculously fun alongside the more doomy serious bands – what an epic choice.
I feel much the same about the main-stage placement of Irish celtic punk rockers Flogging Molly – a band I’ve been blessed to see a few times now, and every single time they have been utterly fantastic. Today is no outlier, between Dave King throwing out cans of Guinness into the crowd, and his chaotic running around the stage – it’s hard to scratch a moment to breathe amongst the revelry. ‘Drunken Lullabies’ is the perfect opener for a Bloodstock crowd and ‘Tobacco island’ with it’s piratey sound is very BOA coded. “Fuck I need a drink after that” giggles Dave, “I’m gonna look like a fuckin tomato after this I’ll tell you that. The most beautiful tomato you’ve ever seen”.
“You’re absolutely fuckin’ beautiful you really are”, “One of the great things about being in a band like Flogging Molly is, today we’re playing an amazing metal festival and in 2 weeks time we’re coming back to play Moseley folk festival in Birmingham” they joke, but they’re not wrong – some of the great appeal of Flogging Molly is their ability to genre-cross, and I’d wager most metal fans actually listen to a very wide range of music.
‘Devil’s Dance Floor’ features Bridget Regan on the tin whistle, and has the entire arena up and dancing in a way that sort of looks like Riverdance with cattle prods. In a tribute to Motorhead’s Lemmy, “…so this is a song of friendship, and it goes like this…” we get the soulfully beautiful
‘If I Ever Leave This World Alive’, one of my favourite songs of all time. Another truly epic show today, thanks for booking that one BOA.
Carcass might not be my precise jam, but I did have to giggle at the Evil Nation/Live Nation t-shirt, and in their defence – and awful lot of people were having a thrashing good time with them. For my personal preference, Moldovan metal band Infected Rain over in the Sophie tent are the kind of wild I like. Lead vocalist Elena Cataraga (Lena Scissorhands) has a stunning voice alongside being able to scream like some sort of eldritch horror, their bassist is going absolutely berserk and the tent is a swarm of undulating limbs.
Closing the main stage tonight is the long-awaited return of Sweden’s finest – Amon Amarth. As the black curtain falls from the stage, we are immediately blasted in the face by ten tonnes of viking death metal and so much pyro it makes my eyes explode. ‘Guardians of Asgaard’ is powerfully, enormously fantastic – it’s quite hard to describe the frenetic energy of being right in the midst of it all.
“I don’t know if you know the lore but I’m going to say it anyway… don’t worry about it it’s just the lead into the next song” frontman Johan Hegg (who I have affectionately termed ‘Fire Santa’) leads us into ‘As Loke Falls’ whilst standing directly over a raging smoke cannon. The effect is frankly cinematic, but I’m not sure entirely intended as he quickly disembarks the step.
The giant Viking horn drum set, the towering Hnefatafl-like statues flanking the stage sides, the unrelenting blasts of golden orange flames… what an insanely iconic show, again.“Bloodstock have you had a great festival weekend?” is met with an almighty roar from the crowd, before the much anticipated call “Right bloodstock… bring out the epic viking row!”.
Now this, is a uniquely BOA experience (even commemorated on the back of an Amon Amarth tshirt available this weekend) as it was started here, in Derbyshire. If you ever went to a 90’s school disco, you’ll remember sitting on the floor for some inexplicable reason, to do oops upside your head dance moves in weird columns. So take that image and add it to your mental representation of row-row-row-your-boat; but everyone is grown-up, in varying stages of alcohol toxicity, sweaty, tattooed and wearing black.
Almost everyone in the whole arena complies, sits down in rows and begin to… well, row to the commanding calls from Johan, as an inflatable viking ship bobs happily on the stage. It’s surreal and kitschy and I adore it.
For ‘Shield Wall’ they bring out a heap of Viking reenactment types to hit each other and provide a visual cue, and we all take the opportunity to drain our cups (or drinking horns) as they shout “You’re loud and you’re wild and we love that shit, so we thought we’d take this opportunity to raise our horns to you… bloods cheers… skol!”.
“I think we have enough energy for another one how bout you guys… do you wanna party? Well then I guess it’s time for you guys to raise your horns… sing along!” signals the beginning of the end, but the encore includes an inflatable sea serpent being vanquished by Johan wielding Thor’s hammer, under a curtain of pyro. Epic.
“Until next time, be safe, party on, but most important raise your horns”.
Raven’s Flight
Guardians of Asgaard
The Pursuit of Vikings
Deceiver of the Gods
As Loke Falls
Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags
Heidrun
War of the Gods
Put Your Back Into the Oar
Put Your Back Into the Oar
The Way of Vikings
Under the Northern Star
First Kill
Shield Wall
Raise Your Horns
Encore:
Crack the Sky
Twilight of the Thunder God
Oh Bloodstock, there’s no easy way to explain to an outsider how much you feel like home. This might be a small festival on the scale of iconic metalfests, but you bet your ass everyone knows about it – because the community is impeccable here. I raise a glass of Iron Maiden’s darkest red wine to you all (which was for sale by the glass or bottle here), because every single year this festival exceeds my expectations. Next year is already off to a stellar start with the band announcements, and I’m unprecedently early in my preparedness to have my face melted off by Machine Head… once my currently melted face has recovered from Amon Amarth.
Y Not initially came into existence as an overspilled house party in 2005; the sort of party that the cool kid would throw while their parents were on holiday. Cut to 20 years later, and it has clearly gone from strength to strength, with huge named headliners sharing stages with bands making their first foray into festival territory. Despite the phenomenal growth, it is clear that Y Not has maintained that ‘feel good’ ethos.
Taking on a ‘when in Rome’ mentality, we made the most of the time we had and arrived on Thursday afternoon, expecting unbridled chaos in parking and clearing security. However we were (generally) pleasantly surprised here; smooth sailing up into Pikehall, everything well signposted, and straight into the car park. This could be in part due to the fact that the Thursday tickets were an add on – turns out that the Thursday tickets were worth the additional premium, but it does detract from the affordability side of things if you’re then paying piecemeal for the “extras”, especially if you’d be festivalling with a larger group of people, or bringing the family.
Stepping out into the lush greenery and looking out at the clear skies, it looked to be a promising weekend weatherwise, though we daren’t say that too loud (post note: aside from a smattering of rain on Friday, we stayed mostly dry!). Navigating wristband collections and clearing security in itself wasn’t awful, though it was clear that people were still finding their feet – we got sent on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to find the box office, but once we were through both sets of security and had the arenas laid out in front of us, we were golden.
As things were still warming up, we took a little time to explore and get a lay of the land. There’s a large array of food options available, with something for everyone – a number of veggie and vegan choices too, which is great to see. Some of the options were a little unexpected (G: I’m looking at you, fudge shop that is shaped like a bus) but safe to say it feels like this weekend is going to have some character to it, if initial impressions are anything to go by.
On our initial wander toward the merch, we caught a snip of Club Malibu starting strong with the dulcet tones of “Karma Chameleon” blaring across the Gold City. The usual fare was available (Y Not t-shirts & hoodies, and reasonably priced too at £25 and £35 respectively). In fitting with the vibe so far, there were of course bucket hats and football stye t shirts too, in a bright pink colour. Those t-shirts were a little steeper in price but were sold out in no time. Interestingly there were also band-specific shirts available to purchase at the merch stand, which was lovely. As we discovered later on in the weekend, these were on rotation, with headliner shirts on sale each day.
We strolled back across a fairly quiet site, grab a gyros (chicken for Gavin & halloumi for Reuben, and park ourselves in the sunshine. Lexie Carroll provided a fantastic, floaty tone during the part of her set that we were able to catch – similar in feel to the wispy tone that Billie Eilish put forward in “What Was I Made For”. Shame that it was being consistently challenged by the dubstep from the Flying Dutchman ride, but it comes with the territory I guess!
As another mood-setter for the weekend ahead, we caught bits of Ten Tonnes on the main stage, setting the vibes for the rest of the evening with some steady but admittedly tonally monotonous rock to a rapidly growing crowd.
R: I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not listened to Scouting for Girls since 2009, but tonight I got to hear Scouting for Girls in 2009. Energy and feel of the band hasn’t changed in a decade and a half (complimentary, obviously). They had an absolutely impeccable festival energy though, exactly the right band for this atmosphere and crowd, revelling in the response they got for Elvis Ain’t Dead. Their accompanying guitarist, Nick Tsang, demonstrated his musical prowess on multiple occasions during the set, including leading the crowd in a confusing but delightful rendition of Year 3000 as popularised by Busted. Definitely felt like a cheese dream but it was, admittedly, a lot of fun.
Closing out the Thursday were Kaiser Chiefs, a band that we’re both fans of but neither of us expected quite the performance they gave on that stage. There was a reliance on their earlier work, but honestly, we get it. With a professionally crafted and tight set, blistering from song to song, with classics like Oh My God and Ruby getting the crowd riled. Also good to hear beyond six seconds of I Predict A Riot without being cockblocked by Yorkshire Tea.
Plan was to hit up the silent disco after this, but the combination of being knackered and the fact that it comes at an additional cost (no thank you!) had us calling it a night here.
Friday
Another day of basking in the sun of the Derbyshire Dales – once we finally clear security, at least. As expected, the number of people arriving today has spiked, meaning that clearing the first set of security is taking an age. Wish there had been an easier way to sort out day entry, but we don’t always get what we want, eh? When we eventually manage to clear security, we make a beeline for the loos (bad choice – TL;DR the queues are HUGE and the toilets are frankly a state), then get to the Big Gin just in time to catch Black Honey.
Black Honey kicked off the festival proper with their distortion heavy melodies tinged with a sweetness echoed in the country music aesthetic of the lead vocalist. If you think Dolly Parton if she fronted 90s band Hole and you’re almost there. Needless to say that 90s grunge is very much alive in 2024 while Black Honey are around (R: And I’m living for that). Lemonade was their stand out song from the set, and was preceded by an anecdote about their first ever main stage at Y Not with a crowd of 3 and an exploding bass. Far cry from that now, with hundreds of people sitting in front of the big gin absorbing their sound. (G: I last saw them do a set at Bestival in 2018 and they’ve developed so much, but haven’t lost that unique and raw sound. I also particularly appreciated their shout out to women and non-binary people in the crowd, with the explicit statement that “everyone exists here”).
We had a little bit of a gap, and a bit of a gap at a festival means one of two things; a drink, or picking a stage at random. Venus Grrrls were the result of us taking the second option and what an incredible set. Wistful lead vocals mixed with far more aggressive guitar riffs than expected, creating a glorious “fuck you” atmosphere. To put it in their words, “the best way to get rid of creepy men is to hex them”. They shared meaty bass lines that LITERALLY made the floor shake in The Giant Squid. Initially a small crowd, but they were all clearly vibing, and it didn’t take long for them to catch the attention of passers by.
Next we caught Soft Play, a punk duo formally known as Slaves, who burst onto the stage with a visceral energy that feels like it’s missing currently in music, which is probably due to their opening claim that Punk’s Dead. If this is true though, to incorrectly quote Rachel from Friends,Soft Play had a hell of a time at the wake. They closed the set with The Hunter too, a great call too, which let the new songs to breathe (or scream). G: While we had a great time, I get the feeling that Soft Play were a bit of tonal whiplash from other acts on The Big Gin today; similar to their Download set there were shouts to “fuck the hi hat” which caught a few parents on the back foot when their kids joined in with the chanting. Delightful, in its own way.
Another returning artist to Y Not, following their Thursday headliner slot in 2022, and it is clear that there are some avid fans of The Kooks that have been waiting for their return. After opening with Always Where I Need To Be, the energy stayed high, though it quickly felt less like a festival set and more like a Kooks gig – don’t get me wrong, they sounded great, but felt almost formulaic and uniform.
They did share a new song with the crowd; the catchy Sunny Baby. It contained all the energy you’d expect from The Kooks but felt musically more complex, with a lovely use of layered vocal harmony in the choruses. Seemed to be a hit with the numerous kooks fans at the front! As to be expected, they closed out with Naive, which went over like a dream.
R: At this point, I went off on a little adventure of my own, having seen the start of The Kooks, there was a band on my agenda I was feverishly excited to see live. I traded the open air and indistinguishable fruit scented vape clouds for the darkened enclosure of The Quarry stage to watch The Lottery Winners. This was a band that were clearly having a lot of fun with it, to the point that they feel like the only band so far that was genuinely enjoying themselves. They played Burning House as expected, but the highlight was their anthem for neurodiversity Letter to Myself.
Next I swung by my headliner for the Friday, The Mysterines, ending my Friday on a melancholy note in the best possible way. Sultry vocals, bits of vocal distortion and some of the quite frankly sexiest bass lines I’ve heard (honestly, just listen to Sink Ya Teeth). This wouldn’t be out of place playing in the background of the Blade films, and I mean that as a compliment.
G: As the Friday headliner, the pressure was on for Snow Patrol, but they came out of the gate strong with their 2006 hit You’re All I Have, paired with an eye catching snowflake decal on the screens behind them. As an audience member, you can see that they clearly want to be there – Gary Lightbody’s regular audience interaction pays testament to this, with an opening joke about “falling on his hoop” due to the unexpected fine rain, and bantering with the crowd about sharing some new music (“are you having a good time? Well, let’s put a stop to that!” Which raised a few giggles).
Naturally, there were some of the expected classics interspersed in the set, including 2003’s Run (which had everyone singing along in a frankly moving way), Open Your Eyes, which received a brilliant reception, and their pre-encore closer Chasing Cars which went down about as well as you would expect. There was also material from their upcoming album The Forest Is The Path – they played The Beginning, which felt slightly meatier than the rest of tonights set, but it got the seal of approval from the crowd, which seemed quite rare for any new material this weekend. Disappointingly, their set wrapped up earlier than the billed time, but on the whole it was fantastic.
Regrettably the loo situation has gotten markedly worse. Y Not have shipped in some more portaloos, but the queues for those are still stretching across the site. Heading back from Snow Patrol to meet Reuben, I made unfortunate eye contact with a girl who had tried to pee in a bush, gotten stuck, and was having her friends try to rescue her with all the discretion of two seagulls fighting over a bag of chips. Poor lass.
The energy today is a lot more relaxed than yesterday (though that might well be fatigue from the Sigma DJ set last night…), though people are generally still in very good spirits. There are a number of people drifting around the festival in fancy dress (we’ve seen a fair few gaggles of nuns) which is causing equal parts confusion and delight for those who clearly were not aware that there was a fancy dress contest happening.
The annual paint fight has already taken place when we arrive, and safe to say there are a number of victims wandering around. Turns out that Y Not weren’t kidding when they said that the powder paint would be hard to remove, as evidenced by a number of festival goers who are markedly much more citrus and/or blue than they were on Friday.
A genuinely incredible start to the our Saturday, Pale Waves injected our days with a jolt of indie pop energy. Not much audience interaction but a tight set performed flawlessly and it’s always a sign if people are walking away from your set singing your songs, which we spied a couple doing after this. A highlight of the whole festival so far.
In the short amount of downtime we have today, we made a break for Sgt Pepper Meadowsto scope out some of the other retailers that are here. It’s clear from our excursion that a lot of people were not expecting the sunshine this weekend, with a LOT of people looking quite pink, but in fairness who expects sunshine at a British festival? One retailer that caught our eye was The Jazzy Frog, a quirky craft shop selling assorted jewellery knick knacks. Cue Gavin leaving with two pairs of earrings, because they just have no impulse control when it comes to unusual jewellery. The Dexter’s Laboratory earrings are already a firm favourite for the collection.
As is tradition by now, festival grub is high on Gavin’s ‘to do’ list. Order of the day is carbs, so we head over to The Yorky Roast and treat ourselves to The Duchess; veggie sausages, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy all loaded into a giant Yorkshire pudding (R: The most expensive single thing we ate at £14, but worth every damn penny). Made a welcome change from the freebie Swizzels Squashies and Coke Zero, which has been the usual fare so far today.
Another perfect match to the energy and audience of Y Not, Declan McKenna was one hell of a crowd pleaser. The biggest response was to Brazil, as entirely expected, but most of his set went down well. It should be highlighted to that this was the only act to use the screens on each side of the main stage in an interesting way with colour filters for each song, and an excellent 3D-glasses-like effect used at one point.
We had a little time here for a quick breather – and by breather, of course, we mean cheesecake. It isn’t like we would have been short of options, but the loaded cheesecake van caught our eye on the way in. While £7.50 seems like a lot for cheesecake, this was RICH. One of few times that Gavin has been able to share a dessert without being told to do so.
G: At this point, I slunk off, making the pilgrimage to see fan favourite, Frank Turner. Making another triumphant return to Y Not, Frank graced the crowd at The Quarry stage with show number 2929 (not like he has been keeping count or anything).
Armed with only his guitar, Frank Turner delighted the crowd in the packed out Quarry with music from his newest album, Undefeated, and safe to say it carries the same sharp balance between humour, rebellion and occasional existentialist sentiment that he has become well known for. Notable highlights from this section of the set were Do One and The Girl From the Record Shop, which both pulled in a huge crowd singalong.
Notably, during a musical interlude, Frank took the time to get applause for those “on the ground” who are making the festival happen, from security to bar staff and everyone in between – a real ‘good guy’ move.
The set closed with Polaroid Picture, which felt raw and real. The crowd were encouraged to learn the lead vocal line from one another and continue to sing while Frank took on the other vocal line, and honestly it sounded (and felt) fantastic. A definite Y Not highlight.
R: With a packed out crowd around the main stage a long time before they even started, Saturday main headliner Jamie T was due a warm reception and the screams of the crowd proved that immediately. There wasn’t a blistering start to the set, with a few slower tracks to open. But, soon it kicked into energy with their typical cheeky London charm and catchy guitar licks. He hit all the greats from his close to 20 year career, of course, with Sticks N’ Stones and Sheila getting incredible reactions. Then closed with a high energy, almost punk, version of Zombie to end the night on a tremendous high.
After clearing two lots of security again, we made a beeline to see Milton Jones at Flamingo Jacks; unfortunately for us, so did everyone else. That definitely pays testament to the popularity of a great comedian, but it also feels a little like Y Not had perhaps underestimated how popular he would be (R: Didn’t help that his set time changed slightly too but the app hadn’t updated the times).
Admitting defeat, we headed over toward The Quarry, and caught Leicestershire local Rainbow Frog Biscuits in action. She put forward a diverse set with strong vocals and a range of musical styles, and it’s clear to see how she has become as popular as she has. Her music was interspersed with some audience interaction, with a recurrent theme being surprise and delight at how many people had turned out to see her, and honestly it was refreshing to see an artist be so open and frankly human about their experience while on stage.
After (yet another) browse of the various shops, we returned to the main stage to catch Holly Humberstone and her trademark folk/indie pop to continue the feeling of levity that we started with Rainbow Frog Biscuits. Genuinely hard to pick a highlight from what was such a strong set, but if pressed, The Walls Are Way Too Thin and the bittersweet Falling Asleep at the Wheel were must listens. (R: Honestly would have loved more than the 45 minute set as it flew by. One of my personal highlights of the festival)
Time was not on our side here, as Sunday was jam packed with bands we frankly NEEDED to see, so in the half hour gap we had, we swung by Chick’n Tenders for, you guessed it, “chicken” tenders. The cheapest meal that we got all weekend at £9.50, and frankly it was delicious. G: as an absolute carb fiend, I give this a huge thumbs up. Simple, filling and too damn tasty for its own good.
A swift dart back to Big Gin, and we just catch the start of The Vaccines. Honestly, we both forgot how much we knew by The Vaccines until their set, and recognised a hell of a lot more than we thought we would. They carried the good feeling that was brought in by Holly Humberstone with a frankly excellent set. The stage was set with carnations, in keeping with the theme from their newest album – a nice touch! You can tell they’re good at what they do – they sound JUST LIKE their recorded music, tonally, so they’re not victims to autotune hell. The use of reverb is enough to fit the style without being a distraction, and Justin Young was as suave and charming as ever.
R: Another solo excursion for me and football themed intro aside Dylan John Thomas kicking off (pun grudgingly intended) with Jenna immediately brought the energy of the small audience to a fever pitch (another terrible pun). I’ll stop now because I don’t like football and am running out of knowledge to draw on. The crowd might have been small, but they and I loved every second. Both Fever and Up in the Air were the clear highlight, with the latter blending melancholic lyrics with music dangerously close to ska. Exquisite.
From the soft indie tones to the politically charged rap metal of Bob Vylan proudly proclaiming to start war against the state. Genuine passion blazed through this set and great banter with the audience that the whole of the Giant Squid tent were absolutely living for. They named themselves “Best Band in Britain” during one such chat, and it’s hard to disagree after a set like this. Highlights were Ring the Alarm and the damn timely despite its age We Live Here.
G: Noel Gallagher was also there.
If you’re a Noel Gallagher fan already (and there are many if we go by the amount of bucket hats and shades nearby) you’re set, but otherwise there’s very little to catch your attention in the early portion of this set.
Notably, theres an unusual change in cinematography compared to other artists. While the likes of The Kooks and The Vaccines cut to the crowd at regular intervals, the camera seems fixed on Noel and occasionally other band members. There also seems to be a lot of just dead time between songs. Screens off, everything just stops until he’s ready. There’s a very interesting use of the screens behind him during the songs though, moving through a city skyline for Council Skies and a kaleidoscopic effect for We’re Gonna Get There In The End.
As expected, there is some classic Oasis in there, which fills the second half of the set as well as the encore. Surprisingly, there’s a cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division as the pre-encore close. The cover felt very different from the original, with a wiry Britpop spin that I’m sure some people would have enjoyed. The set fully closed with Don’t Look Back in Anger, which went down a storm. Despite personally not being a Noel Gallagher fan, I couldn’t help but get involved here.
G: Having had chance to unpack and get my head clear, I’ve got a few closing thoughts about Y Not this year. It was my first visit, so I can’t say whether this is the standard fare, but Y Not is easily one of the best “vibes” festivals I’ve been to. It was clear from the off that everyone was just there to have a good time, and that feeling carried on right the way through from the Thursday afternoon to the end of the headliner on Sunday.
There were a few issues around organisation, and I’m hoping that these are tackled before Y Not 2025 – the main one being the loo situation. It felt as though Y Not might have been a victim of its’ own success here, though, and an attempt was made to rectify the situation by plonking in extra portaloos, but it just wasn’t enough. This problem could have been lessened if the loos in VIP were working as they should, but as only one of the four toilet blocks was working in there, people were being filtered out into the main arena to use the already overcrowded facilities.
Particular shout out has to go to The Oktoberfest Band – over the course of the weekend they have been doing some LONG sets in The Watchtower Bar, playing fantastic arrangements of well known feel good bops and interspersing it with some great banter. While I wasn’t able to catch a great deal of their performances, the parts I did see were high energy and really engaging, and it’d be frankly rude of me not to give them a mention.
Overall I had a blast – same time next year?
R: As a music festival goer, not a vibes festival goer, I wasn’t sure how much I would get out of Y Not, but I’ll admit I was surprised. Folks weren’t really there for the music, but to have a good time and this was obvious from the moment we walked through the security checks. Everybody was happy and friendly and chatty, all in ways I’ve not experienced at all festival before. Even if I’m pretty certain I’ve seen enough bucket hats now to last me until roughly 2034.
It wasn’t without problems, of course, and the toilet problem that Gav mentioned cannot be understated. I have genuinely never seen a toilet situation at a festival that bad before. Also, I truly believe that festivals should stop taking the piss so much with the pricing of things when you’re there. The food was great but the prices were exorbitant, and the sheer amount of things billed as activities during the festival that had additional charges was audacious.
As a huge music fan, it’s hard to pick my highlights from the many sets we saw. But, I would say that you owe it to yourself to see The Lottery Winners live at least once, and Venus Grrrls and Rainbow Frog Biscuits are a couple of artists to keep an eye on in the future. Whether I will be raring for Y Not next year definitely depends on the lineup of bands, but if there’s some choice bands on the roster, I’ll see you at the main stage.
