Words: Dan Barnes, Neil Bolton, Tim Finch, Paul Hutchings, Richard Oliver
Photos: Tim Finch
A lack of festival fitness and the extra day is beginning to have a negative effect on the bodies of Bloodstockians everywhere. Livers are glowing as much as the sun-kissed flesh and the promise of true legends treading the boards tonight fill the air with a sense of heightened anticipation
“Let’s get this party started” roared Orange Goblin frontman Ben Ward. Given that he’s been at the site since Friday it’s a bit of a conundrum of a statement, since the party started about 12:00pm on Wednesday but I know what he means. My second viewing of OFGB in a fortnight and once more they bring the goods. It’s incredibly unusual to see a below par Goblin show and this one was another fine one to add to the list. Harry Armstrong now looks comfortably in place, his on-stage banter coming to the fore as befits a frontman. Joe Hoare always surprises me with his superb playing whilst Chris Turner is one hell of a drummer. Ben roars around the stage, his enthusiasm as always infectious. Being on the live stage is certainly as beneficial for the bands as being in the arena is for the fans and OFGB are one band who live for the live shows. Another solid set of heavy metal anthems included tracks from all nine of their albums. The blasting Devil’s Whip, the old school psychedelia of Scorpionica and the finale of Red Tide Rising were all fist pumpers, the large crowd enjoying the band’s sheer energy and enthusiasm. I’ll never tire of seeing this magical band, and with a December tour in the diary, it won’t be too long before that is reality.
40 years of glorious heavy metal thunder and those Yorkshire tykes Saxon are back on fire. It’s been a rough couple of years for frontman Biff, with his heart bypass causing the postponement of the 40th anniversary shows in 2019. So technically, this was 42 years, but we’ll let that pass. Looking healthy and fit, Biff led his troops through a classic roll call of tracks from eight of their albums, focusing very much on those songs that fans would call anthems. Before the band arrived on stage though, a real treat as Rob Bannister led the legendary Brian Blessed onto the stage. “Gordon’s Alive!” he roared to some of the loudest cheers of the entire weekend. A sonnet from Shakespeare followed, before he was reminded to introduce Saxon. “They are from where I was born” he told us (twice)!
With a constantly changing digital display at the back of the stage, Saxon’s intro was accompanied by a montage of press cuttings and still pictures that raced through the history of the band before they roared onto the stage and into ‘Motorcycle Man’, the first of 15 songs in a glorious set which also featured ‘Thunderbolt’, ‘And the Bands Played On’, ‘Solid Ball of Rock’ and an emotional ‘The Eagle Has Landed’. At the start of ‘Wheels of Steel’ a bit of cabaret as Biff ‘tussled’ with the sound engineer about volume levels, then took a video which he magically uploaded to Facebook there and then. Given the quality of the signal all weekend, most around me merely muttered “he’ll be lucky” but there it was a few minutes later, as the band hit the anthem that is ‘Wheels of Steel’.
2018 had seen Judas Priest in imperious form as they headlined Bloodstock. Three years later, they surpassed that effort with ease with probably the most eclectic setlist of the entire weekend. The strains of Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ rang out across the arena, signalling the arrival of real rock legends. The assembled crowd gasped in awe as the Priest shaped Trident lighting rig slowing rose into position. The stage set resembled a giant Metal Works, with drummer Scott Travis seemingly built into the wall at the rear.
One of the big questions during the day was which song they would open with. No-one in the entire event predicted that it would be the debut of ‘One Shot of Glory’, the final track on 1990’s ‘Painkiller’. It was the start of nearly two hours of superb entertainment which roller-coastered from fan favourites to rich rarities that were unlocked from the Priest back catalogue. All eyes were on Rob Halford, the metal god himself. He rarely moves that much these days, fixed centre stage and concentrating on hitting those incredible high notes which he still does with some ease, drawing applause from the crowd several times through the show. The lightshow and backdrops were stunning, the set moving with a giant chimney rising midway through the set. Guitarist Ritchie Faulkner is a phenomenal player and was intent on adopting every heavy metal pose in the book whilst Andy Sneap and Ian Hill remain the unsung heroes of the band.
Weary legs and an aching back carry me over to see the final live performance at Bloodstock 2021. There is no more fitting a band to receive this accolade than Evil Scarecrow, a band considered by many as the Bloodstock house band. As the band take to the stage pyros burn the air of the Sophie Lancaster stage and all thoughts of my painful body parts soak into the ground below.
We are on for a show tonight!
Small video panels are strategically placed on and around the stage adding more colour and light to the stage. It is not long before we get Vicky Hungerford and Simon Hall dressed as unicorns carrying out a battle of mythical creatures. We all knew this would be a silly evening and Evil Scarecrow do not disappoint. But take heed dear reader, yes this band are silly and entertaining certainly, but also contained in their locker is a very musically proficient collective. It is a difficult job to write a song that is both funny and able to make the screaming hordes bang their heads and circle pit.
As the main area empties and the capacity crowd head to cars, tents, bars or Evil Scarecrow, thoughts inevitably turn to 2022. On Friday, the organisers dropped seventeen confirmed bookings for next year, including bands unable to make it this year like Mercyful Fate, Dimmu Borgir, Vio-Lence and more, alongside unexpected names like Exodus, Testament, GWAR and surprise headliner, Lamb of God.
Bloodstock 2021 will go down in the annals of the festival’s history as being the one that shouldn’t have been. The line-up might not have been as stellar as 2015 or 2018 but for a show forged in the fires of adversity, with bands pulling out at the last minute due to COVID and reactionary billing reorganisations, 2021 was an unmitigated triumph.
Drawing people back together after the sixteen months or so we’ve all had and putting on a five-day show takes some testicular fortitude. That it was managed at all is amazing; that it drew the sizable crowd it did is testimony to the power of the music and the camaraderie felt by we, the faithful.
Thank you Bloodstock organisers – it was just what we needed.
Wednesday/Thursday Review [here]Friday Review [here]
Saturday Review [here]
Sunday Review [here]
Bloodstock Photo Gallery [here]
Band Interviews [here]
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