Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses Final Details
Are you ready for the battle to end all battles (dinosaurs optional)?! Presented by Westons Stowford Press, the METAL 2 THE MASSES grand finals start in Cyprus on April 19th and roll through 30 locations across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Norway, as well as Cyprus! Every winner will perform a 30 minute slot on the Stowford Press New Blood Stage! Round up your mates and get along to your local night - help shape the line-up of the festival and support grassroots venues and bands.
Dates and locations shake down as follows:
April 19th – Cyprus – Savino Live, Larnaca
May 8th – Belfast – Voodoo
May 23rd – Leeds – The Belgrave
May 23rd – Scotland – La Belle Angele, Edinburgh
May 23rd – Sheffield – Corporation
May 29th – South Coast – Bear Cave, Bournemouth
May 30th – Northants – The Black Prince, Northampton
June 6th – Manchester – Rebellion
June 6th – East Anglia – Brickmakers, Norwich
June 6th – Birmingham – The Flapper
June 13th – Norway – The Tribute, Sandnes
June 20th – North Wales – XS @ Penny Black, Wrexham
June 20th – South Wales – Corn Exchange, Newport
June 20th – Hitchin – Club 85
June 20th – Somerset – Cobblestones, Bridgwater
June 20th – Newcastle – Trillians
June 20th – Kent – Leo’s Red Lion, Gravesend
June 26th – Channel Islands – The Pit @ St James, Guernsey
June 26th – Cheltenham – Frog and Fiddle
June 27th – Nottingham – Saltbox
June 27th – Burnley – Sanctuary
June 27th – Coventry – The Arches
July 4th – Merseyside – Box Park & Arc:Hive, Liverpool
July 4th – London – The Dome
July 4th – Brighton – Daltons
July 4th – Devon & Cornwall – Livewire, Saltash
July 5th – Nuneaton – The Queens Hall
July 11th – Oxford – The Jericho Tavern
July 11th – Stoke – The Underground
July 12th – Bristol – The Exchange
No other festival does more to support grassroots metal and local venues across the UK and beyond. That commitment was recognised at the 2024 Heavy Music Awards, where BLOODSTOCK and the Metal 2 The Masses initiative were honoured with the prestigious “H Award” for exceptional contribution to the underground scene.
In exciting news for all BLOODSTOCK’s M2TM winners this year, fellow sponsors ESP and Engl Amps are offering up 3 incredible prizes, to be chosen from amongst the M2TM victors performing at the festival and presented on Sunday evening. The prizes include a new-for-2026, EC400 Quilted Maple guitar in See Through Black, a Phoenix 204DX bass in Redburst, and a Ravager IR amp head with a matching 1x12 Cab!
Got your tickets? Without further ado, let’s reveal a massive 24 more bands joining the heavy metal party this August!
While you’re waiting for those M2TM finals to get underway and shape the majority of the New Blood stage line-up, BLOODSTOCK HQ has chosen a few other favourites from hundreds of cross-genre submissions to complete the bill. Stop by and discover your new favourite band! On Friday, you’ll be able to see death/doom devotees VOID BELOW, alt prog rock Londoners TEMPLES ON MARS, boisterous hardcore-metal alchemists NEGATIVE FRAME, and CONCRETE AGE, with their distinctive mix of ancient world music with extreme metal.
Joining them on Saturday, are old school riff merchants THRASHERWOLF, N.Irish melo-death purveyors IMPERIAL DEMONIC, young aggressors CHAINED SAINT, and dark prog metal fiends IMBRIUM (featuring former members of Dreamcatcher, Memoreve and The Defiled).
Not to be outdone, Sunday invites OVERPOWER, who forge together riffs of early influences like Metallica and Slayer, with the savagery of UKHC.
BLOODSTOCK is also excited to reveal the full line-up for the new and improved EMP stage! Now situated in a new location in the main arena for less noise bleed, with a bigger stage and a bar, it’ll play host to more than a dozen up ‘n’ coming attention getters, so if you like to discover hot new music first, make sure you check out some bands here as well over the festival!
Friday welcomes heavy rockers UNTAMED SILENCE, melodic punkcore beasts CHANGE PERSONA, metalcore headbangers AFTER SMOKE CLEARS, rock-metal hybrid SOULRIDE, and symphonic prog metallers VANITAS.
Saturday offers occult doomsters GOAT MAJOR, modern classic rockers CANCEL THE TRANSMISSION, trad metalheads TEMPEST SAINT, power sludge duo TROLLMOTHER, and hardcore punkers DOSED.
Rounding things off on Sunday are hardcore fans STITCHED, electro alt rockers WREX, modern metal squad FOLLOWING THE SIGNS, power trio THE CARTOON CARTEL, and dark alt crew AETHORIA.
If these bands are new to you, you have 4 months to get to know them!
If you missed the news, standard weekend tickets for 2026 are now SOLD OUT. However, all hope is not lost, because if you sign up to official resale partner Tixel, you might still be able to snap up your preferred ticket type. 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 installment plan purchases. Click through to https://tixel.com/uk/bloodstock-tickets for more information on how it works.
Stay tuned for more info to come soon on day tickets and last year’s new Kyrr campsite.
If you’ve already snapped up your tickets, Wednesday early access is also available in some campsites for those who want to max out their BLOODSTOCK experience. For early access or to pre-book parking, go to the official ticket store.
BLOODSTOCK’s 25th anniversary is going to be truly unforgettable.
BLOODSTOCK 2026 is delighted to present RJD headliners LAMB OF GOD, SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL, JUDAS PRIEST, and SAXON. Over on the Sophie Lancaster stage, the headliners are CRYPTOPSY (None So Vile 30-year anniversary set), WEDNESDAY 13, LEPROUS, and CARPENTER BRUT. You’ll also be able to see SEPULTURA, MUNICIPAL WASTE, DEATH ANGEL, NORTHLANE, BLEED FROM WITHIN, VENDED, ORBIT CULTURE, THE SCRATCH, IMPERIAL AGE, LIFE OF AGONY, OF MICE & MEN, BIOHAZARD, 200 STAB WOUNDS, THE HELL, BLACK SPIDERS, SHINING, NEVERMORE, EVIL SCARECROW, HEAVYSAURUS, SKYND, PARTY CANNON, BATTLESNAKE, INHUMAN NATURE, KITTIE, CASTLE RAT, GRAPHIC NATURE, BOOTYARD BANDITS, EXCREMENTORY GRINDFUCKERS, HIDDEN INTENT, SELLSWORD, NECKBREAKKER, SEETHING AKIRA, HAMMER, STAMPIN GROUND, URNE, CELESTIAL SANCTUARY, VIKING SKULL, BOUND IN FEAR, IMPERIUM, FROGLORD, MUSHROOMHEAD, DREAM STATE, and TRIVAX.
With many more bands & additional on site entertainment still to be announced, this is the must-attend celebration of 2026!
For the most up to date festival information, visit the official website at bloodstock.uk.com.
BLOODSTOCK 2026 will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 6th - 9th August, 2026.
Be the first to comment