Live Review: Bloodstock Open Air Festival 2022 – Friday

With the temperature in the UK rivalling that of Hell this weekend, it’s only right that one of the UK’s biggest metal festivals is taking place! After an exciting first day of festivities, Bloodstock flew into its second day with a tonne of live bands from around the globe showing that rock and metal isn’t quite dead yet! Here’s what went down on the Friday of Bloodstock 2022.

Our day started with Red Method who opened up the Ronnie James Dio stage and despite coming on at 10:45 am, managed to pull a decent size crowd of metalheads! The band utilised their unique stage presence and appearance to get the attention of people passing by and kept them in place with a set full of aggression, speed, and excitement. That’s one way to cure a hangover!

As the day went on and the heat built up, people’s spirits would not be broken. On the RJD stage, bands such as Heart Of A Coward and Bloodywood drew crowds in the thousands, while others opted to check out those inside either the Sophie Lancaster or New Blood tents to seek a bit of rest bite from the heat. Party Cannon brought out all the inflatables for the heavy masses who wanted to party hard with some slam metal early in the afternoon!

Over in the New Blood tent, the hoards of Bloodstock are treated to lesser know bands who have an amazing opportunity to showcase what they are made of to a legion of metalheads. I Fight Bears capitalised on winning the South Wales leg of the Metal 2 The Masses competition and unleashed a powerful set that left fans who attended delighted with what they had just discovered.

Photo: Fraser Kerr

One of the most anticipated acts of the day was a surprise act on the Sophie Lancaster stage and Bloodstock could not have done a better job with booking this! Machine Head returned to Catton Park to play their first set since the pandemic struck and the tent was full to the brim. Getting a band who could arguably headline the festival in a tent is a recipe for a smouldering atmosphere and that’s exactly what fans received. Playing a set which featured both old and new tracks, the fans who saw this would agree that it was something truly special. Circle pits around pillars, tidal waves of crowd surfers and nothing but no-nonsense metal rang around the festival grounds for an hour.

Blood, Guts, and Gore seem to be a common theme at Bloodstock and no band on the bill captures that feeling quite like GWAR who gave fans a set to remember as they soaked the crowd in Blood that at first may have been nice but quickly would become an issue when it seemed to stain everything it touched! Exodus brought some much-needed Thrash metal along to the festivities while Avatar delivered a captivating set that spanned across their discography.

Photo: Fraser Kerr

The Moment had come for today’s headliner to take to the stage and as the legions of fans gathered for an unholy gathering, Behemoth took to the stage! Black Metal magic ensued right from the off as ‘Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer’ echoed around the cursed ground to cheers of approval. An expansive set would follow taking fans back and forth through the band’s history with tracks such as ‘The Deathless Sun’, ‘Conquer All’, ‘Christians To The Lions’, and ‘Slaves Shall Serve’ seeing incredible fan reactions. The fire-fueled set was one that left a lasting impression on all who witnessed it and Behemoth proved that they deserve the headliner spot! The performance of ‘O Father O Satan O Sun’ will certainly go down in Bloodstock history as you could hear the Behemoth legions singing the words right over the other side of the festival grounds.

If you still had some juice left in the tank after a day of non-stop partying, you probably ended up in the Sophie Lancaster tent once more to check out Sleep Token. The fringe band are certainly not your usual choice at Bloodstock as their more mellow, melodic style of music, unfortunately, didn’t seem to go over as well as some would have hoped. A decent size crowd – of highly dedicated fans – gathered to witness the band’s ritualistic performance and for those who did attend, the set sounded crisp, clean and enchanting. Sleep Token put on one hell of a performance but the lack of any real atmosphere hurt the vibe around the stage as a whole.

And with that day 2 of Bloodstock came to an end and despite the blistering heat, fans are having the time of their life! Heavy and Extreme metal prevailed at the battle of Catton Park however the war is far from over!