Bloodstock 2018: The Thursday

Thursday August 9, 2018 and I'm off to Bloodstock with my stepson Teal and his friend Joe. The ride up their went very smooth, especially when you have Axl Rudi Pell and Ozzy providing the in flight entertainment. However, as I got closer to the festival ground, I began looking for the huge yellow sign that had been there for my past trips to Bloodstock, it wasn't there. I only noticed it when we got to the junction of the A38 and that meant I went too far. So, I turned around and fortunately, there were signs a plenty in the opposite direction. So we arrived at the festival.

Second hitch, actually two here: the first was when I grabbed the bag of canned foods, I could not find my little stove with heat tabs pack. The second was after we loaded all of our stuff onto our little wagon, we discovered it had a dodgy wheel. That made the walk to the main gate a bit more fraught. We did get there with little problem but then we had to wait two hours before we finally got up to the gate. This was because it was the largest Bloodstock crowd ever and searches were supposed to be more thorough. At least mine was because the security thoroughly searched my bag and then asked about cooking when I saw the cans. His logic was that I wasn't going to eat my food cold. I told him about the heat tabs and he let me through after that. Meanwhile, Teal and Joe, despite having most of the kit on the wagon was waved through without fuss. Figures I get the anal security guard.

Our adventure wasn't over, before we got to our chosen campsite, the second front wheel on the wagon fell off making it useless. Joe and I took some stuff and went to find a spot to pitch the tent while Teal guarded the rest. We found a spot, which I stayed with the stuff to stake my claim while Joe went back to get Teal and the rest of our stuff. When they got to me, it was decided the space I had chosen wasn't big enough for our tent, so I went on another scouting mission. It took three minutes for me to find a nice large spot and we collected all the stuff and set up camp.

Having been in the military, I can pitch a two-person tent with ease. A six person tent is a different story, especially with only three people. Fortunately, a kind lady named Emma lent a hand and we got the tent up in no time. She had been going to all the festivals since 2003 and was a dob hand at putting up tents. We thanked her with a couple of cans of cider. The irony is that we never saw her for the rest of the weekend so I can only conclude that Emma was an angel sent by the heavy metal gods in our time of need.

Once settled, I discovered that I had forgotten a load of stuff. Paper plates, plastic cutlery, a tin opener  and I did leave the little stove at home. That meant I had to buy that stuff and with festival prices, that was one expense I didn't need. Plus on top of that, we missed Fire Red Empress who played the Sophie Lancaster Stage early that evening. Still, even with the bad start, we were determined it wasn't going to spoil the weekend.

[caption id="attachment_4717" align="aligncenter" width="225"] A place to get your air mattresses inflated. I didn't have one.[/caption]

Camp having been set up, I went looking for the metal. I found it in the Sophie Lancaster Stage in the form of Bloodshot Dawn. For me, this was a great way to start things, a loud aggressive thrash metal band with a great rhythm section and a lead guitarist who could really shred. The lead singer had a voice suited for thrash although not quite suited to the band's more melodic parts in songs but there were very few of those. One song that really stood out was "The Quantum Apocalypse." They had me quickly forgetting about all the little hassles earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQKsxYHUtJU&list=RDEMVbbnVocdUuWADS5iQ4vvgQ&index=11

[caption id="attachment_4718" align="aligncenter" width="225"] My first shot of Bloodshot Dawn[/caption][caption id="attachment_4719" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Bloodshot Dawn under the lights[/caption]

Some would call this a contrast but following Bloodshot Dawn was the Russian folk-metal band, Arkona. They were very theatrical in their approach and lead singer Maria 'Masha Scream' Arkhipova has a voice that can do it all. Her voice carries very beautifully in the more folk parts but when the band thrashes out more, it is as good as any male thrash metal vocalist. Further proof, not that it's needed, that heavy metal sounds great in whatever language it's sung in. Saying that, Arkova had one more unique attraction in the form of Vladimir 'Volk' Reshetnikov who plays the flute and bagpipes. I've never seen anyone who could shred those instruments but he certainly can. They deserved their headlining slot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgXlUxDGFvU

[caption id="attachment_4720" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Maria under the lights[/caption][caption id="attachment_4721" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Arkova is there somewhere[/caption][caption id="attachment_4723" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Vlad on the flute[/caption]

Full of adrenaline from both Bloodshot Dawn and Arkova, I decided to head to the Lemmy Bar and have a lemmy. They only raised the price by £1 from two years ago but full marks to the bar staff. It was the best JD and coke I ever tasted. Upon my return to the campsite, I finally got to witness the Bloodstock sport of bin jousting. I couldn't see much because of the crowd but I got the general gist of it. Unfortunately, security stepped in and stopped it, bloody health and safety again. However, I did hear some Bloodstock veterans saying that bin jousting had become too serious with younger participants really wanting violence so maybe stopping it wasn't such a bad thing. I returned to the camp site ready for a brilliant weekend.

Next post: Friday

To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rock-Roll-Children-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1609763556/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1534274553&sr=1-1&keywords=rock+and+roll+children