Bloodstock 2009

It's been an odd couple of weeks for Bloodstock. Last week, GWAR pulled out of the festival, leaving quite a few people disappointed. Bloodstock announced Anathema (previously announced to be playing Damnation) and Wolf (Already having played at Hammerfest, in breach of Bloodstock's own booking rules). That kept people quiet for a while. Then Fear Factory pulled out...

In fairness, Fear Factory cancelled their entire tour, including Sonisphere, but it hits Bloodstock harder as Fear Factory were a bigger band for Bloodstock than they were for Sonisphere. Even with the announcement of Entombed (also previously at Damnation) playing, it leaves a bit of a hole in the line up. Coupled with the odd choice to have smaller co-headliners and the even odder choice of Europe headlining the Sunday, it makes the bill seem distinctly average.

The problem this seems to be the sheer number of hard rock/metal festivals in the UK this year. Already we've had Hammerfest and Download, and we have Sonisphere, Bloodstock and Hard Rock Hell still to come. Add into that Deathfest and Damnation, one day festivals that Bloodstock organisers have said that they don't want to book the same acts as, it leaves a much reduced pool of bands to choose from. The problem is, Bloodstock don't like to book bands that are playing other festivals.

This works when the market is limited, but looking at the sheer amount of festivals it's becoming impractical. Bloodstock can't just book the smaller, more underground bands anymore, but a lot of the bigger bands want the larger audiences and paychecks that are offered elsewhere. Bloodstock looks slightly confused in the middle of all of this.

While Bloodstock is still ticking over nicely, it doesn't look likely to be able to hit the level of expansion that it seemed that it would. It may just be that next year the booking rules for the lower card will have to be relaxed, particularly since Hammerfest is happening again next March, and this years festival has an early march on bands that would traditionally be at Bloodstock.

I can't help but feel that the UK festival market has reached saturation point, and that something is going to have to give. I fear for the future of Sonisphere, particularly as tickets sales seem to be very sluggish. Download will be safe, having had a good recovery with a strong line up this year. Hammerfest and Hard Rock Hell are off-season and in many ways sheer marketing genius. Bloodstock should by rights be safe, but it would struggle in the face of any more cancellations.