Super Mega Big Review : Bloodstock Festival on August 6th 2026

There is a swagger about Bloodstock this year. It is unarguable that it is now entering its imperial stage. It is no longer the plucky little festival that could; it has become a dominant staple of the summer months with the clout to be featured across media channels including the BBC. Everything about this year feels slick and immaculately organised. The architecture of the main stage area has been tweaked to remove bottlenecks and provide ample viewing room for all. The chair situation also seems to have resolved, with the restriction of chairs to purely the outside edges of the two accessible viewing platforms now feeling normal rather than draconian. As it reaches a quarter of a century, there is confidence about Bloodstock that is both infectious and well earned.  

To celebrate that momentous milestone, the mainstage is operational on a Thursday for the first time since the festival shifted to being Friday to Sunday in 2008. However, the honour of being the starting pistol for 2026 goes (by a five-minute margin) to Mantis Defeats Jaguar on the Sophie stage. They ooze with self-determination and self-assurance. They have the air of an act that knows they are on to a good thing. They trade in a brand of nu-metal that knows its onions when it comes to hip-hop. Slick, triumphant and a blur of kinetic energy, they get the party started in an explosive fashion.

Over on the main stage, it’s the march of the dinosaurs in the shape of HeavySaurus. Bloodstock has always had a Jurassic addiction, and the pit is full of inflatable giant lizard costumes. HeavySaurus themselves hail from Finland originally and in the main are children’s entertainers. This focus on a more juvenile audience is obvious and potentially their Achilles heel. Whilst the props and concept are spot on the, the performance never really beds in as a festival attraction. It feels like we have wandered into a kid’s 10th birthday rather than being at a rock show and they just don’t have the tunes to fully engage with nearly twenty thousand metalheads. What could have been an inspired booking ends up feeling rather flat.

Back on Sophie stage The Hell come on like Slipknot gatecrashing the Rio carnival. They weave in and out of each other like the Wu-Tung Clan in their prime. The sound is ferocious but also funky, and it is that infectious grove that keeps everything bouncing along nicely. The Hell might be stretching the confines of what is the Bloodstock sound, but that is the point. Metal has survived for nearly sixty years because it is a cuckoo genre, happy to lay its eggs in other style’s nests. The Hell’s adoption of street culture including grime and drill culture feels like the next step in this infinite evolution and overall works extremely well.

As Dr. Hell intones during Evil Scarecrow’s set it may feel for some that they play every year. This is their eighth Bloodstock appearance but first since 2022. They take to the challenge of an elongated set time well and have fun with ludicrous over-the-top stage props including the Crack-hen, haunted wheelie bins, the moon on a stick and a massive time travelling robot. Talking about androids, ‘Robotron’ is back in the setlist after an enforced absence but feels almost thrown away chucked out as the opening number. There are a couple of points where the joke stretches thin; ‘The ballad of Brother Pain’ comes across as confusingly meaningless without Brother Pain in the band and there is an overlong old track which even though it is billed as an opportunity for the masses to use the loo, still comes across as self-indulgent. However, all is forgiven with the appearance of the ‘Crabulon’. It remains a high watermark in the lexicon of comedy metal. Infectiously funny and brilliantly rendered, it results in mass scuttling and euphoric ovations. It also seals the deal that Evil Scarecrow deserve to be and belong just below the mighty Saxon.

There were worries about what shape Black Spiders would be in. Just days before this appearance they pulled all future shows, aside from Bloodstock and cancelled all media commitments. We needn’t have worried as whatever has caused their forthcoming withdrawal from public life, hasn’t dampened their musical ability. They come across as extraordinarily vital and vigorous. Doing “Sons of the North” in its entirety means that their two big guns are dispensed with early doors. ‘Stay Down’ echoes around the tent with its refrain of “Fuck you Black Spiders” encouraged with absolute vigour.’KISS Tried to Kill Me’ arrives straight after and is magnificent in its playful veneration of the rock giants. Pete Siby’s vocals are augmented by the inclusion of Melissa from much fancied Sheffield electro-punk outfit Air Drawn Dagger. Her deliciously melodic tones provide the “Sons of the North” material with extra girth and her bouncy personality easily interacts with Pete’s laid back demeanor. Whatever is going on behind the scenes the truth is that they are astonishingly good this evening. Full of fire and brimstone and brimming with energy. If this is indeed the last we will see of Black Spiders for a good while, then they bow out fantastically. 

For those still scratching their heads over the resurrection and redemption of Saxon, tonight they prove they are indeed equals to their HMOBHM compatriots Def Leppard and Maiden. They are majestic in their excellence. They provide a 100-plus-minute masterclass in how you do big metal shows. The sound is perfect and the setlist is beautifully paced, taking us on a guided tour through thirty-seven years of recorded material. No minute is wasted; there are no filler solos and Biff’s interaction with the crowd is sharp and incisive rather than bloated and lengthy. Basically, the get everything right and receive a rapturous reception from a vast audience that stretches away in all direction. One reason for their recent reinvention is the inclusion of Diamond Head’s Brain Tatler in their ranks. Very much one of the most underwritten guitar talents this island has ever produced, since he joined in 2022 he has upped their game incredibly. This evening he magnificently spars with Doug Scarratt, each egging the other on to produce soaring solos. Brian dynamic masterful style just feels so at home in Saxon. 

Bif talks openly about his health scares, and there is real pride in his voice as he recounts Saxon’s pivotal role in the genesis of Bloodstock. He also continually points out the age of the audience with a mix of surprise and satisfaction. References to tracks from 1980’s “Wheels of Steel” are frequently tied to statements about the majority of the crowd not being born then. But the point is whether you were alive when they were forged or not, Saxon are blessed with a back catalogue to die for. Nugget after nugget of molten metal with just the right amount of bite and melodic splendour. And above them all flies the eagle. Their impressive lighting array is used sparingly, lowered into position for the big numbers such as ‘The Eagle has Landed’ and ‘747 Strangers in the Night’. The latter see’s it take flight, soaring above the band like a gliding bird of play. Even the encore feels genuine and heartfelt as opposed a contractual requirement. After offering us either ‘Solid Ball of Rock’ or Bands played on, Biff decides to give us both because they plan to keep on playing as long as they want to. A good fifteen minute after their scheduled finish point, they finally crash to an end with a regal ‘Princess of the Night’. The reception as they take their bows is astonishingly viral and proves that Saxon in 2026 are not a novelty act, they are Bonafide force to be reckoned with.

Cryptopsy hail from Canada and take great pains to tell us that on numerous occasions. They are tech death metal with the emphasis on the tech. Whilst grizzly and brutal, their material is also simultaneously complex and finely textured. At the heart is Flo Mounier’s signature drum sound. His kit is huge and dominates the staging, and the meticulous rhythms he ushers forth from it are extraordinary. They wrap around the buzzsaw guitars and fantastically marry with Matt McGachy guttural vocals. This is death metal with cerebral elegance to go alongside the nastiness. An assured and muscular finale to the evening. And like that the Thursday is done and dusted and we turn our attention to a packed Friday to come. 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Cryptopsy + Saxon + Black Spiders + Evil Scarecrow + The Hell + HeavySaurus + Mantis Defeats Jaguar