A delay getting the review up, but due to having to go back into work at 8:45 on Monday morning (in Glasgow) and not wanting to miss Megadeth I’ve been catching up on sleep after driving back home overnight. And working on editing the 40 or so interviews we did. And ploughing through the content we also have from Firevolt, Maid in Stone, RADAR and the album reviews we’ve always got bubbling under!
Anyway, Bloodstock. This year’s lineup didn’t include a huge number of “OMG OMG OMG I have to see them!” acts, but this isn’t why I go to Bloodstock. For those who’ve read my reviews from earlier years, I’m all about the people and the place and the “feel”. The music is just a huge bonus. 2023 was very much a year for me to check out new bands, around all the press tent work, and to catch up with the many friends who I see only once a year. However, the bands who really caught my eye follow. To those who don’t get a mention, please understand that for large swathes of the time I was working in the Press area, so I missed more bands than I saw!
Royal Republic

Set of the weekend, hands down. For the “oddball” band on the bill who are definitely, by their own admission, not a metal act Royal Republic entertained in a way that only they can. I saw more bouncing and smiling and downright happiness during their set than anywhere else all weekend – and that’s impressive given the other artists they were up against. Royal Republic are balls out fun. The best wedding band the world has ever seen, they getĀ everyone dancing.
Tongue in cheek, but superb musicians, they’re full of licks, riffs and patter and don’t even need to encourage crowd interaction. This is the first time they’ve been on UK soil in far too long, cramming in a set at Manchester’s FireVolt festival the day before, and I am very much hoping that their upcoming album leads to a full tour. I’m pretty confident that any one of the thousands of people jigging to their Saturday set will encourage you to buy a ticket.
Oh, and I had a nice chat with Adam which we posted recently.
Seething Akira

It has been a joy watching this band “evolve”. From first watching them on the New Blood stage and not leaving the tent until their set finished, to their huge show on the SOPHIE two years ago, I was overjoyed to see them announced for the Saturday morning opening slot on the RJD stage. Not just for the sake of the show, but because they’re just bloody lovely and deserve it.
I talked to the two mad frontmen afterwards (online soon) and I know how much effort they put into this single show. The big screen at the back? Over 200Ā hours of work by the band themselves getting all the footage edited to sync with their music. It was well worth it, resulting in the best show I’ve seen from them to date. I’m repeating what I’ve been saying for years, but Seething Akira are a band to watch. Credit to Bloodstock for following through on the “supporting the up and coming acts” ethos with their journey from New Blood upwards. Here’s hoping we see them move up the RJD bill in years to come.
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Waterlines

Oh. My . God. What a set. On the recommendation of Seething Akira I made sure I didn’t miss this band doing their best to emulate Tortured Demon’s Jager tent-destroying efforts of 2021. Unfortunately, for them, the new tent seems more sturdily built! I watched most of the set from the side due to the huge crowd, so didn’t get the best of the sound but it was the performance that absolutely blew me away.
With a sound blending dance and metal, the songs had been picked (and indeed written) to get a crowd rowdy… and to have fun. With silly little dance moves, bounces, “sit down and jump in the air” moments and so forth this is a band who have to get a space on a larger stage at a future Bloodstock. By the time we were halfway through, frontman Ben was catching crowdsurfers while belting out vocals until the sound tech ran round to assist. There’s no security on the Jager stage, but I don’t think anyone expected madness like this!
A moment that absolutely melted my heart was one of the guitarists on his knees in full on Guitar Hero mode while a little girl (who I found out later was his daughter) stared on as if she was in the presence of her favourite rock god… which he probably is. Photo to the side, and used with the kind permission of the little girl’s mum and dad.
Interview online shortly, but keep your peepers peeled for this lot playing near you. I repeat: what a set!
Megadeth

The band that meant I got home at 6:15am on Monday with enough time to sleep for 90 minutes before going into work (to watch three presentations that were then emailed to me anyway… Bitter? Yes). Worth it, though. This was as good a set as any fan could have hoped, crammed with career-spanning classics, and one new number – “We’ll Be Back”. A good choice as it’s one of the faster and heavier numbers fromĀ The Sick, the Dyingā¦ and the Dead!
When you can open a set with a classic like “Hangar 18” and then keep the tempo going, it says a lot. While the band is effectively “Dave Mustaine and friends” these days, it’s pleasing to see that he’s picked good friends. Kiko makes the flurried riffs seem easy and is doing a cracking job of filling the boots of Marty Friedman who was always “my” lead guitarist as I first saw Megadeth on theĀ Rusted Pieces tour. James LoMenzo is more than capable on bass and I assume he’s a permanent fixture now. Dirk Verbeuren also deserves plaudits. As with many bands, the drum stool in Megadeth has seen its fair share of sweaty bums, but Verbeuren is welcome to wear his personal buttock-dent in it for the long term in my opinion.
I loved hearing “Angry Again” played live, and I think I still have the CD of theĀ Last Action Hero soundtrack that it first appeared on. “A Tout Le Monde” is always a crowd favourite, and there was no suprise to hear things rounded off with “Holy Wars”.
If there was a downside, it was the low level of Mustaine’s mic, especially when he was addressing the crowd. I know he’s a miserable, sarky twat (and I love him for it) and I struggled to make out exactly what he was saying while he was ripping into the people who’d brought a huge inflatable unicorn to the show. Other than that, though, a great end to the weekend and one of the best Megadeth sets I’ve seen in some time.
Tortured Demon

Yes, they’re playing our festival in October so I’m going to mention them… but they’re playing our festivalĀ because they’re the kind of band I’d mention. Increasing from a three- to a four-piece since seeing them destroy (literally) the Jager stage in 2021, their sound is just amazing. They got a lot of press a couple of years back due to their young ages, but I hope that everyone rapidly realised that this didn’t mean they were getting away with not being so good musically, with an allowance being given for their lack of years. This would be a disservice as they are genuinely superb.
Go and see them, close your eyes and tell me – honestly – if you believe they are the age they are. They play good old fashioned, fast as fuck thrash metal and they play it as well as musicians twice their age. And it’s not just good music that’s been well written. It’s the stage presence. When Jacob tells the pit to open… it opens. When he tells them to “hold…” before the wall of death, they hold. It’s great to witness and I’m so much looking forward to seeing them at our show shortly, and on bigger stages in the future.
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Church of the Cosmic Skull

Definitely one of those wonderful festival finds. I’ve never heard of them before Bloodstock and wandered into the SOPHIE tent mid-set as I had a little time between interviews…. and didn’t want to leave. The band look like they’re reeeling you in to share some Kool-Aid with you after the show, and sound like “The Mamas and The Papas crossed with Jefferson Airplane or Fleetwood Mac.
But slightly heavier.” Thank you Keith Forbes on Facebook for that description that I can’t better!
Looking around the audience, I saw so many people just wrapped up in the music. One enduring image was of a beefy chap with a mohawk and loads of tattoos, with his arms wrapped around a heavily pierced lady as they both swayed gently to the beat. Obviously both there to go mad to some of the heavier stuff, but loving this far more laid back synth rock. CotCS are absolutely one band I’m checking out now that I’m back home.
Ugly Kid Joe
Another band that could be classed as “not metal”, they walloped out a set full of singalongs and then pulled Andreas Kisser on stage for a brilliant rendition of “Ace of Spades”. What better song to crowdsurf to on a sunny Sunday afternoon? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them play a stage close to this size before, but Whitfield Crane and co absolutely owned it.
The Violent Inzident

These were on my “to watch” list as soon as I saw them announced. I love the silliness of their album, and wanted to see how they translated that to the stage. I shouldn’t have worried… With band members dressed as anything from some kind of bird to a deep sea diver, this was a half hour of lunacy and bad taste that made the perfect start to the Thursday night and the festival as a whole.
What I love about The Violent Inzident is that they pay homage to the music they’re taking the piss out of, and have a knack of doing songs “in the style of” classic acts without ripping off any riffs. They were as much fun live as I’d hoped for.
MuddiBrooke

Possibly the most laid back of all the bands over the three days, they were a welcome haven for half an hour… though I only had the time to catch a couple of songs. It was pleasing to see a huge crowd for them at the Jager stage with many of the audience knowing the words. Very much a band to keep an eye out for, watch them get bigger as the months pass.
More coming soon!
Photos by Sean Larkin and Katie Frost where indicated. Header image by Sean Larkin.
[…] that Waterlines are a current favourite here at Moshville Towers, having blown me away during their Jager Stage set at Bloodstock ’23. They managed to do so without destroying the strengthened barricades (thank you, Tortured Demon) […]