Bloodstock Open Air

Bloodstock Open Air is a British heavy metal festival held annually at Catton Hall in Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, since 2005.
Originally held indoors for one day with two stages, the festival started in 2001 at the Derby Assembly Rooms and expanded over the years. It became an outdoor event in 2005. By 2019, it had five stages and a capacity of 15,000, and as of 2023, it welcomed 20,000 metalheads.
Originally on one stage only, the festival expanded to incorporate a second stage in 2006. Known simply as The Unsigned Stage, it was designed to provide a platform for the next generation of metal talent to reach a wider audience. In 2010 it was renamed The New Blood Stage.
2007 saw further expansion with the addition of a third stage, originally called The Lava Stage, which in 2009 became the Sophie Lancaster Stage. In 2010 the capacity of this stage was increased and it became the festival's second stage.
Bloodstock Open Air was conceived as an extension of the original Bloodstock indoor festival which ran from 2001 until 2006 at Derby Assembly Rooms. After an amicable parting in 2006 with his business partner Vince Brotheridge, in 2006 Paul Gregory brought his daughters Vicky Hungerford, Rachael Greenfield and son Adam Gregory on board as directors.
In 2010, Heaven & Hell was scheduled to headline Bloodstock Open Air, but pulled out due to the death of singer Ronnie James Dio. The main stage at the festival was subsequently renamed as the "Ronnie James Dio stage" in tribute to him.
The 2020 festival was planned to be a celebration of "20 years of Bloodstock" however the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ticket holders were given the option either to have a refund on their ticket or to roll it over to the 2021 festival which saw three stages expanded to include an extra day.
Bloodstock has hosted numerous metal bands from the following countries/dependencies: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Egypt, England, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland (including Shetland Islands), Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela, Wales, and Guernsey.
Bloodstock originally began as an indoor festival held in Derby Assembly Rooms which ran for six years, 2001 to 2006. In order to associate the festival roots with Derby, where founder Paul Gregory lives, the festival's mascot/logo was based on the tale of The Derby Ram; a beast so large that, when a butcher finally slaughtered it, he drowned in the Ram's blood. A competition was run to name the beast and 'S-tan' was selected, he has appeared on almost all Bloodstock artwork since only missing from the first three BOA festivals when the S-tan snake featured instead.
The first year was a one-day event headlined by Saxon, whom Paul Gregory had known personally since being commissioned to do the artwork for their 1984 Crusader album. Attendance for the festival topped 700 people and, despite taking an (expected) financial loss, a second festival was arranged for the following year.
2002 saw Blind Guardian headlining, again a band Paul Gregory knew through producing their artwork, which was their first UK show. Bringing metal acts to the UK for the first time become a regular occurrence for Bloodstock and the stronger line-up which also included Gamma Ray as second billing doubled the festival's attendance to approximately 1500.
2003 brought the first of many expansions to the festival as it stretched across two days. The first day was headlined by a returning Saxon and the second by Nightwish whom like Blind Guardian the year before were playing their first UK show. Paul and Gregory had gone on tour with Saxon the previous year and it was then that Vince first saw Nightwish which convinced them they should be booked for the Bloodstock festival. This year also featured Edguy's first UK show as they were drafted in to replace HammerFall after guitarist Oscar Dronjak broke his arm in a motorcycle accident only weeks before the show. The full line-up was:
2004 saw continued growth in attendance with the festival selling out and brought Gamma Ray back to headline the first day and Children of Bodom headlined the second day. The full line-up was:
2005 was the first year which saw both the indoor and outdoor festivals running. HammerFall were booked to play, now with a headline slot on the first day, and Within Temptation headlined the second day. The full line-up was:
† Kyrb Grinder were not originally booked to play, but the band members were working at the festival and delays in the running of the Darwin stage left a gap, so they played a short sell to fill in the gap.
2006 was the last year an indoor festival was hosted allowing for full focus on the outdoor festival from then on. Primal Fear headlined day one with My Dying Bride headlining day two and thus being the last ever band to play at Bloodstock as an indoor festival. The full line-up was:
† Tourettes Syndrome had originally been booked to play the main stage. However, their flight was delayed and they did not arrive in time. Sworn Amongst were bumped up from their scheduled Darwin Stage slot to fill the gap, and Tourettes Syndrome played on the Darwin Stage later in the day when they eventually arrived.
Bloodstock Open Air is the outdoor venture for the festival after selling out the indoor festival which had a maximum capacity of 2500. Catton Hall was selected as the venue to allow growth in size without losing the festival's established friendly atmosphere and also maintained its link to Derby.
The festival featured only one stage which was headlined by Sebastian Bach (Friday) and Children of Bodom (Saturday).
Bloodstock Open Air 2006 brought in a second stage called simply "Unsigned Stage". This was to showcase new unsigned acts to a wider audience like the indoor festival did previously to on their second stage. Now backed by Wacken Open Air, the festival was able to attract more European metal bands to the line-up which was headlined by Edguy (Friday) and Stratovarius (Saturday). It was the last year which had both the indoor and outdoor festivals running together.
Bloodstock Open Air 2007 brought further growth for the festival which now ran over three days and included three stages. The additional stage was named the Lava Stage and allowed more established but smaller acts to perform at the festival. Following a stronger marketing campaign which included advertisement within HMV and greater coverage in music media, attendance at the festival more than doubled from the previous year exceeding 5000 people. The festival's website also went through a major overhaul and the opportunity was given to unsigned bands to upload their videos. Following public voting, Costa Rican band Sight Of Emptiness won and were invited to open the main stage on Thursday. The three mainstage headliners were Testament (Thursday), Lacuna Coil (Friday) and In Flames (Saturday).
BOA 2007 took place from Thursday 16 August to Saturday 18 August. The line up was as follows:
Bloodstock Open Air 2008 took place from Friday 15 August to Sunday 17 August.
Bloodstock Open Air 2009 took place at Catton Hall from Friday 14 August to Sunday 16 August.
Bloodstock Open Air 2010 celebrated the festival's 10th anniversary, and took place between Friday 13 August and Sunday 15 August. The line up was as follows:
Bloodstock Open Air 2011 took place at Catton Hall between Friday 12 August and Sunday 14 August 2011. This year the festival had over 10,900 visitors.
Bloodstock Open Air 2012 was scheduled to take place at Catton Hall between Thursday 16 August and Sunday 19 August 2012 (a week later than usual, owing to the festival organisers not wanting the festival to clash with the closing of the 2012 London Olympics); however, the dates were changed to between Thursday 9 August and Sunday 12 August. This change was never officially explained.
Bloodstock Open Air 2013 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 8 August and Sunday 11 August.
Pritchard vs Dainton, Andrew O'Neill & Full Contact Medieval Tournament Combat also appeared at the festival.
*Power Quest's final show before disbanding.
Bloodstock Open Air 2014 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 7 August and Sunday 10 August.
The line-up was:
Prior to Lamb Of God's set at Bloodstock 2013, Emperor were announced for the 2014 event. Phil Campbell's All Starr Band were booked to headline Thursday on the Sophie stage but withdrew 2 weeks before the festival due to Phil's Motörhead commitments. Due to Graveyard's flight being delayed, Graveyard and Avatar swapped slots at last minute.
Bloodstock Open Air 2015 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 6 August and Sunday 9 August.
The lineup was:
The sideshow Pritchard vs Dainton also appeared at the festival. The historical battle re-enactment group Battle of the Nations UK have been confirmed.
After Sabaton's set, Venom were announced for the 2016 festival. Also, on the Sunday, Behemoth were announced for BOA 2016 as well.
BOA 2016 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 11 and Sunday 14 August 2016.
The lineup was:
BOA 2017 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 10 and Sunday 13 August 2017.
The lineup was:
BOA 2018 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 9 August and Sunday 12 August 2018.
The lineup was:
BOA 2019 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 8 August and Sunday 11 August 2019.
The announced lineup was:
Dimmu Borgir were booked to play the Ronnie James Dio stage on Sunday but pulled out due to illness, they were replaced by Batushka.
Code Orange were booked to play the Ronnie James Dio stage on Saturday but pulled out and were replaced by The Wildhearts.
Shvpes were booked to play the Sophie Lancaster stage on Saturday but pulled out and were replaced by Lotus Eater.
Generation Kill were booked to play the Sophie Lancaster stage on Saturday but pulled out and were replaced by Divine Chaos who were also moved up to the Special Guest slot as Skeletal Remains had to pull out as their ferry was cancelled due to bad weather.
Due to windy conditions, the Ronnie James Dio stage was unsafe for use on the Saturday evening, leading to Cradle of Filth being moved to the Sunday, taking Batushka's slot, with Batushka being moved to the Sophie Lancaster Stage, resulting in The Lazys being moved to the New Blood Stage. As well as this, Parkway Drive's and Anthrax's performances were both delayed until the Stage was deemed safe to use.
BOA 2020 was due to take place at Catton Hall between Thursday, 6 August and Sunday, 9 August 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The announced lineup at the time of postponement was:
The Black Dahlia Murder were booked to play the Ronnie James Dio stage on Sunday but pulled out of all European summer shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BOA 2021 took place at Catton Hall between Wednesday 11 August and Sunday 15 August 2021. This is an extra day to the usual length of the festival owing to the postponement of the 2020 event.
Brian Blessed appeared at the festival on Sunday 15 August 2021, Brian announced Saxon onto the stage on the Sunday evening.
Loathe were scheduled to perform on the Ronnie James Dio stage on Friday 13 August 2021 but they pulled out due to a member testing positive for COVID-19, they were replaced by Higher Power
Sylosis were scheduled to perform on the Ronnie James Dio stage on Saturday 14 August 2021 but due to Josh Middleton having to self isolate after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19 at an Architects album release show, they were forced to pull out of the festival.
Bloodstock 2022 took place from 11 to 14 August 2022. 17 bands were announced, including headliners Lamb of God and Saturday Ronnie James Dio stage headliner Mercyful Fate.
Bloodstock Festival 2023 took place on 10–13 August 2023. 8 bands were announced after Testament's set in 2022, including headliners Killswitch Engage and Megadeth.
Russkaja were scheduled to perform but disbanded prior to the festival. Anthrax, Whitechapel, Nonpoint, Unto Others, Striker, Eyes and DevilDriver were also scheduled to perform but withdrew from the festival.
Helloween were scheduled to perform on the Sunday, but were forced to withdraw due to Michael Kiske contracting acute laryngitis. KK's Priest were announced as their replacement.
Bloodstock Festival 2024 took place from August 8th to August 11th, 2024. 14 bands were announced after the In Flames set in 2023, including headliners Amon Amarth and Architects.
19 bands were announced at 2025's festival including all three Ronnie James Dio Stage headliners and all four Sophie Lancaster Stage headliners after Clutch's set.