Bloodstock Open Air

Updated on Nov 24, 2023

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Years active 2005–present Founded by Paul R. Gregory		Dates 10 Aug – 13 Aug 2017

Location Catton Hall, United Kingdom Nominations UK Festival Award for Best Toilets Awards UK Festival Award for Best Medium-Sized Festival Genres Heavy metal, Extreme metal, Hard rock Similar Download Festival, Hellfest, Sonisphere Festival, Graspop Metal Meeting, Hammerfest Profiles Facebook Twitter YouTube

Bloodstock open air 2016 festival trailer

Bloodstock Open Air is an English heavy metal festival held annually at Catton Hall in Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, since 2005. Bands that have played at the festival over the years include Twisted Sister, Saxon, Mastodon, Gojira, Behemoth, Slayer, Anthrax, Cannibal Corpse, Venom, Trivium, Rob Zombie, Emperor, Alice Cooper, Motorhead, Kreator, Amon Amarth, Megadeth, Testament, Exodus, Immortal, Morbid Angel, Machine Head, Lamb of God, and hundreds of others. 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.

Bloodstock Open Air Bloodstock Open Air 2016 All Metal Festivals

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. This second stage is also used by The 4 DJs Of The Apocalypse, who provide DJ sets until the early hours of the morning.

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 2007 Paul Gregory brought his daughters and son Vicky Hungerford, Rachael Greenfield and Adam Gregory on board as directors. "It was an obvious move for me," he explained, "as all of them had been working on the festival from its inception. They have brought their talents to the fore as the festival’s continued growth is very much due to their commitment."

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.

Bloodstock Open Air BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR Carcass Lacuna Coil and Primordial To Play

Bloodstock Indoor Festival

Bloodstock Open Air Bloodstock Open Air confirms four more acts for 2012 and hints at

Bloodstock originally began as an indoor festival held in Derby Assembly Rooms which ran 6 years from 2001-2006. 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 3 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. The full line-up was:

Bloodstock Open Air Bloodstock Open Air Festival 2014 Part II South Derbyshire UK

2002 saw Bloodstock return with 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 has become a regular occurrence from Bloodstock and the stronger line-up (which also included Gamma Ray as second billing) doubled the festival's attendance to approximately 1500. The full line-up was:

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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 & 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:

Bloodstock Open Air Rage Bloodstock Open Air 2010 YouTube

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 & 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 weren't 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 headling 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 didn't 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.

BOA 2005

Bloodstock Open Air 2005 was the first 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 (up to 10,000) 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).

BOA 2005 took place from Friday 24 June to Saturday 25 June and the line up was as follows:-

BOA 2006

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) & Stratovarius (Saturday). It was the last year which had both the indoor & outdoor festivals running together.

BOA 2006 took place from Friday 14 July to Saturday 15 July and the line up was as follows:-

BOA 2007

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) & In Flames (Saturday).

BOA 2007 took place from Thursday 16 August to Saturday 18 August. The line up was as follows:-

BOA 2008

Bloodstock Open Air 2008 took place from Friday 15 August to Sunday 17 August. The line up was as follows:-

BOA 2009

Bloodstock Open Air 2009 took place at Catton Hall from Friday 14 August to Sunday 16 August. The line up was as follows:-

BOA 2010

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:-

Heaven & Hell were booked to headline on Sunday, but pulled out due to Ronnie James Dio's continuing health issues.

Shortly after Heaven & Hell pulled out, Dio died. The main stage was later renamed the Ronnie James Dio stage in tribute to him.

Twisted Sister's headline slot was moved from Friday to Sunday to replace Heaven & Hell. Opeth were then booked to fill the Friday headline slot.

Dream Evil were confirmed for the mainstage on Friday, but were forced to pull out due to "personal commitments".

Behemoth were confirmed for the mainstage on Friday, but pulled out due to the hospitalisation of frontman, Adam "Nergal" Darski. Cathedral were announced as their replacements.

The Sophie Lancaster stage was increased in size and became Bloodstock's second stage. It now plays host to larger, more well known bands, as well as DJs, karaoke, film showings, competitions and more.

BOA 2011

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. The line up was as follows:-

Nevermore were booked for the Ronnie James Dio stage, but were removed from the official line up in July. No official explanation has yet been released.

Primevil were booked for the Sophie stage, but were later removed from the official line up. No explanation has yet been released.

BOA 2012

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. The line-up was as follows:-

Lock Up were booked to play on the RJD stage on the Friday, but were removed from the lineup. This was later confirmed on the official Bloodstock Twitter page due to logistical problems.

Deicide were booked to play on the RJD stage on the Sunday, but ended up cancelling the whole European tour that BOA was a part of. Because of this Evile were moved from the Sophie Lancaster Stage to the Ronnie James Dio Stage to fill the void.

Anthrax were announced for BOA 2013 before Machine Head's Headline set

BOA 2013

Bloodstock Open Air 2013 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 8 August and Sunday 11 August.

The line-up was:

Pritchard vs Dainton, Andrew O'Neill & Full Contact Medieval Tournament Combat also appeared at the festival.

*Power Quest's final show before disbanding.

BOA 2014

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.

BOA 2015

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

BOA 2016 took place at Catton Hall between Thursday 11 and Sunday 14 August 2016.