Bloodstock Festival 2024 – Friday. For those older Metal fans wishing to relive their youth, then Wolf from Sweden were the perfect act. There is no pretence with this band. They wear their colours on their sleeves, and soundwise, we have the perfect roll back to the early ’80s and the NWOBHM.
Bloodstock Festival 2024
Catton Park, Derbyshire – Friday 9 August 2024
Wolf
Wolf unashamedly sound like a crossover of Saxon, Priest and early Maiden. Certainly, there was an appeal to many fans of the genre as the Sophie tent was rammed full and this was one of the more well received sets of the day.
Yet this still has a tinge of their homeland in the approach taken, so realistically, we have a case of Classic Swedish Heavy Metal crossed with Classic’ old school’ British Metal. With Niklas Stålvind on vocals, they have the consummate frontman, all action, energy and flowing blonde locks.
With the set pulled from across the last six albums, this was a pure greatest hits outing, and for those who were unfamiliar with the band’s material, the perfect introduction to them.
Yet the show was so close to not happening as their equipment went astray at Frankfurt airport and they only made it to Bloodstock with minimal time left. Therefore, with all the pre-show aggravation the band encountered it was clear that the angst and anger was directly fuelled into providing the fans with a soaring, purposeful and quite awesome performance.
Opening with Shoot To Kill, from 2020’s Feeding The Machine, with dual flying V’s to the fore the band unleashed their double guitar fuelled firepower on an eager Sophie tent.
Shark Attack saw a blitzkrieg of driving intense rock ‘n’ roll, the band ripping out blistering riffs and shredding as the heat and atmosphere in the tent grew.
The Ill Fated Mr. Mordrake saw them dip into latest album Shadowland and was a perfect slice of tuneful and melodic Heavy Metal, seeing the band utilising all their songwriting ability and musical prowess as they delivered a further anthemic outing before they dipped into Dust as they kept to ‘Shadowland and channelled their inner NBOWHM in an apocalyptic joy ride.
With Voodoo came the obvious sing along tune as the title was bellowed out by the gleeful BOA masses.
Skull Crusher provided an opportunity to get in touch with their inner Priest and allowed Niklas to open up his vocal cords in Halfordesque screams, before Speed On closed matters out, providing further references to the ’80s.
From the first chord to the last, the tempo never wavered. For forty minutes, the band rolled back the clock and left a large number of very happy, older, reminiscing rockers to filter away as Wolf announced this was their last show before they went back into the studios.
On this performance I can’t wait for the new album and hopefully a return trip to these shores.
Bloodstock 2024 will be held over the long weekend of 8-11 August 2024. MetalTalk’s Paul Hutchings, Adrian Stonley, Paul Monkhouse and Keith Conlin will be reporting from Catton Park.
Take Part: Are you at Bloodstock this year? Who are you looking forward to seeing? Want to get in touch and tell us how it’s going? Email MetalTalk Editor Steve Ritchie to tell us how it’s going for you. Bloodstock@MetalTalk.net
#boa24. For more information, visit bloodstock.uk.com. You can view a map of Bloodstock at bloodstock.uk.com/bloodstock_map.jpg
MetalTalk Bloodstock 2024 coverage is at https://www.metaltalk.net/tag/bloodstock-2024.
You can read all the MetalTalk Bloodstock 2023 coverage at https://www.metaltalk.net/tag/bloodstock-2023.
You can read all the MetalTalk Bloodstock 2022 coverage at metaltalk.net/tag/bloodstock-2022.
Weekend early bird tickets (Thu-Sun) for Bloodstock 2025 are available to purchase at the box office on-site for £175. Child weekend early bird’s are £45 (ages 4 -11). Mini moshers under age four can come for free.
Wednesday early access is also available for those who want to max out their Bloodstock experience – an early bird adult Wed-Sun ticket costs £200. There is no additional cost for children under 4, or aged 4-11, to arrive with a parent on Wednesday.
Bloodstock 2025 tickets can be purchased online from the official Bloodstock website.
