2026 is a very year special for Bloodstock, a festival celebrating its 25th anniversary: bands playing at every corner of Catton-on-Trent were keen to congratulate Simon Hall, Vicky Hungerford and the entire crew on this historic occasion, which was yet another one for the history books. For the first time ever, the Ronnie James Dio stage opened on Thursday, hosting Saxon— the festival’s original stars— as headliners and turning Bloodstock 2026 into an honest-to-god four day event. 25 years in, it’s safe to say this UK heavy music institution is still going strong.

Evil Scarecrow

Evil Scarecrow are no strangers to Bloodstock, and somehow, despite their ludicrous antics, they keep getting invited back— frontman Dr Hell sounded more surprised by that fact than anyone on Thursday, though the band were hardly reigning themselves in on the Ronnie James Dio stage. Any festival-goers who’d worn themselves out getting to Catton-on-Trent would surely have been jolted to alertness by this, one of the most chaotic and loveable shows of the weekend: if you saw the inflatable tentacles of the ‘Krakhen,’ the dorky dance moves of ‘End Level Boss’ or the group’s numerous ‘Symphony of Destruction’ parodies, you were in fact not dreaming. Evil Scarecrow sounded fantastic here, at a festival they know all too well, but it’s not their music that really stuck with you. The boyish grin Dr Hell delivered every quip, pun and jape with was nothing short of infectious, as this Nottingham-based crew had the entirety of B.O.A. rolling with laughter by set’s end.

Black Spiders

After the unapologetic lunacy of Evil Scarecrow, it was something of a relief to come back down to Earth on the Sophie Lancaster stage with Black Spiders, who’s signature brand of stomping hard rock went down an absolute treat. Spiby and company were never a band who were going to inspire too many crowdsurfers or mosh pits (though the same could not be said for Cryptopsy after them), but you could nonetheless feel the energy in the tent as the group ran through the entirety of 2011’s ‘Sons Of The North’ in good ol’ rock’n’roll fashion— their chemistry was rock solid, if held back by the apparent lack of enthusiasm of guest feature Maisie Manterfield, who insisted on hanging around behind the band. Black Spiders weren’t sporting the flashiest show of Bloodstock 2026, but they didn’t really need to. Their set was filled with cheery sing-alongs and epic guitar solos, topped off with the larger-than-life rock star personality of Spidy himself: as far as rock music goes, this was pretty much right on the money.

Saxon

It was a strange feeling, heading over to the main stage on a Thursday night, but if any band was positioned to capitalise on the chance to kick off Bloodstock 2026 with a bang, it’s probably the festival’s first darlings. Saxon’s show certainly had all the bells and whistles of a headlining set, bringing the curtain down to the thunderous riffs of ‘Hell, Fire And Damnation’— it was extremely disappointing to see the band utilising AI-generated visuals throughout the show (a trend that grew increasingly troubling across the weekend), but regardless, Byford and company certainly knew how to make an entrance. As the frontman quipped early in the set, “We’re headlining now: we can play for as long as we want,” and even if Saxon didn’t quite have the esteemed hits of your usual Bloodstock headliner, you could nonetheless feel the confidence and the legacy rolling off the stage. More than forty years since their inception, the band still sound awesome— Biff Byford’s voice hasn’t aged a day, even in spite of recent health issues, and the rest of the band are as dependable as ever— and made for a solid (if not exactly jaw-dropping) headlining appearance.

Cryptopsy

But of course, no day at Bloodstock would be complete without a real neck-breaker of a show, and today’s was delivered by the mighty Cryptopsy, celebrating 30 years of their legendary exercise in brutality, ‘None So Vile:’ their show was, without exaggeration, an absolute bloodbath. McGachy and company are a technically stunning group— Flo Mounier’s relentless drumming is even more overwhelming live than it is on the record, seeing him (as well as the fantastic guitar/bass combo of Donaldson and Pinard) transforming into an indecipherable blur of musicality— but even in amongst the blast beats and the dizzying solos, the Canadians found room to enjoy every ounce of punishment they were inflicting. McGachy is one hell of a death metal vocalist, but he may be an even better frontman, consistently whipping the eager crowd up into violent circle pits without pause. Newer cuts like ‘Godless Deceiver’ and ‘Dead Eyes Deplete’ were nothing if not harrowing, but it was the infamous speed of ‘Crown of Horns,’ ‘Slit Your Guts’ and ‘Graves of the Fathers’ that really shook the Sophie Lancaster stage to its core. Cryptopsy’s show went by in the flash, leaving you with only neck pain and bruises as souvenirs.

We also managed to meet the members of Cryptopsy before their show, all of whom were incredibly friendly and welcoming.