Friday at Bloodstock Open Air 2026 was the moment the festival properly slammed its boot onto the accelerator. 🤘
Thursday might have got everybody warmed up, the tents pitched and the first pints disappearing at a frankly irresponsible rate, but Friday 7th August brought the first enormous full day of Bloodstock carnage at Catton Park.
We’re talking Lamb of God. Sepultura. Municipal Waste. Biohazard. Wednesday 13. Shining. Party Cannon. SKYND. Life of Agony. Fit For An Autopsy.
And that’s before you disappear into the smaller stages and discover about twelve bands that immediately end up added to your Spotify playlist. 😂🔥
So whether you spent Friday planted in front of the Ronnie James Dio Stage, bouncing between tents like a caffeinated goblin, or staring helplessly at your schedule screaming “WHY ARE THESE TWO BANDS ON AT THE SAME TIME?!”, here’s The Riff Report’s full look at Friday at Bloodstock 2026.
🎸🔥 RONNIE JAMES DIO STAGE
The big one.
Friday’s main stage was an absolutely filthy collection of thrash, hardcore, deathcore, industrial weirdness and groove metal, culminating in one of modern metal’s biggest live forces.
🐍 10:45 – 11:25 — BATTLESNAKE
What better way to start your Friday morning than with Battlesnake?
Forget coffee.
Forget breakfast.
A blast of gloriously theatrical heavy metal before midday will sort you right out, mun. 🤘😂
🍆 11:45 – 12:25 — PARTY CANNON
Nothing says Bloodstock quite like seeing the colourful Party Cannon logo sitting among approximately four million aggressively unreadable death-metal logos.
By lunchtime?
Absolutely disgusting riffs.
Exactly as nature intended.
🖤 12:45 – 13:25 — SKYND
Things then took a darker turn with SKYND, whose unsettling industrial sound and theatrical presentation made them one of Friday’s most distinctive acts.
This definitely wasn’t the moment to nip off casually for chips.
🔥 13:45 – 14:30 — LIFE OF AGONY
New York heavyweights Life of Agony brought decades of experience to Catton Park.
Groove.
Emotion.
Massive riffs.
Proper festival business.
💀 14:55 – 15:40 — FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY
Then somebody apparently decided Friday afternoon wasn’t heavy enough.
Enter Fit For An Autopsy.
Breakdowns capable of rearranging campsite furniture.
Necks destroyed.
Pits activated.
Beautiful stuff. 😈
🧨 16:05 – 16:50 — BIOHAZARD
New York hardcore legends Biohazard arriving at Bloodstock was always going to cause chaos.
This is music specifically engineered for people to point aggressively at stages while shouting every word back.
Absolute scenes.
🍺💥 17:15 – 18:15 — MUNICIPAL WASTE
Then came Municipal Waste.
Thrash.
Circle pits.
Flying limbs.
Possibly somebody dressed as something ridiculous.
Standard Waste operating procedure, basically. 😂🤘
And immediately after their set came another massive moment…
👀 BLOODSTOCK 2027 REVEALED!
Festival HQ used Friday evening to unveil the first wave of bands for Bloodstock 2027.
Because apparently Bloodstock fans haven’t already spent enough money on festivals.
You haven’t even washed the mud off the 2026 tent and they’re already dangling next year’s lineup in front of you.
And yes…
We love them for it. 😂
🇧🇷🔥 18:55 – 20:10 — SEPULTURA
Then things got serious.
Sepultura took the penultimate main-stage slot with over an hour of crushing Brazilian metal history.
One of those bookings where generations of fans could stand side-by-side and collectively lose their minds.
And then…
The lights dropped.
The field filled.
And Friday belonged to Richmond, Virginia.
🔥🐑 21:10 – 22:40 — LAMB OF GOD
Friday night headliners: LAMB OF GOD.
C’MON.
This was always going to be enormous.
Few bands fit Bloodstock quite like Lamb of God.
Huge grooves.
Randy Blythe prowling around the stage like somebody has just unlocked his cage.
Riffs capable of moving geological formations.
And thousands of metalheads roaring along under the Derbyshire night sky.
From Laid to Rest and Redneck to a catalogue absolutely stuffed with modern metal anthems, Lamb of God are practically custom-built for festival headlining slots.
Friday night.
Bloodstock.
Lamb of God.
That’ll do nicely, butt. 🤘🔥
🖤🔥 SOPHIE LANCASTER STAGE
If you wandered into the Sophie Lancaster Stage on Friday thinking you’d find something slightly calmer…
HAHAHAHA.
No.
10:30 – 11:00 — GURT
Friday started with London sludge maniacs Gurt.
Nothing like some monstrous riffs before you’ve finished breakfast.
11:20 – 11:50 — BLOOD COUNTESS
Black metal darkness arrived courtesy of Blood Countess, providing a suitably evil soundtrack to Friday morning.
12:10 – 12:40 — HAMMER
Hammer followed with another half-hour blast as the Sophie tent continued warming up.
13:10 – 13:50 — SELLSWORD
Then came Sellsword, bringing their own brand of dramatic heavy metal into proceedings.
14:20 – 15:00 — HIDDEN INTENT
Australian thrashers Hidden Intent cranked up the speed during the afternoon.
15:40 – 16:20 — EXCREMENTORY GRINDFUCKERS
Yes.
That really is the band name.
Imagine explaining that one to your nan when she asks who you watched at Bloodstock. 😂
17:00 – 17:40 — SEETHING AKIRA
Seething Akira injected electronic energy into proceedings with their riotous collision of rock, metal and electronics.
18:25 – 19:10 — NECKBREAKKER
Denmark’s Neckbreakker then provided a particularly appropriately named soundtrack for anyone whose neck had already survived Municipal Waste.
20:00 – 21:00 — SHINING
Norwegian experimental maniacs Shining brought one of Friday’s more unpredictable performances.
Metal?
Jazz?
Industrial?
Saxophone-fuelled insanity?
Yes.
🎃 22:40 – 23:55 — WEDNESDAY 13
Then, after Lamb of God finished flattening the main arena…
The party wasn’t over.
Wednesday 13 closed the Sophie Lancaster Stage.
Horror punk.
Gothic theatrics.
Big choruses.
Macabre fun.
Exactly the sort of set Bloodstock was made for.
If your legs still worked by this point, fair play.
🩸🔥 NEW BLOOD STAGE
One of the absolute joys of Bloodstock remains the New Blood Stage.
These are the bands fighting their way through the underground scene and Metal 2 The Masses circuit, often playing one of the biggest shows of their careers.
Today’s tiny tent band could genuinely become tomorrow’s main-stage monster.
So support them, mun. 🤘
Friday’s New Blood running order:
09:45 — Thrash Mob
10:30 — Archaea
11:15 — Redeemon
12:00 — Concrete Age
12:45 — Bailed Out
13:30 — Meet Your Maker
14:15 — Atarka
15:00 — Carrier
15:45 — Microtonal
16:30 — Negative Frame
17:15 — Temples On Mars
18:00 — Regicide
18:45 — Void Below
19:30 — Martyrs Saint
That is a ridiculous amount of emerging heavy music packed into one day.
And if you’re one of those people who says:
“There aren’t any good new metal bands anymore.”
Go and spend six hours at New Blood.
We’ll wait. 😂
⚡🤘 EMP STAGE
Bloodstock’s EMP Stage offered another chance to uncover some seriously exciting newer names.
Friday featured five acts spread through the afternoon and evening.
14:30 — VANITAS
Birmingham progressive metal outfit Vanitas kicked things off.
15:40 — SOULRIDE
Soulride followed with another dose of underground heaviness.
17:00 — AFTER SMOKE CLEARS
London metalcore bruisers After Smoke Clears hit the stage at 5pm.
Big breakdown territory.
Consider yourself warned.
18:30 — CHANGE PERSONA
Change Persona kept the energy flying into Friday evening.
20:15 — UNTAMED SILENCE
And Untamed Silence closed Friday’s EMP programme at 8:15pm.
✍️🤘 FRIDAY SIGNING SESSIONS
Watching bands is great.
Getting your battered festival programme signed while attempting to say something intelligent to one of your favourite musicians?
Even better. 😂
Friday also featured a stacked collection of official signing sessions, including:
Battlesnake
Fit For An Autopsy
Party Cannon
Municipal Waste
Life Of Agony
Sepultura
SKYND
Lamb of God
Biohazard
Wednesday 13
So yes…
There was a realistic possibility of spending half your Friday sprinting between stages and autograph sessions while clutching three vinyl records and wondering where your mates had disappeared to.
Peak festival behaviour.
🏕️🔥 FRIDAY AT BLOODSTOCK — THE POINT WHERE THE WEEKEND REALLY BEGINS
There is something special about Friday at a camping festival.
Thursday is excitement.
Everybody arrives relatively clean.
The tents still resemble tents.
You’ve remembered where you put everything.
By Friday?
Forget it.
Someone has lost a chair.
Your campsite contains seven people you don’t remember inviting.
Breakfast is now whatever can be purchased within thirty metres.
And somebody cracked open their first cider at 9:34am because apparently “it’s technically the weekend.”
You know what?
Fair enough. 🍺😂
🤘 THE RIFF REPORT FRIDAY PICKS
Trying to see everything at Bloodstock is impossible unless scientists finally perfect teleportation specifically for metal festivals.
But Friday’s monster run included some absolute must-sees.
🔥 Battlesnake — gloriously bonkers way to start the main stage.
💀 Fit For An Autopsy — breakdown central.
🧨 Biohazard — hardcore legends doing hardcore legend things.
🍺 Municipal Waste — almost guaranteed pit carnage.
🇧🇷 Sepultura — metal history.
🐑 Lamb of God — enormous Friday-night headline material.
🎃 Wednesday 13 — perfect late-night Bloodstock entertainment.
And don’t ignore those smaller stages.
Finding a band you’ve never heard before and leaving with a new favourite is one of the best things about Bloodstock.
🤘🔥 FRIDAY — DONE.
Four stages.
Dozens of bands.
Thrash.
Death metal.
Hardcore.
Metalcore.
Industrial madness.
Horror punk.
Emerging bands fighting for your attention.
And Lamb of God destroying Friday night at Catton Park.
Not bad for day two, eh?
And the frightening thing?
Bloodstock still had TWO MORE FULL DAYS TO GO. 😈
Saturday was waiting with Slaughter To Prevail, Bleed From Within, Nevermore, Northlane, Death Angel, Vended, The Scratch and loads more.
Sunday?
Oh, just Judas Priest, Body Count, Black Label Society, Testament, Carpenter Brut, Kittie and 200 Stab Wounds.
Casual. 😂
So tighten those boots, locate whichever campsite flag you’ve been using to find your tent and grab another pint.
Bloodstock 2026 was only getting started.
🤘🔥 PROUDLY WELSH. PROUDLY LOUD.
The Riff Report — riffs, festivals, chaos and absolutely zero sensible bedtimes.
