Well I just got back from BOA, and i'm knackered so I'm gonna try and relax whilst i write this. I woke up early on Friday and went and did lots of jobs around town including getting money for Monday. I then drove down to Nik's, after asking Dom to meet me there. Nik and I saw his parents and brothers and sister off in their taxi, and then as soon as Dom arrived we went to get Nik's car from the party he left it at, and when we got back we loaded the cars and headed off down to Bloodstock. My car had almost no acceleration and, we really quite heavy, making the drive an interesting one to say the least. Friday: Myself, Dom and Nik arrived late, and found the tent already set up by David and James. Andy had already headed off to help with the festival, we also found we had missed Pyrumaze who were apparently great. We then headed off to watch Rage, who were a great fun power metal band, but they didn't really leave much of an impact on me despite the song Higher than the Sky which I knew from the Wacken 2003 DVD. Nocturnal Rites came on after Rage, and again played a good set, although we arrived around half way through the first song. Once again they didn't really leave a massive mark on me, and i may head to see Aborted at Wacken instead. Then came the last three bands, of which i was looking forward to see all three. Atheist took the stage, possibly the second most death metal band to play any BS event yet. They really blew me away, although everyone else didn't bother to watch them. Atheist had by far the most technical set of the weekend, and just simply watching them made me tired. I headed off to the signing tent and got my ticket signed by the band, who were really nice guys. I then ran back and met all the guys just as Metal Church started. For a group of guys who "don't like thrash metal" I heard nothing but praise for Metal Church, who were very good, and played a good solid set, perfect for moshing and generally having fun. Finally after all the wait Edguy took the stage. Their show was incredible and they blew the rest of the bands out of the water, massively due to their stage presence. They had a huge gargoyle on stage which opened its wings at various points during the show. They sang a song entitled "Trinidad and Tobago" which included the single greatest solo ever, played by the entire band on a Kazoo. They also played a lot of other great songs during the set and made all the usual "Gay" jokes. Being the boring people we are we headed off to bed earlyish on Friday as it was bitterly cold and we were all tired from the drive down and generally late nights and early mornings all that week. Saturday: We were all woken up very early by the heat and the light. Various people wandered out whilst I tried to get more sleep, which failed miserably. When we finally all got up, Andy had to run off to do more work; he seemed to enjoy going on stage and helping out though. We sat around and ate Pringles, cereal bars and drank a lot of water, some people got bacon butties but I didn't have enough money. We then went off to see 19th century, they sounded a lot like Led Zeppelin, as their bio said they would, and so in true '70's style we sat on the ground in the sunshine an applauded lightly when they finished the songs. They were great to listen to and I may get an album when they finally record more than 4 songs. Next up Ashtar, I'll miss all the part where we walked around and shopped for things, got food ect. Ashtar were female fronted Folk metal, which probably was more to everyone else's taste than mine, nonetheless they were good fun and played a good strong set, and although I won't be getting any of their stuff, anyone who likes that sort of thing should definitely check them out. Season's End came on stage next, and played an outstanding set, out of the four times I've seen the band it was easily the best yet, and finally they were playing some new songs. Dom, James and I headed to the signing, and were in the queue for most of Gorilla Monsoon who sounded alright but left no great impression on me, really. Seasons were really nice although Bekii (lead singer) seemed tenser than the last few times I've met her, probably the band stress. We moved back to the tent, after taking our chairs back there, and sat around having a few bears until James and Nik went to see one of the unsigned bands, who James really liked (Beyond all Reason). James liked them a lot and said it was a good show, meanwhile we listened to Callendish Circle from the campsite, which from what we heard was probably a good place to be, they didn't sound all that great. Nik had taken to scenestering Bal Sagoth; for those who don't know what a scenester is it's someone who goes to see a band only because it'll make them popular, they generally don't know anything about the band and almost always have never heard anything by them before. Nik fell into all these categories', but that wasn't going to stop him trying to buy a T-shirt. Unfortunately in all the time we waited none ever arrived, we don't think they brought any with them. Finally it came down the one of the few bands who really struck me when the lineup was announced. Ensiferum took the stage, for the first time in the UK without Jari (Wintersun), Petri, the new lead singer (also Norther) played hard and well and although not as good as Jari, the set was fantastic and had me jigging slightly, preparing for Finntroll, but it was also nice to see some of their songs, and they inspired hope in me for Earthshaker. Nik and I headed up to the front for Bal Sagoth, where I met some hilarious guys who I stayed with for the who of the next 2 bands. Bal Sagoth were hilarious, in fact they were so funny I may get one of their albums. The band is Fantasy Black Metal, what does this mean, it means that you wont be able to hear the vocals at all, as they will be mixed so low, and there will be lots of really long titles, our favorite title (thanks to Wikipedia as I couldn't remember ever last word) was "The Splendour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire - Part II", and to be honest that pretty much sums up the band nicely. Finally the sun began to set and out came Turisas, the band I had been waiting for all weekend, and longer. They blew away every other band, it was pretty much unanimously decided, playing a very strong set of the best songs from their album, and also a medley of everything they didn't play, to destroy the crowd at the end of the show. The Violin solo was fantastic but by far the highlight (if you can call it that) was the sauna that they built on stage; with the help of members of Ensiferum. They explained about the hot rocks, making steam and hitting each other with branches, of course all while drinking beer. What they didn't explain till about half way through this whole event, was that one must be naked in a sauna, and then the accordion player leading us through this event proceeded to remove his towel, and go back to the sauna, yes they are Finnish, no we don't know why they decided to do this. I went off to the signing for Turisas and missed some of Stratovarius in the process, but I met more nice guys in the queue for the signing, who were drawing the Finish colours on everyone, naturally I obliged. I met Nik in the Stratovarious area, and since both of us were freezing (it was very cold) and my back hurt, we trekked back to the tent and got some chairs to sit in and relax whilst watching Strat. Strat put on a good show and played lots of their best songs, but they just seemed a bit weak compared to Turisas and Edguy the night before. However I'm not the biggest Strat supporter ever, so perhaps ask Dom for a better description of what they were like. I do need to get another strat album though simply for the song "Kiss of Judas" which was fantastic. Today: Sorry this is a very long post, I just thought I'd point out that Andy managed to pilfer us some great stuff from backstage, including the Stratovarius and Turisas set lists, and an Edguy Bass pick each. I finally drove James Mak back home, but I thought better of coming to see anyone whilst I was over there. So now I'm just chilling and very soon I'm going to pack so that I can leave tomorrow at 8 AM, to get iris recognition done, and also head over to Hornbeak again, Andy and I have some unfinished business with a certain ice cream seller (5 scoop ice cream).