Evil Scarecrow bring Crabulon, Robototron & The Final Countdown to Bloodstock

Bloodstock Open Air 2013

Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th August 2013
Catton Hall, Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, DE12 8LN, England MAP
£125 weekend incl camping

Daily capacity: 12,000

In 2008 a little known Nottinghamshire band won Bloodstock's unsigned acts. 5 years later, that very same band exploded on the Sophie stage.

Now, if you don't know who or what Evil Scarecrow are, then the above sentence will mean nothing to you. If, on the other hand, you know who and what they are and you didn't go. You're gonna be gutted you missed this. If you were there, we were all part of history I think...

I don't get to say this often, but only once have I seen a band dominate the second stage to such a degree. Only one other time have I seen a band draw not only a much bigger crowd than the band on the main stage, but a bigger crowd than all of the previous second stage headliners and possibly most of the other bands that had performed over the weekend. The band that I've seen do this before, is a little French band that also played this weekend called Gojira.

Trust me on this, Evil Scarecrow are no Gojira. They are so much more. Now, most of the times I read about this band, I see the tag-line “Parody Band”. Stop right there. What? Parody? Parody of what? This may be a band that has fun, but when did that become something that deserved a label? This band puts on a show. This band entertains the crowd. This band is pure entertainment, and if you disagree, that's fine (you're wrong) but you simply cannot disagree with the capacity crowd and beyond that Evil Scarecrow drew in the middle of the Sunday afternoon. Still don't believe me, how about if I told you that I actually couldn't get in to the press pit because I couldn't get anywhere near it. That shit only happens once, maybe twice a festival and it's normally the big name headline acts that happens with. This band is for real. Yes, they're funny. But when did that become a bad thing? Music, especially live music, is about entertainment. Evil Scarecrow epitomise entertainment.

When a band can play a new song, called 'Crabulon' and have an entire tent making pincer movements with their hands, then shuffling left and right – you're onto a winner. When a band has people dress up in robot costumes in honour of the epic Robototron and the entire crowd is doing the robot. When a band can play a song called 'Ra Vs Thor', split the crowd in half and have a duelling sing-along. When a band plays a cover of Europe's 'The Final Countdown' and the crowd sings the keyboard bits. When all of this converges under one roof. When you've got people doing a jig outside, because they can't get in, but still want to dance. When you have all of this, then you have a show.

I plead with the organisers of every festival. Put this band outside. Put them on a big stage. They have the talent, the class and the props to fill it. I have extremely high hopes for this talented lot. They can fly the flag for British Heavy Metal any day, because nobody puts on a show like this.

review by: Will Tudor

photos by: Robert McGlade