Bloodstock 2023 Band Feature: Tribe of Ghosts

Bloodstock 2023 takes place from August 10th to August 13th. Across 4 stages, the festival boasts an incredible line-up that includes headliners Killswitch Engage, Meshuggah, and Megadeth. As always, we will be featuring some of the bands that will be playing this year’s festival. Giving you a rundown of who they are, what they’ve released, and what you can expect come August.

Pick up your Bloodstock 2023 tickets here!

It’s not often we get the opportunity to feature a band in this series two years running, but we’re extremely happy we get to do so for this band.

2022 was a good year for Tribe of Ghosts as they finally found who they wanted to be. A thrilling concoction of industrial and electronica soundscapes mixed with heavy and intense post-metal. The realisation of their vision helped them gain a lot of recognition and go on to win the Brighton region of the Metal 2 the Masses.

This resulted in them playing Bloodstock 2022, appearing on the New Blood stage and absolutely smashing it. They did not disappoint. Their fusion was something unique across the weekend and it drew many heads into the tent. Bear in mind too, that Bloodstock 2022 was only their 6th live show ever.

So, Bloodstock ticked off the list, and no-one would have blamed Tribe of Ghosts for sitting back and drinking it in for a while. Hell, for some bands, it’s the pinnacle and they promptly disappear afterwards.

Not, this band though. This been all about refinement and continuing to turn Tribe of Ghosts into a perfectly-oiled machine that can appear on any stage at any show or festival. Getting stronger, more creative, and showing just how much drive and passion they have.

All of this resulted in the group putting out their best piece of music to date, the stunning single ‘Sunburner (Deny the Rot).’ That alone should have the highlight of Tribe of Ghost’s 2023 but then they got announced to play Bloodstock again. You know you’re doing something right when that happens. If that wasn’t enough, they have also released a brand-new single, the stunning new track, Hive.

Initially announced to play the Sophie Lancaster stage on the Thursday, which would have meant they effectively opened the festival, some band changes and movements has seen Tribe of Ghosts take a spot on the Saturday of the festival now, still on the Sophie Lancaster stage.

While it would have been very cool to see them open the festival, there’s a strong argument that they will get a lot more eyes and ears on them by playing the Saturday. In fact, we’re expecting the tent to be rammed for them as there’s no doubt more and more people are becoming familiar with them.

Few bands deserve this. Tribe of Ghosts deserve it. New Blood stage to Sophie Lancaster stage. Tell us that you can’t see the Ronnie James Dio stage in their future? We can’t wait, it’s going to be a very special show. Don’t take our word for it though. We asked Tribe of Ghosts what it means to play the festival again so soon. What Bloodstock means to them, what attendees can expect from the show, and what benefits they see from moving to the Saturday of the festival. They had this to say:

It is an incredible opportunity that we’re so honoured to have been given. After winning our Metal 2 The Masses final last year in Brighton, we had an amazing time at Bloodstock 2022 and couldn’t wait for the chance to come back – But we definitely didn’t expect it to be only a year later and on the SOPHIE stage! For a band as young as we are (Bloodstock 22 was our sixth show!) It’s been amazing to be given the chance to come back and perform at a festival that has been such an intrinsic part of our journey as a band.

For us, Bloodstock was one of our first gigs since our relaunch and in that it’s become a pivotal part of our history. We’re honoured to have been a part of it last year as it helped us build confidence in our identity and our purpose and we could not be more grateful to the opportunity that Simon and the Bloodstock team gave us.

In addition, it meant that we met and performed to so many new faces that we had not had the chance to do so before. Bloodstock gave us an incredible chance to be able to create a connection with the audience who came to see us on the New Blood Stage – we can’t wait to make that connection again on the Sophie Stage this year.

A Tribe of Ghosts live show is a combination of cinematic soundscapes and a performance that can only be described as feral. When we perform, we throw every bit of ourselves (quite literally) into every gig and turn as much of the venue as we can into our stage – quite often with Adam’s guitar ending up in the middle of the crowd with at least a few new dents and some pieces missing. But in that chaos, our show is all about release and connection. It’s amazing to feel the connection with the audience when our music resonates with them, and it is an honour to be part of that moment.

We’re so excited to be performing on the Saturday! We were honoured to be offered to perform as the first band of the weekend on the Thursday, but the opportunity to perform on the Saturday afternoon is enormous and beyond our expectations.

As a challenge, we know there will be a few bands that we could clash with, like Royal Republic, Employed To Serve on the main stage as well as the incredible acts that will be playing on the New Blood and Jager stages so we’re going to give it our all – but since our set change, we’ve had so many people tell us that they’re able to see us now due to when they’re arriving and we’re so excited to see everyone. Additionally, we’ll be playing during the highest point of the day, so we’ve got something very special planned for everyone wanting to get into the shade under the SOPHIE Tent.