What band doesn’t love a sold-out show? Bloodywood started out their 2023 Rakshak Europe/UK tour with sellout after sellout. On the fourth night of the tour, they stopped in Stuttgart Germany for their fourth night of the tour. They have since kept the trend going with seemingly no end in sight to breaking their sold out streak.
Written by Jessica Trail
When someone mentions the combination of sounds from Indian folk metal band Bloodywood to metal fans the responses range from an audible “huh?” to the person tilting or shaking their heads. Somehow the six guys in Bloodywood’s touring line-up are able to make beautiful yet hard sounds that intuitively would not meld but it does and they do it in a splendid way that has fans around the world hooked! They started in New Dehli India producing metal inspired cover songs of pop hits ranging from “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran to “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley to “In Da Club” by 50 Cent.
Bloodywood took the stage at Im Wizemann in Stuttgart to a packed room of people ready to enjoy the interesting and profound mix of traditional Bollywood sounds mixed with heavy metal. When they came out there were loud cheers that filled the room. They started their set with “Gaddaar.” With the exception of a 2018 single all songs performed were from their 2022 independent debut album, Rukshak. They greeted the crowd and thanked them for showing up at the end of the first song. Up next was “BSDK.exe” and then the very popular song “Aaj.” At the end of the third song, they paused for a moment. Jayant Bhadula wanted to make sure the crowd knew the significance of the song “Dana Dan.” He continued to say that the song is about sexual assault and how it needs to be eradicated from society. He encouraged those in the audience to have difficult conversations with friends and family and to call people out when needed until it is gone.
See full Bloodywood performance photo gallery here.
The next song up was “Jee Veerey.” The song is about depression and mental illness. Before starting the crowd got a nice intro of encouragement about overcoming the demons within.
Jayant told the crowd “It is time to dive deep. It is like a ghost that finds life in the darkest corners of our minds. Haunts our footsteps like an unwelcomed shadowd like a dementor that feeds on our joy. This next song does not fight your battles for you but what it does is unlocks the power within.” As is the case with all of their songs there are deep feelings and emotions in each one, their next song “Zanjeero Se,” is about the struggles that people face and how some life struggles do not discriminate based on money or status.
The next song, “Machi Bhasad,” is about being the change you want to see in the world. It encourages listeners to not sit back and hope for change but to stand up and fight for the changes needed to make the world a better place for all people. They continued to wrap up the night by introducing the band members. The members include Jayant Bhadula on vocals/growls, Raoul Kerr providing rap vocals, Karan Katiyar on guitars/flute, Vishesh Singh on drums, Roshan Roy on bass, and Sarthak Pahwa on the dhol drum.
For the last song of the setlist of the night they performed their cover song of “Ari Ari.” Originally the song was performed by Danish and Indian collaboration group Bombay Rockers. Jayant continued by saying “We know that diversity is a gift. The reason we perform this song today is because Stuttgart knows that diversity is a gift! No matter where we are from, no matter the language we speak, the color of our skin, the food we eat, the people we love, the religion we follow the list goes on and on. We are all one people!”
With the set over and the band members exiting the stage the crowd was screaming for “one more song!” With that they came out and asked, “Did you say one more song? Are you sure?” After a moment they continued with “Alright Stuttgart, we can’t let all this good energy go to waste now, can we?” and performed an alternate version of “Gaddaar.” After the encore was over, they came out to the merchandise booth and took photos with and not only greeted every fan that waited but were willing to have conversations. The guys in Bloodywood are nice and show that they care a lot for every single supporter they have and it really shows at a live show of theirs. If your city is on the remaining Europe/UK list or the upcoming USA tours make sure to get tickets and do not miss them!
Bloodywood Links: Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Europe and UK Dates:
02.March – Warsaw, Poland
05.March – Frankfurt, Germany
06.March – Cologne, Germany
07.March – Stuttgart, Germany
08.March – Nijmegen, Netherlands
09.March – Amsterdam, Netherlands
11.March – Hamburg, Germany
12.March – Copenhagen, Denmark
13.March – Berlin, Germany
14.March – Prague, Czech Republic
15.March – Munich, Germany
17.March – Vienna, Austria
19.March – Milan, Italy
20.March – Zurich, Switzerland
21.March – Paris, France
22.March – Brussels, Belgium
24.March – Brighton, UK
25.March – Milton Keys, UK
26.March – Glasgow, UK
28.March – Manchester, UK
29.March – Bristol, UK
30.March – London, UK
31.March – Birmingham, UK
USA Dates:
May 02 – Seattle, WA
May 03 – Portland, OR
May 05 – Reno, NV
May 06 – Sacramento, CA
May 07 – Los Angeles, CA
May 08 – Santa Ana, CA
May 10 – Denver, CO
May 12 – Chicago, IL
May 13 – St Louis, MO
May 15 – San Antonio, TX
May 16 – Dallas, TX
May 18 – Daytona Beach, FL
May 19 – Athens, GA
May 20 – Greensboro, NC
May 22 – New York, NY
May 23 – Harrisburg, PA
May 24 – Pittsburgh, PA
May 25 – Columbus, OH
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