{"id":327331,"date":"2025-08-08T07:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T07:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/327331\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T07:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T07:44:15","slug":"bin-jousting-is-the-insane-heavy-metal-festival-sport-that-the-olympics-needs-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/327331\/","title":{"rendered":"Bin Jousting is the insane heavy metal festival sport that the Olympics needs right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since its launch in 2001, Bloodstock<\/a> has grown from a one-day indoor metal festival held at Derby\u2019s Assembly Rooms to the mammoth four-day extravaganza it is today. This field of screams has played host to such heavyweight headliners as Judas Priest<\/a>, Slayer<\/a>, Ghost<\/a>, Lamb Of God, King Diamond and numerous others, right up to this year\u2019s unholy trinity of bill-toppers Machine Head, Trivium and Gojira.<\/p>\n

All that alone makes it the UK\u2019s greatest metal festival. But there\u2019s another reason why we love Bloodstock<\/a> so much: Bin Jousting.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, Bin Jousting is one part extreme sport, one part medieval re-enactment and about 12 parts the kind of drunken twattery you and your mates get up to after you\u2019ve been kicked out of the pub. This insanity involves two people sitting on top of separate industrial-sized wheelie bins which are then pushed towards each other. If someone falls off, they lose. If neither person falls off, they wrestle until one of them does.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal how big it is,\u201d says Bloodstock co-founder Adam Gregory. \u201cPeople are so passionate about it. It\u2019s almost more important to some of them than watching the bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The roots of Bin Jousting are shrouded in mystery, though the sport – and we\u2019re most definitely calling it a sport here – stretches back to at least the mid-2010s. It was reportedly the brainchild of a mad genius named Top Hat. Hammer reached out to this enigmatic figure but didn\u2019t receive a reply (when we say \u2018reached out\u2019, we mean \u2018sent a couple of half-arsed emails\u2019). For years it would take place under the cover of of darkness on the festival campsites, until security came to disperse the crowds.<\/p>\n

Adam says it came on his radar six or seven years ago via an unusual avenue. \u201cAnd that was only because the guy that supplied us with the bins was invoicing us for quite a lot of money for damage,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t work out why we were getting these bills. So we tracked it for a couple of years, and then we discovered that there was this thing happening that we weren\u2019t aware of.\u201d<\/p>\n

He describes what followed as \u201ca battle of wills\u201d between the festival organisers and the growing number of Bin Jousters. \u201cWe asked them to stop it,\u201d he says. \u201cWe took the wheels off the bins, we chained them to the fences, we tried different things. They just found more ingenious ways of freeing the bins.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In their defence, the organisers\u2019 concerns weren\u2019t unfounded. There were health and safety regulations to contend with, not mention the very real prospect of injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne guy was doing this illegally a few years ago, and he broke his leg in two places and had to be taken to hospital,\u201d says Adam. \u201cI think he\u2019d only been onsite for 20 minutes. He emailed us on Monday, saying \u2018Best weekend!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The two sides found a solution a couple of years ago. The Bloodstock team began working with Top Hat to make things safer for anyone who wanted to do it without losing its lunatic spirit. Crash mats now line the runway, the bins themselves have crash bars, reinforced tops and safety handles, while participants need to wear protective headgear and neck braces.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s not as dangerous as it used to be, but it was a choice of doing it that way or not at all,\u201d says Adam. \u201cWe wanted to embrace it without sucking the fun out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, Bin Jousting is as much part of Bloodstock as beer, burgers and a bloke wandering through the crowd dressed as Jesus. Even the bands are getting in on the action. Adam says that a member of one of last year\u2019s headliners was spotted doing it. \u201cI can\u2019t say who it is cos it\u2019ll probably get them in trouble,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At the moment, Bin Jousting is unique to Bloodstock. \u201cBut then so was Viking Rowing,\u201d says Adam of the mosh pit phenomenon that began during Amon Amarth\u2019s set at the festival back in 2009. \u201cThat\u2019s a global phenomenon now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like skateboarding and BMXing before it, Bin Jousting has officially gone legit. The bins themselves are sponsored by Fat Frank\u2019s, the festival camping shop. Last year\u2019s bins were bright orange. This year they\u2019ve been tricked out with flames. \u201cWe\u2019ve had brand new bins built,\u201d says Adam. \u201cIt\u2019s not a small amount of money that\u2018s gone into this.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s next? With Bloodstock celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, should we mark the occasion by lobbying for Bin Jousting to become a sport at the next Olympics? It can\u2019t be any less ridiculous than dressage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, they have martial arts at the Olympics, don\u2019t they?\u201d says Adam. \u201cWhy not International Bin Jousting?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bloodstock takes place at Catton Hall, Derbyshire from Aug 7-10. Buy Friday day tickets <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bin Jousting\ufffc\ufffc 3 at bloodstock 2022 – YouTube
\n\"Bin<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Bloodstock Bin Jousting 2015 – YouTube
\n\"Bloodstock<\/p>\n

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