A definition that perfectly describes the fraternity of the metalhead; that tsunami of black-clad brethren with indecipherable t-shirts that engulfs any music venue whenever a metal band is appearing there.
Indeed, it never ceases to amaze me that no matter how far you travel to a metal event, you can always bet you’ll see a bunch of familiar faces, and the welcome will be big, genuine and immediate.
And so it was today, as FROM THE PIT rocked up at Helston’s 600-year-old Blue Anchor Inn, for the third iteration of Homecoming, a one-day mini-festival of metal, and the brainchild of Cober Mouth’s Adam Jones.

We actually had a chat with Adam earlier in the week, so if you’d like to read about his thinking and the philosophy behind the Homecoming event, you can check out the interview here.

Homecoming 2026 / Latest | From the Pit : South West

Homecoming 2026

Since its inception in 2024, Homecoming has become a major annual milestone in the south-west’s music calendar, and this year it’s twice as big, with two stages, a sizeable increase in capacity and a lineup that reads like a veritable who’s who of metal talent.

If you’re new to this event, simply walking into the venue will be your first surprise. From the street, the Blue Anchor Inn looks like any other traditional English pub, but it has a few surprises waiting for you inside. Step through the door, and
you find yourself in a long, well-worn, flagstone-paved corridor with a series of small side rooms, all of which look extremely inviting. The corridor then opens up into a large outdoor sheltered seating area, with a bar and plenty of tables and chairs.

Still well within earshot of the stages, this relative oasis of
tranquillity provides the perfect base camp for the merch crews, laptop-toting photographers, and the just plain war weary. At the far end, a small flight of steps leads down to the live music area, which is divided lengthways into two parts, each with its own stage.

To your left, you have the stone-built, hard-roofed “bowling alley”, which hosts the Boiler Room Stage, and to your right, you have the covered outdoor courtyard with the Rideout Main Stage. An open doorway between the two areas means you only need to take a couple of steps to move from one to the other.

Homecoming 2026

If you’ve never been to an event like this before, you might take one look at the assembled masses and think, “Bloody hell… I’m going to need some Holy water here!”, but anyone familiar with the metal scene knows they are surrounded by the best bunch of souls they could ever hope to meet. The music is incredible, the atmosphere is fantastic, and the camaraderie is off the charts. You can turn up in any random town for a metal gig, and as you walk towards the venue, more and more people who look just like you (everything blacker than everything else) will start flashing horns from across the street and hailing you as if they’ve known you forever. It’s a phenomenon that I think is peculiar to the metal genre, and it engenders a very special feeling of “belonging”.

Homecoming 2026

One particularly nice aspect of Homecoming is the fact that it features a wide range of bands with varying levels of experience. On the one hand, we have the new bands with just two or three years of pub gigs behind them, and on the other, we have bands that have toured extensively, been on the festival circuit for years, and may even have been signed by a record label.

From the audience’s point of view this is great; it not only gives us a chance to see what is coming over the horizon in the near
future, but also to snag any well-established bands who may have simply slipped under our radar.

Importantly for the newer bands, it allows them to see how the “pros” handle themselves in what is basically a festival situation, and to actually talk to them. Most of the old hacks are only too happy to chat with the newer bands and to offer them valuable tips and advice.

This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that many of the most experienced musos who aren’t even scheduled to play until 9pm, are already bouncing around in the pit when the first band goes on at midday. Similarly, the bands who opened at midday, are still here at 9pm, cheering for the headliners and throwing themselves into the melee. It’s always immensely gratifying to see how the “metal brotherhood” philosophy applies amongst the bands every bit as much as it does amongst the audience.

Of the fifteen bands playing here today, ten are from the south-west and the other five are from Derby, Wales, London, Liverpool and Cambridge. That’s an impressive gathering of talent by anyone’s reckoning, and the fact that bands are willing to travel so far shows just how highly they regard this event.

Here’s a quick trip through the running order for you, with a few extra words thrown in for a bit of colour.

KAOS – Rock/punk from Plymouth.
As festival openers, it falls to this young band to get the crowd fired up and ready for action. I’m pleased to say there are plenty of eager moshers on hand and as they press forward towards the
stage, Oli Martinez (who already looks like he’s been doing this for years), leaps into the pit, guitar and all, ready for a bit of close-quarters pushing and shoving. Straight away, hair is in the air, and the day is off to a flying start.

Kaos-Homecoming 2026

PARLAY – Piratecore from the south-west.
Not content with growling and screaming his way across the high seas (high C’s?), vocalist and Jack Sparrow lookalike Che, jumps off the stage to lead a quick circle pit, before embarking on a spot of slow-motion windmilling and high kicking. Bravely beckoning one of the mob to give him a good shove, he gets exactly what he asked for and immediately returns the favour. The crowd doesn’t need a second invitation and the pit catches fire… good job we’re not really on a square-rigger then!

PARLAY-Homecoming 2026