Well, I got back from Download Festival yesterday. It was a crazy weekend, but definitely worth it! A word of warning, this is going to be stupidly long, so be ready to get the coffee out. If it does bother you, then the music reviews start from the Friday (natch). Anyway, onward to my adventure...
Download Festival - Donington Park, (10th, 11th &) 12th-14th June 2009
Wednesday 10th June – Day 1
I met with a couple of mates at Birmingham New Street at around 10:45, optimistic and excited about the festival. We got our tickets, and caught the train to Derby, where we caught a shuttle bus to the festival site.
Of course, getting inside the camping site was no easy task. Being as there were literally thousands of other music fans flocking to the festival, the queuing was horrendous. It took us around 30 minutes to finally get through, and my heavy suitcase certainly didn't help matters (I think I'll either pack less alcohol next year, or steal a shopping trolley... probably the latter.) Anyway, we finally made it to a decent site to set up camp. Well, the others made it first, I was too busy struggling with my case, the weakling I am.
Once the tents were set up, we chilled and the first order of business was a nice cool drink of Kopparberg. We needed it after such a hectic start. And then the rain came. It poured it down all day, and we no other choice but to take shelter in our tents. It was still fun though, and we eventually braved the rain and explored The Village (where the shops and food stalls on the festival site were) for a bit. We relaxed in the tents for a bit before attempting to sleep.
Thursday 11th June – Day 2
After an almost sleepless night, due to some folks next to us partying too hard, we got up at the ungodly hour of 7am.
There wasn't really that much to do, so things got a tad boring after a while. The main village and entire camp site were pretty much a mud-bath after such heavy rain, but thankfully the clouds vanished and the sun made it's first appearance. The weather pretty much remained glorious the duration of the weekend. We also decided that we were running low on booze, so your truly went to meet a friend in a Co-Op within Donnington to get some.
Never again will I venture there! The website had said it was a 10-15 minute walk to there. It's more like a 30-45 minute walk!! At this point, the sun was out, so we had to carry them all the way back to the camp site in the blazing heat. We even lost a couple of cans.
After that we just pretty much stayed in the tent until we decided to sleep.
Friday 12th June – Day 3
Finally, time for the bloody music to start! After a quick morning of getting ready, we headed to the arena for the first time, which proved to be a small trek.
We made our way to the front of the crowd, where I also met some friends from work (who we never saw again after this band), and we saw the opening band, Hollywood Undead. They seemed decent-ish at first, until I realised it was a poor excuse for rap-rock. I wasn't too impressed. After a bit of a venture round we caught Staind's set. They put on a pretty decent show, which was a huge improvement over the previous band. The highlight song for me was Outside, which bought the first sing-a-long of the festival. Next up a few of us legged it to the second stage to catch a band we were all waiting for, Dir en grey. They put on an excellent show, this was definitely one of the best bands of the weekend in my eyes (but then, I'm a big fan, so I'm biased.) Although the 30 minutes went by way too fast, and it was over as soon as it began. We were quite far back during the latter half of Killswitch Engage's performance. But I thought they were still rather good, even though it was an anti-climax for me after Dir en grey. Still, tracks like The end of Heartache and (their cover of) Holy Diver went down well. Limp Bizkit were truly in top form as well, it was fantastic to see them back together. They put on a fantastic show too; Break Stuff, My Generation and Rollin' were excellent live. We only caught the end of Lacuna Coil, although to me they didn't seem to be at thier best. It was a good performance, but something seemed a tad off about the sound. It was good to hear Enojy the Silence, Spellbound and Our Truth again though. We then awaited Korn and bloody hell they were good! Hits such as Freak on a Leash, Blind, Thoughtless and Here to Stay were amazing in the festival atmosphere. Plus Johnathan Davis did one of his trademark bagpipe solos. They ended their set with their cover of Another Brick in the Wall, but in my eyes they should have used that as the penultimate song of the setlist, and kept one of their classics till last. A few of our group weren't that interested in Faith No More, so we caught Meshuggah at the Tuborg stage. I didn't really know much about them, but they did a great performance. It was all very technical though, so some of it went over my head, plus it did feel a little repetitive. They're definitely a band I'll check out in the future though. We went to meet the others and managed to catch the end of Faith No More, who actually seemed pretty good. It was over not long after we got there however, so I couldn't really judge how decent they were.
With the first day over, we headed to our tent to rest for what would be a truly epic day.
Saturday 13th June – Day 4
First act of the day, Tim “Ripper” Owens was quite good, far better than the previous day's openers. His style reminded me of Judas Priest, which became apparent when I found out he'd once been in a Judas Priest tribute band. But his style also reminded me of a band I'm very fond of, Crush 40, so I enjoyed his set. Five Finger Death Punch put on a damn great show too, and truly got the crowd going, finally starting off the first moshpits of the day. They really are a band that are worth checking out live. However, DevilDriver increased the carnage even further. To put it in three words, they were brutal. Plus they managed to create the worlds largest moshpit ever, and that's not even a joke, some folks from Guinness World Records were even there to survey the event. Now, I'm not a big fan of moshpits (and you'll never catch me in one), but seeing the one during DevilDriver's set has to be one of the most epic things I've ever seen. Hatebreed were also really good, even though they weren't as mental as DevilDriver. Plus I was quite far back for the start of the set, as I needed water. I skipped DragonForce, as I'm not a very huge fan. A couple of us opted for Static-X instead. They're a band who I've wanted to see live for quite some time, and I'm pleased to say the wait was worth it; they put on a really good set. It was great to hear songs such as Black and White, I'm with Stupid and Push It live for the first time. No idea why they insisted on downing shots on stage though (but the woman who delivered the goods to them was rather attractive.) Again, it did seem to be over way too fast. Oh, and Wayne Static's hairdo was as mad as usual. Being as DragonFarce (a pun a mate and I penned) were still on the main stage, I stopped for The Answer. It actually made a nice change to listen to something not so heavy, and they were a lot of fun to watch. They seemed like a genuinely friendly bunch of Irish folk too! I headed back to the main stage afterwards, and that's where I stayed for the rest of the evening. I did manage to get a decent spot for Pendulum, but unfortunately, I wasn't really that impressed with their show. Don't get me wrong, they were good, and I enjoyed hearing Propane Nightmares, Blood Sugar and many of their other hits live, but something was missing. Plus they felt out of place, being shoved on the main stage between DragonForce and Manson. I don't get why there was a moshpit to this either. They were the biggest disappointment for me. I managed to get quite near the front after this, which was a great spot of luck! Marilyn Manson was up next, and I really enjoyed his show. There's been a ton of complaints about how terrible he was, but I don't get why. Maybe people thought his songs were too slow, perhaps it was what he played or maybe it was his attitude. But I felt it all worked rather well, the mix of old and new was a good blend. I guess his style was lost on some people within a festival atmosphere. Highlights for me were Disposable Teens, The Dope Show and, his encore, The Beautiful People. The last band of the day were the main headliners of the weekend, Spliknot. The term 'Oh. My. God.' springs to mind when I think back to their set, it was absolutely phenomenal! It was a huge non-stop frenzy, with the band blasting out hits such as Wait and Bleed, Before I Forget, Left Behind Duality and People = Shit. It was the perfect set for a Slipknot show, it was completely flawless (the bit where Chris lost his drum and stared at the floor for ages was obviously scripted by the way.) They did not only put on an amazing set, they put on an incredible show. Truly a landmark moment in Download Festival history.
I headed back to the tent to meet the others, and the party started. After Slipknot's set we were all on a huge high, and were finally in the festival mood. Many hilarious and memorable moments ensued, and we met so many great people! We went to bed at around 7 in the morning.
Sunday 14th June – Day 5
The final day of music at the event and, because of the partying from earlier, we ended up getting late and I sadly missed Stone Gods. Still, the day would prove to be just as epic as the last...
We were told to catch a band called Suicide Silence, due to their brutality, so we did... and bloody hell they were brutal! Whilst some of the lead singer's vocals weren't that great in my opinion (he screamed some lyrics, and roared others), it was a good overall sounding set. Once they finished, it was time to head to the main stage, but not before heading to the EA hub. It seemed quite good in there, with many games on display, including the upcoming Brütal Legend, which looks fantastic. We didn't stay too long, being as this was a MUSIC festival. Back at the main stage, Black Stone Cherry were on. They put on a great set, and seem like a decent heavy rock band. I didn't really know any of the songs (bar one), but they're another band I saw that are definitely worth checking out. Once thier set finish, it was as if I'd been transported back in time, due to the strong lineup of old-school rock bands. Journey were on next, and they were great. The show was fantastic, and their new vocalist, Arnel Pineda fitted in perfectly. Of course, there was only one way to end their show, with Any Way You Want It. We met with my mate's uncle and his friend after this, who seemed quite cool. I liked Dream Theater too, but started to feel ill (probably due to lack of food plus the heat) so couldn't appreciate them fully. Once that subsided though, it was fantastic. The technical aspects of their music is simply genius. They're really worth looking up on. ZZ Top put on a good set too, it was amazing how loud the trio could actually get, plus they were still in great form musically. Le Grange, Give Me All Your Lovin' and many other classics were a joy to see live. We got quite near the front for Whitesnake and it was great to see them. The only downside of the set was the fact that a solo battle between the two guitarists took far too long, but the rest was quite flawless. David Coverdale's communication with the crowd was pretty good too, with some comical statements. They ended their performance with Here I go Again, leading to another epic sing-a-long. Def Leppard ended the weekend with a huge bang. They put on a flawless show, it was incredible! There was even a tribute to drummer Rick Allen; 23 years ago the band's comeback gig was at the very same venue, after he had lost his arm and re-learned drums. The entire crowd cheered and applauded Allen, who stood up from behind his drums and raised his arm before wiping the tears from his eyes. This was truly the most emotional moment of the entire festival (even I was almost in tears, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.) They played a ton of classics, starting with Rocket and ending the set with Let's Get Rocked. All were performed flawlessly. A truly legendary performance. It was also noted that the official Download website was only streaming two of their songs, and a ton of extra cameras were set up, which leads me to believe that a live DVD of the gig is on the way.
We returned to the tent on another high. However, it was time for us to go, as we wanted to miss out on the rush later on. Plus the mayhem had already started with people setting fire to their tents. Kudos to the security, who put most of the fires out quite quickly though! We packed our stuff, packed up the tents and left at around 2am. After spending hours in the train station we finally headed home. Thus came the end of our adventure
Final thoughts
There may have been some hectic moments, but I don't regret going to Download at all. It was a truly amazing festival. Plus with such a strong line up, and some bands doing their best ever performances there, this event was not only the best Download ever (as many have said), but a music festival that will go down in music history. It's clear why it won best music event in the Metal Hammer awards, less than 24 hours after it finished.
There's one statement I heard that still echoes in my mind though. The words of Chris Robertson, frontman of Black Stone Cherry. And it goes something like this:
“Seeing so many people here at this event is proof that Rock 'n' Roll will never die.”
Amen to that is all I can say.
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