Last year was the tenth anniversary of
Download Festival and boasted such a strong line
up with the likes of The Prodigy, Metallica and
Black Sabbath headlining the event however over
the course of the weekend the unpredictable British
weather did everything in its power to give Download
Festival a battering with the site becoming a
muddy mess with thousands of peoples tents broke
from the extreme rain even before a second of
music had been played, musically the festival
was a huge success but the bad weather put a downer
on many people’s festival with a lot of
people leaving early.
Now a year on Download Festival have gone all
out and secured it’s most impressive line
up to date with the likes of slipknot, Iron Maiden
and Rammstein headlining the main stage across
the weekend and acts from Papa Roach, HIM, Korn,
Five Finger Death Punch, Jimmy Eat World, Europe,
Rat Attack, Airbourne, The Gaslight Anthem, Stone
Sour and many other bands completing the festivals
big diverse line up which features over 150 bands
playing 5 stages over the course of the weekend
and it was safe to say that the bad weather of
2012 did nothing to put people off returning to
the festival in 2013 as over 90,000 rockers headed
down to Donington Park for the 11th instalment
of the Download festival.
Friday
We made it into the festival site just as Rise
To Remain (3/5) took to the stage and
this year everything seems to be on their side
as last year their set got cancelled right at
the last minute due to the extreme weather and
the late opening of the main arena, in their short
30minutes set they wasted no time in warming up
the crowd with their fast paced rock music and
the likes of ‘Heartless’, ‘The
Serpent’ and ‘Bridges will Burn’
pleased their fans no end.
We headed over to the Pepsi Max stage next to
check out Patent Pending (4/5)
but due to the British weather opening the heavens
and rain coming down extremely fast the tent was
packed out with people trying to keep dry so we
stood at the entrance of the tent and listened
to Patent Pending unload their infectious poppy
punk on a packed crowd and from the start of the
set right until the end frontman Joe Ragosta had
the crowd entertained with his friendly banter
but the most comical moment of the set was when
he encouraged the crowd to flip the bird to Justin
Bieber in a funky dance routine, musically their
most recent song ‘Pyscho In Love’
went down well and made the unlucky people who
could not make it into the tent forget about the
rain for a few minutes.
Up next was Papa Roach (5/5) now
last time I watched Papa Roach was back in December
when they supported Stone Sour at Brixton Academy
and on the night I thought they put on a better
show than Stone Sour and today Papa Roach open
with ‘Still Swinging’ and put on one
of the best shows of the festival, there set list
was like a mini greatest hits featuring 11 tracks
which span across the 20 years they have been
together as a band with the likes of ‘Between
angels And Insects’, ‘Getting Away
With Murder’, ‘Scars’ and ‘Dead
Cell’ going down a storm with the crowd
with the majority of people singing along, towards
the middle of the set Jacoby Shaddix headed out
to the crowd and threw himself straight into the
mud to fully get in the festival sprit and returned
to the stage dripping from head to toe in mud
which gained him mega respect from the strong
crowd watching, Papa Roach finished with the song
which kicked it all off for them ‘Last Resort’
and it was epic hearing thousands of fans singing-a-long
word for word.
After Papa Roach we went for a walk around the
festival site to check out the general stores,
merch and bars which soon saw us join a massive
queue to purchase a bottle of Iron Maidens Trooper
beer which was on sale through the duration of
the festival, on first taste I thought the ale
was disgusting but after a couple more sips it
quickly become enjoyable and I am sure became
the drink of the festival for many people, whilst
walking through the festival site we could hear
Down in the background who were showing the mainstage
crowd how to rock out with ease.
We soon found ourselves at the Zippo Encore Stage
and Europe (3/5) had just started
so we decided to hang about and watch the whole
set, Europe managed to fit in 7 songs in their
40minute set and their classic songs ‘Firebox’,
‘Superstitous’, ‘ Scream Of
Anger’ and ‘Rock The Night’
were easily pleasing their hardcore fans at the
front but everyone else looked a bit stale but
as soon as Europe announced that they had one
song left and went straight into ‘The Final
Countdown’ the whole crowd erupted with
excitement with people jumping around with excitement
whilst singing-a-long.
After Europe we headed straight back down to the
mainstage for Korn (4/5) now
Korn were one of the bands that I was looking
forward to most for a number of reasons, firstly
the band were one of my favourite bands when growing
up with me heading out to see Korn a couple of
times on every tour of the UK but secondly it
was the first Korn show in many years with guitarist
Brian ‘Head’ Welch who has just returned
to the band and from the start you can tell that
Korn are here to impress as they open with one
of their heaviest songs ‘Blind’ which
went down a storm with the crowd with circle pits
opening up all over the place yet for me it was
a pleasure to hear Head lay down those killer
riffs he wrote all those years ago again. As the
set progresses Korn stick mainly to their classics
such as ‘falling Away From Me’, ‘Coming
Undone’, ‘Did My Time’, ‘Got
The Life’, ‘Here To Stay’, ‘Freak
On A Leash’ but they still find place to
play the synth riddled ‘Narcissistic Cannibal’
and Johnathon Davies also gets his bagpipes out
before they blast into ‘Shoots And Ladder’s
but the heavy wind that is up today which makes
his bagpipe performance sound so bad but you have
to respect the man for trying, overall it was
good to see Korn on stage looking like a happy
family and their set was rounded off with the
crowd and band singing happy birthday to drummer
Ray Luzier.
Bullet For My Valentine (4/5)
took to the stage next who celebrated their seventh
appearances at Download Festival warming up for
the mighty Slipknot and they waste no time warming
up the crowd with pyro and a good collection of
songs from their back catalogue.
The set that Bullet For My Valentine played was
extremely enjoyable and the crowd really turned
out for them tonight with the majority of people
singing along and the mosh pit erupting to the
more riff-tastic songs such as ‘Your Betrayal’,
‘Temper Temper’ and ‘Scream
Aim Fire’ and set closer ‘Tears Don’t
Fall’, it is never an easy job being sandwiched
between Korn and Slipknot but I feel that Bullet
For My Valentine pulled it off tonight and followed
on perfectly form and just about warmed the crowd
up for Slipknot.
The moment that everyone was waiting for finally
arrived when Slipknot (5/5) took
to the stage dressed in white boiler suits and
ready to put on a performance to either equal
or out do their 2009 Download headline performance
which has gone down in the Download history books
as best performance ever at the festival.
Now tonight’s show is Slipknot’s
second performance in the UK since the sad passing
of bassist Paul Gray yet Slipknot are here with
90,000 fans to do what they do best by rocking
out and pleasing their fans whilst also remembering
the life of Paul Gray and paying respect to him
with such an energetic performance full of songs
he helped create.
It is safe to say that tonight’s show was
one of the most hectic Slipknot shows in a long
time as on a number of occasions Corey Taylor
had to stop the show as the barrier kept looking
like it was breaking and a lot of fans were left
on the floor struggling to get up and Corey Taylor
being the amazing front man that he is shouted
out “We are not going to continue until
everyone is safe, the barriers are breaking and
no one is getting hurt on our time”, luckily
everyone listened to Corey and within the matter
of seconds the show continued.
Slipknot played for nearly two hours and played
a set which was very similar to the last time
they were at Download but that didn’t matter
as it has been a solid couple of years since Slipknot
last played in the UK and every Slipknot show
is a pleasure to watch no matter what set they
play as Slipknot are easily the most energetic,
hectic yet enjoyable band to watch live as you
really don’t know what is going to happen
from one minute to the next especially when you
have the Clown rising in the air jumping around
on his gear whilst equally smashing the hell out
of it.
The songs that Slipknot played were truly epic
with the likes of ‘Wait And Bleed’,
‘Before I Forget’, ‘Eyeless’,
‘Dead Memories’, ‘Left Behind’,
‘Pulse Of The Maggots’, ‘ The
Heretic Anthem’, ‘Psychosocial’
and ‘Duality’ making up the majority
of the set but it was the amazing ‘Spit
It Out’ which was where it proper dawned
on you that you were at a Slipknot show as Corey
taylor demanded that the strong 90,000 crowd get
down on the floor and jump back up in the air
when he shouts “jump the fuck up”,
the moment was truly epic and will easily gone
in the Download Festival history books.
The encore featured ‘(sic)’, ‘People
= Shit’, ‘Surfacing’ and set
closer ‘Til We Die’ and as soon as
Slipknot left the stage 90,000 started to leave
the main arena for the long journey back to their
tents, hotels or home but we a smile on their
face after witnessing such a strong Slipknot show
and also with the news that Slipknot back will
be back very soon as Corey Taylor announced on
stage earlier in the night.
Saturday
We got to festival site pretty early and headed
straight in to see Heavens Basement (5/5)
take to the Zippo Encore stage, the band had a
short 25 minute set and they wasted no time what
so ever and started with album opener ‘Welcome
Home’ whilst quickly woke this sleepy crowd
up. Heavens Basement only had time to play 5 songs
but they easily picked 5 of their most energetic
songs to play with the likes of ‘I Am Electric’
and ‘Fire, Fire’ following on from
the opening song with perfection, I am been following
Heavens Basement right from the start and I feel
after today’s massive performance their
fan base is going to go through the roof and the
recognition they deserve is finally going to come
their way.
Black Star Riders (4/5) took
to the main stage next and a couple of weeks before
the festival they were not even listed to be playing
but due to Buckcherry pulling out right at the
last minute festival booker Andy Copping wasted
no time in asking Black Star Riders to fill the
space and he made a good decision getting them
on board to play the festival as judging from
today’s crowd not many people knew too much
on this re jigged version of Thin Lizzy but the
Black Star Riders mixed their set up well by playing
some of the best songs from their debut album
like ‘Bound For Glory’, ‘Hey
Judas’, ‘Kingdom Of The Lost’
but also adding a few classic Thin Lizzy tracks
such as ‘Whisky In The Jar’ and ‘The
Boys Are Back’ to show the crowd that they
are a new band but have not and will not ever
forget about their roots.
We headed to the Jagermeister stage next for a
bit of acoustic action, the first band we caught
was Straight Lines (4/5) now
Straight Lines are a band that I have seen a few
times over the past couple of years and on some
occasions they have been at the top of their game
and at others they have come across quite boring
yet today the acoustic side of things seemed to
of suited Straight Lines as they really got the
crowd’s attention and before you knew it
they had a massive amount of the crowd who have
never met before dancing around the field in a
massive conga line.
Up next were Crowns (4/5) who
are another band that I have shown interest in
over the last year or so due to their infectious
punk folk sound and today they treated the crowd
at the Jagermeister stage to their full band show
as their music is as close as you can get to being
acoustic without actually being acoustic, songs
like ‘Kissing Gate’ and ‘Parting
In The Porch’ left the majority of people
watching with a smile on their face.
After Crowns we quickly headed back to the main
stage to catch Alice In Chains (4/5)
now last time I saw Alice In Chains was at Sonisphere
Festival back in 2010 so it was good to catch
them at Download Festival today and I was glad
that I did as they put on a solid performance
with the likes of ‘Down In A Hole’,
‘Check My Brain’, ‘Stone’
and set closer ‘Rooster’ all going
down well with the crowd, the only downside was
that I felt that Alice In Chains could of done
with a longer set as they have so many classic
songs to play which they sadly didn’t have
time to play.
We headed to the Zippo Encore stage next to catch
dad rockers Thunder (4/5) now
last time I watched Thunder was at High Voltage
in London back in 2011 they put on a fantastic
show then so I had high hopes them today and I
wasn’t disappointed as they played through
the likes of ‘Dirty Love’, ‘River
Of Pain’, ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’,
‘Love Walked In’ and ‘I Love
You More than Rock ‘N’ Roll’
which show that after 25 years despite a few split
up’s Thunder are still going strong and
still have the fan base who cry out to see them
time and time again.
Jimmy Eat World (5/5) were up
next and were easily alongside Heavens Basement
as the band of the day, the stage was packed as
Jimmy Eat World played through the classics with
the crowd singing-a-long word for word to the
likes of ‘My Best Theory’, ‘Our
House’, ‘Bleed American’, ‘The
Sweetness’ and set closer ‘The Middle’
, Jimmy Eat World really are at the top of their
game these days and really do deserve to be at
the dizzy heights alongside the likes of past
touring partners Green Day and Blink 182.
Enter Shikari (5/5) took to the
Zippo Encore stage next for their headline performance
and they put on a massive show which is full of
synths bashing your ears, mental lighting pleasing
your eyes and a collection of songs which run
right through the years from when Enter Shikari
released their debut album in 2007 right up until
their latest song ‘The Paddington Frisk’
which is completed with the maddest dance routine
since Psy’s ‘Gagnam Style’.
Considering Enter Shikari were headlining they
only had an hour set and had to play in broad
day light as in classic Download style the second
stage was due to close moments before the headliners
Iron Maiden took to the main stage so the lighting
show despite being quite impressive was slightly
wasted tonight as the full effect was not met
and also no one could bring out their glow sticks
and going mental as it was to light to have that
kind of effect, however Enter Shikari and their
fans did not let this get them down as they played
the likes of ‘Sorry, You’re Not A
Winner’, ‘Radiate’, ‘Sssnakepit’,
‘ Juggernauts’, ‘Gandi Mate,
Gandi’, ‘Mothership’ and many
other killer tracks whilst also mixing the majority
of the songs up slightly whilst still maintaining
the big forceful sound they are known for.
As soon as Enter Shikari finished the majority
of the crowd headed to the main stage to get a
spot for Iron Maiden but due to see Iron Maiden
many times in the past I had other plans and headed
to the Red Bull stage to catch the up and coming
British punk band Rat Attack (5/5)
however before Rat Attack took to the stage I
did see the Spitfires flay over for the start
of the Iron Maiden set and have to say that it
easily is the most opening moments of a live show
ever, moments later Rat Attack take to the stage
for a short bouncy punk set set, the tent they
played to was pretty empty with a maximum of 150
people in the tent due to Iron Maiden being on
just across the field but Rat Attack did not let
this bother them and put on a show like they were
playing to thousands of people, front man Mike
Dodges wore a shiny gold shirt for the set looking
a bit like a game show host yet spent the majority
of the set bouncy across the stage whilst screaming
the lyrics to ‘Facehooked’, ‘Look
Back And Laugh’ and recent single ‘Heartbeat’.
After Rat Attack we headed to the back of the
mainstage and watched what was left of Iron Maiden
and luckily timed it right to catch the likes
of ‘Run To The Hills’ and ‘Fear
Of The Dark’ before heading back.
Sunday
As we arrived at the festival site we could hear
Sacred Mother Tongue in the distance but sadly
never managed to get in on time to see them however
we made it into the main arena just in time for
the Cancer Bats (5/5) to take
to the stage now the Cancer Bats have been waiting
an whole year for this moment after their main
stage slot got cancelled last year due to the
weather and the late opening of the main arena
however their mates in Billy Talent did invite
them up on stage for one song however this year
they got a full 30 minute set and Liam Cormier
made the crowd know that he is glad that they
finally got their moment to play the main stage
and also let the crowd know that the wait was
painful but worth it.
Cancer Bats played one hell of a hectic set laying
down some fantastic riffs throughout the likes
of ‘Bricks And Mortar’, ‘Pneumonia
Hawk’ , ‘R.A.T.S’ and even their
Beastie Boys cover ‘Sabotage’, Liam
Cormier spent the set running around like someone
who had been let out for the day whilst the crowd
were opening circle pits in nearly every corner
of the mosh pit which I sure quickly shook off
any hangovers today.
Coal Chamber (2/5) were up next,
now I haven’t heard a lot about Coal Chamber
in many years, I know they reformed back in 2011
and were due to play Sonisphere in 2012 before
it got cancelled and were quickly to get announced
for Download this year but there set was poor
the band sounding shocking and out dated and even
the likes of ‘Loco’ and ‘Big
Truck’ did nothing please the crowd, Coal
Chamber may well be a blast from the past but
I can’t see Dez Fafara putting Devil Driver
on hold in the near future to concentrate on getting
Coal Chamber fully back in the scene.
The last time Five Finger Death Punch
(5/5) played Download Festival was in
2010 and their set got cut short due to front
man Ivan Moody encouraging the crowd to crowd
surf and come up on stage this pissed the security
off and led to health and safety issues that the
mic was quickly turned off and Five Finger Death
Punch’s set ended however this year Ivan
Moody touched on what happened in 2010 and promised
that the same thing wouldn’t happen this
time, however Moody was still on a mission doing
his best to piss the security off and played a
quick game of Ivan says where he got a number
of kids up on stage who then went on to hand bang
whilst Moody carried on swearing and throwing
abuse at the security telling one if he touches
another kid he is going to break his fucking nose.
Musically Five Finger Death Punch were on top
form with the likes of ‘The Way Of the Fist’,
‘Lift Me Up’ and ‘The Bleeding’
causing a frenzy in the pit.
Corey Taylor’s other band Stone
Sour (4/5) were up next, now Corey Taylor
was completing a triple whammy of appearances
at Download 2013 with his Stone Sour performance
as on the Friday he headlined with Slipknot on
the Saturday he was in the signing tent signing
copies of his book and this afternoon he was pleasing
the crowd in Stone Sour.
Stone Sour managed to fit 11 songs into their
set and it was done in true Stone sour style opening
with a mad flurry of hard hitters such as ‘Gone
Sovereign’, ‘Absolute Zero’,
‘Mission Statement’ and ‘Made
Of Scars’ before things become more chilled
out as Corey Taylor treated the crowd to an solo
cover of Alice In Chains ‘Nutshell’
before going on to play the massive sing-a-long
crowd pleaser ‘Bother’ with the set
then picking up in pace with the rest of the band
rejoining Corey Taylor for the classic songs ‘Through
Glass’, ‘ Get Inside’, ‘30/30-150’
and a stunning cover of Black Sabbaths ‘Children
Of The Grave’.
As the sun is glazing down over Castle Donington
The Gaslight Anthem (4/5) are
first to admit that they are slightly out of place
playing so later in the afternoon on the main
stage at the metal festival and if you look around
the nearly packed out field that was here moments
ago to see Stone Sour has emptied with the majority
of people most probably moved on to the Zippo
Encore stage for everyone’s favourite Australian
rockers Airbourne play an unpredictable set.
The Gaslight Anthem don’t let this bother
them and play a collection of their best songs,
opening with the stunning ‘Handwritten’
which is followed up by ‘The ’59 Sound’
and as the set progresses The Gaslight Anthem
really do blast out the hits with ‘American
slang’, ‘45’, ‘Too Much
Blood’ and even a cover of The Misfits ‘Astro
Zombies’ dominating this sunny afternoon.
A Day To Remember (4/5) are on
next over at the Zippo Encore Stage and they put
on a show to remember and prove that you don’t
need on expensive stage props to have a good time
and instead launch toilet roll into the crowd
and encourage the crowd to attempt some surfboard
crowd surfing where someone lays down on top of
the crowd and then someone climbs on the person
laying down and pretends to surf board, hundreds
of people attempt it but only a few succeed, whilst
the person that weren’t brave enough to
participate are left mesmerized by what’s
happening in front of them.
Through their set A Day To Remember churn out
‘2nd Sucks’, ‘A Shot In The
dark’, ‘ All I Want’, ‘The
Plot To Bomb The Panhandle’ but by the time
set closer ‘The Downfall Of Us All’
is played you are left wondering how their set
has passed so quickly as so much fun was had yet
before A Day To Remember leave the stage they
are quick to remind us that they have a headline
UK tour confirmed for 2014.
Up next is the biggest and most painful clash
of the whole Festival Limp Bizkit (5/5)
and Rammstein (5/5)
but luckily Limp Bizkit start a good 30minutes
before Rammstein are due to start so we hang out
right in-between the main and second stage so
we can see and hear Limp Bizkit whilst also keeping
an eye on the main stage to move quickly when
Rammstein start.
Limp Bizkit take to the stage looking slightly
different with Fred Durst now sporting a fully
grown beard and Wes Borland in yet another one
of his weird and wacky outfits, Limp Bizkit tease
the fuck out of the crowd tonight with an ongoing
rifftastic intro but soon get down to business
playing the songs that everyone wants to hear
such as ‘Rollin’, ‘Nookie’,
‘Hot Dog’, ‘My Generation’
and generally getting the mosh pit super charged
with their heavy riffs and amazing stage presence.
We quickly make our way to the main stage moments
before Rammstein take to the stage and in true
Rammstein style fireworks are blasted into the
air and general fire is let off on the stage as
the curtain hiding their stage show falls down
and Rammstein took to the stage to one of the
best set’s Download Festival has ever hosted.
Now over the last couple of years Rammstein have
toured the UK heavily and their stage show is
always quite similar yet tonight it is such a
pleasure to watch their show outside and alongside
90,000 people some who know what to expect and
some who have no idea what to expect and tonight
Rammstein brought everything with them and did
as much as they could to make tonight’s
performance one that people will never forget.
Seriously where else are you going to see a man
set fire to, a huge penis squirt foam out over
the crowd or a man get bummed by a huge dildo
with spraying juices dominating the stage for
a couple of minutes? This is all part of Rammstein’s
stage show tonight and it is moments like this
that keep your eyes peeled on the stage for the
duration in suspense of what is going to happen
next.
Rammstein played for just over one and a half
hours and they managed to fit 18 tracks in which
the majority of the songs being taken from their
most recent ‘Made In Germany’ greatest
hits style collection, the likes of ‘Mein
Teil’, ‘ Links 2-3-4’, ‘Du
hast’, Buck Dich’, ‘Ich Will’,
‘Mein Herz Brennt’, ‘Sonne,
and regular set closer ‘Pussy’ all
went down a storm.
Now Rammstein are a band unlike any other band
around they managed to play a whole set without
muttering a word to the crowd but instead they
let their music, fire and general crazy antics
on stage do the talking from them and I am pretty
sure that the majority of Download Festival goers
left thinking that Rammstein were the band of
the weekend as let’s face it they are the
full package.
Overall Download 2013 was a massive success and
people’s faith in the festival was easily
regained after the dreadful weather of 2012, there
was some rain across the course of the weekend
but nothing major, there were a few sound issues
on the main stage early on in the festival but
this was mainly due to the heavy wind which would
of been hard to prevent however these small issues
was not enough to put a dampener on Download 2013
which was easily the biggest and best Download
festival to date, roll on Download Festival 2014.
Review By Trigger |
