Photo Credit: Abbi Draper
A year on from the heatwave which scorched the hallowed turf of Donington Park and we are back at Download Festival. But this time around there is no fear of sunstroke as Mother Nature this year decided to unleash her full wet, torrential fury on us rock n’ roll revellers, have us soaked to the bone and wading through sticky, glue like mud which by the end of the weekend was well over our ankles despite festival bosses best efforts to absorb the worst with daily tractor loads of hay.
The horrific weather also played havoc with the sound and equipment with a number of bands bemoaning technical issues from the stage with some sets cut short but in spite of all this it was a weekend to remember. A time to rejoice. Fists clenched and thrusting through the rainy skies, feet stomping through the mud below, a smile as wide as the East Midlands runway and rejoicing on the most sacred rock and roll and metal grass this side of the Atlantic.
Friday
Our Friday began with Hanabie who got the party started with their unmistakable J-Pop and metal genre smashing sound. They had the bravest and earliest pit goers swarming in circles. On we strolled into Those Damn Crows who were plugged in and roaring from the Apex Stage. By now the rain was teeming down but the Welsh rockers didn’t miss a beat.
Keeping our pedal on the metal we take in Scene Queen who generates a huge roar on stage by revealing her plans to donate her Download fee to charities supporting Palestine. Her unique bimbocore sound is a big hit and underlined by the droves of early morning tune seekers making a beeline to hear their unique spin and nods to all things Barbie with tongue firmly in cheek and voice firmly soaring in the skies above. Black Stone Cherry brought their biggest hits and delivered them in their glorious southern drawl with In My Blood proving an especially popular album deep cut with the crowd.
Sing-a-long of the day came within the sardine packed Avalanche Tent where Wheatus crooned ‘I’m just a teenage dirtbag baby’ like it was the early noughties all over again. The over 40s and all the way down to the fresh faced teens who probably consider this a nostalgic or ancient track bellowed every word back and the tent seemed to be swaying with the noise and energy within.
We stayed in the Avalanche to catch Busted who were a huge draw. The crowd filled the tent and then as far as we could see beyond onto the festival horizon with Downloaders desperate to get a peek or drop an ear on the Busted set. A surprise cover of Hanson’s MMMBop fit seamlessly alongside their own arsenal of pop rock hits from years gone by and who wouldn’t sing along to Crashed The Wedding or Year 3000? The boys were also clearly having the time of their lives and had smiles you couldn’t take off with an angle grinder which was brilliant to see.
Funeral For a Friend headlined the Opus Stage (see Bring The Noise UK for an interview with the boys soon) and as they clashed with Apex Headliners Queens of the Stone Age, it meant we had to dart between the two stages to catch a little of each set. That’s never ideal but we were keen to watch a little of both but the walk between stages was slow due to the conditions. FFAF were of course a last minute addition to the Download card after Bad Omens dropped out, the Welsh rockers were fronted by Lucas Woodland who has added an entirely new, credible and badass layer to the band. His voice is goose bump inducing and ferocious and fits the band perfectly. On the Apex QOTSA are bringing down the curtain on night one with a no frills, no pomp, no pyro, old school, head down, galloping through their back catalogue. 7/10
Saturday
A late start due to emergency ground prep and the Donington lawn which was cut up worse than a corpse from a slasher movie, and Bambie Thug were handed the keys to Download and they unlocked the musical doors for the second shift with a typically energetic and eye catching display of ferocious musical angst, bangers with a toe dipped in a multitude of genres and no little daring style. Bambie, fresh off the back of performing at the famous Eurovision song contest as Ireland’s representative, Bambi brought the drama, pomp and spectacle to the Saturday event from the off. A heart wrenching cover of Zombie by The Cranberry’s which they dedicate to the people of Palestine silences the crowd who are captivated in a moment between the enigmatic singer and those watching in the field below.
A trip to the Opus Stage – Download’s second stage and heir to the throne – was next to check out the bone rattling death metal side project of Michael Poulsen – Asinhell. A set which was heavier than soaking wet, Poulsen and co battled some technical issues to blast the early morning scaries and any hangover blues clean out of the faces of a decent sized crowd for pre lunch time on a muddy morning. On the Avalanche Stage were Lowlives who, buoyed by the release of their debut album, unleash a sonic blast of musical magic for some ear tingling Saturday night delight. Plenty 90’s inspired tunes on display, with the volume cranked up to twelve, and an energy unrivalled anywhere else at that time of the day.
Back to the main stage and the rain was causing havoc on stage with Babymetal’s set, one of the ones we were most excited to see all weekend, cut drastically short due to soggy gremlins. Despite this the band played the hell out of what they could in their shorter set time with Su-Metal splashing through visible puddles pooling on the stage. It was great but we all wish it was a little longer. Enter Shikari are no strangers to Download having first played way-back-when in 2006 but remarkably this is their first ever performance on the Apex Stage but on this form it won’t be their last. A swan dive into the mud pit in his white slacks has the crowd laughing alongside a band who bring almost all the bells and whistles of their sold out Wembley run to Download. Bringing the curtain down on an unforgettable set with A Kiss For the Whole World you can’t help thinking we just witnessed a headliner audition and one they passed with flying colours.
Then it was time for The Offspring. A gateway band for us, upon hearing and buying their breakthrough record Smash way back in the day, the band became a gateway into the wide and varied world of rock, punk and metal. We still love Smash and it remains one of our all time favourite records and lucky for me they wheel out an armful of the album’s biggest hitters here for us. Their set is bookended with the album’s two biggest bangers with Come Out and Play and Self Esteem but the middle is not just filler with tracks like Want You Bad and Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) prompting a monster sing-a-long on the muddy banks of Donington Park.
A first UK show in two decades means that Pantera is the only destination next and to have the chance to hear some of metal’s biggest tracks live for the first time in my gig going life. Mouth For War, I’m Broken, 5 Minutes Alone, Walk, Cowboys From Hell and Fucking Hostile all have their moment in the sun or should that be in the mud and a huge crowd hung on every single word and every note of it. A bucket list band on a bucket list day at the greatest rock festival on Earth.
The night ended with Fall Out Boy who charged through their arsenal of pop-punk classics. Rather than go down the ‘heavy’ route they stuck to what they do and do well with their classic sugary sweet anthems for the festival masses. From Sugar, We’re Goin Down and Dance, Dance to Thnks Fr Th Mmrs, I Don’t Care, Immortals and Centuries, the band have bangers for days and justified their somewhat left-field headliner slot. 8/10
Sunday
And so we began the final countdown. The third and final day of one of the most fun-filled, muddiest and one of the best Download Festival’s we’ve ever attended once again had a delayed opening as Live Nation again tried to combat the ever growing and slippy mud with tractor loads of hay. When the gates opened our first port of call was Kelsey Karter & The Heroines who burst the lock on the Opus Stage with a high energy, old school bluesy rock set. Alien Weaponry are next on the same stage and their intoxicating musical mashing of their Maori influences with groovy, metal riffs draw passing punters like a modern day gang of Pied Pipers.
Off we popped next to the Apex Stage for Creeper and isn’t it just laughably ironic that the rain stopped for a set from the vampirish doom rockers set? We adore Creeper and it appears Download does too. This is their third appearance in a row and each year sees them move up a stage until this, their first shot on the big one.
Cry To Heaven, Teenage Sacrifice and even a song with a little help from the lads from Atreyu on Lovers Led Astray keep the pace at breakneck. The gang are on the run of their lives and they are clearly having the time of their lives. Our only complaint is the set is too short and we hope they make it four on the trot next year and get a longer time to grab us Downloaders by the throat from the stage.
One of 2023’s crowd pleasing sets was Elvana and they were back to woo us all over again in 2024. The Opus was once again rammed for this catsuit crooning Elvis impersonator leading the crowd through some of Nirvana’s biggest hits. When else can you hear A Little Less Conversation into the generation defining Smells Like Teen Spirit? It’s just so fun and as mad as it sounds on paper – it just works.
Bowling For Soup is the next stop on a busy final day at Donington and the American pop punks have come to party. It’s as if MTV in the noughties has come to life and it’s mad to think it’s been a decade since they last played on these shores. Every chorus is bellowed right back towards the stage in unison by a crowd desperate for more with Emily being a particular highlight. The best of the noughties keeps coming as Sum 41 takes over the Apex Stage. Fat Lip is the obvious crowd favourite but the Canadian band lean into much of their heavier material and some impressive fretwork and bone rattling bass to keep the masses swinging their heads in approval.
Following on the Apex was the performance of the week and we are not surprised in the slightest. Limp Bizkit have always been an absolutely ridiculously good live band. A stacked back catalogue, riffs which infect your soul, beats that are impossible not to stomp a mudhole along to, and more sweary fun than you can handle on a Sunday afternoon. The nu-metal legends steal the show and the weekend with their set which begins and ends with the same song but when it’s Break Stuff you understand why. It feels as if the entire arena has spilled into the bowl in front of the Apex for the Bizkit bunch and the set is so good it prompts even festival booker Andy Copping to admit that next time they should be handed the headliner keys. And we whole heartedly agree.
Headlining the Opus Stage was another band who have been seen way too few times at Download. Like Pantera, Machine Head has been as a rare a sight on the festival circuit as a new Guns n’ Roses album. And on this form it’s hard to think of a lack of Machine Head through the Download years as a huge waste. They are on fire here, like a fully armed metal tank, unloading lead heavy riffs over a crowd baying for more. Halo remains one of our all time favourite metal anthems and is a fitting set closer and now the Oakland boys have made their festival circuit return, don’t leave it so long to delight us again please.
And so the final band of the final night of the coming of age 21st Download festival saw Donington favourites, Avenged Sevenfold bring the curtain down and send us all home happy after an ambitious headlining set. A7X proved once again why they remain a dominant force in the metal scene but they showed courage in dropping many of the big hitting tracks which built them into headliners with the likes of So Far Away and Beast & The Harlot both missing as the band kept the spotlight and focus on many of their newer and more experimental sounds from their most recent album Life’s But a Dream. The production values were as always top-notch, featuring impressive pyrotechnics and a dynamic light show that complemented the band’s intense performance as they end with Cosmic from their last album – they head off into the fading light leaving us wishing for more which is always the best way to go out. 9/10
And so it’s already all over but the legacy of the 21st anniversary of Download will live long and prosper with all 70,000 of us who braved Mother Nature’s furious June rage. For weeks we’ve been finding clumps of the East Midland’s mud caked and crammed in crevices as we have slowly tried to shrug the festival out of our limbs and return to ‘real life’ and jobs. It was a banner year for breaking new ground with brave new headliner choices and revisiting old favourites as the likes of Pantera and Machine Head made long overdue returns to festival stomping grounds.
Until next year, be truly excellent to each other, we will be back on the hallowed turf next June, and until then check out Bring The Noise UK for a dazzling dozen of back stage chats from the festival which will be dropping in the coming days.
Written By: Eric Mackinnon
Photo gallery features Halocene, Scene Queen, Dream State, All Them Witches, Urne, Mr. Bungle, Heilung, Busted, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bambie Thug, Wargasm, Bleed From Within, Frank Cater & The Rattlesnakes, Slaughter To Prevail, Enter Shikari, While She Sleeps, Pantera, Code Orange, Harper, Creeper, Kerry King, Zebrahead, Bowling For Soup, Sum 41, Corey Taylor, Machine Head, Avenged Sevenfold and The Used.
