Electric Callboy - Summer Festival Guide

Download Festival 2024 – THE BIG REVIEW!

June 22, 2024June 19, 2024 by Anna Hyams

Return to the Castle! Donington, we’ve missed you – but we are home on your hallowed fields for Download Festival XXI, and it feels like the beginning of a new era.

There’s a new production company running the site this year, who when quizzed at the DL Press Conference earlier this year, mentioned that they had a lot of plans in place to avoid the colossal road issues of 2023. As it stands, we sailed right in with no traffic whatsoever, which means something has gone right. Sure last year was a bit of an outlier with an extra day to contend with and a considerably higher volume of people entering, but still – this may be the smoothest it has ever gone.

One notable dark stain on this year’s event though, is the fact that a cadre of bands have pulled out of the line-up due to the ongoing sponsorship of Download by Barclays, who have clear financial links to companies supplying arms to Israel. The bands who have pulled out up to this point are; Speed, Scowl, Zulu, Ithaca and Pest Control who commented “We cannot sacrifice the principles held by this band and by the scene we come from and represent, just for personal gain.”. As it stands, Download have made no comment on the boycott, but it is later announced that Barclays have pulled sponsorship from all of Live Nation’s 2024 events, which include Download, Latitude and the Isle of Wight festival.

Following this announcement, Enter Shikari posted on their social media that they had previously been in talks with Download, expressing their objections about the sponsorship and working with other bands to exert pressure, through ‘Bands Boycott Barclays’ and that they are satisfied with this result.

Aside from all that news, the one other thing we are all keeping a worried eye on is the weather. We’ve had a good run of a few dry years, but it seems we aren’t going to escape the Midlands monsoon season this time around. As we pull into the lush greenery of the carparks, the ground is looking decent but the skies are looking ominous.

FRIDAY

Starting our day off at The Village to check out the Download Megastore, we are greeted by an absolutely torrential downpour to really get the weekend going, and we watch as people start racing for the queue-free Co-Op store across the tarmac. One meal deal and a poncho please.

Inside, the store is chock full of fun merchandise, interesting displays and even a tiny café and some arcade games. The basic point of it seems to be, as a place to sell some of the more niche products that Download have started offering over the years, but I have to say, it’s a helluva trek for anyone on a weekend or day ticket who isn’t camped out this way – especially since external bus terminals are about an hour and half walk in the opposite direction.

For those that do make it out here though, you can spend your hard earned cash some some really silly brilliant stuff like; a full DL bedding set, a rock-duck (stored inside a giant rock-duck), jewellery, posters, boiler suits and an array of special edition tshirts. If that doesn’t tickle your pickle, how about a Grandad Skateboards deck which looks like one of the stage Totem poles? Or maybe a bottle of Lou’s Brews bright green Download hot sauce, and a Father’s Day ‘Rockin’ Dad’ tshirt? Actually I did try and purchase one of these but a lot of sizes had already sold out.

One thing I did go in for, was some of the once again excellent collaboration of Mary Wyatt x Download. The designs are really interesting and unique, and the quality of the clothing is second to none. I could have spent a fortune (especially after I missed out last year, the merch sells so quickly!) but I ended up with a cropped vest featuring Donington Castle and a black-metal style Download logo. Long may this collaboration continue, it’s a perfect match.

As we head into the arena, it’s pretty clear that the ground isn’t going to survive. There’s already mud, we’re putting on and taking off raincoats every half hour, but you know what? It’s damn good to be back in a field with the gang. On Apex we catch a bit of Welsh rockers Those Damn Crows who are putting on a lively set in the face of some pretty wild wind, followed by local Derbyshire talent The Struts whose vocalist Luke Spiller is indeed strutting about the stage confidently in his white cowboy boots, despite the rain slick. It does kinda seem like classic rock has been pushed to the early slots this year, but there are a lot of people out having a damn good time.

Unfortunately the storms keep comin’ and it isn’t long before the arena is swamped. Standing in the rain isn’t the end of the world or anything, but not being able to sit down between sets or eat a non-soggy burger it is kind of annoying. Luckily we are too awestruck to care when Polyphia hit the Apex stage. Wow is an understatement for this band, the euphoric and intricate guitar-work is unrivalled in current rock music. Sure there’s a bit of pyro and guitarist Tim Henson calls out “Let’s see some fucking crowd surfers” to tick off some festival bingo boxes, but honestly most people seem to just be standing around mesmerised. I’d be happy if they played every year.

Over on the Opus stage Soft Play (formerly known as Slaves) are having a delightfully rowdy time, telling everyone they “…used to play to absolutely no-one, now we’re here” and making everyone chant “fuck the hi-hat” for no apparent reason. It’s a decent crowd but I’ll be honest – not really my jam.

Slip-sliding back over to main for Black Stone Cherry who are trying their very best to bring some Kentucky warmth to the UK, “Download! Are we having a good time yet? Even in the rain and cold?” elicits a roar. We might be good at whinging, but we’re also good at just getting the fuck on with things here. ‘Soul Creek’ and ‘In My Blood’ are excellent but it’s the very singable ‘White Trash Millionaire’ and ‘Blame It On The Boom Boom’ that get everyone going, it’s a great set.

I do have a bone to pick with the arena set up though. Why does the sound tent centre stage keep getting taller and taller. The Liquid Death plastered monolith now completely eclipses an entire runway up the hill, there’s no peak point you can see over the top of it from. With the huge sound towers (of Babel as Andy Copping puts it) as well, there’s quite a lot of view obstruction in the arena now, but especially of the artist runway into the centre.

Great strides have also been attempted when it comes to accessibility after last year’s fiasco – there’s a clear run of festival flooring between routes in from camping and stages, but I suspect that they won’t last long unencumbered as the weather continues.

Before the next biblical downpour we fight our way around some of the stalls and food outlets in the centre to grab some delicious gyoza and have a mooch around the Mysticum Luna shop for some jewellery.

Next up, Royal Blood are fun and upbeat jumping all over the damp stage, but they are plagued by technical issues throughout their set. I guess the weather situation is affecting all areas. We make the trudge back over to Opus, (which is already getting difficult) to see our favourite Horrible Histories nostalgia band Heilung… aaand so has everyone else. It is jam-packed out here, spilling across the road and right up to the shops. There is something undeniably hypnotic about Faust’s throat-singing overlayed with the rhythmic percussion of cursed instruments (no really, there’s a rattle filled with human ashes dontcha know) and it is utterly enthralling to watch. To be completely honest though, there is one point where it sounded exactly like the music that plays in the steam/forest room at a fancy spa, and you can’t convince me otherwise. I also wonder if it takes hair and make-up a long time to make it look like they’ve been dragged through a bush, because I already look like that and I’ve only been here a few hours. Anyway, Viking dance party? 10/10, I’m here for it.

At Avalanche, Wheatus – the little band that could are brining the noughties nostalgia for a change-up and we LOVE it. Their line-up might have almost completely changed over the years, but Brendan B Brown’sunique vocals still sound exactly like the Teenage Dirtbag we all loved. Last year they played a stonking 42 date tour, with entirely crowd-curated sets spanning their entire recording history and it seems so fitting that they get to crown that here at Donington, singing “I’ve got two tickets to Iron Maiden baby…” at the very location Iron Maiden have inhabited many times over.

Following that, the queue for Busted at avalanche is impassible. There’s a long history of Download booking enormously popular bands in tents that aren’t able to adequately house the numbers, and it seems like this year is no different. Though Busted might seem like a controversial line-up inclusion, the times they are a-changing, and they probably represent quite a large number of people’s gateway into the rock and metal scene from the now core age group of Download. At any rate, the bangers are there of course, but it seems like a much heavier version of them that has come to play, and I’m never not going to giggle at swearing from wholesome people.

Unfortunately some set time changes meant we missed all but the last little snippet of Biohazard over on the Dogtooth stage, but they did end strong and fantastically chaotic as always.

Queens Of The Stone Age take to the Apex stage to bring home night one, with a very aesthetically pleasing stage set up. Receding neon lights form a sort of pyramid shaped tunnel for the band to stand inside as they kick off with ‘Little Sister’ and ‘Burn The Witch’.

“What beautiful English weather were having” laughs Josh Homme before he yells“Repeat after me, I’m so fucked up I feel amazing” and “You cunts are alright” but really it all sounds a bit forced.

‘Go With The Flow’ and ‘The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret’ go hard, but as the set progresses I can’t help but think it’s a bit samey and not the kind of exceptional show I expect to see from a headline act. Yes they’re really good at what they do, but something feels off and flat in the crowd – indeed a lot of people seem to be heading off early.

Yelling “Girls get on the boys shoulders, tonight the security works for me.. this place is ours” is maybe the most lively it has gotten tonight, as people clamber on top of their friends to acquiesce. Closing out with ‘No-one Knows’ and ‘A Song For The Dead’, gives QOTSA a brighter uptick to end on but I don’t know if it really saved the whole set. They weren’t bad by any means, they just weren’t spectacular – and we have come to expect spectacular from Download headliners.

SATURDAY

On our way into the arena this morning, we spoke to a couple of members of the car park management team who were just being radioed to put their golf umbrellas away, as one of their members elsewhere on site was struck by lightning this morning. Thankfully they’re ok and on their way to hospital, but given the tropical weather we’ve been having I’m surprised we’ve seen nothing struck in the actual arena up til now. In the Press area we go visit the Liquid Death pink hearse and grab a couple of cans from the cooler-casket (where can I get one, what a rad idea for a Halloween party) and visit the Mary Wyatt pop-up who are handing out ponchos both there and out in the crowd. They are sincerely doing the lord’s work, this poncho saved my life.

Unfortunately yet another announcement mars this morning, with Electric Callboy cancelling their hotly anticipated set due to vocalist Nico Sallach being ill. I think this would have been one of the busiest sets of the weekend, after last year’s tent fiasco where people were crammed into the oven-like Avalanche stage like lightly baked sardines.

Bambie Thug up first on Apex has really suffered from the weather situation, there are a lot less people eager to arrive before the morning’s downpour has concluded, but they put on an engaging and fun show, ending with the brilliant ‘Doomsday Blue’ off the back of their Eurovision entry. Wargasm also deserved a rowdier crowd, but alas the rain was relentless at this point.

© Sarah Louise Bennett for Download Festival

A brief reprise of sun heralds Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes but the arena is now an absolute state. Whilst site crews have been skimming the arena to remove some of the mud, the rain is just making for an impossible task – and unfortunately there’s nowhere near enough hay to make headway in the high traffic areas. Frank fans make no concessions however, and seem to be going hard down at the front, as Frank himself – wearing a pink cardigan, yells “I fucking love you Download” and leaps into the crowd for a quick surf.

Karnivool on Opus are just good solid metal with a decent turnout, but following that, Bleed From Within’s set was severely delayed, and basically ended up as just a performance of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ with comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan, for their Sky TV show. Yeah sure it’s funny and something special but, I’m fairly sure the people we actually came to see the band weren’t super pleased that’s all there was.

Also unfortunately for RØRY (an artist who has actually been making music for a long time, but has recently blown up on social media for her and her partners’ posts about living with ADHD) she has been scheduled at the exact same time as Babymetal, in an area that is accessed only via mudslide.

Sadly, we probably should have been over there instead since Babymetal went a little something like; They walk slowly on stage like they’re bridesmaids at a wedding, wearing rainbow warrior outfits. They play one and a half songs before the music screeches to a standstill and they’re ushered off stage. The deluge begins, and is so strong we have to crouch to avoid getting knocked over by the sideways barrage. Fifteen minutes elapse, the rain finally ceases. We get three more songs when they finally re-emerge, but the last one is ‘RATATATA’ which probably should have included a cameo from Electric Callboy but obviously couldn’t. Sigh. They also decided to ask everyone to “Get down low” and crouch after a massive storm shower which just seems a little ridiculous, and I am more than a little miffed that this is the second time I’ve stood in the rain to watch Babymetal at Download.

Luckily the sun actually begins to shine and the clouds are replaced by bright blue skies – at least for now. I am especially thankful for this at the start of Enter Shikari, with Rou Reynolds practically catapulting himself onto the stage with glee, wearing extremely risky white trousers and a pink Shikari footie shirt. Starting off with his ‘System…’ monologue, and then launching straight into ‘Meltdown’ there is no doubt that this is going to be an absolutely stellar show.

‘Live Outside’ might not be aimed at being taken literally, but I do not in fact want to live outside this weekend thanks. Sorry to everyone camping. We love the ‘Sssnakepit’ circle pit that strikes up in the absolutely sodden front lines, and as Rou finishes his classic mid-show banana (not a euphemism) he shouts out “Make some noise for Wargasm right now” and is joined on stage by the duo for ‘The Void Stares Back’. We also get a snippet of their tour with Rou scaling a ladder and then falling backwards into one of the lighting effect towers, to be replaced by a dancing thermal image as he sneaks to the other side of the stage for a crowd surfing moment.

“I’m so tempted…” he says, being filmed frantically by the tech crew, and then launches himself backwards off the gangway right into a mud swamp. A true man of the people. Later, I found a tiktok of Rou’s stylist watching this in abject horror – a beautiful thing. After the inevitable changing of the fucked monitor he had on him, the band finish up with an expected Rou soliloquy “Enter Shikari would like to stand with our Jewish friends, our Muslim friends, our atheist friends, all of you. I hope to God there’s a Gaza left when this fucking atrocity ends.” to a huge roar of solidarity from the crowd. Closer ‘A Kiss For The Whole World’ seems entirely fitting, and is crowned by a huge double rainbow over the arena. I would very much endorse a Shikari headline set here.

On Opus, Tom Morello is giving a masterclass in Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave hits, and thanks everyone for all the times he’s been able to play Download festival. I for one would probably throw up with joy if Rage decided to reunite for return to Donington – the last time they played was absolutely mindblowing. As a former touring guitarist with Bruce Springsteen (wild diversity I know) it’s fitting to hear a cover of ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’, especially when he flips it over to play with his teeth, revealing a giant ‘Ceasefire’. Finishing up with “…an old English folk song” – the best Christmas Number 1 we ever had ‘Killing In The Name’ and ‘Power To The People’ with guest drummer, 14 year old sensation Nandi Bushell, secure Tom’s set as one of the best of this weekend.

© Abbie Shipperley for Download Festival

Pantera have a large crowd despite Phil Anselmo’s pretty well recorded history of well, saying racist shit. It’s an interesting booking to be honest, especially in a punk/activist stacked lineup. They seem to be having a nice time and keeping it schtum, but I do wonder if their ‘fuck the Tories’ exit music is an attempt at reparative lipservice.

On the main stage, The Offspring deliver one of the best shows of the entire weekend, it’s like mainlining pure nostalgia right to the heart. They look as cool as they ever did to me as a teenage punk, and they sound phenomenal. ‘All I Want’ is screamed at the top of everyone’s lungs, and Dexter and Noodles joke around like we’re hanging with them at a jam session “Can you feel the love coming off this audience?”… “I can feel a lot of stuff coming off this audience…”. Each song gets it’s own digital backdrop of which album it has come from, the true Eras tour. Dex yells “Download Fest you are fucking beautiful once again” before they up the ante with ‘Staring At The Sun’ and a cover of Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’.

“Do we have any classic metal fans… this is a classic metal song…” did not lead where I thought it would lead, and instead to Edvard Grieg’s ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’ otherwise known in the UK as, the Alton Towers theme music, which was quite fun as a punk rock song. ‘A Million Miles Away’ from Conspiracy of One and ‘Why Don’t You Get A Job’ from Americana are both iconic, and this is the most crowd interaction I’ve seen for a band all weekend.

“They don’t care if they got rained on, they’re out here rocking their ass off” shouts Noodles, before they throw giant marble-like inflatable balls out into the crowd and give us ‘Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)’. The Offspring are just consummate showmen, something I think a lot of punk rock bands have in common – they’re comedians as well as musicians and it really gives them the edge in crowd engagement. ‘You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid’ is a lot of fun, there are quite a few giddy kids who are excited to sing the word ‘fuck’ out here, but ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ and ‘Self Esteem’ are the absolute cherry on the cake of this truly brilliant set. They are the anthem to my youth and I’ve loved every second.

Tonight’s headliner Fall out boy, are hotly anticipated – off the back of last year’s sold out stadium tour the arena is full right back to the big wheel ready for them. Starting off with some interesting staging we see Patrick Stump on the screens, dressed in… a hospital gown. He is let loose from his backstage hospital bed onto the main stage with the rest of the band, where there are giant video walls and a curiously large black sofa.

There’s no adaptation to a heavier style here whatsoever, they are unapologetically themselves and I love that. ‘Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy’ is an immediate throwback, to easier times of sideways hair and multiple studded belts. ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’ hits a lot of people right in the singing-at-house-parties-with-your-mates feels and ‘Dance, Dance’ with those keyhole logos splashed all over the screens, is absolutely iconic.

The Infinity on High portion of the night comes with a flying sheep (yes really) and a ton of pyro to really solidify that headline slot production value. Also, if you aren’t singing the misheard lyrics of “Golf cart arse face” to ‘This Ain’t A Scene It’s An Arms Race’ then we can’t be friends.

“Thank you for trusting us with your entertainment this evening. Last time we played here was 10 years ago, and we were kinda nervous to play this festival… but there’s 80 thousand of you making us feel better” laughs Pete Wentz, “I used to watch VHS tapes of Metallica playing Donington. The dream. This is so fucking special” he saysbefore giving us the fantastic ‘Thanks Fr Th Mmrs’.

Not to be outdone by other bands who have graced this stage (Kiss, Rammstein) Pete rocks a flame-cannon attached to his bass guitar for ‘Phoenix’, there’s an angry inflatable bear, heaps more pyro for ‘My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em’ Up)’ of course, then scary cheerleaders and even a little Munsters riff to pass the time. Truly I feel like they could play for half the night and I wouldn’t get bored.

‘Immortals’ is another arena-wide singalong, with a sassy social media comment backdrop joking “Wow a one-word song title from Fall Out Boy” which racked up likes as they played. Can’t fault their eye to detail on this set, they’ve made it fun to watch as well as fun to listen to – something I really feel sets those great headliners apart from the average ones.

There’s a beautiful starry backdrop with a giant moon hanging above the stage for ‘So Much (For) Stardust’, and then a fan throws a Ziploc bag with a card inside up onto the stage to ask the band to do their gender-reveal live. “Oh ok a gender reveal? Will it be a Fall Out boy or a Fall Out girl?… you’re having a boy!”.

‘Centuries’ is absolutely perfect and could easily have been the closer, but they give us one more with ‘Saturday’ – and, I’ll admit there’s something very brain-itchingly pleasing about ending with the namesake of the day you’re headlining, bravo. What I enjoy even more is the bonkers scene of a bunch of doctors and nurses helping Pete Wentz fly into the air on a bunch of balloons, surrounded by confetti and streamers blasted into the crowd. I’m not sure I really got the full screenplay of the night but I liked it regardless. What an incredible headline choice, this really was a highlight.

There’s a few fireworks to end the night but they’re mostly caught inside their own crowd of smoke so it isn’t that impressive, and of course it is beginning to rain once again.

SUNDAY

Cursed with the state of the arena, Download issue a statement that the arena will open an hour later today so that they can get a handle on the ground work – after yet another blast of rain this morning. Unfortunately with a big walk to the arena from shuttles and camping, shortened sets to accommodate and the now drying mud creating a shoe-sucking trench to go anywhere, it’s looking difficult to fit many bands into our schedule today.

We head off to see Royal Republic who play one of the most lively and fun shows of the weekend, we loved dancing with them to ‘Tommy Gun’ and ‘Ratatata’ (no not the Babymetal one). Zebrahead follow up with some pop-punk to a respectable sized crowd, but we decide to check out some of the shops along the back of that area. Amazingly, this whole section is on the dry stone standing and is relatively mud free.

We check out chains and rings at Tomfoolery, frog hats and silly sunglasses, patches, a vintage clothing store selling heaps of blank battle jackets for you to curate, and a Viking drinking horn shop. It reminds me that I really miss the (age) old set up of having all the shops along the racetrack itself – it was nice to have a shopping destination if you had a gap in your plans.

Over on Apex Kerry King is obviously slaying (ahem) but it does feel a bit strange that we said goodbye to Slayer at Download 2019 on their farewell tour, but today we get… well, basically a Slayer set. In the Dogtooth tent the must discussed secret act turns out to be a roaringly intense set from Aussie metalheads Parkway Drive who almost blast the roof off – I’m expecting to see them on the main stage next year and certainly for more than a very short thirty minutes. On Opus, Elvana have yet again pulled a huge crowd for their Elvis/Nirvana mash up silliness. I love them but they’ve pulled the short straw going up against Bowling For Soup in the beautiful sunshine.

I’m absolutely convinced that ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ is Bowling For Soup’s response to The Offspring’s ‘Want You Bad’, but it’s such an ingrained iconic song that we are all singing along at the top of our voices. “It’s so weird being up here without Chris (Burney). He had to fly home to Oklahoma for some health stuff” the guys lament their missing member, before bringing a special guest onto the stage.“Isn’t that the guy from wheatus over there… the teenage dirtbag?” BBB does indeed come on stage to sing a little, and announce their joint tour coming in 2025. What a fun nostalgic collaboration to make January a little nicer next year.

After rudely Rickrolling us, they also bring out Zebrahead for ‘Punk Rock 101’ and then end with ‘1985’ – singing the absolutely perfect line for sharing the stage with another band today “She rocked out to Wham, not a big Limp Bizkit fan”.

Sum 41’s final performance at Download is a bit of a tear-jerker, they like others on this bill were part of the pop-punk makeup that was so many people’s teenage gateway to rock and metal. I’d say they’re one of the big reasons I ended up here myself, and the huge crowd around me suggests a lot of people feel the same way.

Deryck Whibley is looking better than he has in a long time, jumping around the stage with wild abandon in his signature red creepers. ‘Motivation’, ‘In Too Deep’ and even a cover of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ are all excellently performed, but it’s Deryck’s words that catch us in the feels “We are so honoured to be here, this festival and these crowds hold a very sacred space in our hearts. It’s the last record we’re gonna make”. Cue the loud boos across the arena.

“Your boos are so heartwarming… It’s been almost 30 years hasn’t everyone had enough of sum 41?” as the resounding ‘No’ is screamed back at them they tell us“We’re gonna fucking miss You we promise you. Thank you for all these years. There might be one more chance this year we can see you. Keep your ears peeled.” and launch into ‘Fat Lip’ and finally ‘Still Waiting’. The refrain “This can’t last forever” is a nice little note to remind you, go see your favourite bands while they’re still around.

A giant travesty of the weekend is putting Limp Bizkit, Corey Taylor and Hoobastank on all at the same time, with impassable mud trenches in between.

In the end we can’t help but choose Limp Bizkit – mostly for the memories. Swanning in wearing baggy white trousers, a baseball jersey and a baby blue bucket hat, Fred Durst struts to ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ before throwing down with ‘Break Stuff’. He might have a grey beard these days but damn does he sound just the way I remember. It’s powerful, it’s nostalgic, and it does indeed make you want to break stuff.

“I hope you don’t mind we brought the California Sun with us” Fred jokes, but quickly notices those rowdy front centre pits “If someone falls down we pick em back up. Help each other out”. We are also made to sing-along with Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ a cheeky little diss from Fred, who once said that he was a big Oasis fan and even had Liam Gallagher’s autograph, despite Liam publically labelling Limp Bizkit as “Shite”. “Liam, you hear that? We are fucking waiting on you Oasis!” Fred quips, but the laughs subside and we are given what we really came for – ‘Rollin (Air Raid Vehicle’. Suddenly half the crowd seems to be wearing a red hat (remember when they were cool, before MAGA idiots co-opted them?) and we are all dancing the moves like true noughties kids.

Rollin’ is outtro’ed with a little bit of ‘Proud Mary’, because the rain this weekend really has us rollin’ on the river, and it’s onto hit after hit with ‘My Generation’ and ‘My Way’. There is a short stoppage mid-song for Fred to make security aware of an issue in the crowd “There’s something wrong over there, get someone in there”, but he then brings someone from the crowd up onto the stage to sing with him – “Great job brother let’s hear it for the Loco!”.

The band play a fun little request section with snippets of George Michael’s ‘Faith’, Nirvana ‘Come As You Are’ and Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’, then spin up a circle pit frenzy with ‘Take A Look Around’ – “Let’s do that weird song Tom cruise likes”. Bookending the set with a second blast of ‘Break Stuff’ is a great choice, it goes even harder the second time, and Download head honcho Andy Copping hitting the stage in his own red-hat is extremely joyful. I kinda wish they’d headlined instead of QOTSA in all honesty, maybe next time.

Headlining the Opus stage Machine Head give an absolute masterclass in how to bring a full showcase experience. I find it hard to express how incredibly powerful and impressive this set actually was, this band have proved time and time again that they have the capability and the crowd support to headline the main stage but here we are. You just know that if they start the show with a visible Fireman at the side of the stage, there’s a good chance you’re going to get your eyebrows singed.

In true Moshy Ned style, there is so much pyro in the opening ‘Imperium’ that you can barely even see the band, which probably doesn’t matter as everyone around us seems to be moshing, screaming and throwing their middle fingers up in reference to the song.

Rob Flynn yells “Scream for me Download” (someone has to do it, Bruce Dickinson isn’t here) and “Download are you ready to lose your minds with Machine Head tonight?” before inciting circle pits and a giant wall-of-death “push back, push back”, for ‘CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE’.

‘The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears’ sees bright red ticker tape confetti raining down like a cloud of blood, and there’s a very providential rainbow just to the right of their stage during ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’. I can dig a god who loves Machine Head.

“I went crazy at download festival, chant with me!” is the scream that ends the show, ‘Davidian’ and ‘Halo’ are beyond sublime, and this is the first time this weekend I’ve seen some proper old school hair-windmilling and headbanging – it’s a comfort. I have no notes, it was perfection.

So, we sacrificed most of Avenged Sevenfold for Machine Head, and I’m not sorry about it. Getting across the arena in the waning light, with even the access roads now covered in a sucking gloop of mud… treacherous. We didn’t make it far down the hill but I can totally appreciate the reason A7X were booked onto that Sunday headline slot – they are smashing it. Sadly they seem to have been hit with a couple of unfortunate coincidences this evening, as the field is nowhere near as full as it was for last night’s FOB set.

The weather has done a number on people’s resolve, I think a lot have favoured heading off early or following Machine Head, and there is information circulating already about car-parking being horrendous with cars stuck in the mud. At any rate there’s a steady stream of people heading for the exits.

Regardless, there’s a lot of people down the front having the time of their lives still, and you can’t overstate A7X’s incredible melodic guitar work for a great way to cap this weekend of amazing musical talent. ‘Hail To The King’ was dedicated to all the Dads in the audience, on Father’s Day, a nice moment – especially when so many have brought their children with them this weekend.

“We’ve played many times…. Download festival, and we are honoured. You have so much great fucking music that comes to the UK, so much.” Shouts vocalist M. Shadows, but unfortunately as they dive into ‘Nightmare’ the main stage suffers from a power outage issue that seems them summarily cut off, only to be karaoke’d by the crowd. It does seem like there have been more than a few issues with sound this weekend.

Luckily it is fairly quickly resolved so that the band can come back for ‘Unholy Confessions’, ‘A Little Piece of Heaven’ into ‘Save Me’ and finally ‘Cosmic’. They might not be on my personal highlight menu for the weekend, but it was a great show.

It would be remiss of me to note a few things that have come up post-festival, even though it isn’t all good news. Rob Kellas (of the now infamous TPDTV gang) reported that his sister Mary Kellas was hit with food poisoning after eating one of the giant yorkshire pudding meals, and had to leave the site early due to being so ill. Photos have also arisen of raw chicken being served to punters, and a brisket stall also being the culprit for multiple food poisoning incidents this weekend. Apparently environmental health had been contacted and the affected outlets were shut down once it had been reported to them.

I must also note that there has been yet another significant and obvious price hike on the arena food, there now aren’t many meals available under the £12 mark. The inclusion of an alcohol-free cocktail bar has been a great one, but I do wish that this was part of their regular bar options instead of having to take a trek to the specific area to get one. Merchandise offerings were decent, and the queues to get stuff was nowhere near as bad as last year due to seemingly having a lot more staff on board. I do however wish DL would take a leaf out of Wacken’s book, and offer some cheaper small items for sale – or bring back the reusable branded beer cups that can be taken home as souvenirs.

Thefts seem to also have been a massive issue this year, with one photographer working the festival asking for help online as someone had actually unclipped and stolen a lens off her camera as she was walking through the site. A huge number of phone thefts have also been spoken about online, and even Frank Carter had a sentimental item – a gold chain, stolen from around his neck whilst crowd surfing; “Which one of you c***s stole my f***ing chain. I’m fuming. I’ve had that chain for 10 years. And do you know what, I’ve sacrificed it to the mosh pits of Download. If 24-carat gold doesn’t buy us some f***ing love…”.

All in, I’d say there were some significant issues that need to be addressed following the festival this year, but despite that and the unfavourable weather – we still had a fucking magnificent time. This is testimony to the family, the ethos, the vibe of this festival, long live Download. See you next year!

Download Festival – 20th Anniversary GIANT REVIEW!

June 16, 2023 by Anna Hyams

It’s June, we are out of the grey days and on the cusp of summer, there is hope in the breeze. Donington Park, home to superbikes and souped up engines is about to be clad in all black everything – for the unstoppable force that is Download Festival. In it’s 20^th Anniversary year, hitting a sold out 100k audience is the cherry on the cake of Donington history. Praise be to the old guard of Monsters of Rock for handing down these fields of joy, so we can continue to celebrate.

WEDNESDAY

As part of the bigger/better anniversary wealth, Download has this year included an additional full day of music to the line-up – meaning that campers can arrive from Wednesday instead. In previous years, there seemed to be a greater split of arrival times and days for those camping but this year… it’s like the Pied Piper of metal suddenly called every alt kid in the UK at once, and everything in a five mile area is a fucking mess.

Now we know the road infrastructure around Donington Park isn’t the best, and we know it’s also competing with East Midlands Airport along one side, but this is another level of shithousery – the abject worst queues in the festival’s history. Reports coming in of people queuing for over seven hours in hot cars and buses, carparks being full and closed early on, signage being scrubbed out instead of redirected… the list goes on.

Many people took to Instagram to contact the festival directly and voice their complaints; @morrighan writes “Please sort out whatever the heck is holding up the J24 exit! We followed advice to follow signs for the fastest route. Taken us 3 hours to move less than a mile!” with @not_my_pubs_name replying “same, got on m1 exit slip road j23a and been sat here 3 hrs so far, and I’m camping in quiet camp, but now West carpark is full, so double fucked off. Utter joke”.

Essex tattoo artist @lucyharmless was also caught in the melee “wanna tell me why I’ve been sat in the same spot for the last 5+ hours, I know it’s a sold out festival but we’re not even moving here”

The festival has made no response about why things were this bad, instead posting the same information about which junctions to enter the festival by for the following days. Though the problem wasn’t as pronounced over the rest of the weekend, there were still significant delays with no real explanation.

As a 20 year fan of this festival (yes, I’ve been to them all) I would love to only sing it’s praises, but this is something that surely must be addressed for next year’s event. There has to be a way to separate and space out arrivals, maybe something in booked time slots for coming in (whilst this may sound a little prescriptive, but both Bestival and the IOW festival essentially had this work with ferry bookings splitting up the entry) or linking booked parking to campsite locations so that you can only go to one specific area. Hopefully better brains than mine are considering the future implications of the festival’s size.

THURSDAY

For ourselves, entering on Thursday was indeed an unfortunate three hour queue situation to hit the West car park which is closest to the box office we needed to be at for our wristbands. Luckily we had packed drinks and snacks knowing the stakes from the day before. Though we missed a few choice early bands due to this, entering the arena again felt like coming home. There is something undeniable about the feeling of stepping through the portal of Download. One minute you’re in the regular world where people look at you funny, and the next you’re side by side with every other person who knows exactly what it’s like to be fringe, or other.

The arena itself has had an overhaul, and I really think it is (mostly) for the better. The fairground rides have been summarily booted to the Avalanche stage area, which is a brilliant move. Their ridiculously loud playlists are no longer sullying the Apex stage sound, and they don’t hinder Avalanche at all because it’s a closed in tent – perfect. Gone too is the traditional line of food outlets that broke up that area, and the accessible viewing platform has had a move too. The result is an absolutely gargantuan main stage area with incredible views from all angles, further helped by the enormous screen towers and stack amps that are supposedly only in place for Metallica. Honestly – I wish they would keep them, the sound and views have been bloody incredible due to this set up.

I will pause to note though, that the accessible platform has been moved to the other side of the arena, presumably to facilitate quicker movement between the stages, especially Opus and Apex. Whilst this is in theory a great idea – the route between the platforms has been sandwiched in probably the most notorious bottleneck of the whole festival, rendering it completely unpassable during high crowd sets, simply because people are stopping in those areas to watch too. I’m not sure what could be done about this, it makes the most sense to have moved the platform there, but some kind of access run-through between them perhaps?

Anyway, onto the music. Having performed an incredible set last year at Bloodstock, it is so good to see Ukrainian band Jinjer absolutely smashing their way onto the Download main stage to a very respectable crowd. Lead vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk is an absolute powerhouse, song ‘Teacher Teacher’ hits hard even in the baking sun. It’s clear the crowd is on side as the band talk about what is happening in their country, by beginning a “Fuck Putin” chant, under the screened Ukrainian flags. I’d call their set a complete triumph, especially for a band that has jumped from performing in The Dogtooth at Download 2019 to the main stage in 2023.

Hundred Reasons ‘I’ll Find You’ will forever be one of my favourite jams, but it is beyond horrendous trying to move around the Opus stage at this point – there are simply too many people for comfort, so we stand off to the side for it and then scarper in search of space to sit down.

Over on The Avalanche stage we caught Punk Rock Factory, a Welsh four-piece doing what absolutely everyone wants to hear – theme songs and Disney covers. I’m not even slightly joking, the tent is packed and there are crowd surfers galore. No-one is pretending to be too cool to sing along with the likes of Go Go Power Rangers (replete with actual Power Rangers standing ominously still at the front of the stage), the Pokemon theme tune is excellent, as is Under The Sea from The Little Mermaid. Truly this band are a highlight, if only for the nostalgia button they press in all of us.

Punk Rock Factory © Anna Hyams Wade for Summer Festival Guide – do not use without permission

Halestorm are predictably awesome, and I mean that in the full sense of the word. Lzzy Hale belts out notes like she doesn’t even need a mic, an absolute rock icon. ‘I Miss The Misery’ is always going to be the big fan fave but truly the whole set was just good clean rock and roll in the sunshine. There’s something to be said for a band that sits so comfortably in this classic sound and owns it – there’s actually not a lot of it on the bill this weekend.

After grabbing a horrendously overpriced slushie (cozzie livs is really showing up in the food and beverage prices this weekend, let me tell you) we thought we’d check out the merchandise selections, but immediately turned on our heels when we discovered that they were over an hour long wait. No thanks.

I’m fairly sure that every single year I’ve complained about merch queues but, this festival is so big now it’s really time to add another one to the main arena. Way back in the Opus corner maybe? Heck stick one in VIP so that an entire population of people can grab their stuff outside of the arena as well? The addition of one to the West carpark exit/village entrance was great, but there were a few teething problems with the new ‘Megastore’ too.

Now, I love an obscure item as much as the next person (I do really want the Download bedsheets) and think this was a great idea… but I don’t know if sticking the Megastore out of reach for day/weekend ticketholders was necessarily fair. Particularly when it contained special tshirts not on sale in the arena stores – nor indeed the ENTIRE Mary Wyatt collection which been so hyped on social media prior to the event. More than a few disgruntled fans flocked to the Mary Wyatt Instagram to express their disappointment at not being able to grab something. The merch itself was interesting this year, I especially enjoyed the retro 03-23 logo tee and the back patch 20 jacket, but ooft the prices really do keep on rising.

Over on Apex, Alter Bridge bring us another dose of classic rock with Myles Kennedy’s signature vocal sound soaring over the sun-soaked crowd, while New York pop punk quartet State Champs light up the Avalanche stage for a rowdy but fun show – the whole tent is dancing.

State Champs © Anna Hyams Wade for Summer Festival Guide – do not use without permission

There is one band that I categorically want to see playing somewhere EVERY year please-thanks, and that is our Welsh pals, Skindred. As far as I’m concerned they are the sound of the summer, and my season isn’t over if I don’t do the Newport Helicopter at least once. Pulled in to fill the 5FDP void, there could be no more perfect choice than having Benji & co. headline the Opus stage – and what a rowdy good time it was. Every damn song they do is catchy, upbeat and just generally inspires movement… so you can imagine how intensely difficult it was to acquiesce to this innate demand when ALL 100K FESTIVAL GOERS were also trying to occupy that space. Coming off the back of a Heavy Music Award win there’s absolutely no doubting they’re fully at the top of their game, and are beloved at Download.

I’m going to attempt to keep this brief, since the greedy barstewards are playing twice this weekend, but it’s time for the first Metallica roundup.

As the sound of AC/DC’s ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top’ starts up by way of intro, old photos of the band surrounded by neon yellow frames (the official colour scheme of this tour ‘72 Seasons’) splash over the backdrops and the new cylindrical screen towers, including two monster cylinders actually on the stage itself. It’s an undeniably massive set-up, but there is a bit of me that is wondering if it’s going to be all style over substance.

On a personal note, Metallica have been there from the very beginning for me. I was there at the first Download, squished into a tent for their not-so-secret set… I was there when Joey Jordison filled in for Lars… I was there when they played the whole of The Black Album… they’re woven into the fabric of this festival and my festival history. One particular memory I carry from all of these times, is seeing hundreds of lights glowing in the dark of the night for ‘Nothing Else Matters’. The only difference is, the first time I saw them it was a warm orange glow from thousands of flame lighters – tonight, the cool white of phone torches. It’s strange to think how the next generation’s memories of live music will be formed.

Highlights of course included ‘Fade to Black’ in which Lars actually savaged a snare drum which had to be quickly replaced, ‘Sad but True’ and ‘Seek and Destroy’ (have we noticed how much Metallica love 3 word names for their songs?).

That said, this isn’t by any means my favourite set I’ve seen from Metallica. Yes the sound quality is excellent, and I’m never not going to enjoy ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘Fuel’ but it feels a bit like they’re conserving energy for Saturday if I’m honest. Lars predictably spends some time at the end waxing lyrical about their Donington origins in 1985 “…you guys have that saying, ‘home turf’… I think this might be Metallica’s home turf” but, I think it would have been a bit nicer and more topical to have talked about their Download history in particular… it’s only the bloody anniversary event isn’t it.

FRIDAY

Today we’re already fearing the heat and slathering ourselves in sun-cream, but off we merrily pop to the Opus stage for The Warning. “We are 3 sisters from Mexico” they yell, before absolutely crushing their punchy hard rock set. From humble beginnings as kids on YouTube covering Enter Sandman, to a huge audience at Download is pretty damn impressive if you ask me.

In a swift change of pace, we catch up with our friends-from-another-field – Elvana. Usually seen in glitter and sequins at the likes of Camp Bestival, they’ve chameleon morphed into… well, something else. Resplendent in black skeleton Elvis-style jumpsuit and suits, the band (and their doom cheerleaders aka backup vocalists) bring something a little silly but ultimately very enjoyable to the Download palette. Who doesn’t want an unhinged circle pit to Blue Suede Shoes, and have lil mosh to Smells Like Teen Spirit? Jokes aside, they’re actually excellent as well as fun, what’s not to love.

Heading across site we spot a lot of little Battle Jackets this year. Seems that a few more people have braved bringing their kids along and it feels like a nice shift for the festival. Yeah you can whinge on about it being ‘for adults’ but, there’s something to be said for passing on the spirit of metal to the next gen in a way that feels genuine and community led, and metal Mums and Dads just wanna see live music too, so bore off.

Witch fever over on the Dogtooth stage are another example of excellent up-and-coming bands we’ve been treated to this weekend. It’s been really fun to have some new blood turnover in the smaller stages and they certainly came seeking violence with their heady mix of post-punk power over gloomy basslines. Riot grrl era is back on the menu, and they are leading the call in all the ways we want – including jumping into the crowd and getting rowdy. If they started a zine I would buy it. Top song for my choosing: ‘Bully Boy’, oh and did I mention – they’re all hot.

Heading down the hill to the Apex, we are greeted by the incredible Nova twins, a punk/grime influenced duo from London. Now this for me is a truly excellent booking, their sound is unique and interesting, they absolutely wail and have that unmistakable star quality that we need for the main stage. Next up, Hot Milk are in danger of becoming Curdled Milk (snickers uncontrollably) and suffer a bit from the crowd being well… too hot. I have no idea how they survived on-stage pyro in this heat but more power to them, because I am melting.

Epica are first up in the melodic/symphonic metal stakes today and lead vocalist Simone Simons has one of those voices that has the power to skewer you right through the soul. It’s a decent crowd already, and I fear for being able to get round there later on.

Neck deep aren’t usually my scene but they’re doing a good job of hyping up the crowd, and it’s nice to see what Wrexham has to offer besides football and American celebrities. However, they do indeed sound extremely American when they sing – such is the power of the pop-punk cadence. “Everyone who’s from a shithole town, yell if you’re proud of where you came from!” elicits a huge roar, but the thing is, everyone in the UK thinks they’re from a shithole town until someone else bags on it, then the gloves are off. Aaanyway, Brutus are another new-to-me band who absolutely ripped up the Dogtooth stage, I am always floored by drummers who are also vocalists, the level of coordination is baffling to me.

As expected Pendulum are fucking incredible and have wisely chosen to beef up the heaviness of their set – as they did last time they played Download. It’s a welcome return and everyone is up dancing about for it, despite the heat. “Front to the back, I need to see you crazy fuckers” is the call to arms for ‘Propane Nightmares’, and it’s quite cool that they’re joined by Matthew Tuck (of Bullet fame) for ‘Halo’, but ‘Witchcraft’ is the ultimate Pendulum masterpiece in my opinion.

Unfortunately due to some costumes not arriving in time, Gwar have to pull out of todays performance, which is met with a huge groan from the crowd inside the Dogtooth. So we head over to Within Temptation to be summarily met by a wall of people right up to the pathway. There is no chance of getting through, so we catch a bit of Sharon Den Adel’s deep and spooky vocals, as the second symphonic band to hit the stage today. Sometimes I forget how much ‘Stand My Ground’ slaps live – do these women even need microphones really? It feels like she could go without and still be heard at the Apex stage.

Architects are inducting newbies to the fray “…how many of you have crowd surfed before? Now’s your chance, get over this fucking barrier!” via some rather nice blokes who are giving people boosts into the waiting arms of obliging pallbearer types. But we’re hanging back to see Evanescence complete the trifecta of big vox, gothic female fronted bands today. As suspected – we can’t get anywhere near and the sound is totally borked from the side to the point of not really being able to hear. Sad times but I think the Opus field just no longer has the capacity.

Luckily the beyond brilliant Carpenter Brut who I’ve been listening to on repeat for the last 2 months, is giving the packed out Dogtooth something resembling a rave but considerably wilder. Apparently we’re calling this darksynth, but all I know is it’s fucking FUN. Sadly there are no tshirts to be found at the merch tents, otherwise I’d have snapped one up, call me a new fan – especially of his cover of Michael Sembello’s Flashdance hit ‘Maniac’– I command you to listen to it immediately.

Bringing Friday to a close are the much anticipated Bring Me The Horizon with an incredible stage set comprising of lots of bridge levels wrapped across a giant screen backdrop, like something out of a musical. Hitting the stage in a crop top with bondage straps and a shaggy haircut, Oli Sykes hasn’t morphed too far from the early scene kid days, but he definitely looks like a headliner now. It’s hard to describe but from minute one I was absolutely convinced they were meant to be there, and I genuinely felt excited to be seeing Download making a clear choice for the future of the festival here.

The band unceremoniously rip through the likes of ‘Teardrops’ and ‘Mantra’, before introducing “…one of [their] favourite bands in the fucking world…” Nova Twins, to head up ‘1×1’ with them. There is no denying the set is special, it’s got pizazz, the band sound incredible and they’re doing things that make it a unique show. This is what I wanted Metallica to do yesterday, to be honest.

Yes they’re a funny mix of genres at times, but this does actually allow them to be more flexible in their set too, something not a lot of bands can bring to the big stage – but there’s nothing that will keep a classic emo down is there… “Sometimes you get sad, but it’s about realising it and sharing it. If I’ve gotta be lost, I’m glad I’m lost with you people”. Oh Oli, wipe your tears babe, here comes Amy Lee (of Evanescence) – joining them for hands down the MOST emo named song in the history of songs ‘One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death’. It’s pretty great actually, and at least I can finally hear Amy Lee.

I could live without the face melting pyrotechnics to be honest, it’s still so hot tonight – and we were two speaker sets back so you know the people in front were basically cooked like turkeys. There’s a bit of me that wishes the tired suicidal ideation bit (‘DiE4u’) didn’t have to start with spoken word that sounds mystically beautiful to morose teenagers but ah, that’s the therapist in me speaking I suppose. Many have sung worse things I know, but it isn’t my favourite. Despite this, and the sort of strange cyber-attack/AI bit they keep playing on the screens, the band absolutely smash the shit out of this headline show. Yelling “I don’t care what you do, but if you stand still you are… a very special kind of knobhead” actually does appeal to my wish to not be seen as a knobhead, so I join in with everyone else because he told me to. If that isn’t the power of a headline act I don’t know what is.

‘Follow You’ is a lovely musical interlude, in which Oli requests people get on each others’ shoulders and hold up their lighters/phones “I’ll take owt”, and then runs down to hug the front row of fans. It’s a little cultish, but aren’t all the best bands?

With a giant explosion of pink ticker-tape and a nod “I will never forget this moment” they go out on the impeccable trio of ‘Drown’, ‘Throne’ and ‘Can You Feel My Heart’. Sign me up, I’m part of the cult now.

SATURDAY

Up and at ‘em for Polaris, who are very shouty and loud. I’m surprised at how many people are already going hard at midday considering we’re already edging on Satan’s armpit level heat.

I’m off to buy an overpriced slushie and head towards Avalanche for Lake Malice, who are going down as one of my favourite hits of the weekend. Vocalist Alice Guala looks like she’s jumped right off The Grid, wearing some kind of lycra Tron onesie and guitarist Blake Cornwall is rocking the coolest leopard print guitar I’ve ever seen. They’ve got an almost nu-metal edge, which appeals to my younger self, incredible energy and their crowd is responding with sending heaps of surfers across the barrier, despite the fact that the tent is stiflingly hot at this point. It sort of grieves me to know that this band started over Facebook during lockdown, and now they’re here. I was just out there making banana bread and doing my silly little zoom quizzes… how ‘bout you?

First hype pick of the day for me are the deliciously kitschy Ice Nine Kills. I’d say the Venn diagram of metal fans and horror fans is probably almost a circle, and I cannot pretend that I’m not a basic bitch. With all their songs themed to horror movies, a good dose of on-stage theatricals (knives, axes, Patrick Bateman getup, you know – the full Alice Cooper style schtick) and catchy lyrics, I don’t think I’m alone in thoroughly loving this set. ‘The American Nightmare’ has been one of my most played songs since their second stage performance at Download last year – get on it.

In a whiplash change of pace, it’s time for the mighty Clutch. They are the antithesis of the previous band, no frills… no stuff… no theatrics. They just do what they always do – play solid funky rock and roll, brilliantly. The blazing sunshine with a cold beer is in my opinion, the most appropriate setting to see the likes of ‘X-Ray Visions’ and ‘Electric Worry’. Neil Fallon quips “hey shall we take our shirts off and pretend we’re in Red Hot Chilli Peppers?” as the heat gets to him, and they go out on the excellent ‘Pure Rock Fury’. I could stand a couple more hours of Clutch in the sunshine to be honest, let the music play.

A quick trip into the Dogtooth for the weird and wonderful Bambie Thug does not disappoint. They are dressed in some sort of Alien-meets-Hela demonic playsuit thing which is very fun, and are flanked by two gyrating dancers wearing only boxers – who later water gun the crowd (which is actually rather thoughtful of them in this heat). ‘Kawasaki (I Love It)’ is very singable, and ‘Headbang’ with special guest Mimi Barks feels a bit on the nose but ultimately is just really enjoyable. Bambie is going straight on the summer playlist.

Alexisonfire are yelling about something “Fuck racism, fuck misogyny, fuck you” but I’m too hot to do anything from my position on the ground under a sun-brella. They’re not usually my jam but it is frankly not in the cards for me to move right now so I accept a bit of shouty ‘Accept Crime’ and ‘Boiled Frogs’ under an oppressively cloudless sky.

Dragging myself into the Avalanche for Gwar’s rescheduled set is a feat in itself, but I am rewarded with the sight of a half naked King Charles, Kim Jong Un getting scalped and Putin with no hands. Unfortunately this also means I joined the masses of [fake]blood-soaked bodies in an already sweaty tent, and let me tell you that stuff does not easily wash off. You can’t not like Gwar, they’re so silly, it’s the law.

After attempting to clean myself up, it’s over to see Disturbed’s inevitable but iconic rendition of ‘The Sound of Silence’, which to my amusement – a group of guys in front of us all had a tearful cuddle afterwards, adorable.

The Opus area is of course way overfull once again, but there is nothing stopping Placebo being just fucking incredible from wherever you were standing. ‘Nancy Boy’ and ‘Bitter End’ are the sounds of my angry youth and I am transported back to a point where I actually had time to sit and listen to songs without it just being in the back of housework or my job. Their cover of ‘Running Up That Hill’ might be a lot of people’s introduction to Placebo, via Stranger Things, but for me they are tickling my nostalgia navel and I am gutted they weren’t put on the main stage instead.

Metallica, night two. This is the set I was waiting for. Yes we had the exact same intro but the band absolutely enter the stage with more presence and purpose tonight than they did on Thursday. The crowd tonight is absolutely wild to look out on. This is the most open the arena has ever been, without all the foot outlets and such chopping the area up it looks incredible, an absolute sea of bodies bathed under the stage lights. There’s something quite eerie about being in the company of 100k people like this, and the deafening roar of those people singing along to ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ immediately goes into the core memory bank.

“Let’s see if you guys know this song… wait let’s see if we know this song” jokes James Hetfield (Papa Het? Is that what we’re calling him these days? Bit weird but ok) as they drop into ‘Until It Sleeps’, but ‘Welcome Home (Sanitarium)’ is just gorgeously melodic and dramatic in the darkness.

Then there’s a weird interlude where Lars Ulrich seems to try and bring an extremely terrified child on stage from the Snakepit, who absolutely has zero interest in being there and therefore cries his eyes out. Luckily Hetfield is on hand to diffuse the situation “Here’s my dad joke… the fans at download are in-tents. You give me a microphone and I don’t know what to do!”. ‘The Unforgiven’ is wildly good, like seared-into-my-minds-eye good – it truly is one of the best performances I’ve seen Metallica give, and I enjoy the mild ribbing they’re giving Lars to boot. “This is night 10 for us here at Download or Monsters of Rock, that’s fabulous. Well, it’s Lars’ 9th show, you gonna catch up with us one day? He’ll be here tomorrow playing with all the other bands” Hetfield jokes, as people around us shout back “please no” and “don’t encourage him”.

‘Whiskey In The Jar’ never fails to get everyone singing along, the on-stage pyro and offset flame canons are massive, closing out with ‘One’ and ‘Enter Sandman’ and shitload of fireworks – this is the epic headline set we needed.

SUNDAY

Day four of blistering heat is a struggle, not gonna lie. We are done in but soldier on into the arena once more for Bloodywood – now with quite the following, the unique New Delhi bhangra heavy metal sound is exactly the kind of newness I love to see, being played to a pretty huge audience. Graphic Nature in the dogtooth are somehow, and for no discernible reason, doing their entire set wearing hood-up raincoats in this heat – but they do look like they’re having fun.

Lorna Shore probably don’t quite get the reception they deserve as the order of the afternoon seems to be Lorna Snore, as many people appear to tapped out taking a nap in the field. Next up Mongolian metalheads The Hu are plying us with more tasty unique sounds, very enjoyable but I do wish that their stringed instruments had been been levelled up a bit, as that aspect which is prevalent in their online catalogue was kinda missing. Their cover of Metallica’s ‘Sad But True’ with half Mongolian lyrics, is fantastic though.

We head over to the Opus stage for a bit of Avatar who I can only think must be boiling alive in all their leather, especially with all their coordinated circular headbanging segments. ‘The Dirt I’m Buried In’ and ‘Hail The Apocalypse’ are highlights but honestly they’re just so entertaining start to finish – I wish they’d been a main stage band too.

Behemoth look as uncomfortably hot as they did last year at the burning inferno that was Bloodstock Open Air, asking “We need your energy, we need you to jump” to a day 4 crowd who are dead on their feet and basically crisp. It’s a no from me friends, but there are plenty of people down there having their time of their lives still so it’s all good.

I prevail are doing a lot of screaming and yelling fuck, in an angry teenage way, and whilst it isn’t really my vibe, their cover of SOAD’s ‘Chop Suey’ is actually great, and they do manage to provoke some very respectable and dusty circle pits.

On the Opus stage Bad Religion are playing an absolute blinder of a set, just solid good punk rock – the sound of my college years. The likes of ‘Anaesthesia’ and ‘You’ are required Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater history of course, and ‘Infected’ results in a massive singalong. Over in Avalanche, German electronic wizards Electric Callboy are ripping Download a new one. This is the most packed and writhing I’ve seen the tent this weekend, the electric energy is undeniable. ‘Hypa Hypa’ is probably the most well known of theirs, but I also loved their cover of Darude’s ‘Sandstorm’ and The Frozen/Backstreet Boys ‘Let It Go’/‘I Want It That Way’ sweaty metalhead singalong was very funny to watch.

Scooting back through the gap to Opus we’re ready for some retro 80’s style metal from our favourite Swedish ghouls Ghost. This iteration of Papa Emeritus comes with much less pomp and ceremony, and I’m here for it. ‘Rats’ makes me giggle every time, it’s great used as a response to pretty much anything someone can ask you over the course of a weekend – but not if you want to keep your friends, let me tell you.

Dressed as a bat, Papa sings “I can feel the thunder that’s breaking in your heart” from ‘Cirice’ at almost the precise moment we start to witness lightning flashes in the sky above them. Very forward thinking of them to order the weather honestly. Luckily the festival skirts the zone between two massive thunderstorms in the Midlands, and is mercifully spared the Drownload moniker for another year.

Yelling “Do you want a goodnight kiss? How you doing Donington”, they launch forth into the epic and choral ‘Mary On A Cross’, a ticker tape and firework explosion, finishing up with ‘Dance Macabre’ and ‘Square Hammer’. This was truly the best Ghost performance I’ve seen, it looks like they’ve settled into their zone without some of the theatrical elements that I thought held them back a bit last time, and let the music speak.

Trying to get back to the main stage for our final headliner Slipknot, was like some kind of hideous cross country trek through sticky stinky bodies shoulder-to-shoulder. The traffic around the site this year has been noticeably worse due in part to numbers but also perhaps a few layout changes that have made routes through somewhat smaller. Slipknot arrive to giant bursts of smoke from all of the speaker towers in the crowds, and the cylindrical screens are focusing on up-close band members which is actually really effective. It’s also good to see the Clown return to the stage after a hiatus, atop one of the giant spiked drum tower flanking each side of the stage.

There’s no denying that it’s an impressive set up, and the band come in with a solid twenty minutes of pure heavy rage, eventually Corey yells “It’s good to be home” followed by “I’m a bit mad at you, you made me lose a bet. They bet me you would still go as mad without me running my mouth for the first twenty minutes. There were circle pits, I lost twenty quid you fuckin pricks” before admitting that he has been ill and that his voice isn’t up to par at the moment. Unfortunately it’s really obvious that he’s struggling through the set and it makes a marked difference in the power and delivery of the songs. “Well I always sound like shit, but I don’t always sound this cool” he jokes.

A collective ooooh emanates from the crowd as he shouts “Download! Our family. Here are some songs we haven’t played in a very fucking long time…” as they launch into a tour debut of ‘Left Behind’.

“This one goes out to Kerrang magazine… Let’s see what you do with this one folks…” is the precursor to another exciting inclusion ‘Snuff’ which again has Slipknot fans cooing.

The obvious run down towards the end of ‘People = Shit’ and ‘Surfacing’ followed by an encore of ‘Duality’, ‘Custer’ and ‘Spit It Out’ is a predictable but, what the people want. The execution is phenomenal and exactly what you expect of a headliner but… it’s still not the best we’ve seen them I fear. There’s something lacking in the vibrancy, and sure some of it is Corey’s voice – but I do wonder whether the passion is in it for them as a band anymore. It’s hard not to make a comparison to Friday’s Bring Me The Horizon headline set, where the air was absolutely electric, and I say this as a person who isn’t (or wasn’t) a particular fan of either band. The tides are a’changing at Download festival, and I’m excited to see where we are headed, but it might mean leaving some beloved people behind.

Download, you’ve been epic once again – may your next 20 years be as wild!