Slither - Download 2010 – Day 3

Day 3 dawned with a cloud. Peter and I had cooked breakfast for James and Chris on the previous 2 days, and because they were in a different camping area, I needed to meet them at the entrance to our campsite, and get them past security. On day 3 this didn’t work, security wouldn’t let them in.

<Rant>

I know its securities job to stop people going in the wrong area, but not allowing my son into “Family camping” for 1 hour was bloody outrageous, I don’t get it, I don’t like it, and it was part of an occasionally overzealous approach to something that had nothing to do with safety or security. Bad job.

</Rant>

Day 3 boded well. Slash, Motorhead, Stone Temple Pilots and Aerosmith were all goodies to be savoured.

The first act we watched was Slash – bloody brilliant!

Not only was Slash the brilliant player that we all know he is, but he had Myles Kennedy as his vocalist, and he was just stunning. I can quite see why Myles was feted to be the Robert Plant replacement on the aborted Led Zep tour.

 

Peter stayed on to watch Billy Idol whilst I got ready for Lemme and Motorhead-then the heavens opened.Non stop rain for the next 6 hours. I did have a cagoule –but it was in the tent – which, you might remember was a 45 minute walk away, and by the time I had resolved to call it a day, the whole area had been turned into a Glastonbury-like mud bath.

So, I dragged my cold, wet body back to the tent(Which took over an hour because of the crowds all doing the same thing and the slippery conditions), was met by Peter, changed into dry clothes and I got into my sleeping bag to warm up.

At that point we resolved to leave early the next day as the thought of attempting to drag our camping gear up a slippery slope that had been walked by 1000’s of others did not appeal. So like good rock ‘n rollers, we had a nice cup of tea, and went to bed at 11:00

The next day dawned at 6, and even though it was still drizzling, we managed to decamp and get out of the carpark by 7 – a good result as the hill out was already getting treacherous.

So, a bit of a damp ending, but we all had such a brilliant time watching acts that I had only dreamed of seeing previously that we’ve already made a pact to do Download 2011.

Can’t wait

Testify – Download 2010 – day 2

Rock festivals are, as much as anything, about planning what you want to get, and then doing it. This is particularly true of the Donnington site where everything -The campsites, “The Village”, the Arena, the Car park, - are all at least 30 minutes walk away from each other Leave something in the wrong place and you waste an hour. The same is true about your tactics whilst watching the bands. Do you want to be laid back near the beer tents and food, but can’t see what’s going on on the stage, in the mosh pit getting your teeth knocked out , or somewhere in between?

Peter and I decided that the best plan was for us to be next to the aluminium crowd control barriers, a third of the way back. No one is in front of you, you can lean on them whilst standing up, and slump with your back to them when there is an intermission. Also, the walk to the bars was only 15 minutes, so beer re-fills were easy. Because of this strategy we were able to see band after band without the normal back/foot ache. This worked out really well as excellent band after band did their stuff on the main stage.

Cinderella were just a good, old fashioned rock act that had energy, verve, melody, and skill. Five Finger Death punch were, umm, OK. I don’t like formulaic growling, that’s what they did. Lamb of God and Megadeath, however, were really good.

But, of course, the stars of the show were the recipients of the most unlikely award ever – the Christmas number 1 single. Rage Against the Machine, were superb. They made lots of mistakes(But covered them up well), and to be honest, I don’t agree with their politics and their rants, but Tom Morello (who isn’t political) did an amazing job getting sounds out of his guitar that I never knew you could. He really can play inventively, with passion and with great skill.

You’ll notice from the pictures that the skies were clouding over – more on that in day 3’s write-up

Back in Black – Download 2010 – day 1

Going to Download has become an essential part of my Summer. Each year Peter Aird and I set up camp at this huge(120,000 people) event and meet up with James, Chris C and their posse for good music, good beer and good conversation.

 

James,Chris C and Peter

Because the festival only attracts people who like Metal rock, there is no fighting that you get at other festivals as various factions fight, and in fact the number of “Excuse me’s”, “Please’s”, “Thankyou’s”, “Sorry mate’s” is way more than you would get in a high street.The other thing that tied the crowd together – as always – was black t-shirts. Everyone wears black, grey or grunge colour shirts – end of chat. We were all back in black.

Any event of this size needing policing and this is generally done by wristbands. Depending on where you want to go or do, you have a wristband. So within a few moments of being there you accumulate quite a collection.

So, I’m allowed to see the bands, camp in the orange area,buy beer(Yep, someone actually thought that I might be mistaken for being under 18-what a nice person!),and pick up my phone after charging. Peter and I also had “Comfy Crappers” wristbands for a superior pooing experience!

But, of course the reason that we were there was the music. The line-up was immense!

I can only cover the highlights, with 4 stages and music that was non-stop from around mid-day to 11 there was just too much to cover. These are some of my thoughts from Day 1

Killswitch Engage

were superb. Great stage presence, great music, Howard Jones ability to go from growling to melody was superb

Adam Dutkiewicz in superman stylee and Howard Jones belting it out

What doesn’t come over in any of my shots was just how big the stages were – they are HUGE, and the sound systems are equivalently ENORMOUS. To make sure that everyone could see they also had incredibly large, very hi-res screens

AC/DC

Were just absolutely amazing! They had there own stage – even bigger and louder than the main stage. and there is nothing that I can say that gives any real indication about how brilliant they were – there aren’t enough superlatives!

 

The main stage and the AC/DC stage on the left

The opening

The band made the crowd go mental as they went through all the good ‘ol favourites. Brian Johnson’s voice cut through Malcolm and Angus’ amazing guitar work. Angus was a complete and utter nutter, and Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams were beat and note perfect in the backline.

Angus before he strips off and Rosie sitting on the train – her tits alone were at least 50ft across – big girl – big set!

A brilliant start to day 1

Big Smile!