Download Festival

With all these new, exciting festivals popping up all over the country, let’s not forget the great-grandfathers of the circuit – those with all the benefits of maturity and wisdom, but without the senility or funky odour of their human counterparts. Beginning its life as the one-day Monsters of Rock event back in 1980, Download Festival, held at Donington Park, celebrated its 10th edition with the current name this June. Now a 3-day event, this year featured headliners **The Prodigy, Metallica and Black Sabbath**, and sold out, with more than 100,000 attendees over its three days. Due to apocalyptic heavy rain in the two days preceding it, the festival was, at least to begin with, a mud bath, but this did not deter spectators – coping mechanisms ranged from the standard (wearing ponchos) to the downright bizarre (hiding in industrial-sized bins). Though the punters were sodden, the atmosphere managed to remain electric.

##### Friday
Californian metal veterans **Fear Factory** open proceedings on the Friday after ground conditions fit only for a hippopotamus delayed the festival’s opening. Their brand of machine-like industrial noise causes much of the early crowd to erupt during openers _Shock_ and _Edgecrusher_. Though you might consider their man vs. machine lyricism and imagery cheesy, you have to admire the energy and power their songs contain; even new songs such as _Powershifter_ and _Recharger_ provoke a manic reaction from much of the audience. One weakness in the performance, however, lies in the vocals of singer **Burton C. Bell** – whilst his harsh, vociferous shouting complements guitarist **Dino Cazares**’ mechanical guitar tones perfectly, his clean singing often leaves him out of breath, forcing the crowd to pick up the pieces. Still, the performance is an encouraging start to the weekend, closing on the 1995 classic _Replica_ to great applause.
**Machine Head**, often crowned the kings of the modern-day heavy metal scene by commentators, draw a crowd to fit. Curiously, their setlist focuses only on tracks from their two most recent albums (save for 2003’s _Imperium_). Does it matter? No. Each song sends the crowd increasingly wild, with the 9-minute epic Halo proving a stand-out; each and every word is echoed by the eager crowd, and the exciting, layered riffs of **Robb Flynn** and **Phil Demmel** – helped out by the utterly pristine sound provided to them (a first for the day, admittedly) – start mosh pits left, right, and centre. **Machine Head** are still on top of their game; if anyone was thinking the lengthy hiatus between albums would stall their progress, think again. This band is here to stay.
Many fans on stage 2 are waiting to see guitar hero **Slash**, with **Alter Bridge** singer **Myles Kennedy** in tow. From the off, their set is nothing if not explosive, although early songs such as _One Last Thrill_ and Guns N’ Roses classic _Nightrain_ are plagued by guitar sound difficulties… You wonder if the tech crew dealing with this know who the main attraction is here. Myles casts this statement into doubt, anyway; he provides a unique, melodic spin on every last track. The set, from its mid-way point onwards particularly, is a blinder, with new songs such as _Anastasia_ merging in well with hits like _Sweet Child O’ Mine_ and **Velvet Revolver**’s _Slither_. The pair, with their band **The Conspirators** backing them, close on a storming rendition of _Paradise City_ that would blow the roof off if there was one, with the crowd bouncing and singing their way to the very end.
Braintree’s own **The Prodigy**, having started late, perform an incendiary headline set, with highlights including _Smack My Bitch Up_ and _Their Law_. They have a punk attitude and a mosh ethic, aiming to do nothing but set the crowd moving; their anarchic lyrical messages complimenting their primary weapon – overwhelming bass. Although the mud at the front is deep enough to strand those wearing wellies (let alone the poor souls with trainers on), this is unable to prevent the band from bringing one intense, strobe-laden party to Donington.

##### Saturday
An early highlight on Saturday is **Steel Panther**, whose glam-rock parody is funnier than it is clever. Even if you are fed up of hearing a constant flow of lyrical jokes about how much sex they have and how many drugs they take, you can’t help but admire their ability to craft accurate and musically-accomplished mockeries of the likes of **Motley Crue** and **Def Leppard**. The band even brings out **Slipknot** singer **Corey Taylor** for a rendition of perhaps their very most outrageous song, the grossly offensive but ultimately fun _Death to All but Metal_. A similarly comical act, Jack Black’s **Tenacious D** are greeted by massive applause, though their set gets off to a slow start consisting of numbers from new album _Rize of the Fenix_, with on-stage gimmicks including a man in a squid costume being employed in an attempt to add to their entertainment value. No need to worry, however, as classic tracks like _Kickapoo_ and _Beelzeboss_ are performed with a kind of theatrical brilliance, and _Tribute_ provides perhaps the biggest singalong of the entire weekend.
For many, the real excitement is over at the second stage, where Welsh ragga-rockers **Skindred** impress. Singer **Benji Webbe** is an incredible performer, on a mission to get the crowd involved in each and every song – not to mention getting everybody from the front to the back bouncing. From opener _Rat Race_ to closer _Warning_ (including the now-infamous “Newport Helicopter”, in which crowd members are instructed to swing items of clothing above their heads when the song’s mid-section riff kicks in), **Skindred** have the audience in the proverbial palms of their hands throughout.
Closing out the main stage, heavy metal superstars **Metallica** impress from start to finish, beginning with the likes of _For Whom the Bell Tolls_ and classic album title track _Master of Puppets_ – only a new song, the untidy _Hell & Back_, breaks the momentum they carry, and only a little at that. The band then proceed to the main event of their set – performing their classic 1991 self-titled album in full, backwards. Here one realises how varied the album is – the thrashy _Struggle Within_ and the stomping _Through the Never_ are juxtaposed against the brooding _Unforgiven_ and sentimental _Nothing Else Matters_. Biggest hits _Sad But True_ and _Enter Sandman_ set the crowd alight; following this, the band set the stage alight, with encore classics _One, Battery_, and _Seek & Destroy_ accompanied by some impressive pyrotechnics (particularly the case for the former). A masterclass in stagecraft from one of the most successful bands in the business – expect nothing less from **Metallica**.

##### Sunday
Twenty-five years since their first appearance at Donington, New York’s **Anthrax** bound about the stage as if they haven’t aged a second. Quarter of a century on, Judge Dredd homage _I Am the Law_ and maniacal anthem _Madhouse_ sound unashamedly retro, but this doesn’t detract from how well they work in a live environment. The band have always pulled influences from New York City’s hardcore punk scene, though they’ve betrayed the genre’s focus on rhythm for more melodic hooks in recent years, as zombie spoof _Fight ‘em ‘til You Can’t_ demonstrates. A ridiculous rock n’ roll show, but an exhibition in modest revelry which many of the sterner younger groups on today’s circuit could take something from. Cue metallers **Lamb of God**, whose groove-laden guitar music is angry enough to offend as many people as it engages. Sounding like **Pantera**’s Southern angst dragged into the 21st century, their discontent is channelled best in the molten-hot fan-favourite _Redneck_, though their intensity rarely lets up throughout, even challenging the energy **Machine Head** cultivated on Friday. Perennial closer _Black Label_, with its harsh, screamed vocals, will surely alienate anyone remaining on the fence about the band, but for their masses of fans gathered here this is a powerful statement of aggressive intent.
Returning to the UK after a 15-year hiatus, **Soundgarden** are certainly one of the most anticipated acts of the entire weekend. **Kim Thayil**’s thudding, murky guitars contrast against **Chris Cornell**’s vocals, which range from sombre murmurs to anguished yells. They’re heavier than famous fellow grungers **Nirvana**, but this presents a sound issue – when Cornell’s vocals are operating at a lower volume, they are occluded by the thunderous music backing them; in this respect, quieter numbers such as 1994 hit _Black Hole Sun_ play out with the most clarity. Fittingly, then, the band use feedback noise as a tool, whether as a segue between songs, or as a focal part of their instrumentation (exemplified by the spectacular _Jesus Christ Pose_). An insecure but ultimately accomplished reunion show.
Tonight’s headline act is the product of another widely-anticipated reunion – the original line-up of **Black Sabbath**, minus drummer **Bill Ward**. Somehow, despite the majority of their set consisting of songs forty of more years old, the band manage to sound heavier than anyone else has the entire weekend. _Into the Void_ and _Sweet Leaf_ are particularly crushing, with the heavyweight tones of guitarist **Tony Iommi** and bassist **Geezer Butler** accompanied well by **Ozzy Osbourne**’s eerie, psychedelic singing. The whole set feels like a celebration, and when **Ozzy** instructs the crowd to “go crazy” during penultimate track _Children of the Grave_, near-everybody complies; a spirit which carries through to conclusive number _Paranoid_. No pyro, no flash – they embody the real, gritty rock music that Donington thrives on.