Download 2015
Donington Park, Leicestershire
June 10th to 15th, 2015
As the skies have turned bluer and the
weather has warmed up it means that it is the time of the year for rock fans
from all over the world to make their annual pilgrimage to Donnington Park for
Download Festival. It also means
something else too........... rain! And lots of it!
Rather than concentrate on just the music
aspect of the festival I have decided to try a different direction and try and
review the experience as a whole.
This year we decided that we would do the
whole festival weekend as opposed to only going after work on the Thursday and
leaving after the final set on Sunday.
It turned out that in doing so, not only did we catch the part of the
festival that had nice weather, we also had the time to explore more of the
stuff that happens in the camping village that we would never normally check
out.
As soon as you hit the Download site, which
is situated either side of the race track you are hit with the spirit of the
festival. Everyone you encounter between
the car park and the gates to the camping village has a smile on their face, a
rucksack on their backs and a crate of some form of alcohol under their arm. Some want to get the party started early and
have wheel barrows piled high with food and beer. Spirits are high and people make new friends
as they wait for entry to the camping village which will be their home for the
next few days.
This year Download decided to try a new
initiative at the festival and make the festival completely 'cashless'. Whether you are a camper, artist or press,
when you arrive at the festival you receive a wristband, which is colour coded
so that the stewards who work there can easily see which areas you have access
to. This year all Downloaders where
asked to register their ticket before they went to the festival which meant
that when you produced your ticket at the gates they could supply you with the
correct access wristband and your 'Dog Tag', which is the chip you need to pay
for anything you purchase within the camping village and the arena.
The Dog Tags could be pre-loaded with your
festival spends or you could load them once you got to the festival, using
either cash or credit/debit card. As I
had loaded mine when I registered my ticket the guy at the gate scanned my
barcode and asked for my name to check who I was before giving me my tag and
telling me how much was on it.
To make a purchase at the festival you
simply scanned the tag across the pay point screen and it deducted the price
from the funds on your tag and told you your new balance.
Although I was wary of the trial when I
first read about it on the Download Facebook page, I found it was a great idea
as the tag was constantly around your wrist and therefore there was less chance
of being lost or stolen. (And if you have ever tried to get a festival
wristband off your wrist in one piece before returning to work you will know
that it is damn near impossible!). It
also cuts down on queues at the stalls and bars.
The only place/service on site that
accepted cash was another new trial for the year and was the Sherpa service
that was situated by the main gate. The
Sherpa service was a basically a muscle for hire service, meaning that you
could negotiate a price with the Sherpa's who would then very kindly lug all
your camping stuff to your chosen campsite for you. Considering the first couple of days at
Download saw the biggest entries to the site and had the highest temperatures,
these guys certainly earned any cash they made. I spotted quite a few around
the site not only carrying peoples baggage but also helping people with
directions to the various coloured campsites.
They were always happy and cheerful and were a real asset to the
Download staff.
Although the music doesn't start in the
arena until Friday, there is plenty to do around the village for the two days
before. There are many stalls offering
pretty much any kind of food you can imagine from fish and chips, wraps, jacket
spuds, pizza, pasta, Chinese to even Argentinean food, to name a few. There are also plenty of opportunities to
spend your hard earned cash. The village
is littered with market stalls which sell a range of products from camping
essentials to clothing to novelty hats, socks and gadgets.
There is also a well stocked supermarket,
welfare tent, Samaritans and Police Station which houses the Download Cops
(Leicestershire Police), who have a strong presence on site. The Download Cops have a zero tolerance
policy and the right to search for drugs and weaponry. They have the power to take away arena privileges
and even eject anyone who abuses the rules.
This year they also had facial recognition
cameras to try and deter known trouble makers.
I have been to Download many times and have never seen any trouble
during my stay.
If you don't break the rules you will find
that the Download Cops are a really friendly bunch who are always happy to
help, chat and take selfies. These guys
were also giving out free phone bungees to help people ensure that their smart
phones were safe. The bungees have a
rubber loop which you slide over one end of your phone and then you clip the
other end to your belt loop or button holes. These are a great idea as they
alert you if anyone tries to remove the phone from your pocket but also as it
means your phone doesn't hit the ground if it accidentally falls out of your
pocket. Mine will definitely be used
whenever I go to any concert in future!
If you keep your eyes peeled you may also get the chance to meet this guy. Andy Copping is the man behind Download festival and is often spotted wandering around the site and checking that everything is okay. I was lucky enough to bump into him and he is the nicest guy you could meet.
If shopping isn't your thing, there is a
funfair, comedy tent and various activates going on around the village. There was an inflatable laser tag, an outdoor
cinema which shows a wide range of films, a pub with its own pub quiz and the inflatable
wedding chapel! This was new this year
and had a massive appeal as when my sister went to inquire about it we found it
was completely booked out!
The wedding chapel stated that you could
marry anyone or anything (Not legally obviously) and was a great excuse to have
the glitter make over and don a wedding dress for the 'ceremony' (and that was
just the guys!). Passersby were encouraged
to witness the ceremony, which I believe was a lot of fun. At night the chapel then turned into a disco
for the wedding receptions.
On Thursday as we wandered around the
village we stumbled across a target practice game comprising of a giant
catapult, target and water balloons by the wrestling ring. This had a huge
appeal and had gathered a very large crowd to join in the fun.
If by evening you still had any energy you
could indulge in a little bit of late night wrestling in the custom built
wrestling ring or even dance the night away in the Dog House which had daily
events including speed dating, boardie take over and club nights (such as
Uprawr). One night they even had the
novelty Black Sabbath Tribute band 'Mac Sabbath' playing a set. For those who have never experience 'Mac
Sabbath' they play Sabbath songs while dressed as the characters from the old
McDonald adverts (check them out on YouTube if you don't believe me).
By Friday morning we were tired out and
looking forward to lying on the grass and listening to some fabulous music. We weren't disappointed!
We started the music with the Fearless
Vampire Killers. The FVK guys have been upgraded to the Zippo (Second) stage
this instead of the fourth stage that they have played for the last few years,
and they deserved every bit of that stage time.
It was a great start to the music seeing how these guys have progressed
and watching them put in a performance that would have not been out of place on
the main stage.
During Clutch's set on the main stage mid
afternoon the clouds came over and the rain decided to put in an appearance,
but it didn't dampen their set.
By the time Five Finger Death Punch graced
the main stage the rain had well and truly set up its camping gear and was here
for the duration. It didn't stop them
putting in a very high energy performance and belting out hits such as 'Hard To
See', 'Never Enough' and 'Bad Company'.
During the last song of the set lead singer Ivan Moody asked all the
children in the pit to join him on stage to allow the adults to take full
advantage of the mosh pits without the kids being in any danger. I get the feeling those kids will be telling
everyone at school that they were on the main stage at Download this
weekend. Five Finger Death Punch always
put in a great performance when we see them and today was no different. 
Other bands we watched today included Blue
Pills, Thunder, Judas Priest and we caught some of the Young Guns performance,
who were one of the surprise sets that was announced at the 11th hour.
Headlining tonight was Slipknot who brought
all the dazzle of their current 'Prepare For Hell' Tour (see my last post). Slipknot always look and sound like they are
at home when they play Download and tonight was no different. They played a very crowd pleasing set which
comprised of a good mix of old favourites and new songs from their latest
album; '5-The Gray Chapter'.
On Saturday we had the chance to hear a
good variety of bands over the course of the day including Mallory Knox,
Hollywood Undead, Parkway Drive, Carcass, Motionless In White, A Day To
Remember and Black Star Riders, all of whom put in excellent performances,
despite the dampened weather.
My favourite sets from Saturday came from
Apocalyptica and Black Veil Brides.
Apocalyptica first caught my eye/ear at Sonisphere a few years ago when
I couldn't believe that I was hearing
Metallica songs played on the cello.
Today's set didn't have any cover songs but it did feature my favourite;
'I'm Not Jesus' from their 'Worlds Collide' album. I thoroughly enjoyed the upbeat set and Apocalyptica
attracted a crowd worthy of main stage status.
I would recommend seeing these guys if you ever get the chance.
Another favourite for today came in the
shape of Black Veil Brides. It has been
two years since they last played Download and it is easy to see that they have
really found their place in the last two years.
This year they looked completely at ease on the stage and didn't get any
hecklers or haters in the crowd, just people who appreciated their style of
rock. These guys played a great set and
kept a very high energy level throughout.
Whether they are your cup of tea or not there is no denying that they
put on an excellent show.
As I had seen Muse previously when they
played Leeds Festival a few years ago and didn't particularly enjoy them I
decided to check out Second Stage headliner Marilyn Manson as I had never had
the pleasure of seeing him before.
Unfortunately, his set was not a pleasure and I left the arena early and
quite disappointed.
Although he played all his crowd pleasers
his performance lacked something and he did not have the stage presence that I
thought he would have. His performance was as well received as the rain! Luckily we had seen plenty of other great
sets over the course of the day so the disappointment did not spoil the day.
Although the rain had settled to a light
drizzle on Sunday it still didn't dampen our spirits. We managed to take in sets from In Flames and
The Darkness (another of the secret bands).
I've never been a fan of The Darkness and seeing them live proved to me
that I probably never will be, but that's just my personal preference.
Billy Idol put in an excellent performance
and had the entire crowd singing 'White Wedding' at the tops of their voices.
Slash also took to the main stage on Sunday
along with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Slash showed his skills and proved to the audience why he is still one
of the greatest guitarists, however, in my mind it sounds wrong to hear Myles
Kennedy singing the old Guns and Roses and Velvet Revolver songs instead of Axl
Rose and Scott Wieland. That said the
opening notes of 'Sweet Child O' Mine' still gave me severe goose bumps.
My favourite set of the weekend came in the
form of the last ever Download appearance from Motley Crue. Crue are currently in the process of their
last ever tour which is set to end at the Hard Rock in Vegas on New Year's Eve
2015. Crue brought all the sparkle and
magic of a headlining set and had the crowd in the palm of their hands.
Their set included old favourites such as
'Smoking in the Boys Room', 'Dr Feelgood', 'Girls Girls Girls' and 'Kick Start
My Heart'. At the end of the set they
set off enough pyrotechnics to level the main stage (maybe that's why there was
a big gap between them and headliners Kiss) and left the audience begging for
more............ which they gave them
when they came on for one last song; 'Home Sweet Home'.
I was unsure how Kiss were ever going to
top that performance!
By the time Kiss took to the stage the
temperature had dropped dramatically but
Kiss was about to turn up the heat.
Like Crue they brought the whole shebang! On the grounds of pyrotechnics
they beat professional arsonists, Ramstein, hands down. Throw into the mix zip wires that allowed the
band to fly above the crowd and a whole host of crowd pleasing songs and you
have one of the most explosive Download headliners in history
.
Roll on Download 2016!
