The British media would have you believe that the weather was of biblical proportions and rivers of mud are threatening to wash the festival away. Yes it was bad, but no worse than the weather we’ve come to expect at British Festivals over the years. Anyway this is Download and these punters are made of sterner stuff. So with an air of defiance, it’s on with the show we go. The Dogtooth Stage has seen it’s fair of future main-stagers over the years and today was no exception as the tent is fit to burst for the performance of Welsh boys Those Damn Crows, with the biggest reaction coming for their single “Blink Of An Eye.” With Wales already represented on the main stage in Skindred tomorrow, you can bet your life that Those Damn Crows will be up there in the next few years. Staying with the Dogtooth stage, if success was measured by the merch on display, then Jinjer would be headlining today, but as it is the Ukrainian four piece will just have to be content with a show stealing performance this year. Over on the Main Stage are Clutch, who may not have the show or the theatrics, but they do have the songs and frontman Neil Fallon leads a decent size crowd through a set of head nodding favourites, which is lapped up by the onlookers. A perfect rock festival band.
Meanwhile over on the Encore Stage Rob Zombie does the complete opposite. He does bring the theatrics and about half a miles worth of humanity, dances their way through a set of Zombie classics. After seeing Slash and Whitesnake, it seems that the classic rock fans have lost a bit of interest by the time Friday’s headliners Def Leppard come on. As the British Rock legends plod their way through the same set they played on their recent UK tour, the crowd seem somewhat detached and a big portion of them are ready to retire to their tents for the night.
Being labelled “Strange, weird, dirty people from Liverpool” by none other than Iggy Pop himself, a large crowd has shaken off the cobwebs and assembled at The Dogtooth Stage to witness Queen Zee’s energetic set. It’s the Download equivalent of getting up and going straight to Zumba class at your local leisure centre. Emotions are running high over on the Encore Stage as Bad Wolves urge the metal community to sing their hearts out to their cover of The Cranberries “Zombie.” The Main Stage is threatening a heavy day today and a big crowd has assembled in anticipation of Alien Weaponry’s set. A band that only burst onto the scene recently, barrel through their set, laying down the gauntlet for any bands that dare follow. Power Trip gladly take up that challenge and we get the first huge circle pit of the weekend as the boys smash through their brand of thrash and hardcore. Its high octane stuff indeed, so in an effort to mellow out somewhat it’s over the Encore stage once more to see Stone Temple Pilots.
A big crowd has assembled for their performance and as good as they are, singer Jeff Gutt, just feels like a Scott Weiland tribute act, even mimicking the late frontman’s rather unique stage moves, which just feels strange. Realising that I’ve walked well over a fortnights worth of mileage in two short days, it’s another trek back to the main stage to see Skindred, a band who are constantly evolving and reinventing themselves. In singer Benji Webbe, they’ve always had a bonafide star and after 20 years that shows no sign of changing with age. Of course the highlight of any Skindred set is the Newport Helicopter, which is a sight to behold. Skindred have won today. Trivium has the unfortunate duty of following the Newport boys and whilst technically they are a sight to behold, that doesn’t really come across in a festival environment and the band get the lukewarm response they probably deserve. The same cannot be said however for Saturday’s headliners Slipknot as they come bounding on to a set resembling an abandoned old industrial site with “People=Shit,”kicking things off, new masks and all. They proceed to tear the place apart with a crowd pleasing set, with Corey Taylor proving once again, why he’s one of the foremost frontman in the business as he whips the crowd into an absolute frenzy, especially during tracks like “Spit It Out.” Culminating in “Surfacing.” They prove to be an awesome end to a mostly great Saturday line up.
As people emerge from their tents this morning, there’s an air of hope, as it seems as though the sun may actually put in an appearance today. We’ll see. It’s over to the NXTUK stage for me first of all today as WWE’s British talent pool are about enter the fray. There’s a palpable buzz in the crowd as the likes of Imperium, Ilja Dragunov, Dave Mastiff, Ashton Smith are all present as well as appearances from NXTUK male and female champions Walter and Toni Storm. Its good clean fun and the crowd participation aspect makes for some amusing moments, but its back to the music we go as I Prevail are due on the Main Stage momentarily. For their debut on the big show, the boys look surprisingly confident and command the stage well with “Scars” and “Bow Down” getting a particularly good reaction from the crowd. They will surely be back in years to come.
By the time Sully Erna and the Godsmack boys take to the stage, a fairly big crowd has assembled for the afternoon’s entertainment. Inoffensive and mildly entertaining Godsmack do their job well and bongo solos aside there isn’t much to report, but is it me or is drummer Shannon Larkin morphing into Welsh Rugby legend J.P.R Williams. After an entertaining gathering for the press to announce their UK Tour flanked by 3 massive Vikings, Amon Amarth take to the stage and the beered up masses are just about ready to raise their horns with the Viking Metal legends. One of the most well received sets from the weekend, the 5 piece combine Iron Maiden style props with rousing sing along heavy metal, perfect for this muddy weekend. Then it’s time for Download to take a turn for the heavy as for a few hours at least starting with Anthrax, who take to the stage to a rare bit of actual sunshine. They keep the set to the classics, whipping the masses into a frenzy with “Madhouse,” “Anti-Social” and “Indians” given an airing before bookending the set with the outro to Pantera’s “Cowboys From Hell.” With influences ranging from Obituary to Hatebreed,
another packed out Dogtooth Tent is the setting for deathcore mob Whitechapel to do their thing as they punish the crowd with their brutal low end assault. Probably the heaviest set of the weekend.
Needing a time out, after Whitechapel, its back to the Main Stage where a sizable crowd has gathered to see the return of Smashing Pumpkins. Flanked by huge psychedelic robot ummm…things, Corgan and crew kind of phone in a very flat performance. Guitarist James Iha, seems to be genuinely stoked to be at Donnington and there are a couple of notable performances. “Disarm” with Corgan on acoustic guitar is particularly poignant and they treat the Download crowd to some proper heavy metal as they cover Black Sabbath’s “Snowblind” with Amalie Bruun from Myrkur providing some beautiful vocals but Slayer, I’m sure will do better and it’s nearly time for the U.K to say goodbye to one of the most influential bands, but first of all to get us in the mood for Slayer, who better than Municipal Waste? Playing to yet another packed out tent and to an energetic crowd, the fans crowd surf and circle pit to every single song. At one point we even get a wheelchair user, crowd surfing much to the delight of singer Tony Foresta who is lapping up the energy in what proves to be one of the best sets of the weekend.
Then the time has come to say goodbye to Slayer, as they take to the stage in the U.K for the very last time. There is a massive crowd on hand. Every metal fan wants to witness this. Anybody who saw the recent arena tour will already be familiar with the sheer magnitude of the pyro used, but tonight in the Middle England evening it felt a bit more special than usual, nearly incinerating the assembled crowd. They blast through a classic Slayer set and a hint of sadness hits me as “Reign In Blood” crashes in, as I realise that I will never experience the sheer ferocity of that track in the live arena ever again. As “Angel Of Death” fades away vocalist Tom Araya, spends a good couple of minutes just savouring the moment and thanking the British crowd as a “Thank-you Slayer” chant rumbles around the field. Thank you indeed Slayer. It’s a bit of a rush over to the main stage as unfortunately Slayer’s set has clashed with the opening of Tool’s, but nonetheless another massive crowd is on hand to watch Maynard and co. The visual aspect of the show is absolutely stunning as lasers and psychedelic imagery project across the night sky. Keenan himself dressed in his best punk attire for the evening, is a menacing presence as always and the songs speak for themselves. Sonically it’s satisfying as older favourites “Parabola” and “Schism” are greeted like old friends and we are treated to a couple of new tracks, but there’s just too much going on in between songs sometimes for the crowd to stay focused and the atmosphere often takes a dive, but nevertheless they finish the set with “Stinkfist” ensuring everybody goes home happy.
And that’s it. Download 2019 is over. It will go down as one of the wettest and muddiest, but that never seems to deter us Brits, with punters still wallowing in the mud and people drinking in their tents long after Tool have left the stage. It’s not been the strongest of line ups, with the main complaint being that the undercard on the main stages was quite weak, but kudos to those involved in the organisation of the festival. There was food and alcohol of every single variety on site and the staff on hand were superb and there was entertainment in abundance, in the arena, without even looking at the stage. And at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. It’s entertainment.