Download Festival 2007

[MingMong]

well, what an awesome weekend!
The camp site was packed, the toilets stank, the stewards were a bunch of wankers and the queues for the bar on the first day were horrendous. But the music is what I was there for and what a great lineup Live Nation had managed to get together this year.

Thought I would do a little review on some of the bands I managed to catch at this year's Download festival.

FRIDAY

BUCKCHERRY

I hadn't really heard a lot about this band, or heard any of there songs, but they turned out to be a very entertaining band with some good sounding tunes. They have definately made it onto my list of bands to check out.

MEGADETH

One of those bands that I had never paid a great deal of attention to, but they did play a very good set. A good mix of old and new songs the highlight for me (and most the crowd by the sound of it) was Symphony of Destruction.

DRAGONFORCE

If speed power metal is your thing, then Dragonforce is probably a band you know well. In the 2 years since I first saw these guys, they have escalated from opening act for W.A.S.P in a tiny Glasgow venue, through being 2nd bottom of the bill at last years download to now getting a middle order slot.
They are not everybody's cup of tea, but they play an extremely tight set, awesome dual guitar solos.

WOLFMOTHER

WOW! This band is brilliant!
My only real knowledge of Wolfmother was the track 'Woman' that featured in the guitar hero 2 game. But after watching this set, I will most definately be going out to buy their album. A great sounding band, and a very enjoyable live performance.

VELVET REVOLVER

The last time I saw Slash live was in the same Donington field way back in 1988 with Guns n Roses. Velvet revolver is a combination of two of my favourite old school bands, Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum from Guns n Roses and Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots. The played an interesting set of tracks from their 2 albums, and also some old GnR (It's so easy and Mr Brownstone) and Stone Temple Pilots (Vasoline and Sex Type Thing) and also an interesting cover version of Talking Heads' classic 'Psycho Killer'. A very good live performance, and a band I will definately contemplate seeing live again.

KORN

If ever there was a cock up made in stage alocation, it was having Korn headline the second stage tent while My Chemical Romance were on the main stage. The tent was heaving beyond what would be considered safe. People were packed 20 deep around the edge of the stage just trying to get a glimpse of one of the video screens and a listen to the band. If any band knows how to work its fans into a frenzy, it's Korn. The atmosphere in the tent was electric, it was hot, uncomfortable and sweaty. My old knackered body could only last about 5 songs and I felt the need to go outside to cool down a little. So we decided to instead watch.....

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

Although these are a pretty good Emo band, they are definately not worthy to be headliners at Donington. The crowd to see them was tiny in comparison to the headliners on the other days, and they were not that well received by the small crowd that was there. They are the first ever headliners I have seen on the Donington stage to finish 20 minutes early, and not do an encore! Maybe they were a little worried that Korn were due to finish around that time and they would be met by a hail of bottles far larger than the barrage they faced when they took to the stage.



Saturday and Sunday to follow.

 

[3Chordwonder]

Nice reviews, looking forward to Sat & Sun !

Download has never appealed to me (too many kids and Kerrang readers)

I'll always be a Reading man.

 

[prop135]

Great review

Can't believe MCR were mainstage and Korn 2nd. Madness!!!!!!! Small crowd for them too, my daughters will be guttedDT_Xtremez_15:

Dragonforce rock, they have me in stiches, taking old magnum tracks and giving the a hammering.

Megadeath still going? now there's some memories flooding back.

Looking forward to Sat and Suns reviews

 

[roverboy]

Great review



Megadeath still going? now there's some memories flooding back.

There's a bit of a story to that. Dave Mustaine fell asleep on one of his hands a few years ago, causing him to lose all sensation in it and therefore was not able to play guitar. A few years later he decided to not let it get to him, found god, learnt how to play the guitar again and live happily ever after. He had to sell a load of his guitars to make ends meet at some point though I believe!!

 

[georgeios]

did Evanesance make it to download, i was going to go only to perv on Amy Lee or what ever her new married name is (luck TawT)DT_Xtremez_32:

 

[tats]

did Evanesance make it to download, i was going to go only to perv on Amy Lee or what ever her new married name is (luck TawT)DT_Xtremez_32:

OH GOD YES!!!!!!! I got far too many pictures of Amy and a video DT_Xtremez_15: She's soooooo yummy

For me saturday and sunday were the best days, although I have no idea when my body is going to forgive me for the pain I've been going through, with all the standing around, sitting on rock solid ground and attempting to sleep on it.

I must admit I did fear for my life on sunday night though, but considering monday morning was also a nightmare due to a guy about 5 metres away blew a tent up and almost took his own face off.

Am very glad we had a pitch nearer the village/arena cos I really wasn't a massive fan of the amount of walking done but hey nevermind.

Loved Velvet Revolver, Hinder were cool, Shadows Fall, Aiden were amazing, 30 Seconds To Mars - well helloooooooooo Mr Leto!!!!! Bowling For Soup absolutely amazing, Marilyn Manson not so impressive, Linkin Park I loved. Papa Roach were fun, Stone Sour were cool, Killswitch Engage rocked, Evanesence OH MY GOD she's FIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Iron Maiden aren't really my thing but were good, I went to watch Reel Big Fish who were absolutely fantastic! Sooooo much fun.

Anyway since getting back I have now developed flu which sucks something major but hey I really enjoyed the entire thing. DT_Xtremez_28:

 

[MingMong]

Thanks for your comments folks, here comes part 2

SATURDAY

SHADOWS FALL

Only got to see the tail end of the Shadows Fall set, but what I heard sounded pretty good. I have since checked them out on myspace, and they are a decent band, nice to see a band that play hardcore metal without having to revert to screaming their vocals.

AIDEN

A bit of a surprise package here, I was expecting them to be rubbish, but they were actually quite good. A bit of a mix of Emo meets Punk (although they like to call themselves punk rock). Not the sort of stuff I would chose to listen to at home, but not a bad festival space filler.

30 SECONDS TO MARS

A fairly new band on the scene, with a couple of average singles behind them. Did absolutely nothing for me, just another band who have jumped on the Emo bandwaggon. Played some average songs, averagely, nothing to get excited about at all.

BOWLING FOR SOUP

One of the highlights of my weekend! This is what music is all about, having fun! BFS are a fine skate punk band, from the same mould as bands like Blink182 and Sum41 (maybe they should have a number in their name too). Played all their fun, bouncy songs with great crowd interaction (mainly revolving around girls in the audience getting their boobs out on the big video screens). They played all their hits and more, finishing with a good cover ot The Ramones track 'I Wanna Be Sedated'. They also announced they will be doig a UK tour in October, I can't wait!

LEZ ZEPPELIN

Not too much to say about these, an all girl Led Zep covers band, 3 sexy rock chicks (and a not quite so sexy drummer) playing some great Zeppelin covers. Good space fillers, enjoyable for an old Led Zep fan like me, but nothing special.

MACHINE HEAD

If hitting the bass drums as fast as you can and shouting into a microphone so nobody can understand a word you 'sing' is you idea of music, then Machine Head are probably for you. Personally I hated them (maybe i'm just getting old!)

SLAYER

Not too much to say about these, a decent thrash metal band that most the crowd seemed to enjoy, but not half as good as Megadeth the day before.

MARILYN MANSON

A set based entirely on Manson's persona with very little in the way of quality. Played most of his well know songs (his best being covers of other people's work) but once over the initial impact of how he and his band look, thay are actually not that good. And why does he feel the need to drop his microphone on the floor at the end of every song?

LINKIN PARK

Linkin Park are a great live band. I never thought I would be saying this, but i've seen them twice now (2003 and 2007) and both times they have been excellent. I thought that a band which relies so heavily on samples and backing tracks would find it hard to convert their show to the festival stage, but they do it remarkably well. Chester Bennington has a great live voice with a good vocal range, Mike Shinoda's voice was a little ropey at times during his vocals, but seemed to improved during the set. A good mix of tracks from their 3 major album releases with about 5 tracks from their new album 'Minutes to Midnight'. Finished with the crowd favourite 'Faint' which seems impossible to listento at a festival without jumping around madly punching the air!

 

[MingMong]

Just found proof that Korn were possibly on the wrong stage, this was the scene OUTSIDE the tent. I was being squished somewhere inside it.

 

[tats]

Just found proof that Korn were possibly on the wrong stage, this was the scene OUTSIDE the tent. I was being squished somewhere inside it.

Two of the girls I was camped with were somewhere in there, right near the front and one got knocked/pushed down and ended up messing up her leg/foot (cue more whinging, not sure how that was possible but it was)

I liked Aiden, hadn't heard of them to be honest and was just there when they were playing and glad I was. Have been listening to 30 seconds from mars for a few weeks and really like them but can understand why they wouldn't quite be classed as suitable for Download.

Am intrigued to what you though of Evanesence as the guys I was with were not impressed in the slightest and couldn't believe that they were allowed to play blah blah blah....

 

[MingMong]

OK, if you want my views on Evernesence, I guess i'd best do my Sunday review. So here goes.....


SUNDAY

CHIMAIRA

Got into the arena a bit late on this day, (too much excess the night before) and walked into Chimera's set, a band that had been reccomended to my by a friend. Yet again, a band who have some good musical talent, but totally ruined by absolutely rubbish screaming instead of vocals (maybe I am getting too old!). I didn't enjoy these one bit.

PAPA ROACH

Now this was more like it!
I remembered Papa Roach from days of old, and knew a few of their old songs from their 'Infest' and 'LoveHateTragedy' albums, and I have to say I was really, really impressed with the set they played. They put so much passion into their music, and their set was another one of my weekend's highlights. Jacoby Shaddix (lead singer) was running round the stage like a madman and really gave 100% to this set. Yet another band that I would go to see if they decide to do a UK tour.

MASTODON

It seems like a repeating record, but why can't bands with good musicians, and some very good riffs get somebody who can sing to front them? Musically good, but yet again, they decided that the way to do metal is to growl the vocals. I mostly tried to sleep through their noise!

LAMB OF GOD

See Matodon above!

STONE SOUR

Corey Taylor from Slipknot's side project. And to be honest, he would be better off to kick slipknot into touch and concentrate on this band. A good set with lots of great metal music, and for a pleasant change, somebody who can actually sing. Nothing amazing, but a good solid set. Rumours were rife all weekend that Slipknot were going to make a surprise Download appearance (Corey Tailor was there with Stone Sour and Joey Jordison was drumming for Korn) but it never happened. Thank God!

WITHIN TEMPTATION

If you like Evanescence, you will probably like these too. They had to play a reduced set of only four songs due to comming on stage late because of technical dificulties, but they made the most of the short time they hade on stage and played a quality set. If you like your rock with the odd bit of synth and girlie operatic style vocals I seriously recomend you check out this band.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE

Heard them from a distance while returning from Within Temptation. they sounded rubbish so went for beer instead

EVANESCENCE

This was a band I was looking forward to, but I was sorely dissapointed. They sacked two band members about 2 week before their Download appearance (drummer and bassist I think) but musically they were pretty good. Amy Lee's voice was vey good throughought, the problem is, that every song seemed to sound very much like the last one. I actually ended up asleep because of the monotiny of the whole set (nothing to do with the beer obviously!) I would not recomend this band to anybody unless you are a huge fan, because, frankly, they were boring. Most of the crowd didn't seem too impressed either.
P.S. Amy Lee did look lovely!

FASTWAY

My friend's idea to go and watch Fasway between Evanescence and Maiden, and what a top idea that was. Fastway are an old school supergroup. 'Fast' Eddie Clarke (ex Motorhead), Toby Jepson (Little angels vocalist), John McManus (Mama's Boys bassist) and Steve Strange on drums. Some absolutely awesome old school rock, it was just a shame that we had to levae their set 5 minutes before the end to run to the main stage to watch.......

IRON MAIDEN

The main reason I was at Download festival. Maiden can do no wrong (other than when Bruce Dickinson left and they let Blaise Bailey sing). What can I say? Iron Maiden at their awesome best. They were celebrating 25 years of the Number of the beast album, so playe 5 songs of that, and also played a handful of songs off the latest album (A matter of life or death). The band were on fire! At one point Bruce Dickinson made one of his trademark jumps onto the monito speakers, bus messed up and fell on his arse, like the true proffesional he is, he carried on singing while he was recovering. As always, Eddie, made a couple of appearances, as a tank commander first time round, and a tommy gun touting squaddie for his second appearance. Words cannot describe how good Maiden are live, even if you aren't a heavy metal fan, do yourself a favour and go see them, thay are (in my opinion) the greatest live band in the world.



Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my reviews, heres to 2 weeks of gigging.

Tomorrow Queens of the stone age and White stripes in Hyde park.
Saturday Muse and The Streets(yuk) at Wembley Stadium
Sunday Muse, Biffy Clyro and My Chemical Romance at Wembley
Next Sunday(24th) Iron Maiden at Brixton Accademy.

 

[3Chordwonder]

Cheers Mingmong !

I love reading stuff like this (even though I would certainly hate every band on your list) I will produce a similar day by day review for Reading.

I tell a lie actually, I do quite like Bowling For Soup. As for Evanesence.....I'd rather drink Cilit Bang.