Download Festival 2010 @ Donington- Saturday Review
We say :-
 |
After the joys of Friday, Download 2010 Saturday started with a meeting
of Twitter friends in the Pepsi Max tent, in a sort of mutual hangover support group. It also turned
up one of the major musical surprises of the festival, in the form of the amazing Godsized.
Occasionally, at a festival, you come across a band you have been previously unaware of, or who
totally exceed your expectations of what they will be like live (In CackBlabbath parlance, this is referred to
as a 'Buckcherry' moment). I'm not sure of what I expected of Godsized, but I certainly didn't think
it was possible for anyone to get a tent full of shattered, hungover remnants of Humanity absolutely
bouncing. These guys put on a great show and are definitely the best new (to me) band of the weekend.
If you get a chance to go and see them live take it. You won't regret it.
There's a new record
coming out caled "The Phoney Tough & The Crazy Brave" which, on the basis of this kind of performance, should be
something a bit special. |
Next up in the tent were Holy Grail, but to be honest most people started drifting off in
search of something, well, better. Their NWOBNM influenced metal was competent enough, but sounded
thin compared to the Godsized show.
| Next I put my reputation as a connoisseur of music on the line by dragging my mates off to see Welsh
rockers The Blackout perform an acoustic set on the Jagermeister stage. I had already caught bits and pieces
of bands on there, but this was the first time I actually made a point of specifically going to check someone
out.
I like The Blackout. There, I said it.
The Blackout are yet another "Post Hardcore" (Whatever the fuck that means) band with two frontmen,
Gavin Butler who can sing, and Sean Smith who does the shouting. It was brilliant to see the look of
terror on Sean's face as the band moved into this uncharted acoustic territory. He started of by telling
us that if he went out of tune, it was deliberate cos it made him sound cool :)
And they were very, very good. I was worried that playing an acoustic set may show up any deficiencies
in the band's musical abilities but it didn't. They played really well and considering that their songs are
not immediately obvious candidates for this type of presentation the set worked brilliantly.
|
 |
 |
Next I headed back to the main stage to catch Atreyu, but the running order changed and instead I
found myself down the front for Flyleaf. Not somewhere I planned to be but this was another band who
were much better than I thought they would be. I had only ever really heard "All Around Me" on some
compilation or other but on the back of this impressive performance I'll have to make sure to catch
them live again soon.
The highlights of their set, for me, were the aforementioned "All Around Me" and the rather cool
new single "Missing". Flyleaf are a band with a distinctive visual identity and in Lacey they have a
great looking and sounding front woman.
|
 |
Five Finger Death Punch were next on the main stage and they proved, yet again, that they are one of
the most energetic bands you can see. I find them similar to Bullet for my Valentine in that they
will probably never break new musical territory but they are very good at what they do. Lead singer
Ivan succeeded in getting their set cut short by encouraging the fans down the front to try and
get onto the stage. Would it be cynical of me the suspect this may have been so the resulting 'Stage
invasion' can appear on their new DVD ??? As it was only a couple of fans actually made it onto the
stage anyway.
The next band I saw were We are the Fallen on the second stage. They were OK but nothing special so we
headed back round to the main stage to watch Lamb of God do whatever it is they do that makes them so
popular....
 |
Danish rockabilly / country/ metallers Volbeat are an odd band. When the festival lineup was announced
they were one of the bands I wanted to see most as I really like their "The Strength/The Sound/The Songs"
album. I can safely say that they didn't disappoint. Live they were one of the most engaging bands of the
weekend and the perfect accompaniment to a beer in the afternoon sunshine. This is the sort of thing that
festivals are made of and I am sure that I would not be alone in rating them as one of the bands of the
weekend.
Michael Poulsen asking a girl in the front row why she wasn't wearing a Volbeat T-shirt, then giving her
the money to but one was a nice moment. I hope she did..
Volbeat is definitely a band that deserves to go far. They blend musical styles in a unique and
brilliant way. Hell they even threw in a little of Slayer's Raining Blood. Brilliant. |
| After catching their acoustic performance earlier in the day, we decided to change our plans and
catch The Blackout in their natural environment. These guys are always great fun live but also seem to have
developed a harder edge since I last saw them play a full set. Dedicating their "most metal" song
"We're going to hell...So bring the sunblock" to Ronnie James Dio was a nice touch.
|
 |
It's a sign of Dio's stature in the rock community that so many bands mentioned him, but the most
fitting tribute was probably Killswitch Engage's rendition of Holy Diver.
 |
For me the decision of which headliner to see was an easy one. Rage Against the Machine and 30 Seconds
to Mars just couldn't compete with the delights of Michael Monroe in the tent. After a few years out of
the spotlight. Monroe is back with an all star band including Ginger from the Wildhearts and former Hanoi
Rocks bassist Sami Yaffa.
It's easy to forget what a ground breaking frontman Mike Monroe was. Hanoi Rocks virtually started the
glam metal genre and it's fantastic to see him back on top form. Ginger also really seemed to be enjoying
getting back to playing guitar and they really rocked the tent. Many of the younger bands on the Download
bill could learn a thing or two from this resurgent Michael Monroe.
With an arsenal of tracks including classics like Motorvatin' and new gems like Not Fakin' it how could
he fail ???
|
So, apart from catching the tail end of Rage's set as I wandered towards the villiage in search of beer that
was Download Saturday. Two days of rock in the Sun. Could the weather hold off for one more day ??? Find out
what we thought of Sunday.
For an alternative view of the day, check out what the
ThisIsNotAScene chaps had to say. Same festival, almost entirely different set of bands :)
Dizzy
|
