Download Festival 2010 @ Donington - Sunday Review
We say :-
After the stupidly long walk to the arena from the campsite I managed to completely miss the first
bands of the day, arriving just in time to hear White Wizzard (the American NWOBHM band that time forgot)
playing their brand of (very) Maiden inspired metal. I'd like to check them out again, as although they
didn't grab the attention here they did put in a storming set in the more intimate surroundings of
Hammerfest.
The first full set that I saw was delivered courtesy of Canadian rock band 3 Inches of Blood and,
a bit like Godsized the day before, they provided an excellent opening blast to the day. They play
bearded straight up heavy metal and they do it well.
After the fun in the sun of 3 Inches of Blood I headed back into the Pepsi Max tent to catch The
Morning After doing their stuff. This is another band well and truly rooted in the 1980s British heavy
metal tradition, but they aren't a string of cliche's like White Wizzard. The band that looks the part
and really connects with the audience, to the point where the lead singer spent as much time in the pit
or surfing the crowd as he did on the stage. (well, not quite but you get the idea).
The next band were the one I had been looking forward to the most since they announced their reformation.
These guys were a massive part of my youth and provided the soundtrack to many of my highest, and lowest,
moments. So could Cinderella in 2010 recapture the magic of their heyday?
Who are you kidding, of course they can....
I first saw Cinderella at Donington 20-odd years ago. They opened the show in 1987, back in the
days of Monsters of rock and they were pretty bloody good all these years ago. That was then, so what
about now...
From the moment the band came on stage it was clear that we were in for something special. Tom Keifer
and the guys may have all gotten older but the music has lost none of its magic. From the moment they
launched into "Somebody Save Me" we were all transported back to our younger days. Cinderella didn't
do the "here are some new songs" thing. Instead they gave us what we wanted to hear. Push Push, Night
Songs, Shake Me, all the classics were here. The set was topped by an absolutely incredible version
of that epitome of the rock ballad "Don't know what you got ('til it's gone).
Set of the festival ?, you betcha.
I wasn't that excited about the announcement that Slash was playing the festival. I mean his new
album is a classic example of middle of the road mundanity but after Cinderella I couldn't be bothered
walking anywhere so I sat down with some friends at the side of the stage and waited for the top-hatted
one to impress.
And to be fair, he did. Miles Kennedy handled the majority of the vocal duties doing a passible Axl Rose
impression for the 4 G'n'R tracks in Slash's set list, with Sweet Child O' Mine standing out particularly
well. Of his new material the best song here, and indeed the best song on his recent album, was Doctor
Alibi. Thankfully as with the CD version this featured Lemmy on vocals. Throw in a cover of Velvet Revolver's
slither and you have a set that really didn't put a foot wrong.
Unfortunately at precisely this point our luck with the weather ran out. Up until the end of Slash's
set it stayed warm and sunny but as soon as he finished the heavens opened. This can only be taken as
proof that God hates Billy Idol, who rivaled Them Crooked Vultures for worst performance on the main
stage.
A quick (yeah right) walk back to the tent for some waterproofs and it was time to get back to the
arena for the hotly anticipated Steel Panther. Unfortunately the pissing rain took the bounce out of
the crowd and the band never really managed to reach their usual dizzying heights. All their 'classics' were there, but even
a guest appearance by Scott Ian of Anthrax couldn't lift the mood. It's a shame because on their recent
UK tour the Panther were stunningly good, as they were at the Golden Gods the
night after Download finished.
By the time Steel Panther finished things were cold, wet and miserable with Donington's green grass
rapidly turning into a muddy quagmire. Before deciding to give it up I caught the last act of my
Download 2010 Ginger (of Wildhearts fame) performing an acoustic set on the Jagermeister stage. This was
the second time this weekend I saw the great man, following on from his appearance the previous evening
part of Michael Monroe's band.
Ginger wasn't solo acoustic though, on no. There were 10 musicians (including Billy Morrison) on the stage and the show
they put on for the faithful will long be remembered. While the Stone Temple Pilots rocked the main stage
and Airbourne (apparently) played a blinder on the second this was the place to be for the real festival
memories. Ginger is a talented musician and quite simply one of the most engaging front men in the
world.
We love him, and he genuinely loves what he's doing. I think he was touched that a few hundred of us
stood in the pissing rain for this intimate little set.
Stone Temple Who ?
'Guitarmageddon' was how the great man described the wall of acoustic's on stage and as they launched
in to "I want to go where the people go" and quickly followed it up with "Suckerpunch" the weather was
forgotten as we were well and truly entertained.
And for me that was it. I decided to cut my losses and do the unthinkable by heading back to my tent
rather than staying to see Stone Sour. I figured that they would probably be touring the new album later
this year and pneumonia wasn't really worth it.
And for me that was Download for another year. Getting the stuff back to the car the next morning was
an experience, and I'm still trying to wash the mud out of my clothes.
Same time next year ? You bet.
Want to know about some of the other performers ?, our friends at ThisIsNotAScene saw an almost entirely different array of bands.
