'Download Festival'
Donnington Park 2009
Review by Tech Joe (Thursday and Friday) Metal Mick ‘the beard’ Staley (rest of weekend)

Thursday and Friday

WELL I arrived on the Thursday, late afternoon time. Got dropped off at the taxi pick up point and headed for camp. 10 minutes later I arrived at the camp entrance. The walks in this place were horrible, and it was all on large stoney gravel and hurt your feet while walking. Not to mention I had a tent and 2 bags on my back. Anyway, all checked in, ready to go. Pitched up in a nice corner of White Camp, in the shade.
Later that night I went to go and have a look around the campsite and the camping village, which to be honest was more like a market. It had a few fairground rides, an open free cinema and an events tent, which held events such as Guitar Hero Championships, Wrestling and Stand Up Comedy. In between films the cinema became a sort of rock disco, a bit like Nottingham’s Rock City at The Rig. Just blasted out rock music and people had a laugh and enjoyed themselves.
The main thing I noticed on arrival was the smell of those toilets. It was eye meltingly bad. But aside from that, the facilities were all pretty good and not that far to walk to, which made a change from the drop off point to campsite walk.
Later that night I went out on the piss with a few mates and got really bad, but not as bad as the guy me and my fellow camp mates saw… he was out of it. We wound him up for a while before people started complaining about the noise, then went to bed. Well tried to, I am not used to sleeping whilst massive planes fly right over your head!
Friday finally arrived and I set off to the main arena, and my God, the walk was even longer than from the drop off point to the campsite… at least a 20 minute walk at normal pace. I wasn’t that looking forward to Friday as there were no bands on I really wanted to see, but seeing as I was there I may as well check them out and I ended up enjoying it! Limp Bizkit and Mötley Crüe were my favourites. I did spend a lot of my time in the EA Hub looking at new games such as “Brütal Legend” for Xbox 360 and PS3 and “Grand Slam Tennis” for Wii.
The arena was a lot better spaced out than last year. If you remember how far away the 2nd stage was from the main stage last year then you will agree when I say this year was a lot better. The stages were almost next to each other but higher up on the hill, so the sound didn’t clash. They weren’t that much different in size physically, the only difference was the crowd space was bigger for the main arena and had one extra screen for the people right at the back to see.
There were market stalls which were identical to the ones in the campsite village and the prices were quite high, and punters had already paid £135 to get in and £25 camping and £20 car park…
That night was my early night, I was so tired I ended up sleeping at about 11ish wheras most people didn’t sleep until 3 or 4am, or even sleep at all!

 

Unfortunately this year, I did not aquire backstage passes, but I will still give a full account of things.
On the plus side, I get to see more of the bands perform as I will not be waylayed with loads of interviews in the press area.
I wondered what improvements could have been made on last year. The first thing I noticed was the vastness of the crowd compared to 2008, 100,000+ no less! The arena set up was much better, as all the stages were in close proximity to each other. The weather was glorious, there are copious amounts of beer, so on with the show.

Saturday

This was my first day as I had prior committments, so I was keen to get to grips with the show.
First up on the main stage was Tim 'Ripper' Owens, and for those with hangovers, a great wakeup call.
His powerful voice boomed across Donnington, with a set list of old and new. 'Ripper' is promoting his new album,'Play my game', which we have reviewed.
As I am a massive Priest fan my favourites were,'The Ripper' and his closing track,'Green Manalishi'
This was a very powerful performance which certainly was throwing down the gauntlet to all who followed.

Hatebreed picked it up and threw it staight back in his face as the delivered an awesome performance. These guys seemed to relish the big stage.

Down were one of the must see bands of the weekend as far as I was concerned and they certainly lived up to expectations. Phil was an expert at working the audience and looked as though he was enjoying every second, he had the massive crowd eating out of his hand. The whole band gave the performance of their lives, delivering all the favourites

The Answer I moved to the second stage next to catch The Answer as I had heard good things about them, and what I had heard was right. They have a bluesy sound very akin to early Whitesnake and Zep, with vocals to match as you could hear Plant and Coverdale influences. They gave an impressive and energetic show, i would love to see these guys again.

Marilyn Manson was my next choice, and because of his reputation i was expecting a great show. What we did get was a strange rather than good show.
First off a black screen was put up to obscure the stage set up, usually denoting something spectacular. Yet again wrong, when the music started and screen dropped, nothing but a few red lights and the man himself, so why all the cloak and dagger screen stuff.
Next thing to strike such a performance was the lack of continuity and free flowing show, between each song Mansons' enterage came on to mop him down and at one point giving him oxygen. This all led to a very dis jointed show and also left the audience quiet, all the songs were there,'Disposable teens', 'Sweet Dreams,' Beautiful' people etc, but this was a very lack lustre performance. All I can deduce from this performance was, that MM was either absolutely off his tits or it was another publicity stunt, so that we all talk about him, and if the latter being the case it worked.

Anvil I decided to see old Canadian rockers Anvil next, even though Slipknot were on main as I figured I could see Slipknot later or another time, but this could be my last chance to see Anvil. My choice was justified as it was a stunning show, with Phil from Down even making an appearance on stage to help singalong. All the old tricks were there, talking thrugh the guitar pickups, being my favourite stunt, something you never see now and pure genius. We were also treated to the 'Metal on Metal' track that is as famous as Napoleon. ( Napoleon ? I know but it's what came into my head first)

Slipknot sorry I dont have a massive amount to say about thse guys, but I was somewhere else for most of their set. What I did catch was the worlds biggest sit down and an awesome finale, Corey Taylor has to be one of the worlds greatest frontmen ever. I will definately watch their whole set next time.

Saturday AKA (Dad Rock Day !)

Stone Gods opened on the main stage with a solid show, but I can't seem to see much progression on their part and they are now for me at their plataux.

Tesla Not my cup of tea at all, very old style bluesy metal, well delivered but nothing that grabbed you.

Black Stone Cherry Once again these boys gave a great prformance but not alot different from what they did last year. We all know though that thase guys are destined for greatness.

Journey yet another solid performance, but I am affraid I am not a Journey fan or a fan of this over Americanified stadium rock. People assume all us old rockers like this sort of drivel, but not all of us do, i like music with more BALLS! They did do their two famous tracks, 'Dont stop believing' and 'Anyway you want to', it got the crowd going briefly.

ZZ Top I saw next and for some ageing southern dudes, they gave a faultless performance, one that would be hard to top for me. Dusty and Billy seem to be telepathic, with each knowing what the other was going to do, but seeing as the band have been together since the year dot with no line up changes, I suppose you could expect it. When they went to the back of the stage and stepped forward with the white furry guitars, us older guys knew 'Legs' was going to be played next and Billy held his up and said 'Hell yeah', the cheers followed. They also gave us ' Sharp Dressed Man' and 'Gimme All Your Loving', from the Eliminator album and the encore was a rendition of Elvis' 'Jailhouse Rock'. These guys may mosey around the stage these days but they give one hell of a performance. You will never find any guitarist anywhere who can play the old Kentucky blues like Billy Gibbons, an absolute legend! ZZ Top we salute you!

Whitesnake 'What has happened to Daves face ?' I heard from behind, then he went on to say, 'Where's Micky Mooney, Bernie Marsden' etc and when they sang 'Here I go again' and he went on about Hobo and Drifter i just had to tell him to shut the fuck up!!
On the plus side and back to 2009 and not 1989, Whitesnake were bloody good, granted Daves voice needed more help from the echo these days, and he did yell Ow a bit too much but the show was masterful. With a massive back catalogue to choose from, they will never please everyone but the guitar and drum solos were superb and Mr Coverdale is still a great frontman

Def Leppard This was the final act of the weekend and what a choice. Def Leppard always put on a terrific show, as everyone gets caught up in the singalongs and the Britishness of it all. 'Pour some sugar on me', 'Photograph', 'Animal'. 'Lets get rocked', the list goes on. The high point of the night though was when Joe announced that the last time they played Donnington was 1986, which was Rick's first gig since he lost his arm. I was one of those lucky enough to be there in '86 and that night when Rick stood up and we all shouted his name and applauded for a good ten minutes, we were all fighting back the tears. Tonight was very much a carbon copy of that, as Rick stood to take the applause with tears in his eyes, the lump came back into my throught. A very emotional thing and a fitting tribute to one of the nicest guys in rock music, and if you watch him play the drums, he never stops smiling from start to finish. His story is of great determination and courage and should inspire anyone.
Def Leppard have worked damned hard to get to where they are today and the performance they gave us at Download 2009 shows you just why they are so popular. They are not all about power ballads, as they play some good old fashioned ballsy metal, interspersed with the slowys as I call them. Def Leppard are a British institution and a band you must see.

Download 2009 was a massive improvement on 2008, as the crowds will tell you, most of the previous gliches were ironed out, especially the way they had a compact arena. The only problem now is how do they top that next year!