Download Festival 2014 Review

So, after saying I wouldn't be going to any festivals in 2014, I am actually attending 2 full weekends and 2 days of Sonisphere. Guess my willpower is next to non-existant, whoops. However, the decision to attend Download for the third year in a row has turned out to be one of the best decisions ever. It has been a superb weekend and I wish it hadn't had to come to an end.... although my feet, legs, arms, neck etc would hugely disagree with that statement!

As with last year I decided to just buy a weekend arena ticket and tuck myself away in Derby in a hotel. I drove up this time which saved lugging everything around on trains and coaches and made the journey far easier. After settling in, it was time for some sleep ready to hit Donington Park on the Friday.

Key: Stage names --- Stephen Sutton Main Stage – M; Zippo Encore Second Stage – Z; Pepsi Max tent – P; Red Bull tent – R; Jagermeister stage – J. All ratings out of ten.

Friday

Prior to the festival, summer had finally turned up in the UK and the weekend of Download was forecast to remain the same with hot sunshine and little rain. Friday certainly lived up to this and after getting the shuttle from Derby to Download, it was already roasting. Another batch of sun cream applied and it was off to the gates.
Unlike last year, when there was much to-ing and fro-ing, I now knew where to queue to get the ticket checked and wristband given. After getting into the arena and purchasing a cold bottle of water straight away, it was time for the music.

Tax The Heat – Z – 7 – A very enjoyable start to the festival. Great little rock and roll band to nod along to. Not much more to add to that really.

Caught the last song of Miss May I on the main stage, which is the same as I heard when I saw them at a Killswitch gig months earlier. Should try and catch a whole set at some point.

Crossfaith – M – 7 – These guys are such a great live band. Given rise to their “electronicore” style of music they infuse electronic sounds with heavy riffs and mental drum solos. Their cover of ‘Omen’ going over very well with the bouncing masses in front of the stage. Frontman Koie Kenta was extremely grateful to their fans for their success over the years. And I can only see this band getting stronger.

Powerman 5000 – M – 5 – My first thought to this band being announced was “who?!” Transpires that I sing one of their tracks daily in my head, so I was quite looking forward to them. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite live up to expectations. I think they would’ve worked better on 2^nd or even in the larger tent and playing to a crowd of their fans. Main stage seemed a bit too much for them. And apart from big hitters ‘Bombshell’ and ‘When Worlds Collide’, which were saved until the end, the crowd just seemed completely uninterested. I did enjoy the set but it just felt quite flat for the most part.

Skindred – M – 10 – Ah, Skindred. What can you say about Skindred? Well, they are one of the most entertaining bands to watch at the moment. Benji Webbe is fast becoming one of the best frontmen of this generation, who else can get the Download crowd to do the Harlem Shake?! They played a great set including 2 off the new album, which isn’t the best in my opinion, and stalwarts ‘Pressure’, ‘Nobody’ and ‘Warning’ (with guest vocals from Crossfaiths Koie Kenta). Speaking to a fellow Downloader later in the weekend I suggested that Skindred could push themselves into a 2^nd stage headliner spot (and beyond) in years to come. They have the stage show and crowd work sorted, just need to produce a couple more well received albums to have the whole package.

Making my way back to 2^nd stage I managed to see the last couple of songs from The Answer. I really enjoy this band and would’ve seen them if not for Skindred playing on main.

The Temperance Movement – Z – 7 – I don’t think I have ever been this chilled out during a festival set before. A fantastic blues rock band that acted as superb background music whilst I was beginning to flag in the heat. I really hope I can see them again.

Within Temptation – M – 10 – I have to thank Andy C (festival booker) here for adding Rival Sons to the Zippo stage line-up. That stopped the clash of Within Temptation and Flogging Molly which was causing me some distress before the festival. I had to sell my ticket for Within Temptation in London and so, desperately wanted to see them at Download. And I’m extremely glad I did, they were amazing. As I have said in previous reviews, symphonic metal is one of my favourite genres of music and I was not disappointed with this set. Sharon den Adel is an amazing frontwoman and owned every track, if I can be that energetic and powerful a month before I turn 40 I’ll be very happy! For me, the setlist was near perfect. I would say it was a bit too ‘Hydra’ heavy, except that a) it’s the album they’ve been touring and b) it is an incredible album. The only thing that would’ve topped this set would’ve been Xzibit and/or Howard Jones coming on stage during the songs they feature in. But I cannot fault WT at all, one of the best bands of the weekend for sure.

Flogging Molly – Z – 10 – “And now for something completely different” said frontman Dave King, and he’s not wrong. But Flogging Molly are simply just an amazing, fun band to see live. They played a great folk-punk set with all the favourites packed in and you couldn’t help but bop along. Flogging Molly are that band that you can’t help but enjoy everything that is coming off the stage. I just wish they could’ve had a longer set. A plane flew over during their set and in Dave Kings words “it had to be a Ryanair didn’t it!” If you haven’t seen this band before I highly recommend you do so. Great entertainment with superb songs as an added bonus.

Bad Religion – Z – 9 – Full on punk rock blasted with ferocious tenacity was the order for the Friday sub headline set. Bad Religion opened with ‘Fuck You’ and didn’t let up until the final bars of set closer ‘Sorrow’. Managed to get front and centre for this and it was so much fun, I’ve wanted to see them for a long time and wasn’t disappointed. They played 3 songs from their newest album but also included a song from nearly every other album they have released since 1982. It’s amazing to see a band formed in 1979 still have that much enjoyment on stage, playing to their fans and hopefully they’ll be around for a while longer yet.

The Offspring – Z – 10 – Time for my first headliner of Download 2014 and I was slightly worried that they would disappoint me. I’d heard reviews that they are lacklustre and bored in their playing nowadays. The fact they were playing the album ‘Smash’ in full was something I was looking forward to and after 20 seconds of Nitro I knew that this was going to be The Offspring at their best. The whole band looked like they were enjoying it as much as the crowd. It started raining during the set (just a brief cooling shower) and unlike many previous years of Download, this was greeted by a huge cheer from the crowd. After playing through Smash it was time for the hits. I would’ve liked a couple of songs from ‘Conspiracy of One’ but can’t complain about the tunes that did get aired. It turned into a complete sing-a-long with ‘Pretty Fly’ and ‘Why Don’t You Get a Job’ being belted out by everyone around me. I can happily say I have now seen The Offspring and am delighted by that fact. It was a great way to end the first day of Download and now fully into the festival feel I couldn’t wait for day 2.

Band of the day – The Offspring, just too good to ignore as the highlight of the day.
Surprise of the day – Very difficult to pick as there were so many good bands on the Friday. I think it will have to go to Bad Religion, as I wasn't expecting them to still be that good.


Saturday

The forecast for Saturday was that it would be cooler with more cloud cover. And after the heat of Friday I was rather happy about this! It’s always easier getting into a festival once you have a wristband on and after a member of the security staff asked if he could give me a tug (and then explaining he meant the wristband and not that I’d be getting lucky) I was into the second day of the festival. This would start with the longest period of time I have spent at one stage for all of the festivals I have attended.

Dying Fetus – M – 9 – Now, death metal is a great style of music but there is a thin line for bands to be good or just sound like an awful racket. On record, Dying Fetus aren’t really my cup of tea. Live, however, they were absolutely fantastic. I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed their set that I didn’t want it to last just 30 minutes. It was such a shock to like them as much as I did. The reason Dying Fetus got booked to play was due to a Twitter campaign, #whynotdyingfetus, and vocalist John Gallagher paid tribute to the fans that got them on the line up. Phenomenal start to the day and it was only 11.30am.

Fozzy – M – 7 – I am a big fan of Fozzy, although not so much the last album. But this set left me a little disappointed. Something was lacking and it meant they didn’t score as highly as I was anticipating. That being said, they still sounded good and I did enjoy it. Chris Jericho is a great frontman and his time in WWE has helped that, during part of the set it sounded like he was cutting a promo on RAW. But whether the main stage was a step too far for them I don’t know. Chris also said that he had made an agreement with the higher powers that it wouldn’t rain, this was about 5 minutes before it did start raining, albeit barely a drizzle. They played 2 songs from their upcoming album and they were great so I have higher hopes for that record.

Bury Tomorrow – M – 9 – From going into the set thinking, ‘I’m not a huge fan of this band’ to coming out with the mindset of ‘wow, that was brilliant’, is a perfect example of why I love live music. A fantastic band that will only get bigger as time goes on. I do like metalcore and I really like how Bury Tomorrow have added more melodic elements into their structure as well. Bury Tomorrow commanded the main stage and kept the crowd entertained with a battle of the sexes, including a female only mosh pit, and adapting the crouch down to jump up into a lie down to jump up segment. Ending the set with the big hit of ‘Lionheart’ and asking for as many crowd surfers as possible was awesome (for the crowd at least, I think the security staff had a heart attack when they heard that)  They’re playing a small venue in Portsmouth later in the year which I wasn’t going to attend, I may reappraise that decision. – edit -  Since writing that I have indeed purchased a ticket.

Took a little wander after Bury Tomorrow to fill up the water bottle and stood outside the Red Bull tent listening to Colt 45 – R - 7 – Only caught a couple of songs but they seem like a decent rock band. If I remember correctly they were one I was going to check out at Camden Rocks or something similar. I will keep an eye out if these guys are playing somewhere close by.

While She Sleeps – M – 8 – Metalcore band from Sheffield who tore apart the main stage. Heavy riffs and screaming vocals a-plenty and they seemed really happy being there. This band are really on an upwards incline and it was easy to see why. After taking some time out in the early part of 2014 for lead singer Lawrence ‘Loz’ Taylor to undergo throat surgery, they made their return UK performance a memorable one. The crowd were really into them and there was a lot of movement at the front. At the end of the set, Loz climbed the sound desk/video camera tower in the middle of the arena and planted the WSS flag he had been holding. Unfortunately it was the other side to where I was standing so I couldn’t get a photo.

Bowling For Soup – M – 9 – Well, this was just super fun! And, somehow, the first time I have seen BFS. The banter from the group was brilliant and at times I thought I was at a comedy gig rather than music. The BFS photo opportunity was hilarious if not a little long winded; it was a music gig after all. The Queens’ knight killing a giant inflatable sheep got a lot of laughs, especially as it seemed to be a difficult task! And when they were actually playing, they were faultless. All the hits got an airing and the crowd were fully into it, ‘1985’ and ‘Punk Rock 101’ were definite highlights. The band doesn’t take themselves seriously and that helped with the good-natured, fun-loving feel of the set. Definitely a band to check out at their own shows.

Killswitch Engage – M – 8 – Saw these guys at their headline show earlier this year and they were fantastic, they were just as good at Download. Jesse Leach has slotted straight back into the band as if he never left, commanding the old and new records. I wasn’t sure if another metalcore band was going to prove too much for one day, or if by following Bowling For Soup they would seem out of place. But I was proven wrong by a band that knows what they’re doing and do it very well indeed, every song was pounded out with as much energy from start to finish. Apart from Adam Ds’ guitar breaking from which he eventually gave up with and went to party with the crowd.

During the set I went to watch some of Skyharbors’ set in the Red Bull tent (7) who sounded very good and I would’ve stayed longer had KSE not started playing Life To Lifeless, which is one of my favourite songs.
Just looking back at the setlist and I don’t think I would’ve changed a thing. KSE are great entertainment and now that Jesse is back I hope they will continue to get stronger bookings and move up the pile.

Monster Magnet – Z – 6 – After the heaviness of the metalcore Saturday had thrown out so far, stoner rock was the best place to head for a relaxing 40 minutes. They scored a mid-range 6 as I seemed to relax a bit too much and found myself drifting in and out of listening, but from what I did hear they played decent enough rock that went down well with those camped out in front of the stage.

The Wildhearts – Z – 10 – Saturday at Download was re-named on the Facebook Wildhearts page to The Wildhearts Day. And they did exactly what they always do; they owned the stage like it was their own gig. I managed to get front and centre for the set and had ridiculous good fun. The Wildhearts brand of pop-punk perfectly allows you to jump around, clap, sing and just have a damn good time with fellow minded fans. The setlist was pretty much as expected with only a 40 minute set (although the band cut it short themselves. Maybe, as last time they played Download their sound was turned off when they continued to play over their allotted time). But, for die-hard Wildhearts fans it just created a great sing-a-long and for new listeners it was the biggest songs that they could just enjoy. Random Jon Poole had taken place as bassist for this gig, replacing Scott Sorry from Aprils tour. You could tell how much fun the band has playing to their fans with the broad smiles that adorned their faces throughout the set. Ginger told the crowd to hang around for “the greatest frontman ever, Dee Snider”, however, I had other plans first.

Fall Out Boy – M – 10 – And so it came to the worst clash, and one of only a couple this year, of the festival - Fall Out Boy vs. Twisted Sister. In the end the only way to determine who to see was to see both and split the sets. Starting with FOB, I managed to stay for 8 songs and listened to ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’ whilst walking off to 2^nd stage and they were absolutely brilliant. I wasn’t sure how they would go down at Download being a more “emo-scene” rock band but they definitely brought their A-game, and a lot of fire! As soon as opener ‘The Phoenix’ blasted out of the speakers it was clear that FOB were deserving of their sub-headline slot and they  never looked back after that. They went over really well with the sizeable crowd they drew and I wish I could’ve stayed for the entirety of their set. However, I couldn’t miss the opportunity of seeing Twisted Sister and so I headed off to catch the remainder of them.

Twisted Sister – Z – 10 – I arrived at second stage at the end of ‘You Can’t Stop Rock’n’Roll’ and managed to get into the front section. It seems that the festival was a lot quieter this year, not that I’m complaining! So my first full taste of Twisted Sister live was iconic ‘Shoot Em Down’, for a band that has existed since 1972 in varying lineups, these guys have so much energy and presence it puts some newer bands to shame. Guitarist Eddie Ojeda had the crowd in the palm of his hand when he spoke about the festival organisers putting them on the ‘lesser’ stage again. And that we had to be so loud, the people listening to FOB would realise their mistake at not seeing Twisted Sister. Enter the intro to ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ and the crowd really did go mental for it. Dee led a sing-a-long throughout and it was crazy good fun. Into the opening bars of ‘Burn In Hell’ a DHL plane came into land at nearby East Midlands Airport. This stopped Dee in his tracks, “is that normal?! I’m having 9/11 flashbacks! They should put a sign up by the stage!” after much laughter Dee then had a lightbulb moment, “oh no! I have to sing Burn In Hell after talking about 9/11!” However, this small disturbance didn’t stop the band from tearing through the song with ferocious tenacity. This brought us to the final song of the set, rock anthem ‘I Wanna Rock’, to say this was fun would be understatement of the century! The entire crowd answered Dee's call with an almighty “ROCK!” The band then tested the reaction to “I Wanna Fuck”, to say the ground shook with the crowds response is not far off what happened! That had to be the loudest I have ever heard a crowd! As I left the 2^nd stage the band came back out to play a cover of Motorheads’ ‘Born To Raise Hell’ which would’ve been cool to stay and see but I’d already walked away.

Heading around towards the smaller stages I saw the last couple of songs from Malevolence – R – 7 – They sounded pretty good, will have to keep an eye out if they do their own shows around this way.

Ginger Wildheart (acoustic) – J – 9 – My sub-headliner for the Saturday was an acoustic set from The Wildhearts frontman Ginger. Really enjoyed this and wanted to give it a 10 but something just wasn’t there to make it a perfect set. When I saw him play acoustic at Camden Rocks the set was filled with Wildhearts songs which had already been played an hour previous at Download and so I was expecting it to be more Ginger solo orientated, seeing as he now has 5 albums from which to choose from. But instead he just played a different selection of Wildhearts songs, which I was fine with. Chris Catalyst (of Eureka Machines) accompanied him on acoustic, although sat out of the first song when he broke his guitar after the first verse! And Random Jon Poole added his acoustic bass to the show. Some great banter from the enigmatic frontman helped this fun and lively set turn into a mass sing-a-long from the sizeable crowd he drew. I always enjoy watching Ginger, solo or with The Wildhearts, and am really looking forward to his Birthday Bash later in the year.

Before taking a spot for the day’s headliner, The Howling – R – 8 – started playing in the tent and so I was able to stand and catch the first 2 songs they played. After seeing them support Volbeat earlier this year I was surprised at how much better they sounded. Everything seemed cleaner and more mature in musical terms as well as the band's stage presence. These guys could well start making a big name for themselves.

Linkin Park – M – 10 – Hybrid Theory was the first real alternative album I ever bought and so is a major part of the reason I am now a metalhead/rock fan/grunger or whatever terms people nowadays use. So when it was announced that half of this set would be that album in full I was delighted, just hoping that the band would be on form. They started with a video saying how excited they were to be playing the album which included the intro to ‘Papercut’ (first song on the album.) I really thought they would then kick into the song as a great way to begin and was a bit annoyed when the video continued. When the band finally did take the stage they blew me away. They were absolutely fantastic and I think that is the first time I have sung along with every word of every song. Having listened to the album a few times before the festival I still forgot that every track is an absolute belter, some of which haven’t been played live since the early 2000s and a full debut of ‘Cure For The Itch’. Mike Shinoda and Chester Benningtons’ vocal were nigh on perfect and they looked extremely happy and comfortable on stage. Shinoda adorned a bright red wig for ’Papercut’ as that was the colour of his hair when the single was released. At the end of the album play-through Mike Shinoda said, ‘if this was 2001 we’d be done, we’d have nothing else.’ I had decided before the festival to leave after Hybrid Theory as, other than Meteora, I’m not a huge fan of their other work, so this was my cue to leave. Looking back on the setlist I’m happy with that decision. It was a great way to end the Saturday and I’m glad that Linkin Park were so good for the first time seeing a band that helped shape my musical tastes.

Band of the day – Linkin Park, no contest. Great fun and even now I can’t stop smiling thinking about great a time I had.

Surprise of the day – Dying Fetus, a Twitter campaign that gained motion and got them booked and they were really good. Well played Dying Fetus.


Sunday

And so we reached the final day of Download 2014, this would be a day with a lot of moving between stages and catching half sets here and there.

Red Dragon Cartel – M – 7 – A decent start to the day with some classic rock. Being an ex-guitarist for Ozzy Osborne, Jake E Lee and his new band threw in a couple of cover songs, closing with Bark At The Moon which was pretty cool.

Kill Devil Hill – Z – 6 – Wasn’t really sure what to expect from Vinny Appices’ supergroup but they were pretty good. It had started to drizzle during the set and my mind was torn between listening to the band and wondering how heavy the rain was going to get (turns out, not very) So I found myself not paying attention at times, hence the lower score. I’m also annoyed with myself as, after leaving the set early, Phil Anselmo came on stage to perform a cover of Panteras ‘Mouth For War’ which would’ve been ace to see.

Heading across the arena I stopped to see the end of Winger – M – 5 – expecting them to close on ‘Seventeen’, when they didn’t they got an average score of 5 seeing as they weren’t bad and I only saw 2 and a bit songs.

The Graveltones – P - 8 – It had taken 2 and a half days for me to venture to the right side of the arena and into the Pepsi Max tent but my first taste of it in 2014 was a good one. In 2013, the sound in the tent was ridiculously loud and therefore I spent most of my time there listening from outside which takes away from the performance. Immediately when arriving at the stage it was obvious that these issues had been sorted and the sound was excellent inside the tent. As were The Graveltones, it’s amazing how much noise can be made by just two people but it was extremely enjoyable and makes up for missing them at Camden Rocks.

Buckcherry – M – 7 – Good band, good songs, good atmosphere. The band has since stated that it wasn’t their best performance but I certainly enjoyed it. The partial cover of AC/DCs ‘Big Balls’ was dedicated to Father’s Day, seeing as that coincided with the Sunday of Download. Set closer ‘Crazy Bitch’ went over as well as it always does.

Thy Art Is Murder – P – 3 – Went back to the Pepsi Max tent and sat outside whilst TAIM finished their set. In hindsight I wish I’d been anywhere else. It sounded terrible. Apparently I am not a fan of the ‘deathcore’ genre! And after looking through a list of bands noted as deathcore, that opinion hasn’t changed. Fair play to them but it’s just not for me.

Feed The Rhino – P – 9 – What an incredible set from these guys, furious energy pounding out some fantastic tunes. They seemed to draw a bigger crowd than they expected but it didn’t faze them at all. Lead singer Lee Tobin spent as much time in the crowd and the pits as he did bouncing around the stage in total control of his audience. This is a band that could become huge very easily and I expect to see them on larger stages in the not too distant future.

Nipping out of the tent to fill up the water bottle I caught Richie Sambora playing ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’ on main stage. Purely for seeing this song live he scores a 7.

The Treatment – P – 10 – Tremendous set from a band that had impressed me when they supported Airbourne early this year. Powerful rock’n’roll erupted from the stage and didn’t let up for the entire 30 minute slot. The one thing I would’ve changed with their set list would’ve been swapping the last 2 songs around and closing with ‘I Bleed Rock’n’Roll’ so as to put a stamp on the set. But that’s just me and I’m not in the band so never mind.

Sepultura – Z – 6 - Having seen Sepultura before, I was looking forward to this set and was left rather disappointed. I think with the fact they only had a half hour set I was expecting them to run out all the major songs, only getting ‘Roots Bloody Roots’ to finish with just seemed a bit of a let-down personally. The band, as always, were good at what they do and Derrick Greens’ voice was flawless as usual. I really do think that I had built an expectation of the set and then felt bored when it didn’t turn out how I was expecting. Derrick introduced a song by saying “there are a lot of people out there who only talk shit, we are Sepultura”, I was wondering where he was going with the statement until they broke into ‘Propaganda’, then everything made more sense. I had the same giggle as I always do during ‘Rattamahatta’……hehe rattamahatta. I did think they would say something about the World Cup currently taking place in Brazil (the band's birthplace) and the protests surrounding it but I guess that may just have been me.

Sabaton – Z – 7 – I’d been quite fortunate with clashes this year, Sabaton vs. Volbeat was a nasty one though. Add to that the fact that the (not so) secret band in the tent had been confirmed as Black Stone Cherry and it offered up a nasty 3-way clash. I had decided that I wouldn’t be seeing BSC (or whoever was the secret band, wink wink nudge) before the festival as I saw them in a small venue in February and will be seeing them again in November. This left the original Sabaton or Volbeat decision, Sabaton were in the lead being as I’d never seen them but Volbeat are one of my favourites. Cue the usual flurry of tour announcements as festival season kicks in, and Volbeat were announced to play Portsmouth before the festival started. So the decision was simple, I’d be seeing Sabaton at Download. Unfortunately, Volbeat started on the main stage whilst I was waiting at 2^nd and it just planted that seed in the mind that I could be seeing Volbeat right now. I stuck with the Sabaton decision and was glad I did. They came on stage and blasted through the superb ‘Ghost Division’ and ‘To Hell And Back’, which were two songs that I particularly wanted to see. The crowd really got into them and a sea of horns were relentlessly being thrown towards the stage throughout both tracks. It was then that my subconscious took over and I left 2^nd to walk to main and the draw of Volbeat. I’m glad I have seen Sabaton and would gladly do so again, preferably when there isn’t somewhere else I’d also like to be. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them in higher positions at future festivals on these shores.

Volbeat – M – 9 – Heading round to Volbeat during the set meant taking a spot further back from the stage than I would’ve liked and I think this is what took something away from the set. Musically, they sounded brilliant and I can’t fault Michael Poulsens’ vocals, but it wasn’t quite enough to be able to give them the top score.  The other annoying thing about arriving late was that I turned up just after they had played ‘Lola Montez’ which is a personal favourite of mine. I liked the stage they had brought with them; it seemed simple but effective and gave the eye something else to take in. When they headlined Wacken in 2012 they proved that they are more than capable of making that spot their own, hopefully they will continue to get bigger in this country and carry on their rise up the line-up. I have now bought a ticket for their local show and am ridiculously excited about that.

Memphis May Fire – P – 5 – Back at the Pepsi Max tent and took a seat outside whilst these guys played out their set. They didn’t sound bad and had I been inside I reckon I would’ve enjoyed it, but it did enough to just sit down and listen to.

Against Me! – P – 10 – Wow! What an absolutely incredible set from this band. They drew a sizeable crowd and didn’t disappoint. This was punk rock as it should be; fast, bouncey and in your face. There wasn’t a lot of crowd interaction between songs but for this set that didn’t matter. Against Me! smashed through their songs and managed to fit 10 into the small half hour set, which certainly gave a good account of the calibre of their music. I left the tent wanting more, which I suppose is the desire of musicians and bands and hope that they will come back and tour over here.

Once again making the trek across the arena I had the unfortunate opportunity to see Steel Panther who were still on main at the time and getting 3 girls to make out on stage, because that’s just what they do. I saw their set closer ‘Death To All But Metal’ however, this year they didn’t bring out Corey Taylor for his vocals so they will get a mid-range 5. I really do see them going from strength to strength very quickly and shooting up festival line-ups, they are possible future headliners if the joke doesn’t wear off before then (it wore off for me about a month after their first album), but we shall see.

Seether – Z – 7 – Having seen Seether before and being disappointed with them, I gave them a chance to prove that I saw them on a bad day. Catching the last few songs at Download did prove that, they sounded really good and it would’ve been great to have been able to see more of them. ‘Fake It’ and ‘Remedy’ are two classic songs and seemed to get a great reaction from the crowd at the front of the stage.

The Pretty Reckless – Z – 5 – I was totally disappointed in this set and band. One of the bands I was looking forward to seeing before the festival and it was absolutely dreadful. The only reason they get a 5 is because I managed to see ‘Heaven Knows’, but I certainly won’t be rushing to see them again. At times it was like watching a Black Label Society show with how long and drawn out the guitar solos were. Taylor Momsens’ mic was too loud. And it was utterly boring. I was always going to be leaving early to head over to the tent, I just wish I’d done so earlier and been able to watch some of Alter Bridges’ sub-headline set.

The Used – P – 9 – Well, this was awesome, I really wasn’t expecting them to be as good as they were. I wasn’t sure if the large crowd was partly because Dillinger Escape Plan were headlining the tent, but it appeared that they loved every minute of The Used regardless. Apart from two songs showcasing the new album they didn’t play anything post-2007, which was when I was really into them, so that helped my enjoyment. In saying that, the new songs sounded damn good, ‘Revolution’ especially. The band were so appreciative of the fans and especially with how vocal they were.  Their style of hardcore-alt rock was a great way to begin the end of the festival and I would happily have had them as my final headliner. Except there was one more band to go before bidding farewell to Download 2014.

Aerosmith – M – 10 – One of those classic rock bands that adorn so many 'must see' band lists is Aerosmith. I did have trepidations before they started in the fact that a band that has been going for 44 years always carries the possibility of being poor live; Can a 66 year old hit every note like he could back in the day? Can the drummer keep the pace? Will the guitarists still be able to shred through solos like they’re taking a stroll through the park? Aerosmith answered those questions and more with a resounding hell yeah we can! So much so, I think I would have to say that they are the best band I have seen at Download over the last 3 years I have attended. Not to take anything away from the others, Aerosmith were just that damn good. The whole set was completely perfect in every sense. The setlist was incredible with all the big hitters there, lacking ‘Back In The Saddle’ but that can be my only gripe which is smothered by how much amazingness was included. The entire crowd singing along to ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’, which has been one of my favourite songs since the film Armageddon was released, was a pure highlight for me. Seeing Joe Perry sing ‘Freedom Fighter’ was awesome and showed how much depth this band still has. After making my way to the back of the arena during the intermission I saw the encore of ‘Dream On’ &‘Sweet Emotion’ before leaving the festival site, and since learning that they also played ‘Mama Kin’. But I think I had definitely seen enough by this point to be stupidly happy on the way home.

Band of the day – Aerosmith, it had to be. Nothing compared to them across the whole festival.

Surprise of the day – Against Me!, full on, heart racing punk rock at it’s best.


And so we came to the end of this years’ festival and I have to say it may have been the best time I’ve had at a festival so far. Whether it was the decent weather, how well it was organised this year, the fact that it was quieter and so seemed more accessible, I don’t know. But Download 2014 will always be remembered for the ace time that was had.

I said at the end of last years’ review that I wouldn’t be attending any festivals in 2014, a quote that didn’t hold well. However, next year is all about the rugby world cup in England and attending as many games as possible so I may do some day tickets if the line up really calls to me but won’t be attending any full weekend festivals in 2015.
Many thanks for reading; I’m sorry you can’t get that time back.