REVIEW: Download Festival 2014
Thousands of rock fans descend onto Donington's hallowed turf for a weekend of music and warm beer
Friday 13th to Sunday 15th June 2014 - Download Festival @ Donington Park, Leicestershire Words: Michael Glynn
For the past few years rain has been as much a part of Download Festival as organiser Andy Copping’s trademark cowboy hat, but as thousands of rock fans descend onto Donington’s hallowed turf for a weekend of music and warm beer, the wellies have been replaced with sun cream as the sun blazes overhead.
As the crowd smother themselves in factor 30, Ohio metalcore quintet Miss May I kick things off on the Stephen Sutton Stage with a brief set that doesn’t quite ignite. It’s up to Crossfaith to pick the pace with their infectious dance infused metal. Shortly after Download veterans Skindred smash through a high tempo set before they round off their set with the now traditional Newport Helicopter.
With it being Friday 13th it’s only fitting that today was christened ‘Zombie Day’, so as thousands of metallers donned the fake blood who better to provide the soundtrack than the self styled king of horror himself, Rob Zombie?! During a career spanning set, Rob delivers a much more low key performance than at his last appearance at Donington and without all of the usual distractions on stage it’s quite clear today that despite some dizzy zeniths most of his show is style over substance.
The same has been said about tonight’s headliners Avenged Sevenfold and their initial announcement was greeting with disdain by many, but tonight they prove (most of) the doubters wrong and fully establish themselves as genuine festival headliners.
Playing in front of a ludicrously over the top stage set up it’s all in danger of getting a bit Spinal Tap but when you can go from one anthem like ‘Critical Acclaim’ to ‘Bat Country’ it’s hard to go wrong. As they finish their second encore with modern classic ‘Unholy Confessions’ there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that this is a band ready to be mentioned in the same breath as Iron Maiden and Metallica. Hail to the kings of Donington.
Saturday morning begins with the mysterious Iceman Thesis (seriously, who the hell are they?!) taking to both the Pepsi Max Stage and Red Bull Stage simultaneously to play just one song to an intrigued crowd before walking off with middle fingers raised to the sky. Weird right?
After a masterclass in British heavy metal from Bury Tomorrow and While She Sleeps it’s time for Bowling For Soup to bring their cheery pop punk to the main stage and with the first sing-a-longs of the day on this stage courtesy of ‘1985’ and ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ they cap off their set by bringing a knight on stage to slay an inflatable pig, as you do.
Back to the heavy metal though and despite endless problems with Adam D’s guitar, Killswitch Engage still manage to deliver one of the day’s stand out performances. The same can’t be said about Sheffield lads Bring Me The Horizon who despite playing the biggest show of their career to date don’t seem bothered to be onstage.
Easily the weekend’s most controversial band, Fall Out Boy, take the main stage to deliver a standout performance, with a setlist made up of fan favourites and lesser played heavier material. They might not win over many new fans but they sure please the legion of supporters that have turned out to see them.
Remarkably tonight is the fourth time Linkin Park have headlined Download Festival and tonight they’re playing Hybrid Theory in its entirety to celebrate the ten year anniversary of their celebrated debut - pretty special indeed! While the performance of Hybrid Theory will arguably go down as their greatest Download moment there’s a noticeable lull in the crowd once they go return to playing their regular set. With the majority of the rest of their set drawing on their as yet unreleased album and a few glaring omissions from the setlist (Faint, Somewhere I Belong) it’s a frustrating show from Linkin Park after things kick off so promising.
There’s more than just a few clouds in the sky as Avatar make their Download debut to a positive response on the Zippo Encore Stage on Sunday morning and some much needed rain provides relief to the sunburnt masses. While Volbeat entertain the Main Stage with the same rockabilly style metal that sees them headline festivals around Europe, there’s a pile of people fifteen people deep outside the Pepsi Max Stage waiting to see who the secret band is. Few people will have been surprised to see the much rumoured Black Stone Cherry take to the stage for an all too brief seven-song set but it’s still undeniably incredible.
As always with Steel Panther, the crowd shout lewd chants as frontman Michael Starr tries to get the cameraman to display a topless fan on the big screens. But after the flash-a-thon that accompanied their 2012 appearance it seems that the powers that be aren’t having any of it and massive boos greet their decision not to show the crowd. Not that Steel Panther are letting it ruin their party though as they fill their large slot on the Stephen Sutton Stage with charming songs such as ‘Asian Hooker’ and ‘Gloryhole’ before inviting 17 girls on stage for a climax of ‘17 Girls in Row’.
Alter Bridge have a tough act to follow and unfortunately the crowd thins quite noticeably by the time they take to the stage fifteen minutes late and while tracks like ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Addicted to Pain’ are played superbly there’s just something missing and it falls a bit flat.
Someone needs to tell Steven Tyler just how old he is because at 66 he should be sat watching Gardeners World with a cocoa rather than zipping across stage fronting one of the world’s largest rock bands. Yeah that’s right, Aerosmith are back at Donington four years after their last appearance and as can always be expected of them they bring the timeless classics and their wind up front man. Seriously, this guy doesn’t stop.
Anthems just don’t come bigger than ‘Walk This Way’ and ‘Sweet Emotion’ but for Aerosmith they still have ‘Dream On’ and ‘Love in an Elevator’ up their sleeves and almost every song is accompanied by 80,000 fans singing back every line. By the time they close this year’s Download Festival with a curfew defying ‘Mama Kin’ it’s mission accomplished for Aerosmith. How long until Download ‘15? Please hurry.
