Hall Of Fame
That time of year again. That time where I feel like ive been given a good kicking in the liver and kidneys and where my legs are in a constant state of rock solidness and the time of year when I say the usual " I'm too old for this sh@t". It was well worth it though.
Friday
Started off the day with a few beers with this places very own Pauldolski. Top man a pleasure dude
My lowest tally for bands on one day was previously 5. I smashed that this Friday due to a-f@ck all decent bands and b-Carlsberg.
Bad Religion
Not a bad way to start a weekend of music watching. First of the numerous bands to have a dig at Axl Rose for being a primma donna w@nker. Became a common theme.Set full of the big tunes, "20th Century Digital Boy" "I Wanna Conquer The World" "Suffer" "American Jesus" in there among others. Decent set but a poor days worth of music
Saturday
After such a poor showing on Friday I decided to get as many in as I could on the remaining 2 days
Powerflo
Senn Dog from Cypress Hill, Billy Graziadei from Biohazard and Christian ole Wolbers from Fear Factory. Nae bad. A bit like Stuck Mojo. Did a rocked up A to the K which was decent(Had dig at Axl regarding set length)
Von Hertzen Brothers
Criminally underrated band. I think they are f@cking ace. Good proggy stuff from Finland. Think that's a hatrick ball for them in terms of viewing. Need to get the new album.
Lawnmower Deth
Quality band and always a laugh. I have only ever seen then here. Didn't get Kim Wilde on stage this year like they did last time. Quality stage banter and props. Inclusive of a giant Lawnmower which was mowing down clowns and sh@t. Been on the go 30 years now. Wouldn't have though that
Corrosion of Conformity
Felt like they only played 3 songs(which they possibly did as Axls a d@ck). Elongated "Clean My Wounds" also didn't help. "Albatross" and "Broken Man" in there too. Made a comment about short set
L7
I think I do still fancy Jennifer Finch. Rock Chick with attitude. "Everglade" "Andres" and "Pretend We are Dead" the highlights. Donita had a rage at Axl Rose as half an hour set was "bullsh@t"
Thunder
Were f@cking superb. Loved every minute of it. They may be a bit older but they have honed their innuendo laden hard rock to perfection. Danny Bowes still has an awesome set of pipes on him. Best band of the Saturday. Quite easily.
Black Stone Cherry
More of a background band as I was getting something to eat and waiting for GnR. Nae a big fan. Remind me of Nickleback
Guns n Roses
Turned up on time for their mammoth 3 1/2 hour set. Didn't play 3 1/2 just 3. Pissed off everyone in the process by cutting everyones set by 5 mins to make up for their own huge one, that plus acting like spoilt pricks back stage. They were nowhere near as good as Thunder but were decent. I watched about 2 which included "Its So Easy", "Mr Brownstone" "Double Takin Jive", "Estranged" "Welcome to the Jungle", "Civil War" a cover of "Black Hole Sun"and heaps more. Enjoyed it but not the greatest ive seen as some were claiming
Sunday
Inglorious
Classic rock with a singer that can really f@cking sing. Nae bad at all
Cradle of Filth
I feel stupider for watching half of their set. Gaaaaadz
Turbonegro
Perfect band for a festival. Tony Sylvester was in great form. Typically closed with "I Got Errection", cue massive sing along. Love that band
Hatebreed
Band of the weekend in my eyes. Brutal as f@ck and clearly loving being back(first time since 09). All their songs are like anthems. Everbody knows the words. Jamey Jasta is possibly my favourite metal frontman. He know how to get things going. Top marks for the boys from Conneticut
Kreator
Talking of bands I f@cking love. Germanys finest (aye better than the Scorpions) making their first appearance on the hallowed turf of Donington. "Phantom Antichrist", "Hail to the Hordes" "Enemy of God", "Satan is Real" "Hoards of Chaos" and "Pleasure to Kill". Great stuff
Bodycount
Only watched them for novelty value but quickly realised I was enjoying it. A lot better than I expected. Yer ma would hate the language though
Thrice
Had never heard of them before. Turns out they were nae bad to fill in time. Atmospheric proggy stuff. HYave seen a lot worse in my time
Meshuggah
Another band I think are f@cking ace and they didn't disappoint. The usual sonic toe punt to the groinal area from the ageing dudes from Gothenborg
Marilyn Manson
Only watched 3 songs as I was filling in time before Lass Than Jake. Nae a huge fan. Massive crowd for him.
Less Than Jake
Funny, happy and catchy. Decent festival band. I love the tunes "All my Best Friends are Metalheads" "Look What Happened"and "Gainesville Rock City".
The Hives
Were f@cking magic. Looking dapper with some great tunes. Its amazing how many I knew. Very good band live if you get the chance. Had a dig at Axl sneakily
Ozzy Osbourne
Just retire min. Naebody want to see you mumbling you way through sets. Left after an hour-ish.
Great weekend again, kind of did it on my own but was in some good company at times . But the usual body feeling beat up never get any easier
Last edited by Pacman1903; 11-06-2018 at 04:30 PM.
Hall Of Fame
Guns n Roses were paid 5m for three hours work
Their backstage shenanigans included a compound the size of a football pitch where nobody was allowed in. They also had to have porcelain bogs installed as they wouldnt use plastic
They used to be called "the most dangerous band in the world". F@cking porcelain bogs for f@ck sake
No wonder they were being abused by other bands
Hall Of Fame
I was just away to say that your review of my favourite band GNR, was better than i expected, but then the follow up pretty much proved my fear. Im a massive fan, in fact i would consider myself an obsessed fan of GNR, but their behaviour at times is ****e. They shouldnt be getting any special treatment back stage, though the fee paid is about right. They are currently in process of the "not in this lifetime" tour and are easily making similar money at those other venues. Hope you enjoyed what you saw of them though.Originally Posted by Pacman1903
I do enjoy the Pacman Donnington review. Plenty bands i have never heard of and plenty i have. Seems like a fir review from what others have said !
Hall Of Fame
They were good but for 5m i wouldnt expect Thunder to wipe the floor with them. Which they did and some
Very slick and professional but nothing more. I enjoyed it. Dont get me wrong
Hall Of Fame
Good read Pac and it was a pleasure to meet you also, Suppose al add my review to it.
Thursday
Set off at 7 for the long drive down, was a pleasant journey and it took me just under 9 hours after stopping a few times, sun shone the whole way and it was roasting, got to Donington and parked the car up, got the bags/tent/booze loaded on to me and made the walk to camp, melting by the time i got to the campsite my mates were at dumped bags opened a cider and to my surprise the people my mates had met set up my tent for me, good cu*ts. Spent the night in the village boozing and listening to the bands up there.
Friday
After short sleep i got ready to go in to Castle Donington for few pints with Pacman, met him in nice wee bar and spent a good few hours drinking and speaking before setting off back to the arena to see the bands,
Marmozets
1st of the 5 bands i was definitely not missing and they did not disappoint, fairly new band with only 2 albums but played that main stage as if they were seasoned pros, played all their hits and more finishing with Major System Error whicj went down brilliantly with the crowd.
Volbeat
Put on their usual show, very tight band sometimes sound too much like they do on record and don’t get the live feel to it. Enjoyed in though and they even got singer of Napalm Death on stage which was strange seeing as they are not similar in slightest.
Bullet For My Valentine
Seen these guys a few times before and they have been good but something lacking on the day and after about 6 songs i gave up as went back to tent for phone charging pack, pack of fags and few gins.
Avenged Sevenfold
Number 2 of must see 5. My 2nd favourite band of all time are now my favourite, what a show, played a sublime setlist and M Shadows might be the best frontman going around at the moment, their drummer passed a couple year ago and they played tribute to him by covering Pink Floyds Wish You Were Here which the whole crowd sang along to and it was a great moment. Despite being a fairly newish band they deserved the headline slot and will surely be back again. When i got back to campsite i had to be repeatedly told to shut up about them and again in morning.
Saturday
Corrosion of Conformity
Had not heard much from them but the few songs they played i was impressed and will look in to them.
Bury Tomorrow
Went to see them as 2 of the lads and 1 of the girls i was camping with wanted to see them, not my cup of tea but the others seemed to really like them.
L7
Knew 1 song, i enjoyed it. As pac says most these sets were too short as just as you were getting in to it it ended.
Thunder
Great performance, a hugely underrated band and played a good mix in their set, possibly the best singer of the weekend, i lay on the hill watching the whole set with a cider and a cocktail, sun beating down that much i had to cast the tshirt. A definite highlight of weekend.
Black Stone Cherry
Met up with 1 of my mates again for this got few ciders and back to spot on hill, biggest surprise of weekend for me as i thought i knew 1 or 2 songs where in fact i knew the whole set and it was amazing, great sound to them and just a high quality rock performance, i genuinely see them as future headliners
Guns n Roses
Im not a huge GnR fan but for the sake of seeing them live i went to watch and it was good played the usual big songs and Slash is as good as ever, the cover of Slither was terrible. Watched for 1hr 20 then went to see
Neck Deep
Number 3 of the bands i was deffo seeing and my 1st visit to the Avalanche tent over the weekend. Came out to someone playing sweet child of mine on recorder (badly) and huge guns n roses flag with GnR name scored out and replaced with Neck Deep. There were a few more digs during set. A high energy set with crowd going mental at every song, played all the songs i know and it was terrific.
Back to GnR
Seen last few songs Patience, Night train, Paradise City and seemed to like it more must still have been buzzing from Neck Deep.
Sunday
Greta Von Fleet
Heard a few songs of theirs on Primordial Radio before i came so thought i would check them out, good solid rock band.
Cradle of Filth
They are good at what they do but its not for me, i did enjoy 1 song tbf.
Hatebreed
Had 2 mates fly down on the sunday so met them at entrance, grabbed a cider and headed to see these guys, another where i thought i knew 1 song but realised i knew quite a lot, another big surprise for me as they were brilliant, frontman had the crowd near the front eating out the palm of his hand, great set.
Kreator
Recently got in to them, classic thrash metal, does exactly what you expect, watched 4-5 songs and headed to see
In This Moment
Weird as fuxk and i loved it, lead singer who is quite tidy is a great front woman, has a dancer by her side most the time who she dominates whilst screaming at, they played the big songs finishing with “Whore” where singer flashes quite a bit whilst promising to be your whore. Very strange but very enjoyable
Body Count
Back to meet my mates who watched all of Kreator. Started with a Slayer cover then in to there own, police hating, gun violence, swearing far too much set which got everyone going to then Ice T finishing it off by taking his 2 year old daughter out on stage.
Black Veil Brides
2nd time i have seen them, i still don’t like them, gave up halfway through to meet the people i was camping with.
Shinedown
Background band sounded decent enough
A
Probably the worst i saw over the weekend, only went in to shelter from sun as i was burning to ****, music was pish, singer and guitarists craic was pish and glad when they finished
Less Than Jake
4/5 on the must see list, its been about 20 years i have been a fan of these guys and i had never seen them through countless numbers of things from being skint, abroad twice when they played and death of a relative. They were fantastic, played a good mixture if songs had the tent bouncing and the only disappointing thing was they only had 40 minutes. They are announcing a tour with Reel Big Fish later in year and i will be there.
Rise Against
Watched a half hour of these while waiting on Ozzy, were quite good.
Ozzy Osbourne
5/5 the main event (due to me being a massive Zakk Wylde fan) knew what setlist they were playing and it covered all the classics. Ozzy can hardly speak but somehow manages to sing quite well, Zakk is a master of the guitar, superb although at times a bit show offy. There was a big guitar/drum solo in middle which lasted too long but i think it was to give Ozzy a rest. Finished off with an ace version of Mama Im Coming Home and Paranoid. Would Download be a thing without Ozzy? Would those bands be here if Sabbath had not lived? Who knows but thank you Ozzy and i have now seen Sabbath and his own stuff so you are free to retire.
What a weekend, probably my favourite Download ever, i will be back next year, great music, met some great people and can’t think of any negatives bar the drive home and the battered and bruised body.
Hall Of Fame
You never met me untill this one
Just sayin like
Hall Of Fame
Great review gents. I made the most of it and was in from start each day. Pacman I must have passed you a few times over the weekend, particularly on the Saturday as I spent most of the afternoon at Zippo and then went down the front for Thunder and BSC.
Greta Van Fleet were top and Kreator and COC so good. Also shout out to two bands I'd never heard of before DL. Kaiser Franz Josef and a Glasgow band called Anchor Lane. Both old school 80's style rock.
That was probably my fave Download. Absolutely loved it.
Fair few folks on lunchtime flight from Birmingham on the Monday. All sleeping within 10 mins
Hall Of Fame
The sunday was one of my favourite days ever in all my times down. Sobre too as i was driving early monday(barring a couple first thing to take the edge off the hangover brewing)
Need to start buttering up my back to back for next year as im supposed to be offshore
Hall Of Fame
Def going again next year. Just love the place. Spunked my loyalty vouchers on a couple of T shirts.
I'm too old to do the camping and have stayed in Derby last couple of years. Shuttle buses are spot on and really frequent.
Hall Of Fame
I was in Loughbourough this year.
Decent pub crawl on Thurs
Easy bus to Donington and a taxi at night was 10 min
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