Download Festival 2010

[New Damage]

To be fair to Download though, the weather was much, much better for last year (not saying that this year's was overly bad though), and maybe the fact that the World Cup was on maybe hurt it a little?

However, last years lineup looked much better (at least from a personal stand point). A lot of this years line-up consisted of last years line-up for non-headliners.

[DFF]

Here's my thoughts:

I had a quick look at the previous Download's that I've been too and, you know what, this might have been the best of them (at the very least from the musical standpoint).

However, the weather was by far the worst I have experienced at Download.

Wednesday it rained pretty bad, and Thursday was quite dark and crappy with high winds. Friday was iffy at first but we almost got burnt by the sudden nice change in the weather. Saturday was really good weather. Sunday was insane - it started off SCORCHING, almost too hot (like Sunday at DL09) until around 2ish. It went a little overcast for an hour or so, then absolute pissed it down for most of the remaining time the bands were on. By the end, I was rather wet and damned cold.

Still, if you're reading this you're probably here for the bands, not a weather report

Friday

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Year Long Disaster - Wasn't interested in Unearth or Trigger the Bloodshed, so opted to check these guys out on the 3rd stage to start things of. They are Grunge/Alt-tinged hard rock band, and were a pretty solid opener. One of the better festival openers that I've seen.

Danny Vaughn (acoustic) - Lead singer of Tyketto cracked some cool laid back tunes.

Anathema - My mate recommended these to me as he knows of my love for prog. A great recommendation too as they took us through some great melancholy soundscapes. One of the better bands of the weekend, and one of the most talented.

Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders - TH's side project when he's not fighting foos. Couldn't get in the tent (whose idea was it to put them on the 4th stage?!), but from outside they sounded pretty decent, and entertaining.

Killswitch Engage - Caught a few songs whilst on the way to see Tyketto. As good as last year, easily and, in my opinion, remain one of the best live bands around.

Tyketto - Went in only knowing one song (Forever Young) and came out a convert. A great 'classic'/hard rock band with ballads to match. I heartily recommend if you like Journey, Y&T (more on them later) and bands of that ilk.

Coheed & Cambria - Made a mad dash across from 3rd to 2nd stage and caught the last two songs (In Keeping Secrets... and Welcome Home). Can't judge too much, but they sounded a LOT tighter than two years ago and am glad I caught them.

Skin (acoustic set) - One of my favourite sets of the weekend. Not much more I can say about it.

Funeral Party - As you guys'll no doubt know, I'm not a big fan of Indie. I also had no intention of seeing Funeral Party but wandered in out of curiosity as they were started on 4th when Skin finished (5th was practically bang next to 4th). And you know what? They were bloody good. The lead singer has a lot of charisma, and there's some nice melodies in their songs. If you don't mind/link/love Indie, then check 'em out.

Devil Sold His Soul - Wikipedia described them as an "ambient influenced progressive metal/post-hardcore band". Hmmm... I think prog-core would probably have done but heh. Anyway, I checked them out before DL on YouTube and quite liked what I eard but couldn't make my mind up over the vocals. The lead singer has quite a unique scream/growl delivery that takes some getting used to. What I can now say is that, live, they kick ass. Great energy and tight musicianship made them one of the finds of the festival for me.

AC/DC - Overall, good. They sounded great performing the big songs, but a lot of the filler left a lot to be desired. Did they *really* need a 2 hour set? I don't think so. Also, I had to endure one of the longest, dullest guitar solos ever from Angus Young. I think it was around 10 minutes, but it felt like an eternity. There was some cool pyro- but nothing to match KISS in '08. The odd extra prop (Rosie, The Bell, etc) were all cool little additions but it really did feel like AC/DC were trying to treat this as a stand-alone AC/DC gig. I mean, they're not on the T-Shirt or even the timetables?! The general feeling from where we were was that, yes, it was a big thing seeing them (especially at Donington) but that the above factors degraded what could have been an amazing experience to simple a good one. The weakest headliner that I saw, I think.

Saturday

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Taking Dawn - originally saw these support KISS on the latter's European tour, where they were plagued with sound problems. Gave them another go and found (with a sound tech who gave a shit about them) that they were actually quite entertaining. I think they are the type of band that *could* make it big, and have ll the right attributes, they just need to build on their song base. One for the future? "Halle-fuckin'-luya!"

Sonic Syndicate - Swedish melodeath band that has two vocalists - one growls, whilst the other predominantly sings (though he does 'supporting growls' too). These guys weren't to the taste of everyone in my group, but I did really enjoy their performance which I thought was quite slick.

Atreyu - For reasons I have yet to find out, Atreyu and Flyleaf were switched in placement. I'm quite glad as I wasn't going to check out Atreyu, but quite liked them in the end. Good stuff. The lead singer seems a decent guy too.

Flyleaf - Got food whilst the first song or so was on. Wasn't impressed, though friends of mine got closer and did quite like them.

Everything Burns (acoustic) - Pretty good little 'filler' band that we checked out whilst deciding what to do next. Not exactly the best band around, but they seemed fun and put a lot of effort into their performance.

The Dead Lay Waiting - we only went to see them because a mate said to the guitarist that he'd think about it after the latter gave him a flier to see them. Initially, we weren't massively impressed. However, they grew on us quickly and the second half of their set was really good. My mate even threw himself into the pit for them. Would definitely give them another go.

Rock Sugar - spent the hour leading up to these grabbing drinks and meeting mates so we could all get a good spot for them. BAND OF THE WEEKEND. Amazing live act with a talented and engaging front man. For those who don't know them, they do rock 'mashups'. The two more famous ones they've done are probably 'Don't Stop the Sandman' (a mix of Journey's Don't Stop Believing with Metallica's Enter Sandman), and 'We Will Kickstart Your Rhapsody' (Queen's We Will Rock You & Bohemian Rhapsody, crossed with Motley Crue's Kickstart MY Heart).

Megadeth - after taking a break for more alcoholic fuel, we watched Megadeth. Gordy and I thought they played a fantastic, frenetic run through of some of their classics, with a large slot going to tracks from Rust in Peace.

Y&T - One of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing. A great old school band in the classic rock mould, with a pinch of hair metal thrown in in places. They played a great little set including Black Tiger and Mean Streak, and two new songs. Their rendition of Forever to close the set was nothing short of breath taking. They announced, to my unbridled joy, that they are touring the UK at the end of the year, promising to play a 2.25 hour set :-D

Skin - The other big band for me on the Saturday. After needing new underwear after seeing Y&T, I was hoping Skin could deliver. And boy did they deliver. They played a nice range of quick, slow, soft and heavier songs, before finishing with staple set closer (and obligatory lighter swayer) Tower of Strength. A fucking brilliant double whammy covering late 70's/80's (Y&T) and the 90's (Skin), made me a very happy chappy.

Michael Monroe - After seeing RATM at Finsbury Park just days before Download, I decided to see Michael Monroe instead. The former Hanoi Rocks front man put on a great show, with great balls to the wall rocks songs combined with Jagger-esque swaggering stage antics. At one point, he even climbed a nearby podium and hung himself upside down to sing a verse or two. One for fans of Hanoi Rocks, GNR, and others, I went in only vaguely knowing one song and still loved the set. Good times.

Sunday

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White Wizzard - A great start to the day, with a band that is very heavily influenced by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Iron Goddess of Vengeance was their stand out track. The 7 minute plus epic drilling home this band's potential to be one of the next decades great heavy metal bands.

3 Inches of Blood - And what a fantastic way to follow up a Maiden-esque band but with one that sounds like an amalgamation of Judas Priest, Iced Earth and Megadeth. They also may be the hairiest ban in metal.

Saxon - Possibly band of the day for the Sunday. With it being 30 years of Donington, the band decided to celebrate their own 30th anniversary - that of the release of their classic album 'Wheels of Steel'. They played it in it's entirety and, save from moving the title track to the bottom, played it from start to finish. They rounded off their set with stonking renditions of ...And The Bands Played On, Denim and Leather, and Princess of the Night. They actually drew a huge crowd and, whilst putting them on the main stage was better idea than last time (when they were booked on the tiny 3rd stage), they blatantly should have been a few slots higher on the bill.

Cinderella - What can I say? I was... whelmed. The first half of their set was pretty dull, but the second was better. I think there was a little too much reliance on slow-mid tempo pseudo-ballads, and found that they hit the stride more when they picked up the pace a bit. Wasn't sold on the vocals.

Slash (with Miles Kennedy) - Better than I expected, though that may have been partially down to the reliance on covers over new material (at least 50% of the set were covers). Slash was much tighter here than with Velvet Revolver a few years previous, and Kennedy cemented his status as a top quality singer with an exemplary performance.

Billy Idol - Good, (mostly) upbeat fun. Very energetic in his delivery and still just as barking mad as ever. A great performer.

Porcupine Tree - I always kept meaning to check these out on a couple of friend's recommendations, so I sacrificed seeing Motorhead to give them a whirl. And I wasn't disappointed. I have no idea what the tracks were called, but the amazing tapestry of music that Steven Wilson and co. create is an absolute joy to behold. The music would change from melancholic, Floyd-esque keyboard heavy sections to heart juddering heavy metal at the drop of a hat.

Steel Panther - picked everyone's spirits up from the shocking weather with a tight, entertaining set. There's not much else you can say about them really. If you've heard of Steel Panther, then you know exactly what we got - if not, YouTube them and see :-D

Airbourne - put a good, high octane setlist that kept the crowd jigging in the rain. Frontman Joel O'Keefe almost got their setlist cut short, though, after he scaled the external scaffolding of the second stage (in the rain, with no harness), and proceeded to play a solo from the top of the stage. Unfortunately, he had been told not to do so earlier, so they pulled the plug on the band.

Hooray! I've found footage of the incident in question. First, though, here's a video of what he did two year's earlier at Download:

So here's what he did this year to top it:

Admittedly, he tend to do something similar at all festival venues these days, but what topped it off for us what the rain factor. Absolutely insane.

Aerosmith - Great choice to end the festival line-up, though I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not been soaked to the bone and stone cold frozen. They played a great setlist of songs through out the years and really left everyone on a high.

To summarise (or the tl;dr review): The weather sucked some life out of what was ultimately a GREAT festival. We got to meet some cool new people on our campsite, and we saw some great, great bands from all genres and sizes. The new (to Download) 5th stage went down really well, and will hopefully become a permanent fixture in future festivals.

Highlights of the festival: Saxon, Y&T, Skin, Megadeth, Rock Sugar, Steel Panther, Porcupine Tree, Anathema, Devil Sold His Soul, Funeral Party, Tyketto, Taking Dawn, White Wizard, Atreyu, 3 Inches of Blood and Year Long Disaster.

[Liam]

Anyone know somewhere that might have Download live audio? I usually check out some of the sets of the bands I like.

[METALMAN]

On 27/01/2010 at 14:56, metalman said:

I don't think older bands are that big a problem. I've gone to see Bob Dylan, Morrissey, Edwyn Collins, Van Morrison and quite a few other past it old bastards. It was allgood fun, despite them being well past their best, and it was really special to hear Dylan sing "Like A Rolling Stone and Morrissey singing Panic.

I don't know why I said I've seen Van Morrison here. I've never seen Van Morrison, and no idea why I said I had. I don't even particularly like Van Morrison.

[Colly]

Still into Morrissey?

[METALMAN]

Not so much, but I think that's less down to aversion of his far right antics and more a result of me no longer being 19.

[Colly]

Valid.

[Adam]

Thanks for dredging this thread up, this was my first festival. Loved it and still have some brilliant memories.

As for me describing the weather as "too good" at the top of this page...pah! Still the best weather I've had for a festival all-round, and the apocalyptic deluge we suffered through in 2012 and 2016 made 2010 look like a weekend on the beach in California.

[Bobfoc]

3 hours ago, Adam said:

Thanks for dredging this thread up, this was my first festival. Loved it and still have some brilliant memories.

As for me describing the weather as "too good" at the top of this page...pah! Still the best weather I've had for a festival all-round, and the apocalyptic deluge we suffered through in 2012 and 2016 made 2010 look like a weekend on the beach in California.

I only came on the Friday in 2010. AC/DC were a bucket list band for me and they were a lot of fun. Them Crooked Vultures bored me senseless, though.

Do you have any plans to go again?

[Adam]

3 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

I only came on the Friday in 2010. AC/DC were a bucket list band for me and they were a lot of fun. Them Crooked Vultures bored me senseless, though.

Do you have any plans to go again?

Me and my friends at least consider going every year, it just depends on circumstances and the strength of the line-up. As a huge Iron Maiden fan, I'm seriously looking at going next year, and another friend and I have a tentative plan to try and go in a caravan/RV one year too.

[Bobfoc]

I'm keen on seeing Iron Maiden too. I last saw them in 2007 and their recent setlists look right up my street.

[DFF]

Man, 2010 was a blast. AC/DC were a bit naff (and the bs around them refusing to be on the official merch pissed loads of people off - touts with fake t shirts made an absolute killing that year). Nearly got hypothermia watch Aerosmith, but they were ace.