Download Festival: 2011

[DFF]

I should probably make one of those lists, if only to sort out which bands I might have to miss due to clashes. Speaking of clashes, the stage times are now on the line-up page on the main website, so the real planning can now begin.

I've already created an Excel document showing me who clashes with who

It looks like I'll be doing the following:

Friday

Sweet Savage or Kellermensch

Puddle of Mudd

Royal Republic

Black Stone Cherry

Thin Lizzy

Alter Bridge

The Darkness

Def Leppard

Saturday

The Rods or Fighting Wolves

Houston

The BossHoss

Rock Sugar

Maiden United

Royal Republic (acoustic)

Dio Disciples

Mr. Big

Evile

The first 15-20 minutes of Avenged Sevenfold

Twisted Sister

Alice Cooper

last 30 minutes of System of a Down

Sunday

Jameson Raid

Yashin and/or Raven Vandelle

Hell

Bowling For Soup

The Pretty Reckless (from the back, whilst I get food)

Turisas

Buckcherry

Disturbed

The Cult (but if they underwhelm me in the first 20 minutes, then H.E.A.T.)

Rob Zombie

last 30 minutes of Linkin Park

[Gazz]

I've already created an Excel document showing me who clashes with who

Upload that shizz, I need a template. (Y)

[DFF]

I've already created an Excel document showing me who clashes with who

Upload that shizz, I need a template. (Y)

It's currently missing a few bands (such as Trucker Diablo and Welcome Wednesday) as their times haven't been officially released. However, you can guess roughly where the slot is based on the line-up poster on the front page.

I'll just convert the files from Open Office Calc to Excel files and I'll upload

EDIT: Apparently the board doesn't let you upload Excel files. :/ Any ideas?

[Gazz]

Just whip it on mediafire or one of those free hosting sites.

[DFF]

Okay, try this: Download 2011 Stage Times

Ignore the colouring system I've used - it's just a quick way for me to remember what I thought of the bands when I checked them out. Let me know if there's any issues.

[Bobfoc]

Looks decent to me. Thanks for that.

[Gazz]

Cheers.

It's made me realise that there are large gaps with a bunch of bands I've never heard of and several clashes with ones I want to see.

[DFF]

And your Redbull Bedroom Jam winners are:

Hill Valley High

ACODA

Floods

The Hype Theory

MakeThisRelate

Page 44

Autumn In Disguise

The Ocean Between Us

Also, the bands that were missing before on the time table have now been added, as well as Betraeus.

EDIT: One other bands to add - Knockout Kaine, who are playing between Jameson Raid and Trucker Diablo on the Sunday.

[Nerf]

Right, just drew up my timetable for Friday. It looks like this:

- Sweet Savage

- Puddle of Mudd

- Duff McKagan's Loaded

- Black Stone Cherry

- Thin Lizzy

- Alter Bridge

- The Darkness

- Danzig

Mrs. Nerf will probably want to see Anti-Flag, Children of Bodom and Korn rather than Black Stone Cherry, Thin Lizzy and The Darkness, though, so we've got some discussing to do when she gets home from work. I'll also catch the last 45 minutes or so of Def Leppard after Danzig finishes. So basically Main Stage all day barring the bookend acts. Should be a fun day. I'll crack on with Saturday and Sunday now

EDIT: Saturday is a slow starter for me:

- Escape the Fate

- Rock Sugar

- Hollywood Undead

- Down

- Mr. Big

- Cheap Trick

- Twisted Sister

- Alice Cooper

Sunday is even worse:

- Buckcherry

- Disturbed

- The Cult

- Rob Zombie

Edited June 7, 2011 by Nerf

[Gazz]

Skindred: Still better than your favourite band.

[Nerf]

Heavy rain: enough to make me hide in a car from 9am til Rob Zombie

[Gazz]

Ponce

[Nerf]

My only pair of clothes that survived the rain were a pair of shorts and a dirty vest. There was no way I was risking it >_>

You didn't text me either, prick

[Rich]

he was too busy mackin'

[DFF]

My only pair of clothes that survived the rain were a pair of shorts and a dirty vest. There was no way I was risking it >_>

You could've bought a poncho >_>

[Gazz]

My only pair of clothes that survived the rain were a pair of shorts and a dirty vest. There was no way I was risking it >_>

You didn't text me either, prick

Shorts and a vest? You've worn less at Download...

My phone died halfway through Saturday.

I was wearing four layers on Sunday, still got soaked through to the skin.

[DFF]

Review time.

Aside from some shocking weather on the Sunday, this year was much better than last year. Musically I think it was stronger too and, for me, this was probably my favourite overall Download.

Wednesday

Instead of just getting wasted in our tents this year, we decided to see what entertainment was on in the village and stumbled across the comedian tent. We walked in halfway through Paul Pirie's set, and stayed to see Phil Nichol, Bob Slayer and Jason Rouse. All of them were entertaning in their own ways. I think Nichol was the stand out performer for me.

Thursday

There's been an on-and-off tradition at Download that members of their message board have a small influence on acts booked for the Thursday night. This year, the booked four quite varied bands that were given around 30 minutes each. This was then followed by a club night in the same tent.

Stone Circle – The first band on were the recently signed progressive death metallers Stone Circle. I originally saw these on the Bloodstock unsigned stage in 2010 and were greatly impressed by the technicality of the songs. Whilst not to the taste of everyone in our group, I loved their three song set, culminating with he crushing Sky Has Spoken. [8]

Aceldama – Probably the band of the night. A female fronted hard rock act with some great tunes and catchy choruses. To be honest, I am very surprised they were not booked on the main bill, as they would have easily fit in low down on the 3rd or 4th stages. [9]

Bull-Riff Stampede – A poundingly heavy combination of thrash and death metal. When I originally checked them out, I had my reservations about how it would translate to a live show, but they didn't disappoint. Plenty of nice shredding on display here. [7]

Nya – This female fronted groove metal band were the headliners. Whilst they weren't quite the best band of the night (Aceldama definiately took that crown), they were certainly the most professional looking and slick, performance wise. I wouldn't be surprised to see these guys take off big time. [8]

Friday

Sweet Savage [3rd Stage] – 80's Northern Irish heavy metal act that were once covered by Metallica (Killing Time, the B-side to Unforgiven). A tight, entertaining opening performance was punctuated by an excellent rendition of the aforementioned Killing Time. Possibly the best opening band at a festival I've seen. [8]

Puddle of Mudd [Main Stage] – The turn of the century post-grungers seemed really happy to be at the festival and were on-form throughout their set. There was a nice surprise cover of AC/DC's TNT thrown into the set. The only possible disappointment was the lack of Blurry in their setlist. [8]

Royal Republic [3rd Stage] – These manic Swedish rockers had a lot of spirit, energy... and hairspray (on the lead singer at least!). A fun set full of bouncy riffs and rhythms. A personal highlight was Full Steam Space Machine. [9]

Black Stone Cherry [Main Stage] – A solid performance of the type you have come to expect from the Kentuckians. Their bluesy hard rock went down a treat with the crowd. The only drawback I could say would be that they are a little samey, and their 'big' songs don't quite have a big punch like other bands. [7]

Thin Lizzy [Main Stage] – Ricky Warwick has well and truly become a part of the Thin Lizzy fold, and the spirit of Phil Lynott is alive and well in him. A top feel-good performance. [8]

Alter Bridge [Main Stage] – A great mix of tunes from all three albums helped show why AB are one of the fastest rising and strongest bands on the scene. Their catchy riffs, speedy jaunts and powerful ballads have them earmarked as future headliners for sure. Today, this was a tight performance. [8]

The Darkness [Main Stage] – Raiding the majority of their first album for the tracks for this setlist, The Darkness re-announced themselves onto the scene with great aplomb. Justin is still mad, the songs still rock, and the band is still huge. Here's to the upcoming new album. [9]

KoRn [2nd Stage] – I was a little frustrated when these and The Darkness were booked to clash quite heavily, but I did manage to catch around the second half of the set. And they sounded ON IT. Tight as hell and full of energy, KoRn may themselves headline the festival one day. Oh, and the crowd was HUGE for them. [9]

Def Leppard [Main Stage] – A great choice to end the first night of the fest. Playing a little different setlist to two years ago, the steel city rockers had the crowd jumping, dancing, laughing and crying. A good, solid performance. My personal favourite was an acoustic rendition of the beautiful Two Steps Behind. [9]

Saturday

The Rods [3rd Stage] – Fronted by Dio's cousin, The Rods play good straight up 80's metal. A solid start to the day. [7]

Houston [3rd Stage] – Swedish 80's inspired AOR band that draws heavily from Foreigner, Journey and bands of a similar ilk. One of the highlights of the whole weekend. A great, uplifting set that left everyone entertained and happy. Coincidentally, we bumped into the band in the arena, and they seemed really nice guys and had some pics taken with them. [9]

The BossHoss [2nd Stage] – German country-rock hybrid act. My favourite band of the festival got us all jigging along to their merry jaunts in no time at all. Please, please, please someone book them again – but with twice as long this time! [10]

Rock Sugar [2nd Stage] – The best band of last year's festival were back... and with a new song! Any Highway You Want is a genius amalgamation of Journey's Any Way You Want It, and AC/DC's Highway to Hell which I believe would be a huge hit if they could get any sort of commercial play for it. Every bit as good as last year. [10]

Maiden United [5th Stage] – Made a quick dash down the acoustic stage after Rock Sugar to check these guys out. They are a couple of members of Within Temptation, and a few colleagues from others side projects, doing acoustic takes on Iron Maiden songs. A few people were slightly sceptical at first, but they were quickly won over by this trailblazing performance. Best song – The Evil That Men Do. [9]

Clutch [2nd Stage] – I was reliably told that Clutch sound much better live than on CD, and I'd have to agree. I wasn't that interested in seeing them originally, but they put out some cool tunes that a lot of the crowd liked. [7]

Dio Disciples [2nd Stage] – Effectively a tribute act comprising of the surviving members of Dio, Tim 'Ripper' Owens and Toby Jepson. The covers included songs from Dio, Rainbow and Black Sabbath and, whilst they probably won't win any awards for band of the weekend, they did their job admirably and entertained the crowd from start to finish. [7]

Mr. Big [2nd Stage] – One of the bands a lot of us had been looking forward to all weekend – and they were totally worth the wait. A great juxtoposition of intricate guitar and bass work with catch-as-hell lyrics shows why these guys are one of the most talented bands around. [10]

Evile [3rd Stage] – Managed to catch the last two and a half songs after Mr. Big finished (the walk from 2nd to 3rd stage is probably the longest at the festival). They seemed to have got the crowd really pumped up, and I really enjoyed the songs I heard. [8]

Twisted Sister [2nd Stage] – After their show stealing performance at Bloodstock last year, there was no way I was going to miss Twisted Sister this year. Whilst this wasn't quite to that standard (how could it be, with the fraction of the time?), they still put on a great energetic show rounded out by the legendary We're Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock (or, as they changed it to on the night, I Wanna Fuck). [9]

Alice Cooper [2nd Stage] – I had been waiting for years to see Cooper, and this was my chance at last. Was it worth it? Of course it was! Wheeling out a number of hits (with a new song, and a few lesser known, but cool, tunes in) Alice used all his stage presence and onstage gimmickery to brilliant effect. If you have not seen him live, you are definitely missing out – it's like musical theatre. [10]

Sunday

Due to a combination of hangover, poor weather, and getting face painted up for Turisas, we unfortunately missed Jameson Raid and Knockout Kain.

Trucker Diablo [3rd Stage] – One of the finds of the weekend. Imagine taking the simplistic, catchy speed driven riffs of The Offspring, adding radio friendly choruses reminiscent of the Foo Fighters and adding in a general hard rock vibe, and some occasional heavy metal breakdowns and you'd somewhere in the right area to describe this band. Best song – Drink Beer, Destroy. [9]

Hell [3rd Stage] – A band that never quite managed to make it first time around from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era. And I'm not entirely sure why. These guys put loads of effort into the hellish vibe on stage, manifested none for brilliantly than in their eccentric front man. Throw in some great riffs, and this was quality heavy metal. [9]

Bowling For Soup [Main Stage] – Always good for a laugh, BFS entertained the crowd with their juvenile jokes and even more childish songs. Good fun. [8]

The Pretty Reckless [Main Stage] – These guys were always going to have a tough time following the light-hearted set. Plagued by inner-ear monitor problems early on which disjointed the set, TPR felt a little like they were just going through the motions. Don't get me wrong, they can play what they play fair enough, but circumstances worked against them. Also, a lot of their songs were a little... uninspiring. [6]

Turisas [2nd Stage] – You can always trust the Finns to bring their 'A' game to a festival and, despite the deteriorating weather, they persevered to provide a great experience. The only way they could have been better would've have been to double/treble their set length. [10]

Buckcherry [2nd Stage] – Still trying desperately to not be billed as some GNR/Aerosmith hybrid, Buckcherry nonetheless are a pretty tight live act. The main concern should probably be less about which other bands they resemble or heavily draw inspiration from and moreso on their songs. Whilst there was nothing poor in their set, only All Lit Up and Crazy Bitch stand out – which was the same as when they played in 2007. [7]

Disturbed [Main Stage] – I probably didn't enjoy these as much as I could've done as I was absolutely frozen. However, from the spot we got we could tell that these guys were rocking out and a big improvement on their set in 2008 (which was plagued by sound issues). [8]

Baptized in Blood [4th Stage] – Due to weather, we decided to skip The Cult in favour of one of the indoor stages in the hope we could dry off/warm up enough for Rob Zombie. Subsequently, we checked out two bands we were originally going to have to miss. Baptized in Blood are a metal band from Canada with heavy dollops of thrash and death metal infused into it. To say that this is still a fledgling band, and their first performance ever in Europe, they entertained. They definitely have the potential for something bigger. [7]

H.E.A.T. [4th Stage] – The 4th stage finishes slightly earlier than the others at Download, so we got to check out the headliners. This band are another Swedish AOR themed melodic rock act. We managed to get front row centre for them and were thoroughly rewarded for it. The front man is very talented and charismatic, and the whole band very talented. How these guys are not more famous is beyond me. The closing track Who Will Stop The Rain is an absolute monster of a ballad to rival anything. [10]

Rob Zombie [2nd Stage] – What can I say about Rob Zombie? Basically, if you take Alice Cooper's set, ramped up the animatronics and pyrotechnics and set it all to catchy industrial metal then you'd be in the right ballpark. I only knew three songs going into the set (they played all three), but I loved each and every track, with Pussy Liquor, Thunderkiss '65 and Dragula the standout tracks for me. A fantastic finish to a bloody brilliant festival. [10].

Note - I also caught a little of System of a Down and Avenged Sevenfold but probably not long enough to review properly. Both sounded pretty great.

Personal highlights: The BossHoss, Rock Sugar, H.E.A.T., Rob Zombie, Turisas, Alice Cooper, Houston, Hell, Trucker Diablo, Def Leppard, Stone Circle, Aceldama, Mr. Big, Royal Republic, KoRn, The Darkness, Twisted Sister, Maiden United.

[Twist]

Was the rain as bad as Sunday last year? That was all kinds of brutal, especially as I had no change of clothes.

[DFF]

Was the rain as bad as Sunday last year? That was all kinds of brutal, especially as I had no change of clothes.

Similar. This year it was all day though, but generally a lighter for the most part. Last year was only the second half of the day, but a monsoon! Haha.

[Twist]

I nearly went home last year because I couldn't be fucked with all the rain. And because I couldn't be fucked with my mate any more but that's another story.