Drownload Overview

Last weekend I was able to attend my third Download Festival. The line-up didn't look as good as previous years, but since Rob was going I figured I'd tag along too.


We ended up in the west carpark which sucked as it meant a long walk around to get to the entrance. However there was no queue to get in when we got there and we set up with some fellow Bathonians in black camp. The people we usually camp with were about a minute's walk away in pink, so that was good! It was stinking hot though, and I ended up by myself for a few hours while Rob went to help some of his friends get their bags so I just got burnt and read for most of the day!


The second day was just as hot! We had breakfast in town quite early, then there was a small sharkie meet-up in the afternoon. I got some very interesting tanlines in this outfit...fishnet thighs and panini shoulders. Ooops!


We had a chat outside the Sidesplitter for a while, then wandered around the shops and ended up with matching beaded bracelets with shark teeth on!

Spent the evening getting drunk and trying to watch a bit of Andrew O'Neill but neither me nor Rob were really feeling it and ended up going to sleep instead.

On Friday I was a tad too hungover for the long trek to breakfast the next morning so I chilled at camp with a can of spaghetti hoops until it was time to go see Alien Ant Farm, who were surprisingly good live!


Then Babymetal! And the most rain I've ever seen. It was just SO HEAVY, HUGE raindrops which soaked us straight through, messed up my camera, and delayed their start time by over half an hour. But was so worth the soaking! I wore my Babymetal outfit with tutus and stuff again, and once again didn't get a photo of it. They even converted Rob - when I asked if he wanted to see them at Wembley it was a massive "no", but now he wishes he had gone!


We stayed soggy for Killswitch Engage, who it turns out I really like. Will definitely be buying a few of their CDs and hopefully seeing them again somewhere drier. We did go back and change afterwards, although I kept on my tutus as they were doing a good job of keeping my legs dry.


Had intended on seeing Korn, but ended up heading to Twin Atlantic instead despite having seen them more times. It was just more fun! Somehow managed to get right near the front. We made quite a hasty exit though, which meant missing All Time Low.


But alas, we had to head over to the smallest tent for InMe! They were top of both our 'want to see' lists, so it had to be done. They were excellent as usual, I really hope their next tour brings them a bit closer to us! At this point my camera croaked though, so everything is blurry and awful. I have very few photos from the rest of the weekend due to this as my phone camera has poor zoom and I was worried about losing it in the massive mud puddles so I didn't risk it much!

The end of Rammstein's set ended our day. I'm sad that I always seem to miss most of their sets as they are a really good band, but eh there always seems to be something else I'd rather see on at the same time!

After breakfast in town on Saturday (with sweet sweet wifi), we wandered past Beartooth (too shouty!) for a couple songs of Black Peaks' set. I enjoyed them more than at NASS, but there were a lot of clashes so we left for a few songs of The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing on the other side of the arena before seeing Atreyu. We both realised this was a bad move, but we're more likely to see the former again next time they tour. There wasn't much on afterwards, I think we saw a bit of Sixx:A.M. but it wasn't very memorable.

Milk Teeth were very good and somehow Bree, a fellow lolita, ended up stood right in front of me so we had a little catch up before they headed off to Bury Tomorrow (who we caught the tail end of) while we went to see a really fun punky thrash band called Lawnmower Deth. They reminded me a lot of Evil Scarecrow from the previous year, and they were even joined by Kim Wilde during their cover of her song 'Kids In America'. Juliette and the Licks weren't doing it for us, so we wandered around and got more cider, I guess? I don't remember. Apparently I had 7 pints in the main arena that day ^_^'

Architects were the band I was most looking forward to seeing on this day, but they had to pull out a few days before and were replaced by Against The Current, which was a nice surprise. I get the feeling they're going to be a really big band some day, and they'll deserve it when they get there. Rob wanted to see Deftones and, while they're a good band, I got bored quickly as all their songs are kinda slow and samey so we went to see Skindred's set instead, which was good fun. Not very amused finding out how the singer acted towards Babymetal at the Kerrang! Awards, but luckily I didn't find out until afterwards or it would have ruined the whole thing for me!


We had no interest in Sabbath so we stayed for NOFX and they were also super fun! I danced a lot and they were definitely a highlight of the weekend even though I only know one of their songs (which, thankfully, they did play). Will have to dig out the CD I got for Christmas a couple years back and give it a listen at some point. I just find that punk bands are the most fun to see live, whether you know their music or not.

On Sunday we didn't have breakfast as we had to carry all our stuff back to the car, which we stupidly left a little late so we had to battle through all the people heading to the main arena (because they wouldn't let us take the shortcut through gold -_-). But once that was out of the way, we wandered around aimlessly and grumpily as there was nothing much on and we were tired and aching and couldn't sit down anywhere as the whole place was a mud puddle. Apart from the places that were literal rivers, anyway. Not enough straw, guys! Put some paths in next year! Jeez.

I went to see Muncie Girls (Rob had to go help Pat with his stuff and he wanted to see a bit of Periphery on the way, but I was just SO TIRED and felt a bit sick too after the huge portion of chips I had for lunch (they were out of curry sauce so they were just too...potato-y). They were good, but the songs were a bit samey since I hadn't heard them before. Caught a bit of Halestorm on the way past, and they sounded INSANE. It's not really my kind of music, but Lzzy Hale can WAIL. I'd have liked to see a bit more, but Japanese band One Okay Rock were on at the same time and they weren't bad either (so many pretty men though, haha).

Darted back for Shinedown but didn't catch any songs I knew, then back for Breaking Benjamin as I knew Rob would meet me back there. I wasn't really impressed with them as they kind of passed me by back in the day...should have stayed at Lemmy Stage...hurr. But after that, I FINALLY got to see Disturbed after a decade of wanting to. I wasn't expecting them to be any good live, but they were a real highlight of the festival. Their cover of "The Sound of Silence" was a real high point, probably the best part of the weekend. They also played a few more covers with some cameos from Lzzy Hale (of Halestorm), Blaze Bailey (formerly of Iron Maiden), and Ben Burnley (of Breaking Benjamin).

Billy Talent after that was a bit of a struggle as it was raining quite a lot and we were just so tired, but they're always a good live band. Nightwish sounded even better and I caught a few tracks I vaguely remembered from years and years ago, but we missed most of their set as Rob wanted to see Jane's Addiction. I really didn't like them, and they had scantily-clad women girating around the stage for good measure...just no.

At this point my hip and back had reached peak agony, we both had wellies full of rain, and Rob had a huge blister on his foot. So rather than wait around ages having no choice but to stand to see Iron Maiden...we went back to the car. I know, it's bad. I was wearing a Maiden shirt and everything! But we caught snatches of it between aeroplanes jetting past from the carpark, and we got to sit and use the nice carpark portaloos and soothed our aches. I do wish I'd gone back for a few songs at least, but I knew Rob really wanted to rest and he probably would have insisted on walking me back there so we just missed it all. Oh well. Their sound was terrible 3 years ago, so I'm just assuming the same held true this year...

Once Pat got back to us it took 2 hours to leave the carpark, and a further 6 or so hours to get home since we had to make 2 nap stops for Rob on the way. Harrowing. But then we got clean and dry and ate pizza and slept, so that part was good!

I do like Download Festival, but they really need to deal with the rain better. I've never been so wet in all my life. I literally had puddles in my wellies on more than one occasion. I'd definitely drag a chair into the arena next time if it would be that wet. Wish I'd done so on Sunday, and then seeing Maiden would have been no problem!

Wow, that turned into a real big wall of text. But yeah, the rain broke my camera! It has just about started working again now it is dried out, but it's still not quite what it was before (which, after 10 years of use, wasn't 100% anyway haha).

Download Festival Part 4

Sunday started bright and early with Sirens In The Delta as heard from the covered bench area near Jake's whilst eating cheesy curly fries. Afterwards it was off to main stage for a little sit down for 36 Crazyfists (I apparently only know one of their songs and they were shoutier than I had expected) and Cavalera Conspiracy. We also caught a bit of Evil Scarecrow (which was an experience...CRABULON, CRABULON) before heading to see We Are Harlot in yet more rain.

Our wildcard of the day was Trashboat. We'd laughed at the name as it was on Regular Show...and apparently they did literally take their name from that! They were actually pretty fun pop punk.


Billy Idol was one of those sets where I knew most of the songs despite only being able to name two off the top of my head. Rebel Yell was definitely worth sticking around for!


In Flames were a band I knew of, but didn't know any songs. Rob wasn't expecting them to be good live, but they were brilliant!

I only knew one Yellowcard song, but I really enjoyed their set and really need to invest in some of their CDs at some point. Couldn't see as there was a post in the way, but that means dancing room!


And the only reason I went...Enter Shikari! Such a shame their set was so short and that it was still really light out.


I think I annoyed just about everyone around me. They were all just stood there not doing much but I was dancing like crazy, singing like a gangster, and swigging from a hip flask of Jagermeister, as one does.


This is only decent photo I managed to get as I couldn't stand still long enough to take any better ones!


Nice to see Sorry, You're Not A Winner back, but an entire predictable setlist aside from There's A Price On Your Head. Not that that makes it a bad setlist! The set didn't seem as energetic as usual, but I'm guessing that was at least in part due to Rou's hospitalisation earlier that week.

We left as soon as they finished as Harry and two others were already waiting at the car as they left after Lamb Of God. Thankfully I fell asleep on the way home as 5 people and tons of camping gear shoved into a 3-door Micra wasn't too comfortable. It was definitely a relief to crawl into a real bed at 3am, even if we were still smelly and dirty!

Download Festival Part 3

The weather on Saturday was horrid! It rained all morning so none of us could really bothered to leave the comfort of our slightly leaky gazebo. However, I've managed to miss seeing FFAF repeatedly so I dragged poor Rob out into the rain with me and we caught the very end of Heart Of A Coward.


After such a long wait to see Funeral For A Friend, I was left disappointed. I think Matt must have had a bad throat or something as his vocals were really ropey. Good little flash back to when I was first getting into proper music, though.


We stuck around for Mallory Knox since we missed them at Takedown, but we scooted off back to camp afterwards to try to warm up and get a little drier! Which meant missing Apocalyptica which was a shame, but no regrets. I was feeling pretty miserable! But we did catch a bit of Rise Against when we got back.


Then a band I was really looking forward to...A Day To Remember! They're quickly becoming one of my favourites.


I really want to see them again! Preferably somewhere dry. The rain definitely kept my mood dampened.


We discovered a cocktail van called Beetle-Juice during Faith No More (who sounded good for a bunch of old dudes). I had a few Beetle-Juices (lychee,raspberry, & gin) whereas Rob was favouring Dark & Stormy (lime, ginger beer, & rum). We had to hang around outside for Andew W.K. as the tent was too packed, but it was still kinda fun. Rob was amazed that there are so many songs about partying that all sound pretty much the same.


Then there was Muse! With big bouncy balls!


As usual they played really well, but the setlist was a mixed bag. Mostly new stuff off of Drones which I only got to listen to once before going.


Microcuts and Citizen Erased though! Even though they were supposedly not playing Origin of Symmetry tracks again...bullllll.

Probably should have been closer for Muse to get more hype, but watching the crowd was quite a sight in itself!

Download Festival Part 2

On Friday, after a yummy breakfast in town, we headed into the main arena for the first time. The route to it had changed since we last went. It used to go across the race track, but now you have to leave the site and go around into the arena which is confusing.


The day started off really hot! We were sat outside of Maverick for Gnarwolves at this point! I think we saw some stuff on Main Stage before that (All That Remains, Hell Yeah, and At The Gates), but I don't really remember as we were mostly just soaking up the sun.


Lacuna Coil were amazing, I didn't realise they were so good! Also knew more of their songs that I had realised.

After that I made Rob come to Modestep which was kinda crappy, but at leas it broke up the heavy music a bit!
Snuggles outside Maverick during Sylosis and before Dragonforce.


Babymetal did a song during their set! I perched on the barrier to see but got told to get down even though the people on shoulders and people smoking in the tent were fine apparently -_- so mostly couldn't see anything! Want to see them again.


Stayed put on the back barrier for Fightstar even though we've both seen them before. They're always good live though, and have ordered some of their CDs since getting home as I feel it's time.


We weren't really interested in Slipknot as we saw them last time and it was raining, so we headed back early for sleep. In hindsight we both wish we'd gone to see A, but oh well!

In all honesty I think the tactical early night was a good move, even if it wasn't very metal of us...

Download Festival Part 1

So this year I decided to give Download Festival another go! I mostly wanted to go to hang out with friends but that didn't even happen, so it probably wasn't the wisest choice as I'm not really into heavy music any more.


My other impetus was the desire to see Enter Shikari again as soon as possible. I was initially bummed out as their warm-up gig was announced after I bought my ticket and it was set to be held in Bristol on Friday which would have been much easier for me...but it was cancelled at the last minute. So at least I didn't miss out!


We met Rob's brother Harry at his place just after 5pm on the Wednesday to travel up together, so I guess we didn't reach Donington until around 8pm. We ended up in Pink camp which was down a big hill, but it wasn't so bad.


On Thursday we went for breakfast in town (this is actually a photo of Friday's breakfast, but I had the same both days haha) & then I drank too much and ended up missing both Andrew O'Neill and the sharkie meet because I'm an iiiiiidiot.


At least the weather was good! But Beesting is always a bad choice.

Download Festival 2013!

On this occasion I didn't write a diary when I was there, so this will be quite a bare-bones overview of my time at Download! Plus it was over 3 weeks ago now, so my memory may fail me. I was pretty excited to go though, as I've been wanting to go for 8 years or so but it always clashed with exams (GCSE for 3 years, AS/A-levels for 2, and then uni).

Wednesday
We ended up leaving after 10am as Rob locked his ticket and keys inside the house when we were trying to leave at 9am...ugh! But we go there pretty easily and were all set up by 2pm or so. Rob camped with friends in Red, but I plumped for Gold with Fran, Rosie, and Louis.


This was a good decision, as it was reasonably quiet and we had lots of space, and the tents were easy to find. Then the drinking, oh dear. First there were umbrellas...


Then a good old game of Flunkyball, that I chose to observe rather than participate in:


And of course many of the planes that people apparently found annoying (was only a little louder (and less frequent) than the trains I was used to at uni):


I paced myself well in terms of drinking, but sadly Rob didn't. I came back from the portaloos to find him throwing up in my tent after apparently throwing up in theirs, and then he had me dragging him away from barbed-wire-filled ditches and trying to reason with him until around 2am where he decided to run off. I couldn't find him and went to sleep not knowing if he was even alive. Yeah, I was pretty damn annoyed about it the next day!

Thursday
Thursday wasn't overly eventful. Rob wanted to go into town for breakfast but took us the wrong way, so we walked for 2 hours in the heat and on empty stomachs for no goddamn reason. After an annoyed lie down I drank a bit with my tent neighbours who were working on can swords and making plans for a can throne. The weather was really odd on that day, alternating between scorching sunshine and rain. There was a huge thunderstorm at one point where the sky went almost black and sheets of rain came out of nowhere! In the evening I met up with Bexy & Amy (who were camped in White) for a bit of a dance, and then we saw Andrew O'Neill (a comedian).

Friday
Friday began with a wildcard - Dir En Grey. We thought we'd see them for a laugh since they were the only Japanese act on the bill. It also started raining really heavily, and was raining on and off all day.


We wandered off for a bit and caught some of Patent Pending when having a sit down. Unfortunately we had to endure a bit of Asking Alexandria on our way past Main Stage as well. Then was Papa Roach, who were good but didn't play the best song. The singer also dived into mud for some reason.


Then we caught a bit of In This Moment who put on a great show, before highlight of the day which was Korn.


We took some selfies.


Bullet For My Valentine were a bit dull...


...but we wanted to keep our good spot for Slipknot! It rained heavily again at this point, but they were pretty good so I can't really grumble. I couldn't see at all though! I was lucky to get any photos at all.



Saturday
On Saturday we mostly just hung out at the tent. The weather was great so we sunbathed and derped around drinking until almost 6pm.


We finally went to the arena to catch the first few songs of Jimmy Eat World's set. We stayed more than we were supposed to as I was a little over-enthusiastic in my drunken fangirling! I feel embarrassed now as everyone around us was just standing there whereas I was singing all the words and jumping and waving my appendages around. Especially during Get It Faster as it's one of my favourites and I was surprised it was still in the setlist.


More derping!


We missed most of the first Queens of the Stone Age song which is annoying as it was Feel Good Hit of the Summer, which we'd been singing all weekend.


Afterwards the girls headed back to camp so I caught the end of Enter Shikari by myself. I tried to see Iron Maiden but the sound quality was terrible so I only stayed until I heard a song I knew, which was thankfully the second one they played.


Saw The Hives instead, and it was the best decision as they were so much fun to dance along to, despite poor view and getting elbowed in the face several times (#shortpeopleproblems). Some crazy guy climbed up one of the poles inside the tent and jumped off!


When I got back to their tent I was already sobering up and getting a hangover so I didn't hang around and went to bed istead!

Sunday
Since Rob's phone was running out, I stayed with him on the last day. We packed up out tents and took them back to the car in the morning and then went to the nearby village for proper breakfast and cup of tea. We were both really tired so we sat at Main Stage most of the day, catching Five Finger Death Punch who weren't my cup of tea, Parkway Drive who were a little better, Stone Sour, and Gaslight Anthem. They played their best song first but the singer's voice sounded butts until the second song Dx


We had planned to stay for 30 Seconds To Mars but as soon as they started we gurned at each other and went to see A Day To Remember instead, who it turns out I like and I knew a bunch of their songs from music channels. Limp Bizkit were next and I had a great time! I almost peed myself laughing at Fred Durst's gigantic black beard. Rob was a bit annoyed as he wanted to see Rammstein but I wanted to stay until they played Break Stuff which was their last song, I think.


This photo was taken before the mass-exodus of people leaving to see Rammstein as soon as they played their first chord.

We could kinda hear Rammstein at the same time though, and we headed straight there afterwards. Hope I get to see them again as they were good live, although I don't really approve of the giant fake dicks and pretending to jerk off and all that sick shit. They pyros were cool though.


Monday
After a very stressful journey (it took ages to leave the carpark although it could have been a lot worse, and Rob was barely awake while driving and it took me ages of nagging to get him to pull over for a nap), we eventually got back to Rob's at 6am. I was so tired that I'd been hallucinating pretty much the whole way back, and I have stayed awake for so long before. It was almost a full 24 hours! So naturally after a cuppa and some toast we slept all day.

Even though it was tiring, I'm looking forward to the next festival now! Reading is only a month away. Probably going to volunteer at Glasto next year as dad did this year, and if friends go to Download again I'm up for it again! I preferred it to Reading in terms of layout, it's just that Reading tends to have more bands I want to see. That said, Reading line-up is going downhill fast wth all the hipster shit they're bring in...but we'll see!