The Download Festival 2007 06.08.07 - 06.10.07
Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 06.14.2007
3 days of rock and metal in the UK headlined by Iron Maiden, Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance!
It’s Friday afternoon when I found out that I’m going to be going to one of rock’s greatest festivals. I didn’t really expect to be going, but I was definitely looking forward to returning to Donington Park for Download. I had been in 2004 and 2005 and had a great time. 2006’s line-up didn’t look too promising so I didn’t go. But this year there were a lot of bands that I wanted to see. 10 minutes from the venue, I turn to my friend Will and ask who he is most looking forward to seeing play live. “Iron Maiden and Slayer,” he replies, “you?”
“My Chemical Romance,” I reply. I receive a look from just about everyone else in the car. I’m not a big fan of all those old metal bands. I couldn’t care less for their style of music and I’m not ashamed to say it. I’m not ashamed to be a fan of the new “emo” scene that’s going around town. But make no mistake, I ain’t no emo and have never even considered becoming a “cutter,” I just enjoy the sound. But that’s the great thing about this year’s line up, there is something for everyone.
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Last weekend saw the return of arguably Britain’s biggest and best rock and metal festival as The Download Festival returned to Donington Park for its 5th annual edition. This year’s headliners are Download legends Iron Maiden, Linkin Park, and emo-kings My Chemical Romance. Each band brings a completely different aspect of music to the table, a pattern which is similar throughout the entire line-up. Download has always traditionally been predominantly about metal, with Metallica, Tool, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Motörhead, Black Sabbath and System of a Down all putting on memorable performances at past events. But this year the line-up looks different – there are a lot more emphasis on the new emo and pop-punk scenes, but that is to be expected due to those respective genres of music becoming increasingly popular in recent times. Still, there are still a fair share of harder bands on the bill; DragonForce, Lamb of God, Megadeath, Slayer, Korn and Killswitch Engage providing a balance for all the Bring Me The Horizon’s of the world.
We arrive at just past six on the Friday evening. We’ve already missed a plethora of good bans, but that’s life, and there are still 2 and a half days to go. I was never going to shed a tear about missing DragonForce play their set but I would have loved to see Hinder play live, not because their music is particularly brilliant but because I have heard many good thing about their live performances and ‘Get Stoned’ is a cool song. Fortunately, I’m there just in time to see pop-punk quartet Paramore play on the Dimebag Darrell stage. For those not in the know, Paramore are a band with a real pop-sound but they have a good drummer and a great vocalist in Hayley Williams. Yes, she is a chick. While their performance is not as slick as their own show that I witnessed last November, the music is still as good as ever and Williams has the crowd in the palm of her hand for the most part. They play through most of their songs from their debut album All We Know Is Falling before playing some of the songs from the new album RIOT! including the awesome first single ‘Misery Business’ which has many a teenage girl reaching into their pockets for their phones so that they can record the performance and put it on YouTube as soon as they get home. Paramore – 3.5/5
Paramore performing ‘Misery Business’
I stuck around to see Enter Shikari, one of the fastest-rising bands in the UK, whose sound mixes rock and electronica. Personally, I find it difficult to stomach this band at most times but ‘Anything Can Happen…’ is almost a guilty pleasure of mine. Thankfully they get that song out of the way early which allows me to wander around for a bit. But credit where credit’s due, Shikari did put on a good show and the thousands of fans that were there to see them loved their set and the loud guitar-based instrumentation, plus, you’d be almost blinded by those queer little glow sticks. Enter Shikari – 3/5
At just past 8 we made our way over to the main stage for the first time of the weekend and managed to catch the last few songs of the Velvet Revolver set which is lucky for us as the general consensus was that their performance was extremely lacklustre. It also went on for twice as long as it was scheduled to which probably didn’t help matters. I just feel that this is a band that is now only getting by on former glories as opposed to actually being able to produce any quality in their sound either in the studio or on stage. Velvet Revolver – 1/5
At last the moment I have been waiting for arrives as just before 9, My Chemical Romance take to the stage and are greeted with a mixture of high-pitched teenage screams and a hoard of bottles. Excuse me as I go off on a mini-rant about those select music lovers who think launching projectiles at performers is as good idea, but this sort of thing just pisses me off. I understand that not everyone is going to like this band and might not agree with the decision to make the New Jersey five-piece Friday’s headliners, but if you don’t want to listen, fuck off. Korn are playing on the Dimebag stage, go see them, or Suicidal Tendencies who apparently tore it up something rotten on the Tuborg Stage. No-one forces you to listen to this music. At least have some consideration for the people that do want to appreciate the music, and there were many of them. Rant over. MCR create one of the biggest sing alongs of the weekend with the opening lines of ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ and continue to tear the house tent down with the rest of the songs off of The Black Parade album. Unfortunately, My Chem didn’t bother to bring the theatrics that they usually bust out for their solo shows but the music is just as good and Gerard Way is just as crisp on the vocals and this takes this performance to the next level. MCR shake off the missiles from the crowd and luckily those throwing the shit give up and realise that this band will not be stopped tonight. MCR dust off some of their older stuff from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge to close out the set and what was an incredible first day and I only saw 4 acts! My Chemical Romance – 4.5/5
Despite sleep being an almost impossible task, after about 2 hours of kip we manage to drag ourselves out of bed just after 11 in time to see Elliot Minor perform. Minor are another pop-punk band that garnered huge success in the UK with their first single ‘Parallel Worlds’ and they have the Dimebag stage rockin’ with the track. While the guitar and base in incredible for such a young band, the usually-sexy vocals are a little off today but the masses of people singing along to ‘Parallel Worlds’ and ‘Jessica’ just about drown out lead singer Alex Davies anyway. Of course there is the problem that most people have only heard that one song from these guys, although a lot of their other stuff receives a warm reception from the people who actually stick around to see their whole performance. The song ‘Jessica’ is a personal favourite of mine and that was performed to near-perfection by Minor. These guys are young and might just be huge breakout stars in the coming years. Elliot Minor – 3/5
Shadows Fall, the quintet from Massachusetts, must just not like playing festivals because despite a string of successful shows in the UK that drew thousands upon thousands, they’re performance is way below par but the crowded tent is still excited to still them and are still whipped into a frenzy for new single ‘Redemption’ and several tracks from The War Within, but the circle pits that Shadows try to create are more than slight failures as the thousands of fans are contented to just mosh in a slightly less organised fashion. This was not a bad performance per se, but it was certainly lacking and not to the recent standards set by the band. Shadows Fall – 2.5/5
The next band to grace the main stage was post-hardcore 5-piece Aiden. This is another band that I had no particular liking for until I saw them supporting Lostprophets and Taking Back Sunday in April. They played a brief set but were mildly entertaining and since then I’ve been pretty impartial to their sound. However they are greeted with a ton of bottles from more thoughtless idiots. Still, much like Gerard Way and co. the night before, Wil Francis and crew manage to plough through and eventually manage to turn the crowd in their favour and complete their set with confidence and professionalism. Aiden – 3.5/5
One of my favourite bands on the line-up, 30 Seconds to Mars follow Aiden. I’m one of the few people I know that have been a fan of theirs since their 2002 self-titled debut album, but I was blown away by their latest effort A Beautiful Lie. While some of Jared Leto’s lyrics are undistinguishable on the choruses, some of the music is pure class and singles ‘Attack’ and ‘The Kill’ are incredible efforts. And they come on stage and perform with a tremendous enthusiasm that not many bands bother to bring to big festivals such as Download. Most bands think they can get by on the carnival atmosphere but 30 Seconds go all out with their performance. They are not a band that needs theatrics to make a live show look great, they just go out and play their asses off. This would have been a near perfect performance but unfortunately many people in the crowd just can’t get as into the show as they should be and for whatever reason they can’t be bothered to match the high gears that Leto and co. are performing at. 30 Seconds to Mars – 4.5/5
And all of sudden, the atmosphere changes as punk rockers Bowling For Soup appear on stage with their wild set complete with inflatable farm animals. The fun-loving quarter spend a lot of their performances pissing about to entertain the loyal crowd and at times these guys are pretty damn funny. But even when they pick up their instruments and mic things don’t get too serious as they bust out cult favourites ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ and ‘The Bitch Song’ and ‘1985’ as well as most of the tracks for the new album. There aren’t many bands in the world that can have thousands of people freely belting out “I’m gay!” in a room full of crowded people but Bowling For Soup manage it and all the while they keep these huge smiles on their faces. Every time I’ve seen these guys play live they genuinely seem to be enjoying themselves and that helps the crowd do the same. It does beg the question why many other pop-punk bands are frequently met with jeers or worse projectiles at such festivals yet these guys turn the venue into one giant party. I suppose it’s just a testament to how good Jared Reddick and his band mates are at what they do. Bowling For Soup – 4/5
Despite a string of top quality performances on the main stage, only now are we reaching the business end of the second day of Download. While yesterday I was quite contented to spend some time at the secondary stage, not much is going to get me to leave the main stage area with Machine Head, Slayer, Marilyn Manson and Linkin Park still to come. Ironically, I’m not a major fan of any of the former 3 bands but I’ve never seen any of them live and my curiosity would get the better of me. Incidentally, Machine Head put on a tremendous performance. One of the few pure metal bands on display today, they play just about an hour that cause pure mayhem in the 50,000 strong crowd. Some of the pits are massive and seeing thousands upon thousands of people going fucking crazy for Machine Head’s set was awesome. They went out and performed with confidence gained from the big success of the album The Blackening and for many were one of the highlights of the weekend. Machine Head – 4.5/5
Slayer seem to want to appear at every festival available to tear up crowds but they don’t quite have the same effect on Donington as they have done years previous. Their sound is quite incredible; the riffs come thick and fast and they were one of the loudest bands of the weekend but in the wake of Machine Head’s performance they don’t seem to have the same edge as some of the other bands. It’s ironic because playing after Slayer at a festival is usually thought to be the death slot, just ask My Chemical Romance, but they seem to be suffering from a burnt out and spoilt crowd themselves this time around. Any festival performance from Slayer was never going to be a failure but this performance was more dependable than spectacular and I think it’s safe to say that on this night, Slayer were outshone. How d’you like that one, bitches? Slayer – 2.5/5
The last but one act of the day was everybody’s favourite goth Marilyn Manson. You know what? I’ve never been able to stand this guy. I think he’s a complete dick. Seriously, and his music is complete bullshit as well, but fair play to the bastard, he probably drew the biggest crowd of the first 2 days. Manson also brought some rather over dramatic theatrics to the stage as well, Download’s first taste of such thing this year. It’s all pretty much cosmetic as opposed to actually serving a purpose but it does create a decent visual. Well, except the bit when Manson plays with himself for all to see. While the masses seem to love Manson, I take myself to get some air just as ‘The Beautiful People’ ends. I return for the very last song and as a fair few people are leaving. But the majority are sticking around for the final act of the day. Marilyn Manson – 3/5
Linkin mother fuckin’ Park! This would be only the second time I’ve seen the band play live and considering they are one of my favourite bands, that’s quite surprising and not even Head Automatica can tear me away from the main stage. So I’m jacked for this performance despite my disappointment with Minutes to Midnight but thankfully the majority of the show is dedicated to their songs from Hybird Theory and Meteora. Anthems ‘Crawling’ and ‘One Step Closer’ draw massively positive receptions from the audience and even their newer material is greeted kindly by the faithful, ‘What I’ve Done’ in particular stirring the thousands into action. Perhaps the fans are tiring or something, because they are sapped of energy by the time LP pass the hour mark, but they quickly decide to get things moving again with ‘In The End’ before getting into the final stretch. The crowd comes to life once again for the amazing ‘Faint’ which closes out the Saturday portion of the weekend. Energetic and confident are understatements for this performance and at times Linkin Park had to work hard to keep the crowd’s attention but for the most part this was as good a performance as any other on the day. Linkin Park – 4/5
I’m not going to lie to you, there are about tow bands that I was remotely interested in seeing on Sunday, those being Evanescence and Within Temptation. I’d also have liked to have seen Killswitch Engage but unfortunately their timeslot clashed with Within Temptation’s and to me there was really no contest. Thankfully I could afford to lie in for a fair while Sunday morning and when I didn’t eventually crash out til 7 in the morning that’s not a bad thing. I awake in time to get down to the main stage for Papa Roach whose performance is quite frankly, amazing for a band that is as heavily criticized as they are for appealing to just the teen audience. While they may not play the most incredible songs musically, there is no questioning that they produce catchy songs with great choruses. ‘To Be Loved’ goes down particularly well as do old favourites ‘Last Resort’ and ‘Between Angels and Insects.’ Certainly a pleasant surprise from Papa and the audience who were as into it as I’d seen them for any other non-headliner all weekend. Papa Roach – 4/5
Within Temptation are Evanescence without the mainstream appeal. They even have in common a stunningly dominant front woman with incredible vocal ability. They manage to garner a great reaction from the crowd for ‘What Have You Done’ and ‘The Howling’ but many of the other songs are not as well received as is Sharon Den Adel’s piercing voice. I mean that in a good way, but many others apparently did not see it that way. The crowd go pretty much dead after the first few songs but the orchestral instrumentation is spot on and Den Adel’s singing is, in my opinion, class as always. Within Temptation – 3.5/5
And speaking of Evanescence Amy Lee and friends provide the semi-main event spot for the evening. Of course, as is the norm for an Evanescence show, Amy Lee dominates in her usual confident manner and despite concerns that they may face the MCR treatment, Evanescence come out with another incredible performance. All of their new stuff goes down a charm and ‘Sweet Sacrifice’ in particular got a great response. As you would expect, ‘Bring Me To Life’ was greeted as if meeting up with a long lost relative and has the audience eating out of Lee’s hand. Her vocals were brilliant once again and even though the spotlight was never on them, the rest of the guys do their bit to make it a unforgettable performance and gives the headliners something to live up to. Evanescence – 4.5/5
What is there to say about Iron Maiden that hasn’t already been said. Not a lot. And besides, I hate the band, although I can understand why they are so popular. Dickinson has an incredible voice but Maiden play the kind of music that bores the shit out of me, and I know I’m going to get a lot of shit for that. It goes without saying that Maiden owned Donington Sunday night because over the years Maiden has managed to make Download theirs. But it’s the same act we’ve all heard from Maiden time and time again and with absolutely no variety in the performances. Myself and about 6 others out of 60,000 + are heading to the door before they finish, but just by the fans response Maiden’s set was memorable, even if it was the definition of cookie-cutter. Iron Maiden – 3.5/5
The 411: Download is almost like the WrestleMania of music - it's impossible to put on a bad show. The majority of bands stepped up and put on great performances so that not even the mindless idiots that still polute the UK music scene could spoil this weekend. Unforgettable performances from Machine Head, 30 Seconds to Mars, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park and Evanescence highlight an incredible weekend of filth and rock music.
