Sunday is fast becoming the busiest day at Download, and this year was no exception. Lots of bands on two different stages to jam in and the bands we wanted to see started pretty early. But sadly this year the weather finally caught up with us after years of sun...
A last minute replacement for Ratt as vocalist Stephen Pearcy had to pull out due to needing emergency back surgery, F.M. (****) were a quality start to the day. And there smooth AOR sound must have made hundreds of new fans. I've been listening to them for a while and it was great to finally see them live. Lets hope it's not the last time. A short set, they played...
- Wildside
- That Girl
- Don't Stop
- Bad Luck
- Burning
- I Heard It Through The Grapevine
A huge crowd then gathered for the mighty Saxon (****1/2) who, as promised, played their 1980 album 'Wheels Of Steel' in its entirety. And a few more songs for extra measure. Which is where I actually docked on the half point. I personally thought it was one song too many. There's no need to improve on a amazing set by chucking another song in there. Although don't ask me what song they could have dropped!
But the positives - Saxon were made to play the mainstage at Donington - they looked truly at home there, and frontman Biff Byford is one of the best in the business. A memorable performance for sure. They played...
- Motorcycle Man
- Stand Up And Be Counted
- 747 (Strangers In The Night)
- Freeway Mad
- See The Light Shining
- Street Fighting Gang
- Suzie Hold On
- Machine Gun
- Wheels Of Steel
- And The Bands Played On
- Denim And Leather
- Princess Of The Night
So Cinderella (***) - you haven't played in the U.K. since 1991 - top that! While Tom Keifer and company put on a solid set of hard rock (and spine tingling ballad in one case) goodness it was really all there was. Couldn't help but detect a slight waft of disinterest in the air - not E'Nuff Z'nuff standard, but based on what I have heard of the band in live recordings...they weren't that chatty. But they played...
- Somebody Save Me
- Push Push
- Night Songs
- Coming Home
- Shelter Me
- Don't Know What You've Got (Till It's Gone)
- Nobody's Fool
- Gypsy Road
- Shake Me
Holy smokes Slash & Myles Kennedy (*****) were good. Possibly the band of the festival. The original guitar hero mixed with Alter Bridge vocalist Kennedy's amazing voice, it was a match made in rock heaven. So much so this writer may have a hard time listening to old school G'N'R without thinking how much better a singer Kennedy is. Probably the best singer in the genre at the moment. Hell, the new Slash solo album would have been better with just Kennedy on!
Actual goosebump sensation to the intro of 'Sweet Child O' Mine' - an amazing performance, and a brilliantly memorable moment when fellow rock legend Lemmy came out for 'Doctor Alibi'. I didn't want them to leave, but they did but not before...
- Ghost
- Back From Cali
- Nightrain
- Rocket Queen
- Starlight
- By The Sword
- Sweet Child O' Mine
- Doctor Alibi (featuring Lemmy)
- Slither
- Paradise City
So that was over. But - fear not- it was time for the man who stole the festival back in 2005 with his blistering performance. It had started raining but who cares? It was time for Billy Idol (**)! Oh dear. We caught about half of his performance as we had to leave for the second stage (which we wouldn't have to do if the bands had kept to their times) but what we heard was pretty dull. A couple of highlights being 'Dancing With Myself' and 'Scream' but everything else was the slower 80s tunes and some truly insipid new material. The last we heard as we headed away was - god help us- an acoustic start to 'White Wedding'. They played...
- Ready Steady Go
- Dancing With Myself
- Love Is Strange
- Flesh For Fantasy
- Scream
- Eyes Without A Face
- Kings And Queens
- White Wedding
- LA Woman
- King Rocker
- Blue Highway
- Rebel Yell
By the time we had started the trek over to the Ronnie James Dio Stage it was pissing it down. Huddled an umbrella, leaning on the D barrier it was not the kind of weather to appreciate much but Porcupine Tree (***1/2) were on hand, and were great as always. Main problem with Steven Wilson and co. was that they played songs from latest concept album 'The Incident' which is meant to be a 70 minute 'song cycle' interspersed with older material. I know they couldn't play it all live, but it seemed a bit strange putting it down and picking it back up again. They played...
- Occam's Razor
- The Blind House
- Anesthetize (Edit)
- Degree Zero Of Liberty
- Octane Twisted
- The Seance
- Circle Of Manias
- Bonnie The Cat
- Blackest Eyes
You couldn't get further removed from PT than you could with Steel Panther (****1/2) who, even though it was still lashing down with rain, cheered everyone up.
Unlike most 'comedy' bands (Tenacious D I am looking directly at you) Steel Panthers material has been out way over a year now and hasn't gotten any less funny. The songs are solid is the key to it all. And they were every bit as brilliant as before, as was the between song banter. Highlights included the relatively straight-faced cover of the Backstreet Boys 'I Want It That Way' and a special appearance from Anthrax's Scott Ian for the excellent 'Asian Hooker'. Hell - there was even a bloke in the crowd as 'The Shocker'! (Google it...or don't!)
Hilarious, weather defying stuff...Steel Panther played...
- Death To All But Metal
- Turn Out The Lights
- I Want It That Way
- Asian Hooker (featuring Scott Ian)
- Community Property
- Oklahoma Girl
- The Shocker
- Party All Day
Sadly after that the weather got the better of us. We just HAD to return to the campsite to change out of our soaked through clothing, thus depriving us of the chance to see Ginger's acoustic performance of Wildhearts songs at the Jagermeister stage.
We got back to the arena, dry as the rain was finally ceasing to see Stone Temple Pilots (who I hear were amazing) leave the stage. And just like when I first saw Aerosmith (*****) at Hyde Park in 2007 the moment the band hit the stage...rain stops. Weird.
There was a lot of build up to Aerosmith this time. The widely publicized bust-up between Steven Tyler and Joe Perry involved Tyler falling off a stage, reportedly falling off the wagon and out of the band. Then came the announcement they were headlining Download. Was it all a publicity stunt? Are they even possible these days? Would there be friction? We would find out.
Tyler hit the stage as only he could- in a gold sequined hat, jacket and trousers to the timeless 'Love In An Elevator' and I was certainly watching for discord between 'The Toxic Twins'...but struggled to find any. Tyler always throws himself around the stage and on his bandmates whilst they carry on playing...it was hard to tell.
After a a brilliant trawl through their extensive back catalogue from early hits like 'Mama Kin' all the way through to the epic tear-jerking power ballad 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing', it was all fantastic- and that includes the blues jamming section of the set. A personal highlight for me was 'What It Takes' from the Pump album. I love that song.
Unlike others, I never saw Tyler snort anything from the drumkit. Have heard he went to, but...come on, knowing him it was a joke. Any questions about the relationship with band members came at the end when Perry took the microphone and heaped praise upon Tyler. It felt good to know that it seems they have patched things up again, but who knows if we will see them again? They played...
- Love In An Elevator
- Back In The Saddle
- Mama Kin
- Eat The Rich
- Livin' On The Edge
- What It Takes
- Train Kept A Rollin'
- Cryin'
- Lord Of The Thighs
- Stop Messin' Around
- I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
- Sweet Emotion
- Baby, Please Don't Go
- Draw The Line
- Dream On
- Walk This Way
- Toys In The Attic
The relief of a pretty easy walk back to the campsite was sadly short-lived though.
The next day heading to the coach departure area (now no longer in Donington Park, but over the road in one of East Midlands Airport's car parks) we found ourselves in a massive pointless queue just to be allowed to cross the road. It wasn't even just for coaches - it was for taxis and shuttle buses too! So if your coach was leaving in ten minutes you had to queue behind 70 people who were getting a shuttle bus or taxi. Brilliant.
I honestly don't know what happened to Download this year from an organization point of view. Last year the arena was in the same location and we had no problems with getting back to the campsite, and we also had no issues getting the coach. If it ain't broke, don't fix it as the old adage goes.
But, as usual, the bands were (mostly) great and thats why we all go in the end. Here's to festivals at Donington for the next 30 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment