Rusted From The Rain "Download 2024" Save me.

 Please excuse me, while I try to find the words and the energy to write this, I like so many am rather sick from eating something that disagreed with us and spending many hours in the medical tent from very early Monday morning till nearly lunch time. I have never had food poisoning before and I never want it again.

I'd spent 45 years happily avoiding it. It is so rare I vomit that no one I know has ever seen me do it. I can keep down most things. But this oh my word, I am going to stop here I think you get the picture. 
Enough to say when I got home on the Monday I slept till the Tuesday. 

So please accept my apologise for this one being a little later than normal, I still feel rough now and I am fairly sure someone will shout at me for doing it later anyway. 

Lets just get into the Wednesday, we got out on time we got to the car park for 9:30am and we were in and set up by 11:30am. Can't fault this well happy got nearly the same spot as the previous year.
Purple camp for us always just because well we like it there. 

So camping wise some moving around of things like the total removal of the loo's from the Green camp so every one was piling into the purple loos in the morning. While they had the Camping Plus in Green and the Eco in Green if you were not part of these camps (Paid extra) you couldn't use the loos.

The weather we should talk about this as well, and this is a bit of an iffy one as the weather leading up to download was all over the shop and even to the point of changing hourly, I wish I had taken wellies, I didn't as the weather before we left was mild shower, what we got on Saturday was thunder storms and heavy rain. Well we got a lot of rain from Thursday onwards which of course as always turns the arena and the village into a mud bath, which in turn saps your strength and stops you slogging backwards and forwards for bands. This resulted in my only going to see bands I wanted to see and while I Planned to check out newer bands I didn't, not that it mattered as a few of them dropped out due to Barclay Card, or because they were ill. 

Thursday night we did wander into the village to see Halocene

Friday, well who did i check out on the Friday?
Well we planned to go down for Halocenes actual set but due to the que getting in we got this for 45 minutes as we were scanned searched and prodded.

Yep that's the que to get through the gates. As a friend of mine said when they came on the Sunday on a Day Ticket they had to get through the entrance, walk across the track and then go through this again. This year they lumbered the day tickets in with the campers and it caused chaos. Well it did on the Friday. 

First band without photo was Scene Queen, Yeah I barely managed to get through the opening song before walking off, and from those I know watched the whole set they declared that it was very mixed signals and contradictions with everything she did. I didn't  watch it as I have zero interest in listening to someone sing about masturbation. And as such I can't really comment on this more but I won't be looking into this group at all.

Here have some photos of us wandering in on the first day instead.

So what is next? Well as I said only bands I wanted to see this year as well you can see the mud already forming plus I am not that interested in the actual headliners today so off I wander to Black Stone Cherry, as always an amazing set, can not fault them all these years down the line they have been knocking it out of the park. Enjoy watching these guys play from seeing them at Downloads past or supporting Whitesnake and Def leppard. Just a good all round sing along band with some very good albums under their belts. I know they have been around for decades.

So, I want to see Mr Bungle so shall take a wander over to the second stage. (I am never going to call them by the names they were given they will always be first and second) Now as always I am going to rock up and I don't know a lot about Mr Bungle I just know it is a Mike Patton thing and I do like Faith No More so lets go see what this nut job is up to here. Yep still nuts, and as always a blinder of a show can't fault it some fun some piss taking, such a good set, total surreal and if you check out there wiki page you can work out why. Just looked like they were having a lot of fun on stage together. 

I would like to see Wheatus. I say this as as close as I got to the tent all I could hear was bad bass and nothing else. All the busted fans had rushed the stage and so there was no chance in getting in to see either, so with this I went back to camp, as I was wet, and tired and the drinks in camp were far cheaper than the ones in the area. 

 

Evening in camp as it is wet and cold so no wandering no meeting new people this year all very dull group stays together. Shall we get on to Saturday?

Up and at them! Due to the rain and the cold it was a nice little lay in for the Saturday. Though we did decide to change the breakfast haunt this morning and it wasn't worth it. I miss the All day breakfast / Chinese that used to be in the village. We would wander up every morning get a full English sit have a coffee plan the day and wander back before heading out it was one of the things we had done for years until the new lay out came into existence. Did set you up for a decent day of drinking and wandering, now a days well the last 3 years it's an English in a bap and not great, or as this year a slightly under cooked English in a box with out the egg or tomato's. 

Lets hit bands who do I want to see today and who will I get too see?
So I want to see Baby Metal. Have never seen them and as such I thought I should as well the songs are catchy, although I am also interested in what everyone else see's in this J-Metal group. They are after all Idols and as such. So annoyingly we have a thunder storm and they get pulled after a song and a half, with a lot of frustration, now I don't know the name of the song that I am about to put here, but the following song the second song I do know the name of, though this don't really go to plan as Electric Callboy are ill. So yeah,  don't actually get them either but that's just me I guess. 

So that is over after some technical issues we will wander over to second and catch Tom Morello, interesting rendition of killing in the name of also known as we sing it they play it which was fun.

Right I was going to catch Enter: Shikari but I have seen them several times before and watched from a distance while also wandering and I picked up merch while they were playing. As the first band I was really waiting for where about to hit the stage and that was The Offspring. 

I can not fault this at all, was a great set with some amazing old songs but would have been nice to have heard let the bad times roll be played, even though we got keep them separated, your going to go far kid and pretty fly for a white guy. 

Shall we go see Billy Talent? Yes yes we shall this time though we are eventually going to get into the tent and yeah I was happy with that by a long shot so happy i nearly forgot to get the video below. I have been waiting a while to see these guys and I was happy I finally got too, yes I only got in the tent for the last three songs but it was worth it and the sound outside was spot on. 

Right then, shall we move on to Sunday? No of course not we need to talk about Fallout Boy! I really enjoyed this and you can tell because it is just photos. Was like a history of Fallout Boy playing through in albums as they went using different parts of the stage show from different tours over the years and I did really enjoy it, that is the thing with me I do enjoy a good performance and a catchy tune and that is what Fallout Boy are. 

Now we will do Sunday. Firstly delays in order to get the arena a little drier so the first hour is cut. Meaning sets are cut and every band is pushing to be finished on schedule or ahead of it. I keep hearing people saying it was Seven Fold that was forcing this as they wouldn't give up their own set time. But unless someone from live nation comes out and says this is fact then I am taking a grain of salt. I'll be honest Seven Fold don't interest me so didn't watch them. 

While wandering though I did catch some of 311, sounded alright, but as said it was while wandering, I also caught the first few tracks of Royal Republic as I was waiting for Bowling for Soup to start. I also wanted to see Zebra Head but the issue was that now they had changed the time I had to bail on tem before the end for Bowling For Soup. 

I am a big Bowling for soup fan and it was nice to be stood in a crowd of people all singing along word for word on every song. Shame Chris was rushed back to the states for medical reasons and I hope he recovers and is back on the road with the rest of the band soon it was good but would have been better with him there.

Lets jump to Sum 41. As I went to get a drink and forgot about other bands. Once more no video for this one as was just enjoying the set, shame it was the end of their time before I ever got to see them but I am glad I did get too.

It might be time to limp with the Bizkit. Seriously amazing set, I wanted to see Corey and Limp but as they were now on at the same time I picked Limp. I was in a high energy mood and that is what Limp always bring to the table. Was such a good set was like being 20 again and back in the pits of old. To old and to broken for that now a days. Was an amazing set and it is a shame they were rushed through for seven fold as well. Seven fold meh.

I did go to see Machine Head, but after the massive up from Bizkit they were mellowing me out, so I went and got food and wandered back to camp and we all know what happened at 1am so lets not go through that again. 

Right let us look at the issues. So didn't really have a parking issue this year the new route in seemed to work for the camping. Toilet issues not enough though neither in the arena or in the camp site, and the green camp site being segregated as it was this was an issue. The camp site lay out as always was good I do like the new layout for the camp site and the solid standing for the village we just need to wort out the toilet issues in these areas. 

Arena got shrunk a little due to the numbers being lowered, seating would be nice they shrunk this down as well, Rocktail Cocktail got flooded out so that was closed on Saturday I don't know if it reopened on Sunday as it was too damn muddy to get over there. Though the rain thing in general allowed me to actually get the merch I wanted and in my size and even in the mid afternoon I was able to walk straight up and get what I wanted! 

All in all the event wasn't terrible, I didn't get to wander because of the weather I would have liked to have Sunday but I'll be honest I was feeling a little rough when I got into bed. 

Anyone else in Purple camp never want to hear Celine Dion ever again after the Sunday!

Right going to go sit in the bathroom for a while and hope this passes soon. 

See you in 2025 Download Festival. 

 

Burn MF "Download 2023" (5FDP were missing)

So. Yeah. Heat stroke, 30c Temperatures, lack of water points and shade. 
Need I say more?

Well yes so I am going to but generally we will be talking about the above statement this year. 
There will be some music news I did see some bands I also did see old friends and new friends but as I type these things will become apparent. 

These all start on Tuesdays now. Why well as the group is so spread across the UK and I am presently the closest person to Donington Park (90 minute drive) away everyone comes here we have a few drinks catch up on the previous year and head out early Wednesday morning. 

First group turn up we go do beer run, second group appear we chill and order pizza. Where is the 3rd group? Van broke down on the West side of the country..... Midnight the last member of the party gets here. Quick catch up and a pint and bed. I am going to stop there we gave him enough grief over the weekend for his minor mishaps with direction, But we will say this ext year he comes here, his car stays here and he rides with someone else. 

Righ Wednesday, takes 4 hours to do a 90 minute journey. Actually we got to Donington in under 2 hours. We just got stuck in the neverending miles of traffic that was building up. Thankfully though we were rather near the goal so we slipped through and were parked up before 11. All of us had loaded our tickets in to which ever wallet app we were using, we had also opened the web page ticket view before we left so we were ready. We parked, we just grabbed the tents and we went, straight in minimal issue actually no issues at all, unlike last year where tickets started vanishing and phones started having issues as the wifi disappeared for us but that was last year. (In another tale my day ticket friend forgot to load their ticket and had to walk back down the hill to get signal my fault  I forgot to warn them about mobile signal.)

All in and set up by 11:30. Back to the car now have bands to get the beer and packs. All down and done by 13:00. Was amazingly swift. Though we are about to learn that the crew on he buses were in for a shock as they were now running really far behind (They turned up about 9pm) The sat navs were saying 30 minutes away from about 12:00, an yeah the traffic really was that bad, you might have seen it on the news. 

Moving on as at the moment the weather's nice beer is flowing it is a really nice Download we are in the camps up having a few drinks enjoying the time as we wait for Thursday. 

Who Ever Though Putting Bands On On The Thursday Was a Good Idea Needs Help. 

So Thursday, right from the off we are all a little apprehensive about this. 
Thursday is not a normal music day. It is the recovery from the getting to this point day, we sit we chat, no today we have to deal with bands.
(I have not checked this and probably won't but adding the extra day and starting the days later it has been said we got the same amount of bands in 4 days we have in 3)
Let's get walking the weather's nice the temperatures not to high its a bit over cast nice to walk and drink. So we do, all the way into the arena for Punk Rock Factory (though we did leave in plans to see Mammoth) We did hear the ending couple of tracks from Mammoth I say hear we were heading to the 3rd stage (I know it has a name but we have always just used numbers) We also completely forgot we was going to see Jinjer... Yeah my bad I was already a little disoriented by the extra day and not alcohol as we hadn't really had time to drink. Managed to hear PRF from outside the tent you could not get in there. See Photos!
Oh and of course the photo that was taken as we entered the Arena before that shall we!
 
Main Stage

  3rd Stage. (Didn't the 3rd stage use to be blue?)

So as you can see that is a tiny bit crazy for a Download, but we will muddle through. 

Of course now that Five Finger Death Punch (5FDP) have had to pull out of their present touring schedule due to injury. We had now for the 11th time in Download History got Skindred and I do love Skindred, always a good show but before we get there their will be drinking and friends and maybe seeing bits of Halestorm, maybe seeing bits of Alter Bridge. Now I have seen these two bands so many times, I am also losing interest in them a little I know this might rile a few of you up but there's been nothing new from them in forever (I know they have put out new albums but it is their sound it is just their sound again and again if it's not broke don't fix it but still, maybe change something occasionally) Even Vol 4 by Slash and Myles was a little underwhelming. 

Right let's go see Skindred and if this thing will ever up load we should have a video....

Oh no hang on, Just remembered this was out View of Metallica. Yeah this resulted in us just going back to camp. Seen them so many times. . . . Mixed reports from people about their ability to play. Also mixed reports from friends who were not actually at the festival and commenting on their ability to play. All I know is from the campsite they mumbled well. 

Friday... WHAT THE HELL! Why are we Knackered!

So yeah turns out that if you don't use Thursday as a rest day you get to Friday and go bleh no thanks. 

So Friday starts late as always first band is 13:00 not 12:00 like normal. See bands are starting later days are running shorter, we had noticed this. Once more back to the extra day but same amount of performances. It is getting warmer but we are okay at the moment nothing too much we are muddling on, we will find out later what happened to some of the group though! (Not till Sunday) So we are in rocktail cocktail as we are taking it easy (Raspberry & Peach Collins this year) Generally chatting to folks learning stuff this is my duck of a day really, Everything is Second stage and everything can be watched from a bench. With in walking distance of the cocktail bar. So I am chatting to a couple of people in the crowd and I get oh we didn't get tickets we mocked these up over night and just waved our hands at the gate and they let us straight in! The more I thought about this the more I realised they weren't joking I hadn't see that wrist band again all weekend. Which will bring me on to security but we will do that at the end. (This happened some time after Elvana) 

Elvana over ran and got the plug pulled. I enjoyed them the last time I saw them but this time I don't know just wasn't feeling it neither were any of the guys that came with, we all felt we should have gone to As December Falls. But the general thought was that Elvana as a gimmick may not last. As December Falls should and we hope to see them on a higher stage another year. 

I went to see Neck Deep. I do remember them and I am really surprised I actually don't own anything by them I really enjoyed them. I have now lost count of how many times I have seen them I am also confused as why I don't have any photos of them! Might be as I was having battery issues. (This was my only main stage band all day)

Okay let us bang through these shall we.

Asking Alexandria....

I remember watching them.... I don't think they impressed me but they did all those other people. 

Within Temptation

As always they were Within Temptation, what can I say they are amazing but for some reason I still can't name any of their songs and I own many of their albums! Yeah I know I know I need to pay more attention.

Evanescence...........

It's not even a good photo. They used to be amazing and yeah I lost interest very quickly in this set. 
I used to like Fallen, was a great album, but that all my knowledge of them. Also we are starting to cook. All of us are starting to cook and as such we bail back to the tent. 

We had a wander around the camp site in the evening but the heat had started to sap everyone's energy and it was a very quiet night after the sun went down through out Red, Orange and Purple camps. 

Saturday. 

I am meeting a friend on a day ticket today and I haven't seen them in about a decade. So early down to the arena. 
Lets hit the tent and watch Rituals. This is where things will get messed up as we are sat on the edge of the tent and enjoying the shade because it is damn hot already its only just 12:45 an some one standing in front of where I am sat has a joint and are waving it around in my face without even realising I'm sat behind them. This in turn causes me issues as due to the way my brain works things start to go a little wrong and I have to move so I do. I now feel sick and as such really don't recall a lot about the band and for that I am sorry. Here is a photo though taken after I moved. 

Next up 2nd Stage.
Municipal Waste. 
Thrash Band, Good Thrash Band, Really Really Good Thrash band, never seen them before watched the whole set really enjoyed it reminded me what a real thrash band can be when they can play at that speed (Looking at you Tallica hang it up already you're too slow now) 

Carcass.

I saw bits and once more another thrash band I enjoyed what I saw. But was hungry and finding food so didn't get too see as much as I might have liked, didn't know who they were hadn't herd of them before. So this was a nice little find. No photos unfortunately. 

Motionless In White. 
As alway a cracking set would have loved to see it through to the end but we were dying in the heat. Would not regulate body temperature at all so after they played Werewolf we bail back to the camp we will be back once more have cooled and rehydrated. 

So we are back for Disturbed, we have rehydrated with many liters of water, we have reapplied suncream and swapped out for a dry bandana. 
My friend looks like a lobster as they forgot to sun cream before leaving the house or brining any with them for the day. We will get it through to them that skin health is important one day.

Disturbed was as always awesome. 
From Sound of Silence to inside the fire. Just amazing, if you get time to see them on tour go see them, this tour does carry a strong mental health and anti suicide message but these are things Dramen is passionate about after losing so many friends. An nearly himself. So please remember if your are struggling there will always be a shoulder or an ear to listen and try to help out there somewhere. 
Sorry back to yeah Disturbed were awesome. (Really couldn't get close)

Placebo. 
I have waited 30 years to see Placebo.

They played Nancy Boy and there should be a video here, they also did running up that hill no idea if they were going to play Special K or not but there seemed to be technical difficulties at the start and the screens had started to fail due to the heat so we will say they had called it early due to technicals but I got to see them play Nancy Boy and I have been waiting a long time for that, so teenage me is happy as is my day tripping friend as it is the time when we both grew up and Placebo was one of our alternative loves back in the 90's.

Any way they are off to see Metallica and I am going back to camp. As this heat is is killing us. 

Sunday.
Sorry guys not happening, we are exhausted we got back to Camp saturday night and were falling to sleep in the chairs and this was only 22:00. By 23:00 we were all out like lights. The heat had won. 

We are going to sit here until we need to head in for slipknot. So as the temperature drops and we have dropped a few gallons of water over our heads and in to our bellies we begin the slow walk down to the Arena is is 19:45 and we are going to get food. An maybe catch Ghost. 

We got to see Ghost from the food vendor of choice. Which as it is Sunday and though stupidly hot was a Yorkshire Pudding filled with mash and meats. It is Sunday after all. So we watch Ghost from the que and then watch Ghost from the back of the crowd and they were really good even though one of their props failed to work, they did say it should have but there had been issues, once more probably heat related. (Oh side note get the Ghost EP: Phantomime it is rather good) 

Shall we do this? 

SLIPKNOT!
Snuff they played Snuff Slipknot Played SNUFF LIVE! Slipknot Never Play Snuff.
We were all taken by surprise on this one, there is more but Holy Fuck they played SNUFF.
Been waiting too long to hear that live. Loved every moment of this set was just the right highlight of my weekend did the right thing saving energy for it and I am so glad we did and I am thankful as the adrenaline kept me going until 2am and I got to see other friends that had been missing. Still Slipknot played Snuff! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ARGH so cool so so awesome. Oh and Clown was back!

Okay so firstly there should be 3 videos in this I will edit it them in later once I have uploaded them to youtube. 
Secondly Heat.
So once I discovered what had happened to other friends on Sunday evening around 1am they had heat stroke, so Saturday for them was spent in total mess's toilets and tents alike. 

Other friends who had had knee surgery 3 weeks before was struggling with heat and security / welfare were rarely helpful. 

So as for heat, it has been 20 years. Every year we have asked for more water points we have asked for more shelter and every year we get it is coming and it never appears. 

Like many things more and more corners are being cut. If you pay extra you an use this exclusive bar with parasols in the tables. Or you can collapse in the tented stages. Water Points....... Never enough.

The ridiculousness of canned water. Liquid Death I believe is Metallica's own water was all the water you could buy and guess what a bottle is far better than a can. You can't take in a water carrier over 500 ml which is fine but they were taking bottles of water off people. 

Let's talk security, I got searched thoroughly every time I tried to go into the arena. No one ever looked at my wrist band though or even asked to see it if it was covered. 
Which leads back to the people I was on about earlier that were walking around with fake bands on. 

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes which hadn't been drinking at this point. Due to the heat, hell this is the first time we have ever returned with Beer. That's how hot it was there was so much left over we decided to bring it home which becomes more complicated as outside of Download I don't drink. 

So Live Nation, I know you don't read my reviews, I know you just do your own thing and that is fine but we need more shelter in the arena we need more water points I believe they ran dry on Sunday, we need more reliable food / drink vendors and less price gouging. You have a captive audience and when the event has sold out you are going to need to have more supplies. 120,000 people want to eat and drink A LOT.
I say 120,000 as the last time I looked this was roughly Donington Parks Maximum capacity.
I heard rumours it was over sold but this is all speculation and I am unsure about that. 

The camp site wasn't as crammed as you'd think it was more a case of people just not looking, I don't know if they went out into the walkways all over they did in places but yet again you know the limit and you also know that the average tent is a 7' square. I say average as not everyone is crammed into the little 2 man pop ups. I know being 6'2" I can't fit in one with all my kit. An some large groups use the giant 10 man tents so we have to say an average tnt is 7'.

Security were shocking this year with helping with dehydrated people, helping with heat stroke. I heard several time the words "Oh their just pissed" when you could clearly see they were not they we really struggling with the heat. I know this is a freak year and it hit 30c but this is the way it is going to be longer hotter summers colder shorter winters. he sun issue and water issue needs to be addressed. 

I have already ordered my 2024 ticket as I know you will get it right. For some of us older Downloaders is isn't all about the music any more it is about seeing our friends our "Families" the people we have only seen there every year and it is the only place we are together. 

You use our line of is being a Giant Family when promoting the camping and the place in general and we are, everyone of us in there is part of the Alternative Scene everyone of us stands with the other, we would even defend the delinquent cousin that is only there for the odd Dance act you decided to put on. (Even when they try to threaten us)

We are what makes Download Download the customers.
We are the Family that makes this festival the best in the world and the reason that people like Corey Taylor uses our festival as what he believes a festival should be. 

We are your biggest fans and your biggest critics. But we do it with love as you give us the place we can be us. 

As many of your video packages say when talking to the public, we get to be who we are at this event for five days we are free to be who we are inside. An we will be forever grateful for that. 

Even at 44 and for next year 45 I still follow this dream of what is Download. So please just a little more planning (I am not even going to start on the road issues we avoided that by leaving really early)

I know the weather is not your fault. It is just maybe a little forward thinking. Download is a fantastic Festival and we would be lost without it. Every one of us that are able to be us when we are within the grounds of Donington Park the home of Rock, Metal, and Punk in festival form since the 1980s.

Oh videos coming as soon as I get them on youtube. 
Also heard that S.O.P.H.I.E stall totally sold out and closed on Sunday Early. 
Well done to everyone that managed to get them back into the Arena it is nice when they listen. 

Also I forgot this when I did the first run of this but the other Dave will be running his Post Download Radio Show on Wednesday (14/06/23) over on Endeavour FM 9pm. 

This is the long haired half of the Two Daves signing out...

ARE YA READY KIDs!

We shall fight in the Hills (Download 2022) Could have been "MEXICO"

Shall we start at the beginning. We don't always but today we will.

Home for 5 days. 

Welcome to DOWNLOAD 2022 it's been 3 years since we did this right and No this still isn't going to be right. 

The 3 year gap has allowed for a few things to change, time does that time always does that. The results though well, we have a new campsite. It's HILLY. We actually have several new campsites. 

So, if you see the original map on my earlier post you will notice a few differences.  Yellow Campsite is gone. The Cinema is gone (There will be more to come on this)
So we ended up camped in the back end of purple, As you know what it was flat. It wasn't far from the village and it was walkable to the arena in 30 minutes. Way better than the old 90 minute walk we used to have to deal with. The pathing was direct and simple enough... WAIT! Hills. Seriously Hills! The whole area has got both nice gentle sweeping raises and dips to am i nearly vertical! Okay that is an over exaggeration but they did have some undulations that changed the angel abruptly. 
Okay moving on from this, we will get used to this and adapt out footwear to cope. 

Toilets! Erm so random this year. We had a mix of toilets in so many different designs, and ways or working from long drop portaloos to flushers and everything in between, thanks to some drunks though (I'm guessing drunks any way not actual vandals) in the camp we ended up with missing seats and broken mirrors, all general festival fare to be honest though this is nothing new. 

Security...... I did hear of a few things going missing in the camp site. I also was informed by a security group that they had found "security officers" actually stealing from tents. This was quickly dealt with stuff was returned, the individuals involved were escorted from the premises and I am guessing charges would be being pressed, badges were stripped. This restored faith in the lackluster searches. I didn't get searched or checked once. Only time was the usual entry checks through the first barriers. 

So many issues with tickets (Going to the digital age) From parking to camping, you would think coming up to 20 years of the festival they would have got to grips with this all by now. 

Okay hang on stop. I'm not bashing and what I am about to say is not that difficult. I still find Download to be one of the safest, friendliest and amazing alternative festivals within the UK. While there are as always teething issues with new advances and ideas they do get ironed out rather quickly. 
With the toilet situation I am going to guess as it was a week after the Queens Jubilee it is highly likely that most of the good toilets were stuck in that there London and we got the leftovers. 
While on the situations of toilets.... Cleaning..... Yeah..... It was HOT, we are talking the opposite of most downloads. Generally the campsite toilets are cleaned 2 maybe 3 times a day. They had got really good at keeping on tops of this. Well this year, yeah it didn't happen as frequently. 

I understand that the total number of ticket sales, both camping and day was down, due to the cost of living, the slowly dispersing viral issues and fuel prices. This in turn becomes an issue with the stalls and food services. Talking with one or two of the independents it became clear that the festival is quickly pricing itself out of independant sellers. For example there should be shops and stalls here.... This is the far side of the festival field which normally would hold the activities and shops. 
NXT, Fighting Knights, Newrock Stall, Merch bits and so on. It's Empty.

Actually outside of the Music the entertainment in the arena was nothing. No Area 52, No NXT, No Armoured fighting, NOTHING. The Side splitters stage and the Doghouse where open air affairs within the village, which did hold quiet a few things and some surprises like he Malevolence and Boston Manor acoustic sets at 10:30pm which also didn't get announced until the middle of the afternoon. Which was nice. Gave us something to do when we got back to the camp if we had left early. 

All in all it was interesting and I am hoping that lessons are learned and the organisers make improvements. 

When it came to food and Drink...... You have a captive audience. The price gouging HAS TO STOP. Once more pricing yourself out of the market, we would like Download to last for long past my lifetime, like Glastonbury just go on for eternity. But they are heading the same way as Monsters of Rock, just keep racking up the prices as the visitors reduce due to the cost. I have to eat and in the arena I have very little choice other than purchasing what you offer but being charged £10.60 for a burger, Is daylight robbery. A Cheese and Bacon toastie in the village was £6.50 but you can't live off Toasties. 

An what is even worse it the organisers set the prices according the them. So how come some stalls were doing water at £2.60 and others where charging £3.00? 

Why did Burger prices vary from different branded outlets?

 Above it he Bar Prices in the Village. I really wish I had gotten the prices in the Arena. As they were fairly close and here is the difference in the village they were cans, in the arena they were pints. 
Also we were once more left with Carlsberg Pilsner..... An other low ABV Alcohols. We used to get a good selection of drinks back in the Turborg days. It might be vile but it tasted better than Pilsner. 
Maiden Played this year, normally they come with Trooper. Where was the Trooper? 

For the last 18 years. I have had a budget of £400 which covers food, drinks, Merch. Been the same for every one of the 5 day events. This year I went over £600. The Merch hadn't really got anymore expensive. The food and drink was just too too high. 

So I should really get into weather and Bands really. The weather was glorious. It was very warm and as such fluids were very much needed. Overpriced water issues. 

So bands.....

Punk Rock Factory played in the Village Thursday night was wild and so hectic but a really good sing along show. 

Friday Friday Today is Friday.

Theory.

Who are actually Theory Of  Deadman, I got into these guys back in the 2010's and own all their albums was a good performance covering many of the albums and quite a few songs I knew. All in all a really good show. An I am not just saying this as it has been so long since I have seen live music, I was at the pilot back in 2021. 

Enjoyed Black Veil Brides on Friday, I know very little about them I can't recall if I had seen them before but the performance was good, enjoyed the set. Yeah sorry I've got nothing they are an Emo band from back in the early century and I have never really followed them. I enjoyed it but I am not going out of my way to get into them now. 

Skindred. I have seen Skindred so many times and my reviews are always the same for them totally enjoy what they do, from Benji coming out to the Imperial March to the New Port Helicopter they are an amazing live act, entertaining and brilliant live. 

Wandered over to sleep token in the tent after Skindred had finished. 
So, I like music, I enjoyed the playing I thought the songs have potential, I just don't get the stik. The crowd interaction was non existent and while hiding behind masks is nothing new it just felt a bit flat. 
As I said nothing wrong with the singing the playing of anything I just didn't enjoy the gimmick.
(I forgot to take any photos)

We will get on to Saturday in a second as I've seen Kiss twice and they do ZERO for me and I had run out of bands and ended up in the Bars and heading back to the tent but we did see Malevolence doing the acoustic set in the side splitters and it was such a good show.  

Good Morning World, It's Saturday. What's on the list of things to do today?

Well for me today is all about Bush, Shinedown and Iron Maiden. That is it. 
(I'm presently realising the only reason I am at the festival this year is because I rolled my tickets from 2020. The line up has suffered greatly over the delays. I also know I have purchased my 2023 tickets already and am taking a gamble on the 4 day music event for next year.) 

Saturday Morning View.

So into the arena after failing to once more find a good breakfast. The Chinese / English food hall it not here this year. Which was always the greatest place to grab breakfast in a morning and a seat but it's just not here. Possibly another victim of the pandemic or a victim of the price hikes that the organisers have placed on the venue stores. 

Right on to bands. I am still impressed with the new walk from camp to arena and that it takes as little as 30 minutes. Roll it back to 08 to 19 it was nearly 90 minutes to walk from the village to the arena. And we were camped at the back of the Purple camp site the camp site possibly furthest away. 

Right who did I see on Saturday.... Oh yeah I went to see Bush but because the walk was so short we got there in time for Ice Nine Kills. I can't fault the playing, I can't fault the performance, I can't fault a lot with these guys. It was just Alice Cooper does it better, Wednesday 13 Does it better, Rob Zombie does it better. They are another shock rock group. Songs about Psycho, Friday 13th, Halloween, Yeah we've seen this all before. I don't know a great deal about them and I will probably look into them more. 

Bush. I have been waiting to see Bush since the 90's,  when they first appeared, was listening to them through Secondary School, which means there was probably a nostalgia haze covering my brain, but you know what they played amazingly, interaction was entertaining and I got to sing along with every song. 

Right we shall wander over to ShineDown. Loved it, awesome set great time really enjoyable. 
I remember tweeting about it and how awesome they were, but like Neck Deep from last year I seem to have misplaced the memory. But here are photos to prove I was there!

So. This is where it gets hazy. I want to see Megadeth, I am not phased about Deftones, there is quiet a gap we shall wander and get some drinks have a laugh see a few friends and then get a spot for Megadeth and finally come back for maiden. 

Rocktail Cocktail you have a lot ot answer for.

These were a BAD IDEA but so tasty. 

Oh WOW look at all the people we should go get a spot for Iron Maiden, damn it going to miss Megadeth. Ah well seen them several times and how many more times will we get to see Maiden really?

I'm not even going to write a review here for Maiden, you know how it works. Starting set, set change, amazing performance lots of things on stage and popping up bits and pieces and always look on the bright side of life to end. So here are the photos.

Sunday! Wait No Saturdays not done! I'm buzzing, lets go do something we haven't done for years! Lets walk the cap sites. Yep that happened. Been getting older so we had stopped doing this just wandering the camp site, chatting to other downloaders discovering what was making their festival great. So we donned the trench, and walked into the night. We actually wandered till 3am, met so many wonderful people, told jokes had a laugh with so many and had a really great night as well as blowing out my own vocal chords, again. We were introduced to people from all over the world. Was such a fun giggle bringing laughter to all and laughing with all. Because if you're not ready kids, you'll never know who lives in a pineapple under the sea. Right on to Sunday.

Sunny Sunny Sunday.

So today is a day for Bands today is a day for a lot of standing at main stage to day is going to be awesome. 

Let's play spot the tent!

I keep forgetting how quick the walk into the Arena is so instead of making it in for Alestorm and too meet up with friends that are on day tickets We arrived for Powerwolf.

I enjoyed Powerwolf, I have no photos of them though as I forgot to take them. Yeah this happens and as the weekend goes on becomes more common due to me really just getting into the bands. 

So we will skip to Alestorm. Finally I get to see Alestorm, I'm not too drunk they aren't playing too early they are on stage I am here it is AWESOME to finally see a fun band that love what they do. With catch Pirate tunes sing alongs all round entertaining group. I did watch from a distance as I was with the day tripper friends, due to them bringing their 8 month old they wanted to stay back and I was down with this. Baby sitters are expensive but you can't always miss a gig. 

Have a photo and a video!

 

Volbeat time. I really really enjoy Volbeat, I find them entertaining and musically good. Though while standing watching singing along and enjoying every moment of their set and what they were doing I came to the realisation that they might be the Danish version of Nickelback. Then I just let that thought go as they aren't they are a good mix of rock, roll, and metal. With the power to do some nicely laid out and written tunes mixing languages as they go. So Volbeat massive in Europe hopefully massive in the UK as well one day. 

If you have gotten this far then I shall share with you this, the blog is coming to an end very very shortly. As what comes next should have been my last actual band. I wish I had walked away with Dave at this point as nothing left on the bill was going to top KORN for me. I told other members of the group that they wouldn't enjoy steel panther or The Darkness and when I saw them in camp later they agreed with me. But we will get to that in the final thoughts. 

So Korn. Over the last couple of decades Korn have evolved and changed more than any other Nu Metal Band. Well maybe Slipknot but still. What Jonathan Davis can do with his voice Just WOW. 

His stage presence and performance has greatly improved from the early days of standing on stage playing away to the way they now interact with the crowd. Still banging out fantastic stage shows and singing every line with every ounce of heart. Was great to hear Twist, Freak, Shoots and Ladders, the medilies everything and finishing with Blind (Once more blew my vocal chords) loved every second of it. 

I agreed to stay for Biffy Clyro.... I don't get them.... Can't knock them nothing wrong with the playing the singing any of it they just don't do a thing for me. Here are two photos from Biffy.

Back to camp and a conversation with the guys that went to see Steel Panther and The Darkness. I did not see any of this but I have had a few people collaborate these things. 
Steel Panther. Taking the piss out of both Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen by putting his arm in side his shirt and playing the drums. No just fucking NO that guys done more for music than you bunch of regurgitated spinal tap failures. Then doing Ozzy impressions and taking the piss out of him. Yet again Nope. I do not like Steel Panthers I have seen them once, they are not good they are a group living off sexist jokes and bullshit performances. In the present way of the world do we really need a failed Motley Crue impersonators that aren't fit to lace Spinal Taps boots on our stages?

Oh and I just hate The Darkness. So Yeah thats my personal thoughts on them. 

Monday... Home Time....

Final Sum up and thoughts.

Covid, Fuel crisis, Cost of living issues all caused so many issues.
It felt like a Download, it was a great weekend. Loads of amazing people bands and entertainment even if it was more muted than normal. 

Great seeing the festival scene back. 

The Bank Holidays being in the posting cycle for tickets and car parking passes.
(Mine turned up thursday while I was at download!)

Some work needs to be done, we can't do anything about the hills in the camp site, the new village layout is a great idea but needs to bring back the vendors and we are talking the pre 2018 vendors. 

I miss Bagel Dude, Tea and Toast, The Waffle stand, Delikate. I don't miss the more corporate food vans. Where was Easy Cheesy? Now I think about it. 

Someone needs to look into the pricing properly and be more realistic it's a 4 day music event next year for the 20th Birthday. 

Someone needs to look into stocking a bit better too. Bar's closing due to running out of beer, Merch Sizing needs to be thought about as well as the larger sizes run out quickly and let's be honest most metalheads are not small people. (yeah we like beer and we have a few to many extra pounds)

Also I don't want these two food stalls being priced out of standing. 

 

So, livenation. Please lower the pricing on food, sort out the beer situation as you keep promising us that you'll get the price down to what a pint is in the pub and give us more choice. 

You have been promising this for YEARS actually DO IT. 

We love the Plastic Cups. Most of us have stacks of them at home, keep this up seriously more of them less card ones. We will swap them all day until we leave and then the next day we just start again with a new cup and keep swapping. Most of us come home with 4 or 5 of them. Please keep this going and get more made, we might even be willing to pay a little bit more for them as long as we get that same amount off the bill everytime we swap them out. 

Toilets in the Campsite, maybe more cleaning routines like they used to be back before Covid. As they fill up quickly when you don't have enough to cover the amount of people you have. 

Most of these things I would guess you have information on. We have been doing this for 19 years now An when we come back for 20, let's be the country's greatest festival and home for the Alternatives in  this country once more. We've survived this long and I'd like to keep surviving and showing off new rock metal and punk bands to the next generation of alternative. For we are the Metalheads, We are the Punks, We are the Goths, The Emos and the Rockers. An we Will never Die. 

So from this Dave of the two Daves. We will see you next year. Speaking of the Other Dave he will be doing his Annual Download Review on the.
The Untitled Rock Show Wednesday on Endeavour FM.  (15/6/22 9pm BST)