Review: Download Festival 2013; Friday 14th June

Review by Nathan Daniel

Friday

Another year has passed and a very wet week in England brought metalheads in their thousands to the hallowed turf of Donington Park for the world’s greatest rock festival, Download. Despite that, the worst of the daytime weather comes in the festival’s opening hour whilst Austin Dickinson’s RISE TO REMAIN finally open the Main Stage, after they were pulled from the line up last year due to adverse weather conditions.

ARCHITECTS follow RTR on the Main Stage, attracting a large crowd, given the weather and time of day. The size of their performance matches the size of the crowd, too, as they incite the first real bit of crowd participation of the weekend. They get circle pits whipping around the not-yet-muddy ground and crowdsurfers flying over the top as their huge riffs ring in the ears of thousands. The young Brits from Brighton more than prove their worth in their slot, and its fair to say that they will be climbing the festival ladder pretty quickly in the coming years. This is highlighted by their set-closing politically-charged anthem “These Colours Don’t Run”as it sends the Download Main Stage into raptures.

The next band of the weekend for me were the first of Friday Main Stage’s 2 Nineties Nu-Metal titans. PAPA ROACH, whilst deriving from a now deceased genre, lay waste to the Main Stage like its 2000, with an injection of new material that brings their set to the present day. Nu-metal classics like “Between Angels & Insects”and, of course, “Last Resort” do not sound at all outdated, but, in fact, bigger than ever. They receive a huge crowd reaction, and front man, Jacoby Shaddix with as much swagger and arrogance as ever, commands the crowd with confidence. He becomes one with the fans as midway through their set, he gets into the mud and down off the stage, covering his face in it. A brilliant performance.

On the contrary, a band that do sound extremely dated, but nevertheless, excellent are 1980s rockers EUROPE. They pull an impressive crowd, but its quite clear that they are only there for one reason, as was I. They play under the heat of dazzling sun and as the opening keys of “The Final Countdown” begin as their set closer, everybody gets to their feet and it seems as if the crowd has more than doubled in size. A cracking set from the old rockers.

Cue Jonathan Davis’ $1.7m mic stand, cue Ray Luzier’s huge drumkit, cue a typically colossal Main Stage crowd and cue KoRn’s opening anthem “Blind,”as Jonathan Davies bellows “ARRRRRE YOUUUU READYYYY?!”. The crowd is packed and sweltering under the sun, and seems to be in one continuous bounce, with approximately 50% seeming to have sprouted dreadlocks. KoRn plough through their 60- minute set with hit after hit, pulling out the bagpipes for “Shoots & Ladders” and firing out the newer, Dubstep-tinged tunes for the younger generation. Their set proves to be an absolute belter and one of the performances of the weekend, blowing their 2011 2^nd stage performance out of the water.

KORN
Download Festival 2013

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE are up next and despite their abysmal new album, they still seem to have retained their title as Britain’s biggest ‘new’ Metal band, proven by the size of the crowd they draw. It might be that their fans are loyal, or it might be that the Maggots are merely getting a good space for the much-anticipated SLIPKNOT headline slot. Either way, the crowd reaction is pretty big, full of circle pits for the faster of BULLET’s songs, and is in incredibly loud voice. Matt Tuck and co. also bring the first load of pyrotechnics of the weekend, setting their stacks alight and singeing the eyebrows of those on front row. The set list is killer and brings only 3 tracks from “Temper Temper,” which are, admittedly, the best of the bunch. It is, however, the 6-year-old, now somewhat of a classic, “Tears Don’t Fall” that proves a highlight and triumphantly closes the Welshmen’s set, getting the crowd thoroughly warmed up for SLIPKNOT.

From Britain’s biggest ‘new’ metal band, to possibly the world’s biggest ‘new’ metal band: SLIPKNOT. Their huge team of techs set up the stage behind a huge white curtain, ready to reveal their exciting set to the tens of thousands of rabid maggots. The roar as the band walk onto stage and the curtain drops is almost deafening, and Corey’s roar during opener “Disasterpiece” is even more so. I was part of by far the most packed crowd I have ever been in and there was nothing else I could do but jump as the thousands around me did the same. 3 songs in as Corey utters “I’ve felt the hate rise up in me…”, the opening line to “Wait And Bleed,” the shit really begins to hit the fan. Metaphorically, of course… although, anything is possible with Clown on stage.
SLIPKNOT hurtle through snippets of their back catalogue at a blistering pace and with blistering execution, sounding more on point vocally and instrumentally than they perhaps ever have. It is only 5 songs in, however, during “Before I Forget” that SLIPKNOT are ordered to halt the madness. It is brought to their attention that the hysteria and surges of the crowd have collapsed the front barrier, which also happens again later into the set. Only once otherwise does the pace of the set slow, as Corey Taylor speaks before “Duality.” He speaks in remembrance of Paul Gray as a huge “#2” backdrop is revealed, dedicating the song to the band’s late brother. The crowd are in fine voice from the start to the end of SLIPKNOT’s biggest anthem and are quite possibly the loudest they are all weekend. The band exit the stage after “Spit It Out” and their infamous ‘jump’, before returning for a 3-song encore. They demonstrate themselves as an immense force and bring an immense show, an immense performance. The fans are left in anticipation of news of next year’s new album and the band hint quite strongly that we may see them again soon: a fine piece of news to close Download’s first day.