Review by Nathan Daniel

Sunday

BLITZ KIDS opened the Zippo Encore Stage on Sunday morning at a frighteningly early time of 11am. Those that have made it up in time to catch their short set are looking a little groggy, and like myself, probably have very sore heads from the antics of the night before. In spite of that, BLITZ KIDS prove to be very bright prospects for the future of rock, showcasing an impressive little set and putting smiles on the faces of the few thousand that did make it out in time. A good start to the day.

If BLITZ KIDS on the Second Stage or UFO on the Main Stage didn’t wake anybody up, CANCER BATS’ set on the main stage was sure to blow the cobwebs from even the groggiest mosher’s head.  Liam Cormier announces the band as “THE MOTHERFUCKING CANCER BATS” before some of the weekend’s biggest circle pits ensue, to classics like “Hail Destroyer” and the BATS’ impressive take on THE BEASTIE BOYS’ “Sabotage.” A sterling performance from the consistent Canadian Hardcore Punks, who I would expect nothing less from.

On from some early Sunday afternoon hardcore on the main stage, to some more early Sunday afternoon hardcore on the second stage, in the shape of THE GHOST INSIDE The band bring the day into full swing with some impressive crowd participation and, indeed, an impressive set.

Sunday’s music proves to be relentlessly heavy as FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH take to the main stage. Last time they were at Download in 2010, they found themselves with their set being cut short, as they were held responsible for inciting a ‘riot’. Their set today isn’t too far from that, but in comparison, is much more civilized. Having said that, the band do not go without Ivan Moody threatening the security a few times and pushing a couple of the poor chaps about. The big tough man does show his soft side, though, as he brings a group of kids on stage for a couple of songs when the crowd gets a little too rowdy for them. Ivan’s huge roar echoes across the main stage crowd for a good 40 minutes, and the band’s performance as a whole is nothing short of huge either.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH
Download Festival 2013

Australian Metalcore giants PARKWAY DRIVE also bring the noise midway through the day and leave the main stage in pieces. They are quite possibly the heaviest band of the weekend, but their melodies bring some powerful backing vocals from the crowd. The whole band are able-bodied today, unlike their last festival performance in 2011 when their guitarist was incapacitated, performing in a wheelchair. The guitars throughout sound absolutely huge, slaying the main stage with huge Metalcore riffs. If the guitars sound huge, though, Winston’s vocals sound absolutely colossal. PARKWAY finish with the huge anthem, “Carrion,” bringing their set to a huge close.

Following PARKWAY DRIVE on the Jim Marshall stage are Corey Taylor and Jim Root’s other band, STONE SOUR. Corey may have headlined the festival on Friday night and signed the stuff of 1,200 diehard fans the day prior, but if you didn’t know, there is no way you could tell, looking at his energy throughout the band’s set. STONE SOUR’s massive hits play out across the biggest crowd of the day so far for the best part of an hour, and do not fail to please. Emotion-filled “Bother” unifies the fans as they drown out Corey’s voice with their immense volume, singing right back at him. A brilliant performance nonetheless, it has to be said that Corey does overshadow the band somewhat, with regular chants of his own name, rather than the band’s.

The GASLIGHT ANTHEM may not be typical of the kind of bands that grace Download’s main stage, but their Folk-Punk anthems are extremely fitting for a sunny Sunday afternoon as the fans’ energy supplies are beginning to run low. So too, it seems are that of the band, as they are a little shy and struggle to communicate with the crowd. GASLIGHT do, though, sound record-perfect and are a perfect festival band to chill out to towards the end of a weekend.

Second last band on the Main Stage are film star Jared Leto’s little side-project, 30 Seconds To Mars. They are introduced by Mr. Download himself, Andy Copping and enter to the huge, cinematic “Birth,” before flowing into crowd-favourite “Closer To The Edge.” It seems that, for their performance, the teenage fan-girls have come out in full force and have overrun the metalheads that by this stage of the weekend, are probably hiding away and nursing a monstrous hangover, recuperating for RAMMSTEIN.
MARS themselves, sound cinematic and generally, absolutely huge. They look like real life rockstars, too, with Jared sporting a well-groomed mane of hair, set of shades to shield his identity and a long coat. They may not be headlining tonight, but watching them, it would be difficult to tell. Their music brings a kind of euphoria to the crowd as huge colourful beach balls are launched into the crowd, who are still basking in the sunshine. They hold the excitement of the fans throughout the set, announcing their tour onstage and blasting through fan favourites that result in mass sing-alongs.
After being crushed against the barrier for their set, I had to swiftly make my way to the second stage to see LIMP BIZKIT. The excitement that had been building up before their set just exploded as the band came on to huge, huge, huge Nu-metal anthem “Rollin’.” Their set is packed full of classics, and fortunately, misses any material from their latest  album out, possibly because the band have realized that the fans hate it. In short, though, the set is a nostalgia-tinged, nu-metal riot. An explosive performance from BIZKIT, and easily one of the best of the weekend.

LIMP BIZKIT
Download Festival 2013

Even bigger than LIMP BIZKIT are RAMMSTEIN, the world’s best live band. They close the festival in a fashion like no other, with one of the world’s best stage shows. Pyro, lights, a treadmill, a huge ‘foam’ shooting penis and even a gimp, RAMMSTEIN had it all. Till Lindemann was short in speaking to the crowd in what is to him, a foreign language, but the songs more than made up for it. Anthems like “Ich Will” and “Sonne” sounded absolutely stratospheric, and there could not be a bigger and better band to close download than these German superstars. Download never fails to impress.

Review by Nathan Daniel

Saturday

The first band of Saturday for me, were YOUNG GUNS, in an early afternoon Main Stage performance. They walk on stage looking as if they are a late 90s boy band, dressed all in white. They are, however, one of the UK’s brightest young bands, and had just returned from a triumphant 6 months or so in the USA. Despite their usually very strong performance, today, they seem lacklustre in comparison. Aside that, they do manage to get the crowd off of their feet for sustained periods of their set, and seem grateful for every single pair of eyes that watches them. A decent, but by no means brilliant set.

YOUNG GUNS
Download Festival 2013

Later on in the day, BURY TOMORROW take to the Pepsi Max Stage, a tent crammed with over 5,000 young metalheads. The British Metalcore talents play the set of their lives, turning the tent into one huge, ferocious moshpit. Frontman Dani Winter-Bates acknowledges the crowd’s reaction and his band’s own performance, telling the crowd that it is, in fact the best show that BT have ever played, and he is probably not far wrong. “You And I” is a highlight, as the band command for fans to get on each other’s shoulders, to the response of a few hundred doubling in height and screaming every word back at them.
Next up in my day are JIMMY EAT WORLD, sub-headliners of the Zippo Encore stage, basking under the beautiful sunshine as their nostalgic rock anthems bounce across thousands of very warm fans. They are fresh and infused with new material from their recent release, “Damage,” which marked their 20^th anniversary as a band. Their most popular songs, such as “Bleed American” and “The Middle” certainly spark the biggest reaction from the crowd, but, overall, The band give a pretty good performance for their fans.

Following JIMMY EAT WORLD on the Second Stage are the uncategorisable British hardcore/metal/punk/electronic/metalcore giants, ENTER SHIKARI. It is their biggest festival slot to date, and upon speaking to Andy Copping (Download Festival organizer) the following day, I discovered that they attracted the biggest second stage crowd that Download had seen to date. Their set is typically rowdy and typically a bit, well… mental. The crowd match the band’s performance in this with the amount of crowdsurfers that are seen during Juggernauts, the human pyramids during “Sorry You’re Not A Winner” and the general craziness throughout the rest of the set. SHIKARI finish surprisingly early at 8.35, but it is not only so that the fans have time to make their way to headliner’s IRON MAIDEN’s set on time, but so that the band can, too. The 60-minute set is, though, plenty of time to whip through enough songs to make the loyal fans happy, especially with songs as short as the minute-long “Paddington Frisk.” With a performance like that, though, and with the ever-growing support of Andy Copping, it won’t be too long until the band are setting their sites on headlining the main stage.

ENTER SHIKARI
Download Festival 2013

Last up in the day for me are Swedish mentalists, THE HIVES. Despite their clash with IRON MAIDEN, they have no problem with packing out the Pepsi Max tent. Their upbeat Punkie Indie music sets the tent alight for the whole set as charismatic Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist has every single person in it wrapped around his little finger. He almost constantly commands the crowd to jump along to the bouncy melodies of each and every one of the band’s songs, until the performance is brought to an end with the brilliant “Tick Tick Boom.” A much more exciting performance than that of IRON MAIDEN, who did not sound slightly intriguing to myself as I walked past the main stage on my way back to the campsite. I stopped to listen for a mere minute or so before becoming bored. A good day of music, though!

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.

SLIPKNOT
Download Festival 2013