Another year, another drenched Download, which is fast becominf Glastonbury's biggest rival for the wettest festival on the circuit. But since when did that ever get in the way of anything? The music was brilliant, the people typically welcoming and wonderful and the festival logistics all impressive (even with an infuriating policy of no umbrellas being allowed because some moron apparently used one as a weapon). There was something old in Sunday's brilliant celebration of classics, something new in the cashless Dog Tags (a great decision), something borrowed when a flight company carelessly lost The Cadillac Three's guitars, and a lot of things blue when the temperature hit a low on Sunday evening. And though it sounds like an over-tired cliche, there really was something for everyone across the three full-to-bursting days celebrating rock and metal in all their forms...
Day One Review
The sun was never going to last. It was all too easy. Festival-goers complaining at their sun-beaten brows to the early set sounds of All That Remains on the main stage and Rival State on the second, manfully trying to get blood flowing. They both did better than Zippo Encore follow-ups Fearless Vampire Killers who met a decidedly muted crowd more happy to sunbathe than anything else. Early highlights away from the main stage included the likes of supergroup Krokodil on the Maverick Stage, The Cadillac Three on the Zippo Encore (with Black Stone Cherry's guitars) and Beartooth, who woke everyone up in the Maverick. And then the rain came, flirting with Lacuna Coil's inevitably vocally impressive main stage slot. They made way for Clutch, with Neil Fallon's smoke and whisky-soaked vocals feeling like the start point for the real festivities. They're all about great music and remain mature and slick in a way that second stagers Modestep probably couldn't ever manage. But each to their own: the self-conscious dubstepLADs have their place among the younger, more aggressive fans. From there, the main stage lit up to the enthusiastic, rumbling metal of Five Finger Death Punch, cutting through the rain with their usual intensity and showing exactly why they consistently have the most T-shirts on the ground at Donington by bringing a small squad of kids on-stage for a brilliantly touching cameo. Then the mighty Dragonforce grabbed the Maverick by the balls and unexpectedly, joyfully revealed their secret weapon - an unannounced cameo for Baby Metal. They're an acquired taste, but they fit Dragonforce and the moment perfectly, and it's one of those little joys that everyone will remember. While Dragonforce's fall to the Maverick stage is saddening, the eternal Judas Priest showed precisely why they'll be main-stagers as long as they're still around with the slick professional touch of a band formed in 1969 who have sold 45 million albums. They'd never let anything like a spot of rain put them off. As annoying as the scheduling clashes always are, Friday's line-up allowed nimble-footed fans to leg it from the end of Priest's set over to the Zippo Encore to catch a good portion of Black Stone Cherry's inevitably fan-pleasing set before heading back to the main stage for Slipknot's rain-soaked crowning performance. Corey Taylor remains one of the most impressive front men in rock, even behind a mask, dragging aggression and enthusiasm out of the crowd who seem to forget the rain until he re-christens the festival "Down-Pour Festival 2015." The set is a mix of new material from 5: The Gray Chapter and old favourites like 'The Devil in I' and the glorious crowd-participation number 'Spit It Out'. Stand-Out Moment The rain that washed away the glorious sunshine in the late afternoon might have been as frustrating as it was unexpected, but the sight of tens of thousands ignoring the torrential downpour for Spit It Out was a majestic and memorable one. Next up the full Day Two review...