This weekend saw the return of Amp Rocks! The live music concert is part of the annual three day event, Ampthill Festival. Amp Rocks is known for taking ticket holders back in time to hear music that we may not have heard for decades. This year was no different. The organisers of the festival also have a tradition of supporting local music by inviting the latest local Battle Of The Bands winners to perform on stage to open the weekend event. The band that kicked off the event this year was The Kazoos. The battle of the bands winner took over the stage by performing covers of hits including Florence and The Machine's "Kiss With A Fist" and the hugely popular "Valerie" – made famous by the unforgettable, late Amy Winehouse.
After the performance from the local group there was a short interval, this gave me some time to take a wonder around the site.Just as the previous year had seen, there was plenty of facilities on the grounds. An abundance of port-a-loos, two bars and a lot of food vendors. When in the food court area, I could see burgers, fries, hot dogs, an ice-cream van, a sweet stall and stone baked pizzas. Although the range was good, I do have two little niggles regarding the food court. Firstly, which actually surprised me, there did not appear to be any vegan food options other than perhaps a portion of chips, which cost £5. One food vendor even decided to charge another £1.50 on top of that if you wanted sauce on those chips/fries so if you were in the mood for cheesy chips it would have cost you £6.50. Although, I have since been informed by one of the organisers of the event that there were indeed some vegan food options, including tacos . This may have just been something that may not have been advertised as loudly as it was expected to have been. Regarding food prices, I understand that the food vendors need to cover the cost of being at the event and they also need to make a profit, also food at events such as this one tend to be on the expensive side, but the prices these vendors were charging were verging on extortion. In this present time, Veganism is taking over the world. More and more people are choosing to live a vegan lifestyle, particularly when it comes to their diet. So having no vegan food options was quite unusual to see at a festival scene nowadays. The other problem that I had with the food court was where it was situated. Last year, food vendors were set up just behind the main stage. On level ground. This year, the carts, vans and stalls were set up at the top of a steep grassy hill with no ease of access for people who are less able. This meant that it was quite unlikely for someone who may be wheelchair bound to be able to buy food on site. There also appeared to be a lot of people wondering round the grounds on crutches, I saw one person on crutches struggling to climb up that hill.
The intervals between acts were fairly short, so for the rest of the evening, I was stationed right in front of the stage to make sure I had a great view of the artists. By this point the arena was becoming a little densely populated as more attendees filled the stage area to see the next act perform. That of course was British indie rockers, Reef. The band are well known for their hit "Place Your Hands" and were a big deal in the 90s music scene. They have also previously played gigs at the almighty Glastonbury and Reading Festivals. Reef are back and are currently on tour to promote their fifth studio album, titled "Revelation" which was released back in May this year. The band were known to be rather energetic on stage in their classic years and nothing is any different now. They still have plenty of energy and charisma while performing live. Front man Gary Stringer, along with his fellow band members performed classic Reef singles including "Consideration", well known anthem "Place Your Hands" and a little preview of their new music from their current album including the titular song "Revelation" and new single "My Sweet Love".
For me and I'm sure many other people that attended Amp Rocks on Friday evening, the night's next act was by far the biggest set of the entire gig. That set was brought to us by Example & DJ Wire. The London rapper and DJ pair have played for audiences all over the world and wowed them all! They have previously played at the infamous Glastonbury Festival with singles including "Changed The Way You Kissed Me" and "Stay Awake". This set provided ticket holders with plenty of anticipation as DJ Wire first took to the stage alone to take his place at the decks. While going 'solo' he mixed a variety of well known releases including "Sweet Dreams" by The Eurythmics, Skrillex's "Bangarang", The Prodigy's bonkers "Firestarter" and Bastille's huge hit "Pompeii". People in front of the stage, including myself loved every minute of this extended and nostalgic intro. There were hands in the air, people up on the shoulders of their friends and relatives and a lot of dodgy dance moves. Around 10 minutes in, on walked British rapper Example. As he walked to the front of the stage he was singing the lyrics to his single "Say Nothing" which of course everyone else was also singing along to also. He then went on to perform another single "Stay With Me" before then bringing the show to a brief pause to introduce himself by going on to say "Hi, I'm Example and I'm an up and coming artist from London". Yea sure, he's not already famous at all. Haha! The bonkers set continued with performances of other well known singles including "We'll Be Coming Back" which was a Calvin Harris hit that he had featured on, also "Kickstarts" and his debut hit "Changed The Way You Kissed Me". DJ Wire and Example put on one of the best live performances that I've seen to date. Despite Example looking a little tired (understandably) half way through his performance, he still gave us 110% to wow us all right until the close of the set. There were a lot of people there that evening all agreeing on one thing. DJ Wire and Example should have been the night's headline act.
The evening's headline act was female 80s pop trio Bananarama. This is the first time that the band's original line up of Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodwood has been seen performing live since the 1980s. So this really was quite something to see. Their performance at Amp Rocks was a first for the three ladies of the band as they have never performed live at a festival event before. The band are very well known for their hit "Venus"
Before the ladies made their appearance, the stage was filled with warm lighting, pink and red in colour. The band were given a lengthy instrumental intro by the musicians who also accompanied them on the stage. The Bananarama ladies all looked stunning in their fitted black sequinned attire. Their set really was a giant step back in time. With a performance that included their classic catchy pop hits "Cruel Summer", "Rough Justice" and "Robert De Niro's Waiting". During their show, the ladies were so perfectly in sync with their moves. While showcasing vintage choreography, it was like watching an Olympic synchronised swimming team, so easily breezing through their segment. As much as I enjoy listening to the old Bananarama pop songs and they always put me in a great mood, but I must admit, the ladies are actually far better live and worth a watch.
On multiple occasions throughout the evening, there were random outbursts of people going into full on karaoke mode to sing the infamous "Three Lions" in homage to the current football world cup event. Both, Example and Bananarama sang along with crowds to show their support for England. It was quite the memorable moment during both sets.
The organisers of Ampthill Festival have once again, put on an amazing Amp Rocks for us all. I had a great night there. I cannot wait to see what they will have in store for us next year.
With a stickiness lingering in the hot air, we could have easily been heading to a music festival in a bustling city in Southern Europe. But, no, it may have been 30 degrees and sweltering, but instead, we were making our way to North London’s Finsbury Park, home for the day to Community Festival.
Celebrating the best of British guitar bands and new music, my companion and I were both excited and curious about the day ahead. For me, a UK summer festival exclusive from indie gang Two Door Cinema Club and sets from The Vaccines and pop rockers You Me At Six were the main draw, as they were each a band I fondly remembered listening to rather frequently in my late teens.
As we slunk our way through the gates it soon became evident that the bands still attracted a similar clientele: the crowds were young and excitable, though seemingly harmless and friendly.
After sipping a cider or two under the rays, it was time to head over to the main stage to catch the first on my hit list: You Me At Six. I instantly became awash with nostalgia, as the familiar punky vocals flooded the arena, provoking lots of movement within the crowds. The boys treated us to a selection of newer and older hits, the obvious favourites of mine being ‘Underdog’, ‘Loverboy’ and ‘No one does it better’ from their first couple of albums.
‘We are young, we aren’t dead, we are reckless’ stated Josh Franceschi, the band’s jubilant frontman, before leading into their hit ‘Reckless’.
A scrumptious portion of Pomodoro pasta from one of the many varied food stalls fought off those hunger pangs and made for the perfect set break. And, before we knew it, we were soon bouncing around to The Vaccines’ indie belters, a mix of catchy hits including the likes of ‘Post-breakup sex’, ‘No hope’, ‘I always knew’ and ‘If you wanna’. With the crowds swarming with energy, the balmy summer atmosphere paired with well-received tunes made it seemingly impossible not to let loose and revel in all the day’s glory.
It was time for the concluding set: our Northern Irish boys, Two Door Cinema Club. Donning eclectic outfits including the likes of a studded denim jacket, a bright red shirt and a trilby hat, the team’s combined fashion choices immediately set them off with an intriguing stage presence. Settling somewhere mid-way in the crowds, we were impressed with how spacious it was; we could actually watch the headline act at a festival and breathe comfortably at the same time.
The feel-good, tinkling indie tunes proved to be the ideal material to finish off a sublime day of music in the sun, including a string of fan-favourites such as ‘Undercover Martyn’, ‘What you know’, ‘Come back home’ and ‘Something good can work’. It was heart-warming to notice that intimate groups of dancing friends had formed, stretching back as far as the eye could see.
‘I’ve never been to a festival where everyone looks so happy, where everyone is dancing so much’ my friend’s voice muffled in my ear, whilst I tossed my arms up into the sky. It seems that summer Sundays really don’t get much better than this.
Hurricane Festival is in the north of Germany, set in some fields in Scheeβel between Hamburg and Bremen. The current version of Hurricane Festival has been going since 1997, though there were two previous attempts of festivals in the area in 1973 and 1977. Hurricane sells itself as a mainstream/alternative festival, however, in recent years there has been more emphasis on the mainstream and less on the alternative. This year’s line-up is what I would describe as mainstream, however there are a few acts here and there that are showing the alternative past of Hurricane.
Friday started off wet and windy, as is the trend with most festivals at the moment, and was opened by the Hurricane Swim Team on the Green Stage early afternoon. The Hurricane Swim Team was created in 2016 when the festival was a total wash out, and is essentially a hype team that get the crowd grooving in even the most abysmal weather. Luckily, by the time they’d left the stage the weather had in fact improved and we were able to enjoy the sun for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening.
We got to the second stage – blue stage – to see George Ezra perform in the afternoon light. Ezra has a stunning voice and it he proved that it was not just the studio doing all the work in post processing. He was chatty onstage, and (like a lot of the British and American bands) tried his hand a bit of German, to the glee of the audience. The cherry on the Ezra-shaped cake was definitely the small brass section he’d brought with him, it really added that extra depth to the performance.
Experienced punk rock band The Offspring took centre stage on the Green stage (main stage) on Saturday evening. They know how to keep tantalise the audience, saving their three most well-known songs until the end, including Pretty Fly for a White Guy and ending on Self-Esteemed to an audience that was easily two decades younger than them, if not more, which is a pretty good achievement for four shouty guys from California.
The blue stage was again graced with a talented vocalist, this time in the form of Hannah Reid of London Grammar. A far cry away from The Offspring, London Grammar definitely calmed the audience down rather than psyched them up. The mosh pits of Green Stage were replaced with gentle arm waving and head nodding.
Keeping in the UK-indie theme that the blue stage seemingly has had all day, the following band are none other than Two Door Cinema Club, who arrive onstage to a rambunctious welcome. Two Door Cinema Club are the first band that have brought an impressive set on stage, a set of LED squares with bright strobing lights behind, all of which is made more impressive in the dying light of the evening. The crowd happily bopped along to the music, enjoying the show in the dying light.
The green stage was again keeping its theme of emo-punk and rock, with the headline of the night Billy Talent. The band appeared on stage as the audience cheered and wooped, bassist Jonathan Gallant and guitarist Ian D’Sa started playing the introduction to ‘This is how it goes’ as Benjamin Kowalewicz burst on to stage to rapturous applause and started singing. He had so much energy on stage, dressed like an emo from the late noughties with his skinny tie, skinny black jeans and his converses. In fact, the whole band looked as if they were 15 year olds trapped in the bodies of middle aged men. They acted like it too. Jumping up and down and across the stage, swearing jovially at the audience ‘Welcome to Hurricane 2018 motherfuckers!’ shouted Benjamin after the first song, before launching in to ‘Devil in Midnight Mass’. The whole performance took me back to those angst filled days in high school, where we felt the world was ending and beginning at the same time, and that every song ever written about and specifically for, us. The nostalgia that came with watching Billy Talent was only amplified by the crowd, singing (and in some cases, screaming) along with the songs, as the band ricocheted from one song to the next. About halfway through the set Benjamin mentioned that their drummer – Aaron Solowoniuk – had been struggling with MS, and has been on hiatus since 2016. While Benjamin was telling the crowd this, he also mentioned that the band have been together for 25 years this summer, which is unbelievable. Arron was then introduced onstage as he made his way to the drums, and played with the band for the rest of the show. It was really great to see him playing again, and so obvious that he was thoroughly enjoying being back on stage after two years away. Aaron coming back on stage really gave the band more energy, and they turned it up to 100 for the rest of the show.
After Billy Talent’s finale, it seemed as if the entire crowd moved to Blue Stage, for final act of the night, German hip-hop artist Marteria. Now, I know those words don’t run together naturally, but stick with me here. My level of German is extremely basic (as I found out during a press-pass mix up that caused no end of trouble) but Marteria’s catchy lyrics and playful beats. As well as his skills on the mic he also brought to stage some of the most impressive and playful visuals of the evening. Later in the show he brought on his alter-ego Marismoto who delighted the audience with his high-pitch voiced and his more experimental music, straying from hip-hop and entering the realms of dubstep, reggae and EDM. With the first night of the festival finished everyone headed back to their tents ready to do the same thing all over again.
Saturday
The campsite was up and bustling by about ten on Saturday, helped by the festival workers driving around on quadbikes using their megaphones to shout ‘time to wake up’ across the campsite. I’m not sure if it was part of their job description but it certainly worked in getting the campsite awake and running. Pretty soon there were queues to the toilet and every other tent was playing flunkyball across the pathways. The campsite radio (provided by Delta Radio) was on blast throughout the campsite, via speakers and radios campers had brought with them, meaning wherever we went we had a surround sound experience of the camp radio. There seemed to be an endless game put on the by the radio hosts, which was to play the Cantina Theme from Star Wars, (or at least an excerpt of it) and, once it had finished someone – either one of the hosts or a punter who had been accosted somewhere on the campsite – would say ‘play that same song again’ and so on and so on. So much so it became the unofficial anthem of the campsite, and probably the weekend.
Hurricane festival is a lot smaller than most medium UK festivals, with only three stages all relatively close to each other. It means minimal walking between stages and the way that the stages have been positioned has been done with great care, as there is no overlap of sound when each stage has an artist.
Indie-pop act The Kooks took to the Green Stage on Saturday evening for a fun set. They’re still fresh from their ‘Best Of’ album tour, with Hurricane being their first festival of the season. Though they’re no strangers playing to big crowds – they’ve been around since 2004 – they have recently been touring as a warm-up act for The Rolling Stones. This hasn’t diminished their ability to get the crowd dancing, whatever the size. Though I was impressed that even a relatively light band such as The Kooks could get the crowd moshing. Lead singer Luke Pritchard danced around on stage with his tan-and-checked blazer and his skinny scarf, the embodiment of indie-brit-pop. The crowd were loving it and singing along to almost every track, which was pretty magical to listen to. The Kooks do have a new album out but didn’t fall into the age old pitfall of playing only their new stuff, they littered the set with classics as well as slipping the odd new song in now and then. They ended with two classics, Seaside and Naïve to the absolute delight of the audience.
Next up was Hamburg rapper Dendemann, who had a beat-filled set and had the whole crowd moshing along to his music. His music was good, though I’m sure I would have got more enjoyment out of it had I understood the lyrics – he uses a lot of wordplay so for a non-native speaker of German it can be a bit of a struggle to understand. I did understand when he said hello to the crowd and called them a town that certainly wasn’t Hurricane or Scheeβel. His drummer corrected him though and the crowd didn’t seem to care.
Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro have a solid fan-base in Germany and started off their European tour in Berlin early last month. Having last played Hurricane in 2010 they were due for a comeback. And the crowd were ready for it. Mosh pits left right and centre, the whole crowd was there for them. As per usual, all three members were shirtless, though frontman Simon Neil has got rid of the Jesus locks and gone for a cleaner, shorter cut, which if it wasn’t for the mass of tattoos and his roaring vocals he could be mistaken for a graphic designer, or someone equally ordinary. As always with Biffy, the show was intense and the hard rockers had all come out of the woodwork to head-bang their way through the set, as well as all the casual fans that sang along to their hits and mumbled along to the songs that had less radio-play.
Saturday was the first day we ventured to the Red Stage, to see Portugal. The Man. Now, I’m not sure what we expected but it certainly wasn’t what happened. They had a seven minute guitar heavy intro song played before they even came on stage. Once they were on stage the show really began. There had a projector projecting some spacey shapes and colours on the screen behind them. However, unlike most bands, Portugal. The Man had decided to put the projector in front of the stage, so each band member cast shadows throughout the set, changing shape and size as they moved around the stage. They started by playing a cover of ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ by Pink Floyd, which was an odd one to start with, however it really set the stage for the rest of their show, a spacey, guitar heavy extravaganza. After their first song some huge lettering came down on the screen behind them, declaring “We are not very good at stage banter so please enjoy these messages from the management, thank you for understanding”. Now, they certainly get points for ingenuity here, although it would have been nice to have a little bit of crowd interaction. As promised, periodically through the show more writing would appear behind them, such as “that is some bad-ass guitar playing” through a particularly gnarly piece. One thing I particularly enjoyed from Portugal. The Man was the fact that they had a very varied set-list. Starting with that Pink Floyd cover to get the crowd in the mood, before playing and older, spacey track that was guitar heavy and a wee bit light on the lyrics going straight through to ‘Purple Yellow Red and Blue’ (2013) and ‘Live in the Moment’(2017), two more recent songs that have had more radio play. The audience were a bit muted compared to the other acts of the night, I mean, it is hard to mosh to electro-guitar solos played over light keys and drums.
Going from the Portugal. The Man to The Prodigy was a bit of a jolt. As ever, the Prodigy had a stunning set, fantastic lasers, the crowd was already hopping by the time we got there. The band has been touring for almost three decades and know their stuff. They haven’t played in Germany since 2015, so it was high-time they came back. The set was littered with classics and the crowd went absolutely wild during voodoo people. I mean, it’s The Prodigy, it’s hard not to dance like a maniac with those beats and the amount of pure, raw energy coming off the stage. After the show most people were danced-out and made their way to their tents, the younger and drunker punters also went back to the campsite, but only to enjoy the Motorbooty rave that was going on until 4am the next morning.
Sunday
Security has been amped up to 130%, we were frisked each time we entered the main field, and no bags were allowed unless they were see-through and all pockets had to be emptied and checked. This meant more than anything that there were queues caused by this bottle neck. The crowd spent most of the time in the queues singing various songs which either went in rounds or sped up as they went along. It was amusing the first few times, but when someone in the crowd yelled the first line for the sixth time in a row I did groan inwardly. Fortunately, by that point I was almost through the gates, so didn’t have to listen to a half-hearted rendition of eisgekühlter bommerlunder again.
Once through we headed to the blue stage to kick off the afternoon with a bit of Mighty Oaks. Their folk rock was forgetting everyone off to the right start, despite the persistent cold and rain. Lead-singer Ian Hooper switched from German and English throughout the set, which is unsurprising as the very international band – members from US, UK and Italy – are currently based in Berlin. They had the whole crowd swaying in unison, and at one point encouraged everyone to get on someone’s shoulders and the crowd suddenly got half as wide and twice as tall, as almost everyone in the crowd was on someone’s shoulders or holding someone and singing along. It was such a nice, inclusive atmosphere and a great start to the third and final day of the festival.
Late noughties indie-rock Franz Ferdinand bounced onto the main stage as the afternoon was slowly becoming the evening. Full of energy and full of hits, frontman Alex Kapranos jumped cross the stage as he belted out the lyrics. The audience were bouncy along happily, and singing along, smiling in spite of the rain.
One of the most lively shows of the evening was brought by second to last act on Sunday – Kraftklub. In the last five years Kraftklub have risen from unknown band to the next chart-topping must-see band throughout Germany. The show starts with four red smoke //bombs// going off within the crowd. We can’t see exactly how they’ve been planted but they’ve been concealed for who knows how long. Kraftklub then appear on stage as the banner that has been covering the stage has been pulled down, and as they start their opening number (Karl-Mark-Straβe) the crowd goes absolutely wild. Now, I knew it was going to kick off. Sometimes you can just feel it. Through the first half of the show I was stuck between two mosh pits, by the second half I had decided I was fighting a losing battle, and joined them full force. The moshing continued for the full show, and Kraftklub left to cries of ‘one more song’ as they left the stage. They had twenty minutes left of their set, so we naturally all expected them to come back on stage. They did come back. Just not on stage. They had what can only be describe as a mobile stage, about two meters wide and four meters long, on wheels and being pushed through the crowd. They sang ‘ich will nicht nach Berlin’ before telling the audience they needed to get back to the main stage. The most sensible way to do this was obviously to crowd surf. On top of this, it had to be a race. They prepped the crowd in front of them, and after the third blast from the airhorn, they dived in. They were all scrambling to get to the stage as fast as possible and one of the stage hands was waving a giant checked racing flag as they got to the stage and he announced the winner.
Headliners of the evening, Arctic Monkeys took to the stage under dark, moody lighting. Alex Turner’s slick-backed hair shining in the lights paired with the leather jackets gave the band a 50s vibe. The beat came in as ‘four stars out of five’ started playing and the start of the end of the festival had begun.
The set was dotted with shout outs to the audience, mainly ‘vielen danke’ (thanks very much – for the non-German speakers) and the dulcet tones of Tuner briefly introducing the odd song. However, audience interaction was minimal, this grown-up band a far cry from their ‘crying lighting’ and ‘fluorescent adolescent’ days. The set-list was a good mix of songs, but focused heavily on AM and Tranquillity Base Hotel + Casino. Which makes sense, especially if they’re trying to move away from their young, almost post-punk rock of the early days and centre their attention on the more polished sound that the more recent albums have encompassed. If I was to sum up their performance I would have to use that word again, polished. Technically, it was a fantastic set, the sound was amazing, the band were in-sync with each other, though I felt like there could have been a bit more (one-sided, as ever) conversation from the band, but this performance, like the two most recent albums seems to have matured from cocky rock to sophisticated, interesting space-pop, but keeping some of that same cheekiness the Monkeys are famed for.
This year Hurricane had an eclectic mix of bands, which, in a weird way seemed to complement each other. If you were not into the headliners you would always find something that would satisfy your wants. However, it would have been nice to see a few more female artists on the mainstages over the three days, though this is something that all festivals could work on, and not just an issue with Hurricane. Personally, I am looking forward to the announcements for the bands next year, and I, like most of the punters, am ready to do the whole thing again next year.
Would it even be a Download weekend if there wasn’t at least the threat of rain? It’s grey but holding off as we head into the arena for a day of pure rock and metal shenanigans. The first notable difference is the somewhat extreme, and numerous bag checks. We’d been warned via the site and social media that only A4 sized backpacks and smaller would be allowed into the arena, but didn’t realise that there would also be multiple check-points between the car-park and actually getting in to see the bands. Not to worry though, the checks are pretty quick and efficient, and soon we are cresting that hill for the first amazing sight of the arena.
I’d also like to do a quick shout-out at this point to Download’s ever evolving experience enhancements. Big plastic tracks have been installed around the second stage area making both walking in general and getting to the Accessibility platform via scooter or wheelchair easier than ever, and they have employed professional BSL music performance interpreters for the Main and Zippo Encore stages, giving even more fans access to this incredible event. They have also increased accessibility shuttles from the campsites, provided a wheelchair charging station and increased their accessible portaloos by 50% on last year. This continual thought and attention to feedback is impressive, and Download is one of the few festivals out there who seem to be really improving access year on year, in all kinds of different ways. Bravo.
So, the Arena. If you’re a rock or metal fan and you haven’t been to Download before, all I can say is, it’s like coming home. All the beautiful freaks are right here with their astral hair, their pleather and fishnets, jackets covered in patches and piercings in every available inch of spare skin, tattoos blooming from black tshirts and ripped jeans. Oh and at this point in the day, approximately half of them are jammed in a never-ending queue to buy merch. Bah. Tips for next year DL – employ at least twice as many staff for this please, it was obnoxious.
Extortionately priced t-shirts in hand, we stride down the hill to catch up with the mighty Dragonforce who have gathered a massive crowd for ‘Cry Thunder’, prophetically as the rain begins to spit. Thankfully that’s where the correlation ends, but it is still pretty ridiculous when they yell “We are Dragonforce… we come from right here in sunny England…”. Frontman Marc Hudson also lets us know that they “…are filming every single song of this set… so the rest of the world sees how fucking crazy the UK is” which obviously sparks a frenzy for the next song, only to fall foul of technical difficulties. If sod wrote a law, the page would be titled ‘Dragonforce’ today. Laughing “It’s so great when your mic cuts out in front of thousands of people…” they deal with it gracefully and end on a high with ‘Through the Fire and Flames’. Oh and no, I’m still not over Herman Li’s majestic hair swishing. Werk.
Yorkshire band Marmozets fronted by enigmatic Becca Macintyre are straddling the line of hipster rock, almost too current-cool for Download but they certainly know what they’re doing. Yelling out “Last year I was camping with you lot” Becca hops around in bright pink trousers whilst a Darth Maul in the crowd is going absolutely mental with his inflatable lightsaber.
Over on the Zippo Encore stage, self-professed king of the party Andrew WK has amassed an army of bemused onlookers, if not actual fans. Yes he’s kitschy, yes he rocks up in pre-dirtied white jeans and yes he pulls faces like a more demonic Jim Carrey, but well, he’s our weirdo. The rock community is strangely proud of him. Fan fave ‘She is Beautiful’ is silly and fun and I really rate a dude who can build anticipation with the line “…and now it is time… for me to play a guitar shaped like a slice of pizza”. No really, damn I love that pizza guitar. As if he wasn’t margarita-cheesy enough he calls “It’s not Andrew UK… it’s Andrew DOUBLE UK, double the power!” and then proceeds to do an actual 100-1 countdown for anthem ‘Party Hard’. It is frankly ridiculous that everyone likes this terrible track so very much. I of course am bouncing around with them.
Now for something completely different, in the form of Danish metalheads Volbeat. Now Volbeat are no strangers to DL but they never seem to be hyped up either, someone you know but wouldn’t flock to. Not so today my friends, Volbeat are here to slay. The enormous crowd that has surrounded the main stage is singing along to ‘Lola Montez’ and frontman Michael Poulson’s Elvis-esque lilt is refreshingly different to your standard screamer vs. power vocal camps. As if to highlight the difference in fact, Barney of Napalm Death fame (who have a set later on) is brought in for a quick collab on ‘Evelyn’ with his distinctly unintelligible shrieking, but oh we do love a bit of Barney don’t we. ‘Still Counting’ goes down a storm for their last song and honestly, I think they are arguably the band of the day for me.
On the zippo stage, Hell is for Heroes have about 30 people down the front watching them, which is kinda sad actually as they were by no means awful at all, and their cover of The Cure’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ was decent. However, I think they definitely fell foul of their timeslot – everyone seems to be getting their food and booze situation sorted before tonight’s headliners.
That’s something we should really mention actually, the food. It’s been getting steadily better every year at DL but this year was off-the-charts excellent. An incredible variety but also quality, gone of the days of rat-burgers and CMOT-Dibbler style saugages-inna-bun. Truth be told, you can still buy a box of suspect noodles if you want the real Doningtons-past experience but why would you? We instead grabbed ourselves a stack of butter-milk chicken in a brioche bun and a side of poutine. Effing decadent.
In the Avalanche tent Bad Religion are shutting it down, rocking on to an intro of ‘My Sharona’ and looking decidedly less punk than they used to. No worries though, they sound exactly as good as they ever have with the likes of ‘Recipe for Hate’ and Tony Hawk Pro Skater hit ‘You’. Yelling “Everyone gearing up for a big weekend huh? I got some bad news… we can’t stay for the whole weekend… there was a backstage clause, Axl kicked us out…” the band head into the excellent ‘Anesthesia’. ‘Infected’ is the sound of the 90’s and the packed out crowd is straight up loving it.
As we head back out to the main arena for Avenged Sevenfold, as huge crowd has already gathered and though we are donning toastier clothing for the chilly night, we’re still damn thankful for the minimal rain today. To read what we thought of A7X’s headline show, click the link below!
Weather report: still holding, patches of sun spotted but we’re keeping quiet because we don’t want to jinx it. Still packed a poncho.
Monster Truck are providing the heavy rock sounds as we head into the afternoon, already drunk people are taking enormous risks with their phones on the high-flying sky-swing (do it for the ‘gram y’all) and lunchtime calls for another foray into the plethora of nourishment offerings. Seriously, vegan sushi, paella, duck fat roasted potatoes, a bowl of crumble and ice cream, wings, burritos, tapas, full roast chicken dinner? You want it, they have it. Oh and the now famous Motley Brew are serving up an array of hot beverages in real mugs, and they even have seats. You can take your Coachella VIP champagne and caviar and shove it up yer arse, we’re British. We like a CUPPA and a GOOD SIT DOWN.
One very notable thing on walking/squeezing around the arena today – it is RAMMED. Day sales for G’n’R must have been good this year because it is truly packed. Local lads The Struts give it big on the main stage shouting “You know we used to live in Derby just down the road… and we used to come to this festival and stand where you’re standing now… it’s incredible to be up on this stage” to a roar from the crowd. We love a hometown hero, but I’m less convinced on their actual show. I mean, they’re not bad as such, just a bit wet compared to everything else I’ve seen this weekend. The Temperance Movement however, muster all the southern soul a grey afternoon needs to get with the programme, and indeed they seem to bring out the sun a little. ‘Trouble’ and ‘Midnight Black’ are phenomenal and it’s more than a little hard to believe boho frontman Phil Campbell, with his maracas and tambourine, swaying in a lace shirt – is actually Glaswegian.
Thunder step on stage to AC/DC track, er, Thunderstruck. Well, why wouldn’t you. ‘Wonder Days’ and ‘River of Pain’ are pretty epic, it’s so great to see a band who are just absolute pro’s at what they do. Joking “Hands up who wasn’t even born in the 90’s” makes for disturbing viewing (thanks for that, Thunder, so kind) but they are absolutely killing it so I’ll let them off.
Over at Zippo Encore, there is no longer any visible section of floor. This is the busiest I’ve ever witnessed this arena without it being a headliner for sure. It seems like Babymetal’s fan base is a lot larger than anticipated and to be honest, sheer fascination seems to be driving a large portion of people in rather than actual fandom. Podium platforms for dance showcase the three firecracker leads who are sporting gold and black Xena-warrior-princess style outfits. Yeah it’s super kawaii nonsense but the music is actually decent and hit ‘Chocolate’ is both ridiculous and annoyingly catchy. I sort of love them.
Onto something we can pretty much all agree on. Kentucky kings Black Stone Cherry are Download’s biggest love story. A band championed by fans ever since their first showing here back in 2008, a decade of repeat requests for their billing, and it’s no wonder why. They are honestly flawless, vocalist Chris Robertson is arguably one of the best rock and roll singers going, he soars through ‘Blind Man’ in the now blazing sunshine, and everyone around us is singing their hearts out alongside him. Thankfully this time ‘Rain Wizard’ doesn’t coincide with a hideous downpour, as it did a few years ago, and ‘Me and Mary Jane’ has the entire crowd bouncing. A cover of Hendrix’s ‘Foxy Lady’ is made for this Wayne’s World worshipping crowd – yes, we did dance like Garth, yes it was magical. ‘Like I Roll’ and ‘Blame it on the Boom Boom’ see crowd-surfers flailing towards the front and ‘Lonely Train’ is just, incredible. Closing up with ‘Family Tree’ from the new album, this has been yet another epic showing from BSC and we hope to see them back again soon.
With a huge chunk of time before Guns’n’Roses we lope off in search of sustenance, beer and portaloos as the evening draws in. It’s been an incredible day here at Donington and we are suitably amped up for the closest we’ve ever been to a full G’N’R lineup…
WOAH. It is HOT today. Not England hot, like equatorial hot. Everyone either has the sheen of well slathered sunblock or is already burnt to a crisp and the whole place after three days of booze and no showers, smells like an armpit. A rowdy afternoon starts with the likes of Turbonegro and Kreator on the Zippo Encore stage and Hatebreed are throwing down on the main stage, yelling “This is for Dimebag, Lemmy, Chris Cornell, Chester (Bennington)… I wanna see every fist in the sky” for ‘Perseverance’. It is at this moment that a small bi-plane flies overhead with a banner reading “Jesus loves every 1 of U” and the fists become horns. Hard to tell whether it’s a joke or we’re actually the subject of some local zealot’s fear, but either way everyone is laughing and trying to take poor phone photos of it.
In This Moment bring the strange and unusual next, with everything from priestess costumes, skulls and pentagrams to choral music and interpretive dance. I don’t really know what to make of them if I’m honest. They sound like metal-Bjork. Is it a good thing? I mean I do like the toilet-paper costume, but their mini cover of Metallica’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is a little upsetting. I did laugh at the Game of Thrones Cersei-style ‘Shame’ poster situation, but there is a nice sentiment behind it all; “…this is what I was told when I was just a girl, that I would amount to absolute shit, that I would become nothing at all… this last song is about rising above other people’s perceptions” – for ‘Whore’, accompanied by huge white balloons being batted around the crowd.
Black Veil Brides sport pyrotechnics and screaming, standard. It’s decent but they are eclipsed by next up: Shinedown. Super appropriately it is scorching hot right now and they are smashing their way through some straight up great rock and roll. Motivational as ever, frontman Brent Smith invites everyone to shake hands with a stranger next to them, and hit ‘State of my Head’ goes down a storm. “Take a look at the history you’re making this afternoon… ladies and gentlemen you look absolutely spectacular today” yells Smith, and I must sincerely disagree, we look fried, tired, sweaty and smashed. But I do appreciate the love.
Over in Avalanche, happy pop punk legends A are playing to a packed out tent, which is suspiciously full of pale people avoiding the sun-monster. Riffing on their age “hands up if you’re over the age of 30… hands up if you’ve got 2 properties… you know when bands re-form and they’re like 20 years older and you’re like why are they bothering? We just really fucking enjoy this” the band speaks to a place in all of us, who are genuinely here for the same reason – even if we’re sort of proper grown ups now. Oh and they start an over-30’s circle pit, cause it’s funny to go home to your office job with two black eyes, right?
Now, was anyone else truly alarmed by the sight of Marilyn Manson in daylight? I was. I thought he was going to spontaneously combust, burst aflame, incinerated by the power of sunlight. I mean he’s so pale as to be almost translucent – at one point he turned sideways and I swear I could see a passing plane through his face. However, it’s an absolute treat to have the master of the macabre here at Donington and he does not disappoint, rolling in with ‘Irresponsible Hate Anthem’ backed by a giant inverted monochrome crossed American flag.
Sporting a knuckle-duster mic and a long black trench, it takes all of about two minutes before he looks as though he’s sweating his ass off and has to ditch the look, pogo-ing down the runway he calls “Thank you for coming out in daylight… it’s like the opposite of our lives… do you like daytime? I don’t… we’re kind of stuck here together with daytime… let’s deal with it” perhaps displaying a little animosity towards the scheduling. It’s true, his show and music both lend themselves to a dark and brooding atmosphere, it’s a little hard to get caught up in the bloodlust when the big tattooed bloke standing next to you is eating a 99 with a flake.
‘Disposable Teens’ is obviously solid gold but it’s more than a little amusing that due to there being no option to control the lighting, we get to see people rush on an off stage during the show to dress Manson in various different outfits. More amusing still is that it is genuinely too hot for any of it and he keeps having to peel it all off himself within minutes. He’s clearly frustrated about it too “It’s very difficult, but together we can accomplish it… like having sex with the lights on”.
‘mOBSCENE’ comes with a vampiric Manson backdrop and during ‘Kill4Me’ he drags a crowd-surfing mega-fan on stage with him. She’s head to-toe Manson-merch and is sporting an “I’d Kill 4 you” flag, obviously ecstatic to hug him as he slaps her ass and sends her on her way, before togging up in an enormous Howl-like (of Moving Castle fame) black feathered trench-coat. Think, demonic Big Bird.
Talking to us as he emerges from a corner of the stage “I was just having a moment with my personal physician, with my eyesight and the sun…” it’s not clear whether that’s a joke or he’s ahem, getting medicated, but it seems extremely apt that we head into ‘The Dope Show’. ‘Sweet Dreams’ is breathy and brilliant, there’s some writhing around a smoking podium which looks rather uncomfortable, and a little bit of using drum sticks to hit a bass guitar. It’s a bit off, and I can’t put my finger on why. Dani Filth joins the action for ‘The Beautiful People’ and unfortunately he finishes up a little slow with ‘Cry Little Sister’. I’ll be honest – Download have definitely seen him better, and I hope next time we can at least give him the night.
Closing up the Avalanche for the weekend are Sweden’s mischievous mayhem peddlars – The Hives. We’ve seen them in white suits, we’ve seen them in black suits, and today – they’ve sown them together for half and half suits. Aesthetic on point. Yelling “Did you miss us? It’s good to see again isn’t it? Did you miss this face?” it’s clear they are here for fun, and they have lost absolutely none of their famous energy and life. ‘Die, Alright’ is awesome and ‘Hate To Say I Told you So’ brings back a wave of college memories, of afternoons in dingy pubs and cover bands. “We have come to the part of the show where we expect way more applause than we are getting…” garners a massive roar from the absolutely packed tent, and “…this is reparations for all the shit we stole from you in Viking times… we’re giving it back in the form of musical treasure!” makes everyone laugh. They are an unstoppable force, jumping from amps and swinging mic stands around their heads with wild abandon, they just look like they’re having the absolute best time, and so are we.
As the sun begins to set we head back to find a spot in the main arena, cover up our burnt bods and grab a beer before our final headliner – Ozzy Osbourne. It has been yet again an incredible weekend and if you’ve never experienced Download before, I can scarcely describe it to you without gushing. It’s a well-oiled machine and you don’t get this kind of bang for your buck anywhere else, I have witnessed a host of the best in rock and metal, in a field with my friends. Does it get better than that?
It’s possibly the sunniest day of Download’s entire history and we’re collectively scorched after spending our Sunday rocking out to a wealth of amazing bands and artists. The swirling masse of black clothing is now contrasted by a beautiful tinge of red sunburn and vampiric-sorts are cowering under their parasols awaiting The Prince of Darkness himself… Ozzy Osbourne.
O Fortuna rings out heralding Ozzy’s return, both to Download – having performed last with Black Sabbath in 2016, and been a previous host of festivals at Donington with his own Ozzfest before – for this metal Brummie, it’s pretty much home. Two giant rectangular screens flank a cross-shaped one in the centre of the stage, which begin to scroll through a timeline of Ozzy-through-the-ages, including a school mugshot which elicits an ‘ahhh’ from the crowd. Like some kind of surreal supermarket of the damned, Ozzy’s unmistakable disembodied call comes across the tannoy “I can’t fuckin hear you… louder…”. Anyone who’s ever seen him before knows that this is pretty much all he’s going to say, for the next two and a half hours, no matter how much you yell back. He probably genuinely can’t hear us.
Anyway, finally legging it out in a black leather trench coat – and I do mean legging it, this is actually a pretty spritely Ozzy we’re getting tonight, and at 69 years old it’s no mean feat. Starting off with a site-wide howl we’re treated to ‘Bark at the Moon’ replete with moon and wolf visuals and Ozzy very literally throwing his head back for a howl. I was genuinely concerned he was going to tip over backwards at one point but was immediately distracted by guitarist Zakk Wylde’s indominable shredding on his signature swirl Les Paul. The man can honestly do no wrong.
As a crowd-surfing inflatable T-Rex bobs along the front row, Ozzy ditches his jacket revealing a sparkly bat top – it seems old tropes never die, and 1980 release ‘Mr Crowley’ harks back to a time where bat-munching was just, so on trend. Black Sabbath track ‘Fairies Wear Boots’ has the whole arena singing along but it’s not easy to forget the magic of seeing Iommi himself rocking this a mere two years ago. Truth be told, it doesn’t have the same gravitas.
‘No More Tears’ and ‘Road to Nowhere’ are both heavy hitters but it’s once again the Black Sabbath tracks that really get the stamp of approval with this crowd. The stage screens are aflame and air raid sirens wail in the night; ‘War Pigs’ is a wall of voices chiming in on a veritable metal anthem. If you don’t know the lyrics you’re basically desecrating Donington’s unholy ground, to be honest.
Ten minutes worth of Tommy Clufetos’ rumbling drum solo has everyone cheering, and gives Ozzy a bit of a break before heading into ‘I Don’t Want to Change the World’ and ‘Shot In The Dark’ which is accompanied by the most magnificent 80’s Tron-esque visuals. With a chant of “one more song” arena-wide, ‘Crazy Train’ is as massive as it ever was and Ozzy is doing a frankly stellar job considering he’s just shy of 70 and basically pickled with his history of drugs and alcohol. After a brief interlude, he’s back on for ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’ to the dismay of many (it is crap though isn’t it…) and as per the technology age we view a blanket of phone-lights in place of cigarette lighters thrust into the air. Anyway, it’s all quickly made up for with a rousing performance of ‘Paranoid’ to cap off the night in style.
Say what you will about Ozzy’s singing – he’s pretty much always sounded like that, I will always be appreciative of getting to witness one of heavy metal’s greats in the flesh, because there’s nothing in the world quite like live music, and this is history in the making.
Day two of Download and arguably the most anticipated revival in rock history topping the bill tonight. Yes yes, we’ve all seen some other iteration of Guns’N’Roses… the one where Axl turned up an hour late, got bottled and slipped over… the one where everyone hated Chinese Democracy… the one where Slash just came and did his own thing and everyone completely loved it and uh, Velvet Revolver. But this is it. As close as we’re ever gonna get to a feud-less, most-members, sort-of-real G’n’f’n’R. For those of us born too late to have worn snakeskin and chains in the heyday, when leather was acceptable for every item of clothing, it’s a chance to jump into a bit of history and live the 80’s Sunset strip for a couple of hours.
In an extraordinary turn of events (which I am led to believe is mainly due to extremely fierce contract rules) the band hit the stage BANG ON TIME. It’s so incredibly unlikely and unheard of, it appears to take the crowd by surprise and a frantic legging-it-back from portaloos and food stalls ensues as the first notes of ‘It’s So Easy’ ring out.
Emerging in jeans that are more rip than denim and the inevitable plaid shirt tied around his waist, Axl’s unmistakable nasal tones signal the start of something special. Massive runway steps around the stage promise great views for even those at the back of the main stage arena, which is helpful considering this is probably the most packed it has ever been here at Donington.
Blasting through ‘Mr. Brownstone’ with hilarious backing vocals by… everyone, we’re so happy that even ‘Chinese Democracy’ itself doesn’t upset us. This is undeniably what we came here for, I mean even if Axl isn’t rocking a kilt and wellington boots, Slash looks precisely the same as he ever did (have we ever seen his actual head before?), Duff is still rocking a Prince logo on his bass, visuals of the band logo are plastered over all available screens and they sound downright incredible.
A crowd-wide Guns-and-Roses chant arises as the epic intro for ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ begins, and of course Axl milks the “you know where you are?” part. I just wish, just a little bit, that he’d have customised it for “you’re in Donington baby!” but oh well, he’s donned a different leather jacket and a hat for this so I guess that’s, interesting.
Classic Wings cover ‘Live and Let Die’ is spectacular, but honestly they kinda ruined Velvet Revolver’s ‘Slither’. It’s just not made for Axl’s rasp. ‘Rocket Queen’ in the blazing sunshine is the stuff rock and roll dreams are made of, and Axl has swapped into a fetching white leather jacket with a Crocodile Dundee-esque hat. I’m not sure I totally understand the outfit swaps to be honest, are they just all his favourites? Like a kid taking too many soft-toys to bed? They don’t seem to bear relevance to the set list, I mean if he’d come back on stage dressed as a rocket, or for that matter a queen, I’d be considerably more impressed.
Now I won’t lie, there’s a bit of a lull here in the middle. It’s a 3 hour set which seems to have been set up to include Appetizer, Siesta, Dessert, as far as planning goes. There are some absolute highlights of course – Terminator track ‘You Could Be Mine’ with a host of tron-esque graphcs is amazing and obviously any time Slash is rocking a solo you just shut up and enjoy. The Godfather theme tune ‘Speak Softly Love’ isn’t exactly ripe for the sing-along, but it is pretty spectacular.
Now clearly ‘Sweet Child O Mine’ is going to be well received no matter what, but Axl-more-changes-than-RuPaul-Rose goes wild, with er, a red bandana and tan hat combo. It’s a dream to hear live and the entire crowd is air-guitaring along with Slash, as it should be. A beautifully soulful cover of ‘Witchita Lineman’ has the younger contingent scratching their heads a bit, and Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ is top notch too, but it’s now dawning on us that at least half of this 3 hour behemoth of a set isn’t actually going to be Guns n Roses songs. Go figure.
‘November Rain’ sees a raft of on stage pyro simulating rain due to the unusually dry conditions this year, which we are all super thankful for by the way, and a giant black grand piano is wheeled out, with a teeny weeny motorbike stool for Axl to sit on. It’s more than a little bit comical. Sorry. Then again I’m sure he cares not a jot, seeing as we’re treated to some up-close shots of his hands tickling the ivories, and one of them is adorned by an obscenely huge rectangular sapphire ring that looks like it could knuckle-dust you into another dimension. Slash is now up on the top gangway wailing for all he’s worth, and the skies are turning pink and blue above us, it’s so perfect I want to puke. As if that wasn’t enough, we’re treated to (yes, another cover…) Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’ with an intro suspiciously familiar to Westworld fans in the crowd, which honestly makes me wary that Axl has actually been replaced by a host. It’s the only explanation for his turning up on time.
Snapping back to the big guns we’re treated to ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ with Axl in a fringed jacket, and then the absolute classic ‘Night Train’ before an extremely brief pause for the encore. The signature whistle signals the intro for ‘Patience’ and Axl quips “…we’re going to play an English folk tune” before launching into a cover of The Who’s ‘The Seeker’ whilst wearing a Union Jack emblazoned hat. Finishing up with a final change into a studded leather jacket we get the big one, ‘Paradise City’. It’s everything it should be, loud, large and classic. Fireworks top off what was an incredible, if slightly lengthier than it needed to be, show. There’s no denying Guns’n’Roses were meant for Download Festival, it’s been a long time coming.
The rain has held off all day, we’ve weedled our way into the middle of the black sea of metal-tees – beer in hand, and it’s time for the first headliner of Download Festival 2018 – Avenged Sevenfold. Heading out onto the Donington stage for the first time in 2006, A7X have been firm favourites at the festival, returning in 2011 and then 2014 to headline, but this is something else entirely.
The stage is set with a raft of giant screens depicting stone murals and front-man Shadows appears in his now signature garb of a red and black plaid shirt and an Axl-style bandana strapped around his head, yelling something or other about Jesus, as the band scream straight into the entirely apt ‘The Stage’. ‘Afterlife’ is heralded by a bombardment of pyrotechnics in the form of massive flame cannons, which serve to singe the whiskers off anyone in the front five rows, and to the surprise of many around us – they’re absolutely nailing it. I suppose the problem with A7X has always been their willingness to explore so many different styles of rock and metal, from prog to hardcore and everything in-between. They’re not ‘that’ polarising band that you either love or hate, they’re just somewhere in the middle, where a song or two might chime with what you like. As such, it can be hard to accept their set as anything other than a mash-up of whatever they feel like that day, but honestly, today it’s more like an expert tour through metal as a genre.
Vengeance and Synyster are back to back, playing intricate harmonies and it’s clear that from a sheer musical perspective, they deserve their top of the bill spot here at Download. Yelling “It’s our favourite goddamn place in the world to play” is always guaranteed a roar from the crowd in the UK, whether it’s true or not, but the sheer force and power of ‘Hail to the King’ rings the sentiment true, and here’s where it gets interesting. Taking more than a small cue from metal legends Iron Maiden I’m sure, a giant zombified king is ushered in from the back of the stage to ‘crawl’ above the band and inexplicably, to sing along. This kind of production is usually the reserve of giants like Maiden or Viking Power-metal bands who just really believe in their storyline, but hey, maybe that’s what the current festival scene is lacking? The 90’s and noughties saw a phase of rock and metal where any kind of gimmick or even loud clothing was considered tacky and unprofessional, leaving a hole in big-scale shows which covered the entertainment factor, as well as musical prowess. Are we due a proper resurgence of pantomime metal? I’m not sure it’s a bad thing, it keeps things interesting in a long set at the end of a busy day of bands, and who doesn’t love an enormous skeletal king having a sing-song anyway?
With a sobering video tribute to former drummer James “The Rev” Sullivan who died in 2009, they head into ‘So Far Away’, followed by the massive ‘Nightmare’. Yelling out “…we’re taking it back to the beginning, none of that shit we’ve been playing all year, this one’s just for you” the band roll into a track from their second album – ‘Eternal Rest’. Just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder, yet another giant installation is floated out above them on stage… a humungous skeletal space-suited spectre, as grim as it is spectacular, and the screens change to dark starry skies as the night truly sets in over Donington Park as the band hit the ahem, high notes of ‘Higher’.
A cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ is dedicated to celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who was reported to have committed suicide in the early hours of the morning, and Shadows implores anyone who is struggling – to seek help; “…we lost Anthony Bourdain today. It may seem silly but he’s a guy that showed us all different cultures and different people… that we’re all equal… so reach out, we all feel the same way”.
Bringing things back to a safer, louder space ‘Shepherd of Fire’ inevitably sees the stage… well… on fire. Pretty much all of it in fact. You’ve got to wonder what their total carbon footprint is for this entire set. Joking “We’re gonna have some fun… all the people who hate us have gone back to their tents”, A7X finish up with ‘A little piece of Heaven’ a delightful song about murder and necrophilia, and then ‘Unholy Confessions’. No really, and the entire crowd is singing along as if it were as normal as a school assembly hymn. I mean, metal has always been known for hitting up risqué topics but there’s something undeniably jolly and therefore unnerving about this. If there’s one thing you can say about Avenged Sevenfold, it’s that they’re not afraid to go there. Well, anywhere really. Tonight was a triumph of their absolute willingness to do whatever the fuck they want. Bravo I say.
After national rail disruptions and flash floods in and around Birmingham it didn’t stop the hauls of music fans descending on the NEC Birmingham this bank holiday weekend for Slamdunk Festival 2018.
It was time to go see The Audition who more than six years ago disbanded but this festival weekend the pop punk heavyweights reformed to play a nostalgic set at this year’s Slam Dunk Festival.
Band members Danny Stevens, Seth James and Tim Klepek who are the original members of the band were joined by Cartel’s Kevin Sanders and Jack’s Mannequin’s Jon Sullivan to perform on the Monster Energy Stage; which sent fans back to their teenage years singing along to this band in there bedrooms.
So it’s back to the Monster stage to see the Scottish rockers that are Twin Atlantic. Now Dressed in a dark floral shirt with striking red trousers and jacket, vocalist Sam McTrusty came out on stage playing the intro to Gold Elephant: Cherry Alligator which set the fans into a craze.
His impressive vocal range shone throughout the entire set and had fans singing at the top of their lungs to the likes of Make A Beast Of Myself and No Sleep.There set was energetic and anyone in that room could be seen to having a good time.
Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes were about to take to the Jagermister stage and if you’re a former Gallows fan you’ll know vocalist Frank Carter is renowned for his on-stage antics, and well his new band have got the same reputation.
Frank and co. did not disappoint by the second song Frank decided to go for a walk in the crowd and this wasn’t going to be the last time Frank “Took a walk” which would get the whole crowd involved.From the first notes of Juggernaut the band were whipping across the stage back and fourth and The audience quickly followed suit; with hit tracks Wild Flowers, Snake Eyes and Devil Inside Me creating absolute pandemonium inside the NEC with what I would say were the biggest circle pits of the day.
Even though chaos was breaking out onstage and offstage vocalist Frank regularly interacted with the crowd and promoted a safe environment in which everyone could have fun.
Following Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes were PVRIS who last graced the Slamdunk stage back in 2015 on the tour circuit of their debut album White Noise and here we are seeing them again touring their second album All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell.
Justin took his place behind the drum kit then soon after Alex, Lynn and Brian took to the stage; it was dark and backlit creating a moody, somewhat spooky atmosphere. They opened up with Heaven, which was the debut track from AWKOHAWNOH album back in 2017.
SETLIST:
Heaven St. Patrick Half You and I What’s Wrong Winter Anyone Else No Mercy My House
The PVRIS CVLT (as their fans are known) were singing along to every word and in all the right places knew when it was time to jump and dance along which seen vocalist Lynn Gunn climbed down from the stage to be among the fans along the barrier during the track No Mercy.
Following a mammoth line up on the Jagermister stage it was time for the Headliners who were none other than Good Charlotte and well what can I say cannons exploded with streamers; which resulted in the Main Arena looking like it just got “TP’d” as it all hung from the ceiling. The fans crowd were hit with flashing lights and the heat from the pyrotechnics as the band jumped into hit song The Anthem.
The band ploughed through their extensive back catalogue to take fans on a trip down memory lane with tracks The Story of My Old Man, Keep Your Hands Off My Girl, Predictable and Girls and Boys.They also through in Life Changes and Actual Pain which has only just been recently released, yet the fans seemed to know all the words already.
Each song showcased the tightness and experience the band had with Joel Madden’s powerful voice, his brother Benji’s and Billy Martin’s impressive guitar skills, Paul Thomas’ catchy bass lines and Dean Butterworth’s strong drumming.The night was coming to a close and the famous track Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous marked the end of an impressive live performance, closing Slam Dunk Festival 2018 with a crowd united through their love of stellar live music.
We also managed to catch the sets from Crown The Empire, Dream State, Devil Wears Prada, Knuckle Puck, Sleeping With Sirens and more. All photographs from these artist can be found on our social media sites.
Over the years, Cambridge Junction has played host to many great artists. On Tuesday 3rd April the venue welcomed English rock band, Lower Than Atlantis. The quartet, who are originally from Watford in Hertfordshire, first formed in 2007. They released their first EP in 2008 and then went on to release their first full album "Far Q" back in 2010.
The live music gig was being held in the main stage room at the venue. Upon arrival, the room was covered in a blanket of dim blue lighting and was quickly filling up with a relatively young crowd. With drinks and chatter flowing nicely the audience was soon introduced to the other acts that would be joining the guys from Watford.
For the evening, Lower Than Atlantis were joined by support acts The Faim and Milk Teeth.
The Faim were the first of the night's acts to take to the stage. With an excited crowd of people in front of them, they jumped straight into their first song of their set, titled "My Heart Needs To Breathe" before then introducing themselves.
This four piece pop/alternative band first formed on the 20th November 2014. The band members themselves have stated that their music has been influenced by artists including, 5 Seconds of Summer, Blink 182, and Fall Out Boy. I will also mention that their debut single "Saints of the Sinners" was also co-written by Pete Wentz, also known as the lead vocalist of rock band, Fall Out Boy. The first thought that came to my head upon hearing them perform was "they sound just like Fall Out Boy". And now I know why after doing my research.
The Faim are a band that have a great stage presence with high energy and know how to work the crowds well, an example of this was asking the audience to jump along with them during their performance. They are a really likeable band and when performing live it is clear to see that the four lads are very passionate about their music. As the stage is flooded with blue and green lighting, the band performed songs including "A Million stars", "Midland Line" and "Infamous". They brought their set to a close with a performance of their single "Saints of the Sinners" which is not only (as mentioned previously) their debut single release but is also about "making their mark in the world". What's worth mentioning is that the down to earth band members were also seated at their own merchandise stall at the back of the room after their set, with their family members. Who doesn't love a good family support network?
After a short break the second of the evening's acts graced the stage.
Milk Teeth, a punk rock band from Stroud in Gloucstershire, are full of energy and clearly enjoy making interesting facial expressions when performing. The band are Becky on vocals and bass, Billy and Chris on guitars and Oli on drums. Unusually, just like fellow support act The Faim the drummers were set up front alongside their fellow band mates for this gig. The band's guitar players were great at rallying the excitement from the crowd of fans in front of them. The band members also encouraged the audience to shine lights from their phones during their set. They performed their original songs including "Nearby Catfight" – which was also the song they entered the stage to, they also showcased "Stabbed" and "Swear Jar".
After an energetic set from Milk Teeth, along came another short interval as we stood waiting for the night's main act! During this break the venue did continue to play music into the sound system as we chatted amongst ourselves. Some rather unusual releases featured on the venues 'interval playlist'. What stood out for many people there was the moment when Aha's Take on Me came blaring through the speakers. It was like being at a gig in the 80s. The whole room sang along and was filled with buzzing energy. Continuing with their vintage playlist, we were then treated to Uptown Girl which was originally made famous by Billy Joel back in 1983! The well known single got as far as the end of the intro before being turned off to welcome the night's main act. This did not go down well with ticket holders as the room was then filled with Boos and sighs of disappointment. Although these negative emotions were soon forgotten about when the band members of Lower Than Atlantis walked onto the stage.
The band's drummer, Eddy Thrower was the first to take his place. He sat at his drum kit and began to build the atmosphere with a small drum solo which was accompanied by synchronised strobe lighting. He was quickly joined by fellow band mates Declan Hart on bass, Ben Sanson on guitar and then lastly the band's front man and vocalist Mike Duce. And what strong entrance they made! They started their set with their amazing single "Had Enough".
Further into their set, vocalist Duce had requested the audience to run and mosh in front of him, before he then came down into the viewing area to begin crowd surfing with his fans. After being carried back to the stage the band continued to play more of their music until once again their front man returned to the middle of the crowds of people. He stood in the middle of the room with his guitar to play an acoustic version of their song "Another Sad Song". The atmosphere was so relaxed and calm, with people sitting crossed legged on the floor in a circle around him. Not something you'd typically expect to see at a rock band's gig. It could have been likened to sitting around a bonfire singing campfire songs.
This was one band that certainly knew how to work a crowd! It is clear to see how much their value their fans after seeing them live. The band's lead singer asked the audience "if anyone's got a beer then raise it up!" he then encouraged drinkers to consume their beverage of choice while all members of the band and fans chanted "CHUG CHUG CHUG" and when they played "Beech Like The Tree" they managed to encourage plenty of people to crowd surf.
As the majority of musicians that perform live, Lower Than Atlantis' set appeared to come to an end after finishing their song "Words", which of course, wasn't their last song of the evening. The band members exited the stage for a very short space of time before returning for once more for an encore. They all thanked their fans for all of the support they have received over the past 11 years and then stated "otherwise we would be working in Morrisons, although there's nothing wrong with working in Morrisons". Nice cover up lads!
The gig came to a close with the band's last two performances of the night which were "English Kids" and my personal favourite of theirs "Here We Go".
Lower Than Atlantis is a band that is undoubtedly worth seeing live, they offer familiarity with their hit singles and also something completely different when interacting with their fans! Our photographer and I are now new fans of The Faim. All three bands are continuing to tour this year with tickets still available.
Country music in the UK? Not something you heard of much back in 2013 when the O2 Arena in London welcomed its very first C2C Festival. Telling people you were going to a country music festival was like telling people you were eloping. Fast forward to 2018, Country Music has started to become a bit bore acceptable to the mainstream, british artists such as The Shires are selling out tours and playing every festival that you can imagine, Ward Thomas secured a number one album slot for their second record Cartwheels and festivals across the UK are booking country artists more and more. It doesn't stop there though. Many C2C Alumni are starting to break into the scene as they collaborate with pop artists. Chris Stapleton started to blow up after his Brit Award performance with Justin Timberlake and has been charting ever since with his own material, Maren Morris had a top ten hit with her collaboration with Grey and Zedd for the song Middle and artists like Kacey Musgraves are playing some of the UK's biggest venues – country music in the UK is starting to be a thing.
So here we are 2018 and C2C has just had it's sixth festival. The first year was just the main arena and a few pop up stages with unknown acts but as the years have gone on, the festival stages surrounding the arena that take place in the day have become bigger and better, securing more known artists from all over.
This year, the festival stages had exceptionally popular artists that you would pay good money for to see individually such as DanielleBradbery, LANCO, RyanHurd, StephanieQuayle, LindsayEll, AshleyMcBryde, RyanKinder, HighValley, WalkerHayes, JillianJacqueline, MorganEvans, DeltaRae, MoPitney, LukasNelson&PromiseoftheReal, AshleyCampbell , RussellDickerson and many many more. The festival stages took place from Friday day time through to Sunday day time and included some evening after party shows which ran directly after the main arena events had closed.
The O2 is transformed into a mini Nashville during C2C Festival and fans are absolutely everywhere, it is heaving. The queues to get into each venue are very long and you get to experience full band shows to acoustic shows to songwriters rounds. Highlights on the pop up stages for many this year were AshleyMcBryde , LANCO , DeltaRae , DanielleBradbery and LukasNelson.
Then we have the main stage acts. In the last few years C2C has expanded from a two day event to a three day event by popular demand. This year, we, the UK were treated with a rarity of having TimMcGraw and wife FaithHill headline. Tim and Faith headlined the Friday night in London and brought over their entire Soul2Soul tour which they have been touring the US with. As well as hearing songs they released as a pair, we got to hear their solo hits too sich as Tim's stunning track Humble&Kind and Faith's huge UK hit in the 90's ThisKiss.
On Friday other main stage acts included the unmissable OldDominion who are worthy of being UK chart toppers with their country pop sound, witty lyrics and exceptional performance skills. Old Dominion are not a band to overlook and you wouldn't even consider them country by UK standards. Songs such as Break Up With Him and No Such Thing As A Broken Heart created a strong sing a long atmosphere which was electric.
KelseaBallerini also took to the stage. Country's new pop princess, this wonder woman of the stage has it all, beauty, stage presence, killer vocals and one heck of great list of songs such as Peter Pan, Legends and I Hate Love Songs. Kelsea is heading towards being the biggest thing in country music, taking over a title Taylor Swift once had in the genre before going pop. Kelsea, newly wed to MorganEvans brought her beau with her as he played the Spotlight Stage that night inside the O2 Arena in between main stage acts. Morgan, an Australian country artist won the crowd with his charm and his brilliant songs such as Kiss Somebody and I Do. Also on the Spotlight Stage that evening was rising star BrettYoung who played the O2 Arena in October with Lady Antebellum. Brett had the entire arena singing along to his hit In Case You Didn't Know.
Saturdays main stage acts saw the UK debut of LukeCombs who is looking to be the next big male country artist. His rock country sound shook the O2 and left everyone in awe enabling him to sell out his London's Shepherds Bush Empire date in October this year which prompted him to add an extra date.
Following Luke was the UK's favourite US star KipMoore. If you think you don't like country, listen to Kip Moore or better yet go and see him live on a whim and then think again about whether you like country or not. Kip Moore is ever the performer. Kip's mind blowing stage performance skills along with his fantastic band make you wonder why this guy is not the headliner of every festival going. Kip has a country rock voice that is so dang good and infectious that you could listen to him all day. Kip's three albums Up All Night, Wild Ones and Slowheart are some of the best material around in any genre, especially Wild Ones.
Taking stage after Kip was the eagerly anticipated return of country music duo Sugarland. Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush recently reformed and made their C2C debut which blew everyone away. Both Jennifer and Kristian have played C2C individually as solo artists but never as Sugarland, so this was a very special moment indeed. Sugarland filled the O2 Arena with so much energy and excitement with songs such as Stuck Like Glue that anyone who had to follow Luke, Kip and them had a hard task.
Set with that hard task was KaceyMusgraves. A radio 2 listeners favourite, people were concerned that Kacey and her mellow yet sassy music wouldn't quite cut it for a main stage act but how wrong the doubters were. Kacey pulled it out of the bag and then some. With her new album Golden Hour due out next week, Kacey treated the audience with her stunning new music as well as some of the classics such as Follow Your Arrow, Silver Lining and Merry Go Round to name a few. Kacey had upped her game since her last C2C performance and delivered a much more energetic and upbeat show – a show very worthy of a headline slot.
On the Spotlight stages on Saturday were Ashley McBryde who brought a more traditional country sound to the arena and enchanted her audience. Being the new IT girl in country music, Ashley left C2C being the most talked about artist from festival goers. Her songs Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega, American Scandal and Girl Going Nowhere created a storm big enough to pick her up and whiz her into a girl that is going everywhere.
Also on the Spotlight Stage was Jillian Jacqueline who made her UK debut last October as part of Country Music Week, Jillian's EP SideA is a stunning collection of modern country pop with some of the finest, sweetest and slick songs you will ever hear. Way beyond the boundaries of country music, Jillian needs to be a mainstream artist so do look her up.
LukasNelson son of legend Willie Nelson proved his worth and more on the Spotlight Stage. A country, soul, rock god this artist and his band Promise of The Real are as mainstage, headline worthy as the previously mentioned Kip Moore. A born performer, Lukas has so much to offer and became my highlight of the entire weekend and rocked the joint with his powerful tracks Find Yourself and Just Outside Of Austen. Lukas returns to the UK on July 10th for a show at London's The Garage so I highly recommend a visit.
Saturday also saw a truly stunning and emotional tribute to Glen Campbell which was delivered by his daughter Ashley Campbell. An artists in her own right and a phenomenal Banjo Player, Ashley gave us a medley of some of her fathers finest tracks such as Gentle On My Mind and Wichita Lineman. Ashleys performance was so powerful that the arena erupted and chanted for more.
Sundays main stage brought the UK debut of one of the most talked about new country bands in the US right now Midland. Bringing traditional back in both their music and fashion styles, Midland delivered one of the strongest performances across the weekend. Midland played tracks from their debut album On The Rocks and filled the arena with their insane performances of Drinkin' Problem, Make A Little and Check Cashin' Country. The trio captivated the O2 crowd and had everyone up and dancing to their slick, cool sound.
Following Midland was Americana artist MargoPrice. Having had a televised Glastonbury performance, Margo has made quite the career in the UK recently. Margo impressed the crowd with her music, albeit slightly chilled out and a bit too mellow after Midland but she still held her own and gave a hell of a show which included a "drum off" with her bands drummer with two drums sets on stage delivering one awesome jamming session. Margo also brought Lukas Nelson on stage to perform with her for a song his dad Wille Nelson recorded with Margo called Learning To Lose.
After Margo was the legendary EmmylouHarris who undoubtedly put on a show stopping, flawless performance. Again, a bit laid back which isn't a bad thing, just a bit too chilled for the last night, Emmylou had one of the biggest and most respectable crowds yet as everyone in the arena stood for her entire set. To be able to say you have seen Emmylou Harris live is a rarity and something to treasure.
Closing the festival was another UK favourite LittleBigTown. A vocal group so sensational, Little Big Town can do no wrong and always put on a performance that will blow your mind. Mesmerising doesn't quite do it enough justice, this band are the best of the best across all genres and vocally, no vocal group can beat them live. With one of the most impressive and much loved back catalogues which include Girl Crush, Boondocks and the Taylor Swift penned Better Man,Little Big Town played hit after hit and proved why they work so well together and why they are nominated for just about every award out there.
On Sundays Spotlight Stages were Canadian Country artist Lindsay Ell. Lindsay, best known for her insane guitar skills that put her up there with likes of Clapton,Lindsay showed the audience she was so much more than that with her beautiful vocals and amazing music from her newly released album The Project.
After Lindsay was Sony artist Russell Dickerson who brought a fresh, pop sound with his tracks Every Little Thing, Yours and Blue Tacoma. Russel is another artist to watch with his catchy, infectious music and will soon be all over the radio.
Last but far from least on the Spotlight Stage was Walker Hayes. Mixing hip hop with Country music, Walker had a lot of doubters who he soon converted into fans with just one song. Walker is quite the showman and stood in stage unaccompanied with just his guitar and loop pedal wowing the crowd with his songs Broke Up With Me , Shut Up Kenny and More.
All in All, this was one of the best C2C Festivals yet and stamps out all those stereotypes of country music being stetsons , boots and songs about trucks and beer.
C2C Festival is the place to be to discover new music and enjoy old music and a place to make you realise that you actually do like country music but never knew.
