[ManBeast]

(Original post by fnm)
Just saw their set at RaR, the crowd was terrible...literally just standing. If it's like that at DL I'm gonna cry.

I just hope that they don't get bottled etc. I never really go crazy at gigs anyway...doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it just means I don't want to jump around all the time either.

[fnm]

(Original post by ManBeast)
I just hope that they don't get bottled etc. I never really go crazy at gigs anyway...doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it just means I don't want to jump around all the time either.

Hope not Tbh I think they're quite well respected even with the heaviest of metal fans...eh but I guess time will tell.

Ah cool, I see-this sounds terrible (naive looking at it), but I kinda assumed most people at gigs (especially rock ones) generally enjoy dancing/jumping/moshing around ha, and if they're just observing they're not enjoying it as much.

[sensei_mooni]

aw i remember going to Download fest last year and it was ****ing awesome! can't go this year unfortunately due to A2 exams but hope everyone who's going has an awesome time!

[hobo06]

It's too early long drive ahead.

Hopefully won't manage to turn a 3 and a half hour journey into 8 hours this year! Will be avoiding the M25 for the most part this year, turn off asap after the Dartford Crossing, so hopefully no issues there today.

Anyways have a good weekend people!

Edit: doesn't look like it's raining at the moment on the webcam, let's hope it stays like that until after we've pitched our tents (and ideally the rest of the weekend, especially tomorrow, going to Alton Towers )

[ManBeast]

I'm getting the train from Sheffield to Derby on Sunday. Anybody know what the deal with the shuttle bus is? Can you just purchase a return ticket for it as you get on it? How long is the journey roughly from Derby station to the festival site?

Hoping I won't miss the last train home at 23:45!

[fnm]

(Original post by ManBeast)
I'm getting the train from Sheffield to Derby on Sunday. Anybody know what the deal with the shuttle bus is? Can you just purchase a return ticket for it as you get on it? How long is the journey roughly from Derby station to the festival site?

Hoping I won't miss the last train home at 23:45!

isn't the shuttle bus the internal thing that just goes to the car parks?

[ManBeast]

(Original post by fnm)
isn't the shuttle bus the internal thing that just goes to the car parks?

Yeah there's that and there are shuttle buses from Derby station and East Midlands Parkway going to and from the festival.

[Drunk Punx]

http://imgur.com/aoqIV

Unlucky.

[HeyyImRyan]

(Original post by Drunk Punx)
http://imgur.com/aoqIV

Unlucky.

That's Glastonbury 05/06

[Drunk Punx]

(Original post by HeyyImRyan)
That's Glastonbury 05/06

Is it? Someone on Facebook told me it was this years Download

[HeyyImRyan]

(Original post by Drunk Punx)
Is it? Someone on Facebook told me it was this years Download

Same thing happened to me, seems to be circulating facebook! But then someone informed me there are no hills at Download and the picture has hills, and that it's much too colourful to be download too


There is another picture that keeps popping up on my newsfeed though which is this year's Download - the weather is still pretty bad that's for sure

[ManBeast]

Great day out on Sunday. Luckily I think the weather got better and I got away with just wearing trainers and ended up a little sunburned too.

Kyuss Lives! were good, enjoyed Anthrax too. I though Black Label Society were a bit boring though. Soundgarden were the highlight for me, sounded amazing and got to hear some lesser-played older songs like Hunted Down and Drawing Flies with Beyond the Wheel to close!

I stood by the sound desk for Soundgarden but moved back for Black Sabbath to get out quicker. I think being that far back meant it took me longer to enjoy it but at least I got to hear War Pigs, Into the Void and Children of the Grave. I had to leave early as to not risk being caught in traffic and missing the last train back but think I only missed the last 2-3 songs.

[hobo06]

(Original post by HeyyImRyan)
Same thing happened to me, seems to be circulating facebook! But then someone informed me there are no hills at Download and the picture has hills, and that it's much too colourful to be download too


There is another picture that keeps popping up on my newsfeed though which is this year's Download - the weather is still pretty bad that's for sure

There are definitely hills, Red camp in particular, really rough terrain, and from what I've heard, ended up the boggiest because of it, but I'm still fairly certain that picture isn't Download, none of it was that bad. Plus there are far too many gazebos still standing :P



****ty start with the weather, ended up in Red camp, first time I've been in there...horrible horrible terrain for camping but managed to find a fairly decent spot by stomping down some grass/nettles, with some pretty cool neighbours. Went to Alton Towers on the Thursday, so although it was still raining, I wasn't sitting in the mud all day, which definitely helped my morale.

By Friday morning I didn't give a **** about the weather. Though don't quite understand the 2 hour (I think?) delay of the arena opening due to the conditions...we'd been trawling through the campsites and village for 2 days, the arena would have been nothing compared to that! I didn't care much for the bands that were cancelled on main, but good to see they at least managed to re-schedule Cancer Bats, and I liked the fact Billy Talent let them come out to play a track, even if it did mean they had to play a couple less songs themselves. Billy Talent are definitely one of my highlights of the weekend! Hoping for a headline tour later in the year when the new album is out.

Other notable highlights - Corey Taylor with Steel Panther. I don't know much of SP, so had no idea he had recorded with them. SP on the whole were quite fun, and followed by Tenacious D made for a great afternoon, especially with a sing-a-long of **** Her Gently.

Prodigy I've been wanting to see for a long time, so glad I've finally been able to. Though the length of the set was disappointing, and coming on stage nearly half hour late, but I guess that made for a better atmosphere being darker, otherwise they would have finished stupidly early.

Shinedown were also good, only heard a couple of songs previously, thought I'd give them a go, and they didn't disappoint. Though I didn't get the stupid long intro, for a start, wtf does Jay-Z have to do with it? Secondly, after playing a whole Jay-Z track, they then had a further instrumental intro. I'm sure people would have preferred a couple of extra of their own songs to be played. And what is with bands that have to chant their own name to get people to chant it back? You shouldn't have to prompt people to chant your band's name. But I'm willing to look past all that :P They're a decent band and put on a good show!

Went to see Rise Against as I'm not really much of Sabbath fan. But they played less than an hour so still managed to see a fair bit of Sabbath. RA were pretty good, again don't know much of them, but was impressed with the performance. And Sabbath - I watched from afar, couldn't hear too well, but from what I could see and hear, I was still enjoying it. If I'd have given them a proper chance and gone right down into the crowd, I've no doubt it would have been amazing, despite knowing nearly none of their songs.

And the biggest highlight of the whole weekend. Saw them at Sonisphere last year, thought they were pretty amazing then. But Metallica's performance at Download this year **** all over that, and just about every other show I've seen. Simply incredible. I was expecting the Black Album to be played from start to finish (with a few other tracks either side of course), so was a bit miffed after the screen presentation and Enter Sandman wasn't being played, took me a while to work out whether the next couple of tracks were from the album or if the presentation was just oddly placed in the set. But the order they did play was certainly the better choice.


Overall, another excellent weekend in Donington! Hopefully be back next year. Sorry for the long post, got a bit too carried away and almost ended up writing a review of every single band I saw :P


Edit: remembered another highlight. Was told when I left South car park Thursday morning I'd be able to go back in later (I checked as they didn't let me last year ), arrived again in the evening to find they wouldn't let me back in, so was pretty pissed off to have to head round to West again. But those shuttle buses are great, riding around Donington race track on a bus, our driver was pretty awesome, clearly enjoying it himself! Made up for having to queue for the bus :P

[fnm]

(Original post by ManBeast)
Great day out on Sunday. Luckily I think the weather got better and I got away with just wearing trainers and ended up a little sunburned too.

Kyuss Lives! were good, enjoyed Anthrax too. I though Black Label Society were a bit boring though. Soundgarden were the highlight for me, sounded amazing and got to hear some lesser-played older songs like Hunted Down and Drawing Flies with Beyond the Wheel to close!

I stood by the sound desk for Soundgarden but moved back for Black Sabbath to get out quicker. I think being that far back meant it took me longer to enjoy it but at least I got to hear War Pigs, Into the Void and Children of the Grave. I had to leave early as to not risk being caught in traffic and missing the last train back but think I only missed the last 2-3 songs.

Yeah Kyuss were great. Really tight performance. BLS were meh. And f*** yes, SG were the s***. Amazing set. Beyond the wheel. No words to say. Great mood to Ben was loving it. I left a few songs after war pigs. Great set.

[Serentonin]

Sabbath were mother ****ing incredible. Highlight of download tbh.

Refused were pretty ****ing slick too tbh.

And you guys are all boring for missing the end of sabbath tbh, you missed paranoid. Meant it took half an hour to get out of the carpark but who gives a **** when it's bloody sabbath. Had a 200 mile drive anyway so not like half an hour made that much difference.

[ironandwine]

i'm so jealous of all of you, why am i torturing myself why

[Flo[ProActiv]]

(Original post by Serentonin)
Sabbath were mother ****ing incredible. Highlight of download tbh.

Refused were pretty ****ing slick too tbh.

And you guys are all boring for missing the end of sabbath tbh, you missed paranoid. Meant it took half an hour to get out of the carpark but who gives a **** when it's bloody sabbath. Had a 200 mile drive anyway so not like half an hour made that much difference.

Impressed that you managed to get out of the car park in half an hour - it took us closer to an hour and a half, cause nothing was moving for ages (although we would have been further up in the queue if I hadn't got epically lost in the car park - think I walked over most of it attempting to find the car - if anyone saw a short girl wandering around on the phone repeatedly say 'I still can't see you, where am I supposed to be looking?', that was me)

[Serentonin]

(Original post by Flo[ProActiv])
Impressed that you managed to get out of the car park in half an hour - it took us closer to an hour and a half, cause nothing was moving for ages (although we would have been further up in the queue if I hadn't got epically lost in the car park - think I walked over most of it attempting to find the car - if anyone saw a short girl wandering around on the phone repeatedly say 'I still can't see you, where am I supposed to be looking?', that was me)

Ouch! Sounds like I got lucky then. Hour and a half sounds horrible. and at the getting lost, sounds like something I'd do.

[Flo[ProActiv]]

(Original post by Serentonin)
Ouch! Sounds like I got lucky then. Hour and a half sounds horrible. and at the getting lost, sounds like something I'd do.

Yeah, it was mental. We did leave pretty late - had to go back to the campsite (we were corner of white), pack the rest of the stuff up, and then get through the mass of people going the other way. My boyfriend went off to pack the car while I went to help our mates to the drop off point with their stuff, so by the time I got to the car park, it was about quarter to 12...then it took me nearly half an hour to find the car *facepalm*

Worst bit was, I was down to about 20p of credit on my phone. My boyfriend was practically pissing himself laughing at me by the time I got the car - he was giving me directions by phone, and could see me, but I was completely failing at following his instructions. At one point I could hear him on the phone, and hear him actually talking, but STILL couldn't find him.

----

Time to wash EVERYTHING.

[ManBeast]

I made it back to the train station (by shuttle bus, which weren't that well sign-posted where they were picking up imo) with about 30 minutes to spare. Might have been able to catch the rest of Sabbath's set but better to miss 2 songs than risk sitting in Derby train station until 5AM.