Friday 12th June 2015
Download Festival on Friday
Report by Kevin Gaughan with additional material by Renaud of RhinoFeroSs (sorry but the photos that were on this page have now been lost.)
DragonForce – The Maverick stage
The Maverick stage was packed to the rafters as I entered to find DragonForce in full, errr, force. This Six piece metal band from London have been making huge noises on the UK’s metal scene since 1999.
Fast, Furious and heavy, complimented by Marc Hudson’s piercing vocals, the band titillated my heavy metal buttons. Not having heard the band for a few years, they were faster and heavier than I remember.
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Later in the set, they were joined by (very) young, Japanese, all-female metal band, Babymetal, who were great to watch, oozing with confidence and added a nice touch to DragonForce’s serious metal sound.
Babymetal consists of three Japanese teenage girls who have been together since 2010 and already have an album under their belts and are touring the world.
Fightstar – The Maverick stage
Not being ashamed to admit that the reason I stayed on in the Maverick stage to see Fightstar was mainly because it was wet and muddy outside, warm, dry and noisy inside.
Fightstar are a four piece, screaming rock band from London, formed in 2003 and have already played Download’s main stage in 2009 to a healthy, circle-pitting crowd.
Having packed the Maverick stage full of sweaty metal-heads, the place erupted into metal-mayhem as they performed their set. I was glad I stayed on as they were fantastic to watch, the contrasting alternating vocal styles from messrs Charlie Simpson and Alex Westaway, scream and non-screamo, were good to listen to.
The rapid fire beats from Omar Abidi on drums was also a stand-out, head thumping, feature of this performance.
Renaud of RhinoFeroSs reports on
Blues Pills – Encore stage
This rock quartet that comes from Sweden delivered a rock which, although not revolutionary, is very catchy and full of charm. Here no elaborate pyrotechnics, no make-up or even fiery speeches.
Blues Pills is a story of four passionate, playing with simplicity a music that vibrates and speaks directly to your heart. It could be a rapprochement with the 70’s and Janis Joplin, and it is true that the powerful voice of the singer can remind the performances of the icon of rock, but Blues Pills is rooted in its time and is successful in this marriage between modernity and tradition, where others are merely rehashing a rock nostalgic of itself.
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Slipknot – Main stage
Slipknot is a well oiled machine and produced an efficient show that met the expectations of a drenched crowd, in prey to the vagaries of weather at Donington Park.
The stage set-up lasted about an hour, with the installation of two mobile platforms on each side of the stage for the percussionists. The result was superb and visually successful. Musically the band played of course a lot of tracks from their latest album, but did not hesitate to satisfy the fans of the first hour by playing debut songs as the chaotic Eyeless. The massive size of the group today has not much to do with his roots, but the energy remains intact.
More from Download
See also:
Our report on Download Festival in 2014
Our report on the Riverside Festival in 2015
See our page listing music festivals in 2015
