27th June 2015
Download Festival 2015
Overview
Download is an important event for Leicester; OK, it’s just over the county border but being on our door step makes it the biggest music event in our local area.
Music in Leicester sent Kevin Gaughan and Renaud (RhinoFeroSs photography) to cover the event and their reports and pictures are published on our three pages
together with a photo gallery that brings their work together in one place.
We gave them free rein to cover what they wanted to see. What they came up with was interesting: they caught some of the acts that would not have made it into the mass-media reports, bringing to life a side of the festival that a lot of other reports missed.
Nearly everyone focused their attention on Muse. So many of our local bands have taken Muse into their influences. Despite the criticisms leveled at the festival for headlining MUSE, the crowds loved them, by all accounts.
Marilyn Manson made a come-back – rejuvenated, if not re-invented – and enough people enjoyed the pleasant sounds of Motley Crue, to form a crowd. Slipknot, Judas Priest, Faith No More, Kiss, Slash… it seemed like a programme that had something for everybody.
It was not just the main stages that drew the faithful; the other stages also offered a musically mouth-watering menu of main courses, snacks and desserts. Long-established bands vied with up and coming virgins for attention. UK bands competed with those from Europe and the USA for attention. See the pictures of Blues Pills from Sweden, Apocalyptica from Finland, Cavalera Conspiracy from Brazil, Godsmack and L7 and Motionless in White from the USA… they all had something to offer and possibly, for some fans, a chance to see bands they might not have come across before.
Some of our local bands were there: like The Struts from Derby who played at The Cookie Jar in 2014 with Casino Empire. Remember Surrender The Coast? They played at the festival in 2013. Getting at slot at something as big as Download is a huge step forward for local bands; Glastonbury too, of course, when The Heroes got to play there and These Furrows.
Donington Park was the venue chosen for the Monsters of Rock events, which started in 1979. The location was known primarily as a race track but its closeness to major motorway links made it an ideal location for a music festival. The festival stopped for a while, following the death of two people in the crowd at the Guns N’ Roses performance but started up again in 1990 – with limitations put the size of the crowd. In 2003 the festival was taken over by Live Nation and re-named Download.
We report on Download because, for us, it is a local festival. We don’t do Glastonbury, Leeds, Reading or other events that are well outside of our local catchment – although we will of course carry news about local bands that get slots at these events.
See also:
Our main page listing this year’s local music festivals
Our report on the Hand-Made Festival
