Sunday 14th June 2015
Download Festival on Sunday
Apologies but the photos that were on this page have now been lost.
Report by Kevin Gaughan
LTNT – Jake’s Stage
This three piece from London have only been producing rock music since 2011 and already they’re playing Download and about to accompany Seether on the European leg of their worldwide tour!
Unfortunately, in common with all the other stages at this time, Jake’s stage was only about half full of soggy Downloaders. This isn’t unusual for a Sunday at Download as the weekend’s events start to take their toll on the weary metallers.
This didn’t stop LTNT ripping up Jake’s stage and giving it their all. They were loud, heavy, and grunge-tastic! Loving the moody, grungy at times, wailing at other times, guitars, they put on a rocket-powered, mostly topless performance.
Just the ticket to get me back into gear after another, damp, largely sleepless, night in my tent, as the rain started to grace us with it’s presence once more.
L7 – Encore Stage
L7, a four-piece all female American grunge band since the late eighties, after having a chequered career, this was their reunion show and first live performance in fourteen years!
What an absolute treat they were, too, starting off with the classic, Andre, which worked the crowd into a grungetastic frenzy. This was one of those performances where they performed a number of songs which I had forgotten about but absolutely loved, Andre and Pretend we’re Dead, being two of them.
Red haired bass guitarist, Jennifer Finch, was very entertaining to watch, although, given their controversial history (including stripping on stage and throwing their used tampons into the audience) I can’t help thinking we got a watered down version.
It was great to see them back, though.
Mötley Crüe – Main stage
Starting in style and as they meant to go on, with on-stage Fireworks in their opening song, Saints of Los Angeles, Mötley Crüe exploded onto the stage.
Performing the most popular songs from their back catalogue, including Dr. Feelgood, Girls, Girls, Girls and Kickstart my Heart. It was great to hear the old Gary Glitter and Sex Pistols covers, Smokin’ in the Boys Room and Anarchy in the UK, too.
The crowd were mad for it, the main stage was at capacity, with the tens of thousands of metallers stretching back as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately, as this was Mötley Crüe’s last ever tour, that made this their last ever Download performance. Having been together for 35 years, as lead singer, Vince Neil, explained, we should see this as a celebration of Mötley Crüe music. Ending with an encore of Home Sweet Home, the atmosphere in the massive crowd was so poignant, it actually brought a tear to me eye – don’t tell anyone, though!
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Kiss – Main stage
Blasting onto the main stage with Detroit Rock City were American glam rock band, Kiss. Mostly around in the 70s and 80s and known for their make-up and six inch platform boots, it was great to see this band on the main stage.
As with Mötley Crüe, the performance started with fireworks and various pyrotechnics which lasted throughout the set. Although Kiss have made two albums since 2000, their set-list consisted entirely of their old classics from the 70s to the 90s, which made this maturing rocker very happy! Being a band from quite a few decades ago, I wondered if they would look and sound dated, but no, they translated to the Download 2015 main stage impressively, going down well with the young Downloaders of today. Of course a lot of bands these days are still doing the makeup thing.
Bass guitarist, Gene Simmons, who now presents his own rock show (BBC Radio 2, Wednesdays at 22:00) performed his usual blood-spitting trick during one of his own bass solos. I’ve seen this so many times, it didn’t impress me when I was a young, impressionable teenager, and it still doesn’t impress me today. Towards the end of the set, during Love Gun, Paul Stanley flew on a wire, over the crowd, to a small stage next to the sound desk and continued performing, so that he could be near the crowd – this was a nice touch.
Ending with an encore of Shout it out Loud, I was made for Lovin’ You and Rock and Roll All Nite, one fine performance, day, and indeed, festival, came to an end.
See more from Download 2015
See also
Our main page for music festivals in 2015
