I'm going to the Download Festival on Sunday. Well, I went and returned and am ready to share all my experiences of this historical day with all of you. Before I do, I'd like to mention something that happened as I was walking into the festival. I happened to ask one of the security staff if there had been any fatalities or drunken brawls. The security person stated, "No, that doesn't happen at Download, it's a friendly festival." That makes my point which some of you mentioned in my post about the backlash. Everyone thinks awful things happen at metal concerts when indeed, it's the non-metal festivals these things happen at. Anyway, enough of that, here's Sunday Download.
First band up on the day was British hard rock band, Inglorious. They would have been my choice for band whom I never heard of who really impressed me had I not listened to them on Youtube mix. I was really impressed with what I had heard on Youtube and therefore had high hopes for them when they hit the stage. I wasn't disappointed, they won me over straight away. Lead singer Nathan James really connected with the crowd and has a great range with his voice. I loved it when he got the crowd to chant "Fuck Gene Simmons" before the second song. I don't know what issue the band has with Gene but it must make an interesting story. The guitar work of Swedish born Andreas Eriksson was also very impressive. When they left the stage after a half hour of great hard rock, my thought was that if Inglorious don't make it to the summit of the rock and roll mountain, then there is no justice in the world. I urge all of you to have a listen to them.
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Inglorious open the day[/caption][caption id="attachment_4579" align="aligncenter" width="285"]
Drew Lowe, Colin Parkinson and Phil Beaver make a great rhythm section[/caption][caption id="attachment_4580" align="aligncenter" width="282"]
Nathan James singing his heart out to the crowd[/caption]
While I heard of the second band on the day, Cradle of Filth, I must I never really listened to them. My most noted experience is their excellent rendition of the Twisted Sister classic, "The Fire Still Burns" on the "Twisted Forever" album. I have also heard several versions of how they were booed off the stage at Bloodstock in 2009. The reason for that, I've been told, was that the Bloodstock crowd considered them too popular for Bloodstock although alternative reasons had been put forward. Therefore, I had no impressions or expectations of them beforehand.
They hit the Download stage in full frenzy. They had the hunger that many support bands I have seen over the years possess. It seems they were out to assault the ear drums from the first moment and they succeeded. I also liked their make up, it did remind me of something out of a zombie B-movie but it worked well. While I can't say that I've been converted to the Cradle cause and intend to buy their entire discography, I won't, I did think they were pretty good and kept things going quite well.
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Cradle of Filth- out to frighten young children[/caption][caption id="attachment_4582" align="aligncenter" width="255"]
I thought this was a good shot of them[/caption][caption id="attachment_4583" align="aligncenter" width="254"]
Guitars and bass do that 80s rocking back and forth close together thing.[/caption]
Inglorious wasn't the only band I listened to on Youtube in the days before Download. I also listened to some Hatebreed. They didn't impress me as much as the first band did so they weren't on my 'must see' list. After Cradle of Filth, I decided to take a walk and ended up heading over to the Avalanche Stage. It was here that I discovered the band I truly had never heard of before but really impressed me, Puppy. They're a three piece band with the guitarist taking on the vocal responsibilities. His vocals are good and he has a good on stage rapport with the bassist but really impressed me was their power. While not thrash, they could collectively hit the right power chords and they really did impress me. Furthermore, they must have impressed a lot more people because at the end of their set, the guitarist remarked that he didn't expect that many people there to see them. I think that's a sign of things to come for this band. One I urge you to check out as well.
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Puppy- Sorry, this was the best shot I could get of the band under all of those lights.[/caption]
Puppy proved a good warm up to one of the bands I was dying to see. After eating an overpriced burger and watching the first bout of the NXT Wrestling, I headed over to the Zippo Stage to see the band I've been wanting to see for 32 years, Kreator. I managed to get almost to the front so I was in a great position to see them when they came out. Kreator hit the stage running at about 250 mph with "Phantom Antichrist" and didn't look back. They might have only been on stage 30 minutes but they didn't stop from start to finish treating the audience to "Hail to the Hordes," Hordes of Chaos," which Mille referred to the crowd as and "Suicide Terrorist" and ended with my all time favourite "Pleasure to Kill." Two things surprised me on what I saw. One was that most of the shredding was done by Sami Yli Sirnio. Don't get me wrong, Sami can smoke the six string but I've always thought that Mille Petrozza was just as capable. Saying that, it worked for them. The other thing was that Mille does know how to work a crowd and get them participating, he's a much better front man than I expected. Like I said, the band gave their all because when they left, Mille looked like he needed to use a different underarm deodorant and drummer Ventor was drenched in sweat. Thirty-two years and it was well worth the wait.
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Mille leads Kreator onto the stage[/caption][caption id="attachment_4586" align="aligncenter" width="266"]
Mille supports while Sami shreds.[/caption]
Still buzzing by Kreator's performance, I returned to the main stage in time to catch the final couple of songs of In This Moment. Lead by lead singer Maria Brink, the band backed up what looked to be an interesting theatrical stage show. Because I got there at the end, I couldn't get what the story was about but it looked like a woman who looked like Maria was acting like Maria's slave while she sang but while it would have been interesting to see the entire show, I don't regret giving it up for Kreator.
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In This Moment performing their theatrics.[/caption]
Rejoining my stepson Teal who had remained at the main stage, he did say that In This Moment's show was quite good and he thought Hatebreed were pretty good as well and they paid tribute to Kreator. That was cool but we both awaited the appearance of Black Veil Brides. These were on my "I have to check out" list so I made it a point to see them. I wanted to see if they were really Motley Crue for the twenty-teens. They weren't they were better and I must say that I was very impressed with their often melodic, sometimes power metal. Of course, they played the song they're known best for, "Fallen Angels" and I sang the chorus along with everyone else in the crowd. "Faithless" was played very brilliantly too and I found myself harmonizing the "Whoa-oh" along with the crowd. When they left the stage, they had definitely made a believer out of me and Teal because he wasn't too keen to see them at first, he said he didn't regret it after.
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Black Veil Brides make their appearance[/caption][caption id="attachment_4592" align="aligncenter" width="260"]
Bassist Ashley Purdy comes to my side of the stage[/caption][caption id="attachment_4593" align="aligncenter" width="251"]
Andy , Jinx and Jake in action[/caption][caption id="attachment_4594" align="aligncenter" width="257"]
Andy comes our way.[/caption][caption id="attachment_4595" align="aligncenter" width="253"]
Guitarists rocking out on centre stage.[/caption]
Shinedown was another band I had only heard on Youtube just a few days before Download and as a result, which was also down to my not wanting to lose my place for Marilyn and Ozzy, I remained in place to see them. A wise decision this turned out to be. Shinedown were another band I had no familiarity with but really impressed me on the day. I'm probably way out of the ball park on this but they reminded me of classic 1970s hard rock. Their hour on stage went by too fast, playing a combination of old material and some from their latest album. Brent Smith is a good vocalist and showman as any of them and the band behind him played very well. I was quite impressed when bassist Eric Bass (no that's not a pun) played acoustic guitar. For some reason, it's what I remember most about them, probably because the song played to it was good.
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Shinedown begin[/caption][caption id="attachment_4597" align="aligncenter" width="275"]
Playing in the smoke[/caption][caption id="attachment_4598" align="aligncenter" width="271"]
A good shot of Eric Bass[/caption]
As the evening progressed, the excitement mounted for the top two acts on the card. Marilyn Manson came out first, stating that he hates the daylight but that couldn't be helped. He had the crowd eating out of his hand from the outset and all the things I heard about his kick ass live shows were true. I was personally pleased when he performed my personal favourite of his, "This is the New Hit" but the day had been going like that. He sang many other of his best hits as well and what surprised me a little was that while he performed his version of 80s synth pop song, "Sweet Dreams," he didn't do "Tainted Love," not that it bothered me. He did have several background and costume changes as well. Starting with the upside down black and white flag with the crosses, then a picture of himself and following that, the upside down cathedral. His final costume choice was bold because it was a large frilly black coat and it was still quite hot outside. While his show was top rate, I was a little disappointed about the end because he exited the stage without any thank you or acknowledgement of the crowd.
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Marilyn commands the stage[/caption][caption id="attachment_4601" align="aligncenter" width="274"]
Manson comes to the centre of the stage but too many hands got in the way.[/caption][caption id="attachment_4602" align="aligncenter" width="303"]
Cool lights and Marilyn's guitarist and drummer[/caption][caption id="attachment_4603" align="aligncenter" width="287"]
Marilyn singing without a shirt on[/caption][caption id="attachment_4604" align="aligncenter" width="291"]
I used the large screen to get this shot of him.[/caption]
Finally, the main event: Ozzy Osbourne came to the stage. Before he came out, however, he called out from backstage, "I can't fucking hear you!" two times before he came out and only when the audience was good and loud. Once he did, it was Ozzy mayhem from beginning to end. While he wasn't doing acrobatics on stage, he still moved around fairly well for someone approaching 70. It was no surprise he began the show with "Bark at the Moon," he did that when I saw him 32 years earlier. It was the second song that got me going, probably my all time Ozzy favourite, "Mr Crowley." If that wasn't enough of a surprise, instead of "Iron Man" he sang my all time favourite Black Sabbath song, "War Pigs." So, you can imagine my euphoria after that. It was after that classic that Zak Wylde dazzled with his guitar skills. The funny thing was that during his solo, he started playing the opening riffs to "Perry Mason" and I thought that would be the next song. Unfortunately not, but it wasn't a disappointment. Instead, Tommy Clufetos went into a massive drum solo, thus further wowing the crowd. When Ozzy returned, there were more of the classics, "Road to Nowhere," "Dreamer" and I was a little surprised when he played "Shot in the Dark," It was overdubbed with keyboards but it still sounded okay. In all cases, he got the crowd fully involved and there was plenty of shouting and hand waving along to his songs to be had. When he left the first time, no one was surprised to see him come back quickly and when he did, he treated the crowd to "Mama I'm Coming Home" and of course, "Paranoid." However, when he left for good after all the good byes and fanfare, I realized his show was twenty minutes shorter than what it was billed for. Yes, he could have done a few more classics, but he went out on a major high.
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Ozzy's stage[/caption][caption id="attachment_4607" align="aligncenter" width="262"]
Ozzy's kick ass show[/caption]
I regret that there's only two photos of Ozzy's piece of history. That was because my memory card was full. Nevertheless, he ended what was a glorious Sunday at Download.
I did take videos of Kreator and Ozzy but stupid Wordpress won't let me upload them here. They won't even let me paste a link to it on Facebook.
Next post: Bryan Adams- Reckless
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The J Geils Band[/caption]
The J Geils Band[/caption]
