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‘With a line-up this stacked, you pull on the wellies and plough in.’
Download Festival
Donington Park, Leicestershire
From rock and metal to electro-rave and disco-rock, Donington’s 2019 knees-up has something for fans of all heavy music.
FRIDAY
★Another year, another ‘Drownload’. The weather forecast is miserable and the mud is biblical, but with a lineup this stacked, the only thing to do is pull on the wellies and plough right in.
Eighties rockers Tesla kick things off on the main stage with 30 minutes of spandex-clad sleaze that gives plenty of lungs in the field a good workout.
Blackberry Smoke are about the least ‘metal’ band here today, but they fill their set with Dixie warmth and welly-stomping riffage – Charlie Starr swapping his mellower side for urgent, biting delivery. The dirtier end of their southern rock arsenal, peaking with the deep chug of Flesh And Bone, goes down especially well.
You’d think that – those quietly dressed Marylanders without so much as a backdrop – might pale on the main stage. You’d be wrong. Drawing heavily from 2018’s , they make mincemeat of their surroundings with super-sized grooves combining rock, funk, blues and metal. It’s one of the best sets of the weekend – propelled by
