‘The hottest band in the world are going out with a hell of a bang.’
FRIDAY
Three years since Download Festival last hosted its (usually) annual full-scale rock’n’roll blow-out and there’s no small sense of triumph seeing 80,000-plus fans return to Donington Park. The sun is shining, and Wayward Sons’ riffs blow on the wind as bodies press through the gates, adding an extra strut to the step that will surely be reduced to a hobble by the end of three days’ celebration.
Under baking sun, the Kris Barras Band – frontman Barras must be at least 85 per cent tattoo – secure a raft of new fans, with the likes of blues-rock stomper Hail Mary hitting with conviction. Myles Kennedy might have one of rock’s finest voices, but it means little if his backing band are reduced to a tinny, indistinguishable garble by poor sound on the Opus Stage. Brief flickers of southern-inflected guitar twangs can be detected that suggest the promise of a good time, albeit in another time and another place.
A remixed Imperial March can mean only one thing. No one owns the sun-soaked mid-evening slot like Welsh ragga-rockers Skindred. There’s a superbly daft energy about Pressure and That’s My Jam, with their bouncy, jagged riffs, and frontman Benji Webbe conducts with his usual zeal. Are they a novelty band? To an extent. But they always top the fun stakes.
Whether going hell for leather on Ready To Rock and Breakin’ Outta Hell or the leviathan stomp of Back In The Game and Boneshaker, Airbourne are just what the doctor ordered to get the blood pumping in the Opus Stage audience. “You’re worth waiting two years for – you’d be worth waiting two million,” vocalist Joel O’Keeffe says breathlessly, the huge grin on his face reflecting the sentiment. “Let’s have a moment of silence for all the other bands… who we just murdered.”
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes might be cocksure, but that swagger is exactly why they headlined last year’s Pilot. Juggernaut, Devil Inside Me and Crowbar are exhilarating, delivered with all the piss and vinegar a growing punk phenom needs, while the cover Drain The Blood pays respectful tribute to planned Opus headliners The Distillers.
Despite certain face-painted men taking over the Apex Stage, Swedish band Blues Pills pull an admirably large audience in the Dogtooth tent. Singer Elin Larsson is a real live wire, crowd surfing and pogoing around in equal measure. Her huge vocal range is well complemented with bluesy stabs and rollicking riffs. A particularly manic Low Road earns the loudest cheers.
Electric Wizard’s headline set kicks off with a squall of abyssal noise, the perfect antidote to the painted-up glitz of Kiss. This is ugly music with uglier lyrics, and so punishing it feels like we’ll witness the heat-death of the universe before the end of a song, while psychedelic imagery flashing on screens behind the band enhances the overall apocalyptic effect. By the time the band get to closer the audience has
