Saturday

Having had to repair the tent during the night and rescue the mangled gazebo from a neighbours tent it was time for a bit of rock and the after all it was ‘Snake pit Saturday’.

Without doubt one of the poorest sets witnessed by the Festivals For All team over the weekend came from WWE star Chris Jericho's on-going musical effort Fozzy. Their set was a complete disaster and it is obvious that their success is entirely due to the wrestling credentials their front man holds and not for their musical talent (due to a lack thereof) their songs were fairly dull and often it seemed like the band were playing entirely different songs to each other. Having heard their click track boom out of the PA prior to one of their songs you'd think they would manage such a simple task as playing in time but unfortunately even that proved just a bit too much for this band. If you ever get the chance to watch Fozzy, do everything in your power to make sure you don't.  

Saxon never let you down, this is what Download is all about, getting the greatest rock bands of all time to come and play at the home of rock. The crowd is huge for a midday start but Saxon deserve the adulation from the Donington faithful and as the opening riff to ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’ booms across the arena its clear were in for one hell of a show. Biff’s desire to move around the huge snake pit stage gets the crowd going, he also turns to watch his band play and then beckons them to the crowd and they duly follow their leader. Mixing the old with the new is pretty easy for Saxon ‘Hammer of the Gods’, ‘Power & the Glory’ a crowd chosen ’20,000 feet’ and a storming rendition of ‘Denim and Leather’ give the crowd a taste of the bands history before one of their best loved songs ‘Wheels of Steel’ baiting the crowd that this could be their last appearance at Donington Biff launches into the Donington inspired ‘And the Bands Played On’ and with that they are gone for another year.

Don Broco get to play to a packed out Pepsi Max Stage and really seem up to the job, playing their high energy rock gives the crowd as much pleasure as it does the band, new song ‘Actors’ goes down really well before a fitting finish to the set ‘Dreamboy’ 

Golden Tanks take to the Red Bull stage hailing from Reading they come with huge growling vocals and brutal guitars, a great set at a break neck speed definitely ones for the future.

I Divide are like watching Funeral for a Friend 10 years ago, you know they are going places and you know they have the energy, you just don’t know how long it’s going to take them. Bouncing their way through their set and bringing the crowd along for the ride I Divide show what the Red Bull Stage is all about, giving bands a chance.

This was Never Means Maybe’s second Download, their first appearance two years ago they seemed glad to be there and living the moment, this time their performance was of a band that deserved to be there.  There set was full of energy and the bands were really tight and Renz Byrne vocals were right on the money.  

One of the highlights of the weekend was always going to be punk legends Anti-Nowhere league taking the huge crowd back to the days of old with classics such as ‘I Hate People’, ‘Streets of London’ and ‘Let’s Break The Law’. Lead singer Animal has always been a showman and nothing has changed, and when he announces that they have something in common with tonight’s headliners Metallica the crowd know what’s coming ‘So What’ caused so much controversy when it was released in 1981 it quickly became the bands anthem and was given a new lease of life when Metallica covered it as part of ‘Garage Inc’. Finishing their set with ‘We Are the League’ seems so fitting.

Theory of a Deadman take to the second stage and quickly start with ‘Low Life’ which is a great sing a long festival song, as Tyler Connolly apologises to all the women in the crowd as the band launch into ‘Bitch Came Back’. Breaking off from an American tour to play for just 30 minutes seems insane but the band seems to be enjoying themselves and so do the crowd, although not the biggest crowd they have played to they are pitted up against Tenacious D who seem to be playing to one of the non-headline biggest crowds of the weekend. There was never any doubt that Tenacious D would be a crowd pleaser and they delivered exactly what the crowd wanted! They played classic singalongs from their first two albums such as 'Tribute', 'Double Team', 'F*** Her Gently', 'Kickapoo' and 'Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown) as well as some lesser known material off of their latest album. Tenacious D filled the area surrounding the main stage and provided the audience with the party they wanted!

In recent years Biffy Clyro have grown bigger and bigger, the crowd they played to at Download only proved this. Playing predominantly songs from their latest album they also played a few of their older songs that the crowd were waiting for. Their stage show has become incredible and really is something that can be enjoyed even if there music isn't there! As usual another fantastic set from one of Scotland's finest! 

The Union took to the Pepsi Max stage through what can only be described as the biggest smoke screen ever and to the sound of The Strawbs ‘Part of the Union’ which had the crowd singing along before the band had even struck a note. Kicking off with ‘Watch the River Flow’ the band quickly finds their rhythm and with Pete’s voice in fine form the atmosphere really starts to build early. Keeping up the tempo with ‘Black Gold’ and the thunderous ‘Obsession’ the band and crowd really start to enjoy each other and with Pete shouting “Come On” at every opportunity, you can see why the band are really highly thought of throughout the world of rock. Luke Morley’s gift to the crowd starts with the first notes of ‘Black Monday’ and what a sing a long it is too, finishing with the latest album title track ‘Siren’s Song’ leaves the crowd wanting more, but alas time has run out on us and ‘The Union’. 

While 99% of the Download faithful made their way to the main stage for Metallica, a few die hard cockneys made their way to the Red Bull Stage to see The Cockney Rejects.   The rejects delivered a great set of classic punk not track lasted more than two minutes, lead vocalist Jeff Turner ran up and down the stage, spitting out lyrics while shadow boxing clearly fitter than any other artist performing at Download this year.  The inevitable encore was I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles which went down a storm, a truly great performance 

Metallica are undoubtedly the biggest metal band on the planet and their shows prove this, tonight’s performance is faultless and with the added bonus of hearing their ground breaking ‘Black Album’ in its entirety will live long in the memory of everyone who witnessed it. kicking off with ‘Hit the Lights’ and ‘Master of Puppets’ the crowd quickly find their voices and mosh pits spring up throughout the huge crowd (FFA managed to keep out of the 80 foot one that materialised right next to us, thankfully, it was mostly women kicking the s**t out of their male companions). With the first bass drum beats of ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ the crowd go into over drive, and as Lead Singer ‘James Hetfield’ struts his way around the Snake Pit stage it is evident that this is the best band on the planet right now. The band decided to mix things up a little with the ‘Black album’ and play it in reverse much to the crowds delight as they know the making of history will end with Metallica’s biggest and most well know song and as those first bars of ‘Enter Sandman’ ring out across the arena the cheers are deafening, and with the pyrotechnics that always accompany the song we are all left in awe of the magic that is Metallica. The encore consists of more old songs in ‘Battery’, ‘One’ and the inevitable ‘Seek & Destroy’.