Download climaxes with a feast of rock legends on the main stage

Armed with lots of suncream, we set up a nice place to sit down in the scorching sun to enjoy a day in front of the main stage as all of the bands I want to catch are on the main stage. So a nice relaxing day in the sun what could possibly go wrong?

Saxon performed their entire 'Wheels Of Steel' album in order as promised, even after all of these years Saxon still have the talent to keep pleasing audiences, and today was no exception. Saxon proved that old bands can still entertain and that rock music is far from dead.

Next up was another classic rock band, Cinderella, who brought their energetic vibrant songs along to wake everyone up who were still suffering with their hangovers. They attracted a big crowd and even though most people were probably watching them partly for nostalgic reasons the band seemed to give it one hundred percent and even slipped in the obligatory ballad 'Coming Home'.

Slash is rock music personified, he is the cliché rock star who has been there done that, got the t-shirt, but he never seems to let that go to his head, and throughout the whole debacle when Guns N Roses split up and Axl started to try and create bad press for Slash, Slash has always remained dignified and never retaliated in a nasty way. Slash promised that he would play a few tracks from his Donington past, and even though his own material was enough to entertain with vocalist Myles Kennedy (of Alter Bridge) it just couldn't excite the crowd as much as the Guns N Roses tracks 'Sweet Child 'O Mine' and 'Paradise City' which managed to get everyone on their feet to show their appreciation of one of rock musics legendary guitarists.

Billy Idol entertained us with all of his 80s classics such 'Rebel Yell' and 'Ready Steady Go', However it was during his set that the heavens opened up, and singing 'White Wedding' felt a little bit ironic when he got to the line "It's a nice day for a white wedding". The acoustic intro for it gave it a little twist. However the rain did play havoc with the microphone and electronic equipment on stage.

Due to the rain, we thought it would be better to head over to the Pepsi Max stage and catch Young Guns's set, which seemed to be appreciated by the drenched fans inside the tent. Their energetic set warmed up many of the rain soaked punters.

After grabbing some lunch from a Noodle stall that actually provided edible food for a change, it was time to find a good viewpoint to catch the legendary Aerosmith.

Joe Perry (Guitarist) and Steve Tyler (vocalist) both have bucket loads of stage presence and really know which buttons to press to amaze the crowd. It had been rumoured that Joe and Steve have fallen out with each other but you would have been hard pushed to spot any friction between them during this performance.

Opening with 'Love In An Elevator' they captivated the audience and despite the fact that the band members have been around for many years, they still have the skills required to give some of the more younger and energetic bands a good run for their money.

It was also a rather surreal sight to see thousands of rock music fans swaying slowly to 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing'.

This was a good solid set from a band that have stood the test of time. Even though they missed out 'Janie's Got A Gun' and 'Dude Looks Like A Lady'.

After three days of rock, we had been badly sunburnt, badly drenched, covered in mud, and yet somehow despite all of this realised what an exceptional event this had been and where else in the world could we see such a legendary lineup?

Despite the few little problems with parking, we felt that Download is in a league of its own, and it will be quite some time before any festival comes close to matching this. The only problem I can see now is how on earth are they going to top this years Download? Van Halen and Bon Jovi might just top this year's Download! Fingers crossed!

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