Saturday at Download is dominated by Metallica's black and white performance

"You know what time it is? Time to DIE!" And so concludes an incredible set from Turbowolf. Their whirling dervish of a front man leads an incredible 30 minutes of ballsy rock that comes from the pit of his lungs to the faces of increasing numbers of smiling people that get turned onto their infectious grooves and screaming choruses. Several people are singing along to numbers old and new and by the time they finish, there isn't a person leaving the 3rd stage not feeling completely blown away.

Over on the Zippo Encore stage, Turbonegro are making sure that it is party time. As The Duke of Nothing enters the stage draped in a union jack and declaring us all citizens of Norway, they proceed to deliver a set full of songs about sex, good times and at one point a crowd section divided between 'Wooahs' and 'Erection' that has mixed levels of enthusiasm. The band is famed for their dressing up, although the guitarist did remind me of Dot Cotton from Eastenders.

Lower Than Atlantis struggled with several technical issues but handled themselves so professionally that other British bands should take note. They were seriously tight and deserve their reputation as a superb live act. Mike Duce encouraged punters to mass crowd surf whilst a guitar string was repaired and threatened to fire his guitar tech for several issues but all in good humour. The crowd was noticeably smaller than Turbonegro previously, but those that were there were treated to a great slice of modern British rock. Ones to watch closely over the next few years.

Tenacious D were a revelation. Watching a cock-shaped phoenix rise out of the back of the stage as Jack Black and Kyle Glass had their robes removed immediately set the tone, the audience knew this was going to be a LOT of fun. Launching into several numbers from their new album 'Rise Of The Fenix', they engaged the crowd between songs with hilarious banter and taking the mick out of rock star behaviour. "What's wrong with our lead guitarist?" asked Jack, and they began the finest piece of comedy ever to grace the main stage at Donnington in the form of 'Beelzeboss'. Rushing across the stage and the cameras perfectly positioned to capture all the crazy facial expressions. 'Fuck Her Gently' has every single person singing along in time with them and a storming 'Tribute' reminds people that they aren't a joke, but a bonafide rock band. That is until the phoenix head explodes in a cum-shot shower of confetti during the incredible solo outro.

Biffy Clyro come onto stage with 'Mountains' and continue from there to show people how far they've come in 10 years from their second album that they recorded in 2 hours. Cameras mounted on the microphones provide the audience with an up close look at the 3 singing at various points during songs that cover a range of their albums and they power in with 'Golden Rule' and 'Get Fucked Stud' from their Only Revolutions album.

They are clearly a band that is comfortable in front of any audience, but Simon Neil's interactions are slightly withdrawn following Tenacious D's fevered participation. The slower numbers of 'Many Of Horror' go down well, and the crowd that have got to the front are rewarded with a great performance that reminds people that plenty of hard work and touring your ass off year on year will reap benefits. The fact that 'Toys Toys Toys' fits so well into their new material (which sounded amazing) shows that Biffy have a massive catalogue of great songs to pull from.

The sold out day is brought to a close by Metallica and there are 2 ways of looking at them tonight. The first is that when they begin and finish the set they are HUGE. 'Master of Puppets' and finale 'Battery' and 'Seek and Destroy' get everyone singing along and realising how great their good material is.

However, the decision to play the Black album in its entirety should not have been announced ahead of the show. When they last played Download, I was greeted with cries from several close friends that looked like kids being told they were going to Disneyland when the announcement was made that they were playing 'Master of Puppets' from start to finish. It was an event. This wasn't. The songs were limited to those that got into the band at that point in their career. For the rest of the crowd, it was realising that this was the point that one of the greatest thrash bands of the 80's and 90's were writing ballads and changing to a more mainstream sound and it felt boring at points. Playing it backwards ramps up the energy into the end, but by that point I had almost wandered off. A really black and white show.

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