Well................................

[t8yman]

We had a great weekend. The rain on Sunday absolutely f**ked the day up TBH. We were down the front for dillinger, and the 3 mates who stayed further back witht the coats etc obviously had to "do one", I got back to the vip bar and looked like a drowned rat. Festival over. So I missed STP, Motorhead and Suicidal.

Anyway - positives. Friday was good, AC/DC looked like a band fulfilling a contract to be honest. I enjoyed the set, but it just didnt feel quite right. And I thought the fact that there name wasnt on the t-shirts stank. I got a bit messed up friday, so took it a little steadier saturday, really enjoyed Godsized, Megadeth, Deftones, and Rage were absolutely awesome.

Layout was spot on, weather was spot on until sunday. RIP was supreme, and we are deffo doing it next year. The guest bar was a complete godsend for tired feet and a bit of shade. and it was cheaper than the main arena, which was nice!

[bekimo]

I ache all over. I almost broke my foot watching Stone Sour (I swear I am cursed watching Corey). I am sunburnt, battered, bruised and broke. But I had an absolutely awesome time.

We missed Steel Panther and Airbourne on Sunday because we went back to camp, packed up and took our stuff to the car! Got back in time for the Headliners though!

Same time next year?!

[6t6o6m]

I regret not going this year. I hope there is a good line up next year. What was the efest meet like this year?

[Budweiser]

Only went for the saturday but it was awesome. Main reason for me going was to see deftones and Rage, and by god didn't they deliver. Deftones put on an amazing set, and rage was fantastic, i think the whole crowd jumped for know your enemy. Megadeth were awesome aswell, playing all my favourites, with the great atmosphere within the crowd made it a great set.

Overall im very happy, and it's a much better festival than Reading - better atmosphere, better bands, better setting and better people.

Atreyu 6/10

Flyleaf 7/10

Five finger death punch 6/10 (but their set was cut which was pathetic)

Lamb of God 8/10

Megadeth 9/10

Deftones 9.5/10

Rage against the machine 9/10

[t8yman]

deftones was possibly the finest festival set I have ever seen by any band TBH.

And the sound was pathetically quiet for Megadeth.

[roflhoff]

Just got back. Had an amazing time, and pleased the weather wasnt horrendous all weekend as forecast!

Airbourne killed it last night, even in the rain

[Greeny_Musicchild]

deftones was possibly the finest festival set I have ever seen by any band TBH.

And the sound was pathetically quiet for Megadeth.

[just-spence]

er ... w*nk .. stewards treated people like f**king 3 year olds .. not knowing there arse from there elbow ..

how f**king far do you have to walk from the campsite to the arena ?

and yes im at a music festival but give me the choice to watch the football or not..

on the plus side ACDC were awsome and slash is still a legend

[Troop Dogg]

What an awesome festival!

Standout acts of the weekend for me were:

AC/DC

Airbourne - the dude scaled the stage rigging in the pissing rain and played an awesome solo on top!

Rage

Deftones

Lots of other good acts as well, thought Aerosmith sounded very tired and way too much noodling so we left, and was back home in Essex by 2am last night. Job done!

[Greeny_Musicchild]

er ... w*nk .. stewards treated people like f**king 3 year olds .. not knowing there arse from there elbow ..

how f**king far do you have to walk from the campsite to the arena ?

and yes im at a music festival but give me the choice to watch the football or not..

on the plus side ACDC were awsome and slash is still a legend

[t8yman]

What an awesome festival!

Standout acts of the weekend for me were:

AC/DC

Airbourne - the dude scaled the stage rigging in the pissing rain and played an awesome solo on top!

Rage

Deftones

Lots of other good acts as well, thought Aerosmith sounded very tired and way too much noodling so we left, and was back home in Essex by 2am last night. Job done!

[just-spence]

The footie was on in the Village. I don't see where else they could have put it on and not messed with the bands. Pretty shit people had to queue for hours just to get into the tent though.

[Budweiser]

there was 3 empty tents in the village that they could have put the game on the organisation at the festival was utter w*nk ..

[t8yman]

there was 3 empty tents in the village that they could have put the game on the organisation at the festival was utter w*nk ..

[jammy2211]

Music-wise was brilliant, Coheed, DSHS, deftones, RATM, Dillinger all killed it and my friend dragged me to Stone Sour who ended up blowing me away.

Not so keen on the layout though, much prefer Reading where I can walk 15 minutes to get a drink and booze at my tent. Download is very much once you're at the arena you're there for good, and I can't afford the drink prices 0_o.

Camping was cool, atmosphere seemed good but with only 2 of us in the camp for most of the time it was hard to really get into it. Would of been epic with a big group and will be trying to get alot of my mates to go next year.

Overall very good, will go next year provided the line up isnt a shipwreck.

[dan666]

AC/DC, Blew my f**king mind.

[Chinese Democracy]

First timer at the festival and the place was brilliant.

Loved.

36 Crazyfists

Killswitch

ACDC

Hell yeah

Volbeat

Non point

Cinderella

Slash

RATM

and a bit of both of Sour and 'smith.

Meh.

Billy Idol

STP

HATED.

Crooked Vultures. Shit.

The fact someone tried to break into my car

And my "Your never gonna catch me" didn't really catch on.

There was one point I was so cold and wet I was heading for the exit and heard Sour's set start so I stayed for the 1st 4 or 5 songs, then saw Aerosmith was starting so ran down to hear their first 5 songs. By this point I was well and truely f**ked and had to hit the car for a half hour rest before the journey.

Overall very good, will be back, line up dependant.

Bring on GNR at Reading now.

[the_hedge]

1st time to the festival and thought it was fantastic. Can only compare it to V but it was much better organised, stewards were great and the metal crowd (not really being into metal myself) were so much more friendlier.

Only complaint was the walk to the arena from the campsite. A bit annoying you couldn't just 'nip' back to get things. A few of our group missed a lot of music on the Sunday because by the time they got back to the tent they were too f**ked to walk back again.

Saw 36 Crazyfists, Killswitch, Vultures and ACDC on the Saturday. ACDC were just awesome.

Saturday we had the wedding at Donnington Farmhouse Hotel (the real reason we where there) and only got to see Rage who again tore the place up.

Sunday (inbetween the rain) we got to see Slash, Billy Idol (who was shit!) Steel Panther, Beginning of Stone Sour and then Aerosmith. The old man can still belt out a note!!

Drive in on Friday was a breeze, I was worried there no one there it was that quiet!! The stewards didn't force us into the 1st car park so we aimed for the East Car Park as it was close to where our group was camping. Left at 7.30 and was home within 20 mins which is a record for me as it normally takes 3 hours on average to get out of V!!

I may well be back......

[Joeclem]

Cracking weekend, just like last year! don't really see what was wrong with the stewards tbh, the majority were friendly and could have a laugh and a joke, and the other ones, you just have top accept they're working long hours, and probably have a lot of drunken people taking the piss out of them all day long.

Highlights:

Bullet For My Valentine - 3rd time I've seen them and by far the best they've played, sound quality was just right and was a cracking set.

Rage - Again 3rd time and phenomenal as always, short set list but they pack songs into it and no one is ever disappointed

Slash - Probably my favourite set of the weekend, Myles Kennedy absolutely blew my mind, astonishingly good voice. i see Guns n Roses at Reading, and Axl has got to follow that, i dont think he can!

Stone Sour - went to the festival intent on seeing Aerosmith, but was bored after two songs, so went to Stone sour. so glad i did, their set list was incredible, and Corey Taylor could well be the best front man ive seen live, yet to find someone who doesnt like him!

Meh:

Aerosmith

ACDC

Megadeth

Billy Idol

Stone Temple Pilots

Low Points:

Killswitch Engage - i love Killswitch, seen them twice before and theyre one of my favourite bands. i dont know if it was because of where i was standing but the sound quality was awful where we were, nothing like last year

Someone cutting a hole in the side of me and my girlfriends tent at about 2 in the morning trying to nick our shit

The rain on sunday, and the resultant f**king mudbath!

[Super-Girl]

I was working wristbanding at the west carparks, hope i brightened a few people's wait to be searched by security.

Managed to finish my shifts by 4 on the Friday (managed a 8 hour on 6 hours off 8 hours on) so had the whole weekend free but by Sunday eve I was sooo tired and the rain just killed it for me so headed home at about 6. This was my first working festival and it won't be my last!

Hope you all liked your wristbands in the end, even if we did get some people who looked like their world had ended when they didn't have a bit of metal holding it together.

[doobie ninja]

The fact someone tried to break into my car

[t8yman]

anyone see the 2 rather large chested ladies with their tops off at the main exit after dc?

they were a right touch!

[metalman]

Just woke up after getting back at 10 this morning, what a weekend it was the best download i've been to I think.

I know he's had some stick over the line-up but well done AC the weekend flowed for me. I've not been since 2007 and if thats how the arena and layout was last year then its a massive improvement although things seem so far apart.

On the subject of the line-up i think AC needs to have a long hard think about trying to secure a band of AC/DC's stature again, on Friday i felt that he'd sold the sole of the festival to get them to play, the one that really did me was the official merch showing TCV headlining Friday GET OVER YOURSELVES AC/DC!!! There a take it or leave it band for me and I didn't feel it was a stand out performance the comment "We're here for one reason and one reason only and thats to rock and roll" Yea of course if thats the case its took you long enough to get back and i'm sure its got nothing to do with the bags of cash that where thrown at you.

There was some real stand out performances for me over the weekend that came from some pretty unusual places, the ones that come to mind straight away are Rage, Kill Switch, Panic cell's acoustic set ( I know don't ask) Stone sour ( An emotional roller coaster for Corey) HellYeah and no doubt there's loads more when I'm in a fit state of mind

RIP for me wasn't that special but i'll leave a separate review of that later.

Hope you all got home safe and had a fantastic festival!

[Sparticus]

My first download

Positives include a much better crowd than leeds (more people not taking it too seriously/ stopping you to have a laugh, good f**king banter all round).

Are the stall prices always that high? I'm used to festival prices but seemed everything was set at 2009 rip off + 50% extra. The walks were a f**king bitch, where we camped we had to take a massive (I mean 50 min extra walk) detour which there was no need for, so maybe they should think about layout more in the future. I also agree with what was said in that once you were in the arena you're there for the day, how long did it take lol.

Security kicking people out for having a joint and then not letting them collect their belongings was poor bully boy tactics (Luckily the burger stall people warned me to be more vigilant than normal).

Credit to the organisers for dealing with the elements effectively by covering the mud with stones, after having been to leeds 08 I know mud can but a dampener on anything, no matter how good the lineup is.

I enjoyed everyone I saw and ticked some serious legends off the list, so bands wise no complaints even though i thought it was very top heavy going to the festival (had to watch stp from afar as that rain was pretty horrific).

I was left bemused by the football situation tbh. Considering how long the walk from the arena to the village is, and also considering they had an extra main stage, whose bright idea was it to put it on in the village when it could have been broadcast inbetween the deftones/ rage changeover on the stage ac/dc had used? Top marks for failing to use common sense there lol, as there wouldn't have been crowd control issues when you consider the sheer volume of space in front of the main stage.

Providing there's a decent lineup next year i'll be back again, seems better organised than most uk festivals, just a few mickey mouse issues where a decent dose of common sense is needed.

What was the story with atreyu and flyleaf switching? was gutted i'd missed atreyu.

and special mention to 5 finger death punch, the music wasn't anything special but all those gulliable buggers believing them that the set had been cut early, they finished on time and made it look like they were sticking to the man lol.

[doobie ninja]

anyone see the 2 rather large chested ladies with their tops off at the main exit after dc?