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

[luckysalt]

Hmm been back a few hours now. I had a good time but it was NOWHERE near as good as last year, and thats was down to many things.

Sound quality was much worse than last year I thought too. Friday Main stage sound was awful, could have something to do with the complete lack of speakers, seriously they doubled on Saturday, obviously AC/DC had robbed them all.

As I say I had a good time, but Download definatly felt like it was all about making money from the audience this year [which of course it is], but last year I guess cus it was my first time I enjoyed it so much, won't be back next year, but thats nothing to do with the festival other than the time of the year it is.

Glad so many of you had a great time though

[Lofty]

First Download for me after many Leeds, really enjoyed the atmosphere, and the music was great!

Highlights:

AC/DC

RATM

Airbourne

Steel Panther

Lawnmower Death

Porcupine Tree

Meh:

Billy Idol

Motorhead

I will definately be going next year, hopefully it will remain tropical all weekend in 2011!

[Chinese Democracy]

i heard over the security radio something about a car window seal being forced, was that your car?

I had a great time, sun burn and all!! just did not like the walking, as some said once your in the arena you have to stay there because your tent is to far away!

I like the atmosphere, i,m mainly used to Reading which i think has a slighty agro/childish atmosphere to it where download just has a really nice/cool atmos.

oh...and STEEL PANTHER....what a show!

[jimbobby]

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.

[WildChildRockChick]

Just woken up (again) - amazing weekend, sadly dampened by an incident (personal, not fest-related) and the horrendous rain on Sunday (how quickly did the weather change!!), which resulted in missing Airbourne & STP and a lack of interest in much else when I got back to the arena, so I only saw a little bit of Stone Sour and Aerosmith.

Saxon / Cinderella / Billy Idol / Motorhead in a row FTW although I doubt anyone will be surprised to hear that AC/DC were the best for me.

Considering RIP next year, interested in the review which is to follow, am awaiting sister's report on disabled.

[biffoire]

Went friday and f**k me what a great day!!

36cf were good. Killswitch were awesome and ACDC were great.

I did think the whole 'no logo on the tshirt' was pathetic but hey. My name isn't worth squillions!!

The walk was mammoth as usual and glad I only did 1 day. Didn't have energy or patience to do more!!!

[t8yman]

Just realised we spent about two hours chatting with Christian Stevenson from kerrang radio yesterday, as well as kitty lea (some model) and colin francies who is the other half of ian watkins side project lamour la morgue.

We had a right laugh with them.

[kyle s]

my first ever download and it was awesome,the bands were amazing the weather was amazing (apart from the fact i got burned to f**k ever with factor 50 and the f**kin mega rain on sunday) but yeh in general it was amzing,i really liked the organisation of the site as well really makes titp look shit,also got to speak to the guys of taking dawn which was awesome

[Budweiser]

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

they were a right touch!

[bekimo]

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

And the sound was pathetically quiet for Megadeth.

[yazooo]

My 2nd Download after going in 2006. Nothing could top the 06 festival for me, but this one was pretty good.

AC/DC I thought were good, was not impressed with the T-shirt situation...what is that all about?!

The walks were a bit silly - especially from family camping...

I managed to get into the football tent, but I think there could have been a better solution. Layout of the stages, and having the AC/DC stage there didn't work for me.

What's with the portaloos again...I thought the pit thingies were far better!

All in all, I would go again if the line up was as good. RATM and Slash made the festival for me!

[Mamba]

What's with the portaloos again...I thought the pit thingies were far better!

[biffoire]

We caught parts of TCV and saw a lot of Jamming proving they were ready for that spot (lack of material)

[t8yman]

you mean "weren't" ready for that spot dontcha? I would agree, very dull.

[Spengs Muck]

i had a great festival music-wise

i'll agree with luckysalt in that it wasnt as good as last year. It was an atmosphere thing and this year there wasnt quite so much atmosphere around. Not sure why.

Loved:

ACDC

Rage

Aerosmith

Stone Sour

Jim Jones Revue

Slash

Y&T

Airbourne

Steel Panther

The Weather

The Banter

The fact slash was far and beyond better at GnR songs than Axl was in 06. They played Rocket Queen!

Corey Taylor's emotional Rendition of 'Bother'

Corey Taylors 'worst dance in the world' and the subsequent crowd participation

Hated:

It became obvious ACDC were ego-centric with the fact they werent on the tshirts or even the f**king programme.

The 'tribute' to the people who died before ACDC on friday. i hated it mainly because they were hyping it on download radio all day, and all it was was a few pictures and a moments applause.

the food prices seemed way higher this year

The Rain

The fact i lost my car key and had to pay an obscene ammoutn to get a new one cut on Sunday so i could get home ok Monday. That ruined what should have been the best day of the festival for me.

[CeeCeeLuvsDancing]

I had fun, but it was better in 2006 for me! That was my best year!

The layout was a bit annoying, somehow it seemed like there wasnt as much this year compared to previous ones!

Highlights included all the headliners, SLASH!!!, Panic Cells acoustic set, Genitorturers (silliness + goth = result)...

Lowlights = The Rain, and mega blisters!!!

I'm looking for John B, who I rocked out with for Aerosmith. He told me his full name, but I totally can't remember how to facebook him coz I cant remember his last name. So, John B, who I painted up in UV facepaint, message me if youre out there!

It was such an awesome weekend!!! Much strongbow! But I agree with the stewards comment, I was walking along out of Brown Camp on Sunday when it was muddy, and the steward sat down on a chair shouted at me "Just f**king get on with it, you tit" whilst I was trying to get my footing. I stopped and asked "Did you just call me a tit?" and he said "Yeah. What the f**k you going to do about it?". I'd drank too much to care though and laughed.

[Lofty]

I met a lovely lady on Saturday night, at about 4am in the village. I was in a jager fuelled haze, but if you're from Hull and reading this, and I left my hat in your tent, get in touch

I can't remember the name

[chris northwest]

great weekend all in all! downsides for me were the walking,(surely the site could be arranged better) and the price of the food! i dont object to anybody making a profit, but 4.50 for a burger that tastes like shite is taking the piss a little bit imo! bought a pot noodle on the saturday from the supermarket and some knobhead wanted to take £2 off me for a bread roll and hot water! couldnt believe it.

[Chinese Democracy]

great weekend all in all! downsides for me were the walking,(surely the site could be arranged better) and the price of the food! i dont object to anybody making a profit, but 4.50 for a burger that tastes like shite is taking the piss a little bit imo! bought a pot noodle on the saturday from the supermarket and some knobhead wanted to take £2 off me for a bread roll and hot water! couldnt believe it.

[Salt_On_Everything]

Still massively gutted I didn't go, line-up wise it weren't great for me but still plenty of killer bands. I would've loved to see AC/DC, but the more I read, the more Download sacrificed to pander to them. f**king brilliant band but seems like they took the piss. But I bet it was still a brilliant show. And people moaning about the walking and over-priced food/drinks? It's Download, get used to it...

Surprised no-one has mentioned Lamb Of God in this thread! Any good?

f**k it, I missed out, but roll on Glastonbury and Sonisphere!

[Dan R]

Still massively gutted I didn't go, line-up wise it weren't great for me but still plenty of killer bands. I would've loved to see AC/DC, but the more I read, the more Download sacrificed to pander to them. f**king brilliant band but seems like they took the piss. But I bet it was still a brilliant show. And people moaning about the walking and over-priced food/drinks? It's Download, get used to it...

Surprised no-one has mentioned Lamb Of God in this thread! Any good?

f**k it, I missed out, but roll on Glastonbury and Sonisphere!

[Lofty]

I was a download virgin but apparently beer tokens rose in price by 75p this year?

[Lithium05]

Right, I've put this off long enough. This years Download was good, not the best, but still good, for the most part the things that detracted from the overall experience were not the fault of the organisers, but some blame does rest on their shoulders.

I'll start with the bad points

- Weather, first time I've seen rain at Download, and the fact that Sunday morning was hot and didn't look like it would rain I left my waterproofs in the car. I got f**king drenched and the cold wind was a killer.

- Lack of mates attending, despite the stellar line-up, this was the lowest attendance from my mates since 2005.

- Laziness/Blisters/Football due to those factors I ended up not venturing to the arena on saturday, the only bands I wanted to see were Megadeth and Rage, and I could hear the majority of the latter from camp after the football finished, another factor for this was...

-The walking. When I arrived I went to the box office to collect my tickets, got told I had to go to the "guest box office" but no one seemed to know where this was, after a ridiculous amount of asking around, we finally got sent up past the arena, round to the other side of the main stage where we collected our tickets, then heading into the campsite we discovered that all the decent spots were taken and we had to head all the way to the back of White, overall we must have walked about 5miles with our gear saying us down, and in shoes I regretted choosing to wear.

- The whole AC/DC not being on the merch thing meant I have no keepsakes other than a severely rain damaged program

-Inexplicable expenditure, I must have spent around £150, but besides the £10 for the aforementioned program I have nothing to show for it. Where did it all go?!

And now onto the positives

-My mates who used to "hate" AC/DC thanking me for forcing them to watch

-Slash and his mates putting on a hell of a set

- Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail riders

- Killswitch Engage

-Steel Panther surprising me by being pretty damn good

-Finding an umbrella by the second stage just before airbourne, so we didn't get wetter and bicker the wind a bit

- Our lovely neighbours in Camp Twist (if you're reading this sorry I wasn't as social as my mates but i've had alot on my mind of late, get in touch though!) and the chaps in the Shi'sha tent who had the awesome weed

-Airbourne being as mental as ever to the point of the set being stopped

-Corey Taylors emotional "Bother"

-Stone Sour's epic/silly combination.

[staffsknot]

Right I have to agree with those who said it was really great (like Lithium my mates were lacking - they daytripped Friday and the 'friends of friends' were spanners and so glad to ditch them Sat & Sun). I didn't camp because of work but from what I saw there were no problems getting in or out of the carpark and apart from the long treks the organisation was pretty good... except sending all the daytrippers out of the exit for disabled and west car park so they block those going into the top campsite and vice versa!

Most of the bands were on excellent form, loved Them Crooked Vultures, AC/DC, RATM, Saxon, Megadeth, Slash, Taylor Hawkins & CTR and Aerosmith. Was a little disappointed by the atmosphere for Sweethead (most people stood around talking for 2 songs until Serrina went all Courtney Love) and was blown away by the great feel that The Urban Voodoo Machine brought in - first time seeing them and they were fantastic.

Downsides - the price of everything has rocketed again and the AC/DC no show on the merchendise was a real joke - you go on the website and they won't show you the band names on the back anymore so I guess everyone complained!

The bit of rain was a pain too but you just work through it - if it had rained for 3 days I think we'd all be in who cares mode but the fact it was so warm before everyone was in shock.

On the whole it was great and the security I encountered were spot on, then again I didn't do anything wrong and talked to them / shared cookies with the guys manning the left speaker area / gave away some cereal bars to the hungry marshall working the wristband exchange and followed their instructions (ironic after RATM). At some other festivals I've been to you can encounter hardcore power-trip marshalls, I didn't see any at Download this year (they might have been there but I covered some serious ground and didn't see them)

The only people I saw get put out were p*ssing on the fence near a group of girls and the guy made them wipe it up and told them to go, they then swore at him so he dragged them out... At the end of the day they're their to keep you safe like 5FPD said - without them you'd break your neck when you drop over the barrier!

How he got away with claiming his set was cut I'll never know - he finished late!

Hope you've all thawed out and enjoyed yourselves

[Sparticus]

Still massively gutted I didn't go, line-up wise it weren't great for me but still plenty of killer bands. I would've loved to see AC/DC, but the more I read, the more Download sacrificed to pander to them. f**king brilliant band but seems like they took the piss. But I bet it was still a brilliant show. And people moaning about the walking and over-priced food/drinks? It's Download, get used to it...

Surprised no-one has mentioned Lamb Of God in this thread! Any good?

f**k it, I missed out, but roll on Glastonbury and Sonisphere!