Def Who?

[t8yman]

Just got back, highlight - kvelertak, lowlight - rain. biggest WTF of the weekend - the crowd for def leppard, must have been about 10-15k.

how did it go for everyone else?

[Leprekorn]

Left early last night because of the rain, went after Disturbed who were excelleant.

Thought compared to last year that it was like a ghost town at times which probaly shows how off the ball teh bookings where this year. As always found the sound to be hit and miss.

Thought SOAD were excellant and was surprised by how much I enjoyed Down. Hollywood Undead were awful and the did not have the mix right for Skunk Anansie at all.

Pendulum 2nd stage outing was ok personally would have prefered Korn to headline the main stage.

Bowling for soup yesterday were good value as were The Gaslight Anthem

Had a good time overall but the rain and wind yesterday was just bad.

[t8yman]

Both me and my mate thought soad were good, but not great. the tension is obviously still there, and Daron has managed to get even further up his own arse since the last time I saw them.

skindred f**king slayed, TRC were awesome, letlive were a bit dull. it was very sparse in places, especially yesterday for obvious reasons. Skunk Anansie were ok I thought, not as good as I hoped they would be. we watched the first 5 minutes of GWAR and just left, the best thing about GWAR was the faces of people watching them, as we threaded through the crowd, people were just stood, eyes wide, mouths agog

[the_hedge]

My 1st Download was last year so I can't imagine how it must have felt with only 50% of the people there this year. I couldn't get a cheap ticket in the end and was kinda glad looking at the weather. Having been to V in previous years it always sold out so it just got busier every year so it must be weird going to a festie where the tickets sales change so much.

I hope everyone made the most of it!

[gary1979666]

Only went for the day yesterday, and wussed out after Gaslight Anthem - was soaked through. Seemed a lot quieter than previous years - not sure if that was the weather (the 3rd stage was rammed) or the line up.

BFS and Gaslight were the highlights for me - feel sorry for the blow up sheep - they didn't even lube up!!

[PastCaring]

We went down on Saturday to see if anyone was selling cheap tickets and couldn't find anyone selling them. But after an hour or so of walking around and feeling the festival atmosphere we didn't fancy just going home empty handed, so we took the plunge and bought two day tickets from the box office at £75 each (which is cheaper than on-line ). Really really glad we did cos we had a blinding time - SOAD were awesome, King Blues were great, as were Clutch, and Trash Talk were really funny - 'stand up, sit down, run to the back of the room' - quite refreshing after some of the po-faced c**p you get at some festivals. Definitely think we got our money's worth!

We're been talking about going to Download for a few years now but we both had bad experiences years ago at Monsters of Rock, which kind of put us off - can't believe how frinedly Download is - definitely one of the best we're been to! Gotta get saving to do the whole weekend next year (regardless of who is on)

[pryce]

left sunday morning ... wasnt going to wait all day ust to see Zombie and Disturbed as ive seen them before.

System were amazing as were clutch and Skindred were on top top form

low lights .... a7x were god awful and boring. ive seen them three times now and i dont even like them

all that remains were really good as well

oh and the nights were horrifically cold

enjoyed myself though

the crowd size for Darkness and deff lepp compared to Korn and pendulum was hilarious

[Joeclem]

Had a great festival, even though we left sunday morning. was going to see bowling for soup, buckcherry, bullet and linkin park, but id seen them all before, bullet four times, so the rain convinced me to get out of there!!

highlights this year were Alice Cooper, whos stage show was quality, and The Darkness, who seemed to be back with a bang. love them or hate them, Justin Hawkins is a good showman. Alter Bridge were great too, though i was upset they didnt play any of their slower stuff, obviously opting to go for the heavy songs for a heavyish festival. Young Guns and Avenged Sevenfold did great jobs, but maybe my favourite band of the weekend was Black Stone Cherry. sound was absolutely bang on, their new songs are top class, genuinely nice guys and the singers voice is phenominal live. will definately be trying to grab some tickets to the Alter Bridge/Black Stone Cherry tour later this year!!

[duggie20]

left sunday morning ... wasnt going to wait all day ust to see Zombie and Disturbed as ive seen them before.

System were amazing as were clutch and Skindred were on top top form

low lights .... a7x were god awful and boring. ive seen them three times now and i dont even like them

all that remains were really good as well

oh and the nights were horrifically cold

enjoyed myself though

the crowd size for Darkness and deff lepp compared to Korn and pendulum was hilarious

[the_mars_volta]

Will post detailed impressions tomorrow, but I thought The Darkness were absolutely flawless!

[jammy2211]

Can't believe how many people left early cause of a bit of rain. Even Linkin Park had a pretty small crowd, albeit it did grow and apparently Zombie was packed.

Good weekend, nice atmosphere and lots of good performances. SOAD and Linkin Park the highlights for me, enjoy BFS's accoustic and normal sets, Pendulum were good, really enjoyed BTMH too. Will go next year provided mates do.

[spwan-of-the-devil]

Had a great personally even if it rain alot!

Bands I saw - Friday - CKY, Puddle of Mudd, Anti Flag, Alter Bridge, The Darkness and Pendulum..

Saturday - Your Demise, Rise to Remain, SOAD, Bowling for soup accoustic with Dan Reid on there as well..

Sun - Bowling for soup, Medina lake, Linkin Park, Plain White Tee's

Band of the weekend for me - Linkin Park with Rise to Remain..

Looks like my last one for a couple of years unless they get a big big line up next year.. *going to uni* So thanks for the memories Download its been F**king great fun.. Bands and people along the way!

[devilman]

WTF??? people pay loads of money for a festival and then leave because the rain which was forecast days before actually arrives? Lightweights. I liked Skunk Anansie but then again the sound could have been better. A7X were v good as were SOAD and LP. I felt sorry for the Pretty Reckless as the crowd were miserable and cold but nerves and technical issues aside they were still good. Nice norks too. I saw Puddle of Mudd, Duff McKeegan's Loaded, Black Stone Cherry, Thin Lizzy, Alterbridge, Korn, Def Leppard, Pendulum, Boss Hoss, Rock Sugar, Dan Reed, Dio Disciples, Skunk Anansie, Avenged Sevenfold, System of a Down, The Pretty Reckless, Acoda, Buckcherry, Dead Lay Waiting, Disturbed, The Cult and Linkin Park.

Def Leppard just weren't doing it for me and I went to see Pendulum who were kick ass good. Highlight SOAD though. By a mile.

[pryce]

yeah i left and yeah paids loads of money.... but i felt i already got my moneys worth plus only zombie intrested me on the final day and ive seen him recently annnnd my tent was broke so couldnt close it (my fault decided to tear through it as i was to drunk to find the zip)

got another festival to make up for it though!

doubt i will go to another british fest... so much prefer the european ones and going to limit myself to one a year from now on as i only have so much days holiday!

oh and a high.... the girl who flashed during puddle of mudd found it hilarious that the cameraman stayed about a full song focused on her

[luckysalt]

Overall the festival f**ked rocked for me, but some negatives before I crack on,

my mates who went pits was pissed there was no sheeting on the ground down the front and it got dusty as hell and the other complaint on the way back to campsites from arena at night, where the f**k was the lighting? They only switched them on on Sunday!

Evening entertainment in the village was tops, crowd was great throughout

Sadly on the Wednesday night I was amongest the people who were robbed in Blue camp, only took £30 as the rest was in my locker, however those with me got hit worse, the theives were caught but the police said they'd probably get away with it, but wouldn't be allowed to keep the money and the police wouldn't be able to give it back, it would just be absorbed into 'the system', which is just bullshit.

Right the bands

I saw

Friday

CKY - awesome

DRUGS - quality, if short set

Puddle of Mudd - last 3-4 songs, sounded crap, were much better when I saw them in 2002

Duff's Loaded - average, didn't really do anything for me

AntiFlag - thought they were awesome

Black Stone Cherry - average, couldn't get into the performance

The Damned Things - missed the start but got right into them, great performance

Children of Bodom - Sounded good, great sound

Alter Bridge - Didn't enjoy as much as Miles with Slash the year before, but thought they did a good set

Korn - started slowly, couldn't get into the start of the set, but they were quality halfway through to the end

Def Leppard - caught first few tracks, thought they sounded great compared to 2009, great stage set up

Pendulum - They were good, but not as great as I expected. Felt like they kinda held back a bit, expected a better light show, video backdrop was boring after a while

Saturday

Skindred - Amazing set, loved it, they rocked it

Letlive - I enjoyed it, but didn't think they performed as well as I think they could, singer was just screaming instead of singing, band were tight

Hollywood Undead - old songs enjoyable, new songs shite live as they are on the album, bands lost their attitude, shouldn't be booked again IMO

Trash Talk - great set, however singing the entire set in the crowd was a bit daft IMO, would have liked to have seen him perform on stage a bit too

Down - nowhere near as good as 2009, enjoyed them playing Walk by Pantera tho, decent enough set

Skunk Anansie - crowd was dead, poor atmosphere and sound, tear the place up should have been a highlight instead it mumbled by, Skin was great though and band was tight, they just didn't go down well at all

Sevendust - Awesome set, awesome crowd, just a great performance

Avenged Sevenfold - Loved it, great performance and pyro was excellent, went down well, defo a future headliner

System of A Down - man were they over, amazing performance, shit myself when the flair was set off in the crowd right by us, couldn't have asked for anything more from the performance

Sunday

GWAR - LOVED it, excellent performance, wish the set was longer, disappointed download cut them off, stage gimmicks were brilliant, didn't disappoint at all

Gaslight Anthem - they went down really well which shocked me, excellent performance

Disturbed - Really on form, backdrop videos were great, entertained the hell out of me

[went back to tent to change, soaked]

Rob Zombie - WOW, just wow, worth the ticket price alone, amazing set and pyro, gimmicks, videos. LOVED it

Linkin Park - caught last five songs, seemed good, would have liked to have caught more

and that was that!

[bandmiguelin]

Aye the rain really did deflate the Sunday, but cracking 1st time at Download anyways.

Highlights: SOAD were incredible, as was Zombie, wasn't even originally planning to see him but glad I did. And Korn were also incredible, and Turisas did a cracking job of trying to cheer a hell of a lot of wet and miserable people up.

Lowlights: Other than the rain, the amount of bands i'd have liked to have seen but couldn't due to clashes. I'm looking at you Saturday headliners.

[t8yman]

How close to the flare were you salty? cos it went off about 6 feet to my right, shit me right up it did. I was stood at the front of that f**king ridiculous moshpit that started up near there, it was f**king pathetic - macho posturing. one kid got knocked spark out, and had to be carried away by his mates cos he kept collapsing.

Edited June 15, 2011 by t8yman

[the_hedge]

Overall the festival f**ked rocked for me, but some negatives before I crack on,

my mates who went pits was pissed there was no sheeting on the ground down the front and it got dusty as hell and the other complaint on the way back to campsites from arena at night, where the f**k was the lighting? They only switched them on on Sunday!

Evening entertainment in the village was tops, crowd was great throughout

Sadly on the Wednesday night I was amongest the people who were robbed in Blue camp, only took £30 as the rest was in my locker, however those with me got hit worse, the theives were caught but the police said they'd probably get away with it, but wouldn't be allowed to keep the money and the police wouldn't be able to give it back, it would just be absorbed into 'the system', which is just bullshit.

Right the bands

I saw

Friday

CKY - awesome

DRUGS - quality, if short set

Puddle of Mudd - last 3-4 songs, sounded crap, were much better when I saw them in 2002

Duff's Loaded - average, didn't really do anything for me

AntiFlag - thought they were awesome

Black Stone Cherry - average, couldn't get into the performance

The Damned Things - missed the start but got right into them, great performance

Children of Bodom - Sounded good, great sound

Alter Bridge - Didn't enjoy as much as Miles with Slash the year before, but thought they did a good set

Korn - started slowly, couldn't get into the start of the set, but they were quality halfway through to the end

Def Leppard - caught first few tracks, thought they sounded great compared to 2009, great stage set up

Pendulum - They were good, but not as great as I expected. Felt like they kinda held back a bit, expected a better light show, video backdrop was boring after a while

Saturday

Skindred - Amazing set, loved it, they rocked it

Letlive - I enjoyed it, but didn't think they performed as well as I think they could, singer was just screaming instead of singing, band were tight

Hollywood Undead - old songs enjoyable, new songs shite live as they are on the album, bands lost their attitude, shouldn't be booked again IMO

Trash Talk - great set, however singing the entire set in the crowd was a bit daft IMO, would have liked to have seen him perform on stage a bit too

Down - nowhere near as good as 2009, enjoyed them playing Walk by Pantera tho, decent enough set

Skunk Anansie - crowd was dead, poor atmosphere and sound, tear the place up should have been a highlight instead it mumbled by, Skin was great though and band was tight, they just didn't go down well at all

Sevendust - Awesome set, awesome crowd, just a great performance

Avenged Sevenfold - Loved it, great performance and pyro was excellent, went down well, defo a future headliner

System of A Down - man were they over, amazing performance, shit myself when the flair was set off in the crowd right by us, couldn't have asked for anything more from the performance

Sunday

GWAR - LOVED it, excellent performance, wish the set was longer, disappointed download cut them off, stage gimmicks were brilliant, didn't disappoint at all

Gaslight Anthem - they went down really well which shocked me, excellent performance

Disturbed - Really on form, backdrop videos were great, entertained the hell out of me

[went back to tent to change, soaked]

Rob Zombie - WOW, just wow, worth the ticket price alone, amazing set and pyro, gimmicks, videos. LOVED it

Linkin Park - caught last five songs, seemed good, would have liked to have caught more

and that was that!

[thejimbola]

Did you get robbed whilst you were in your tent Lucky?

[CeeCeeLuvsDancing]

I think after seeing the crowds at the second stage, Pendulum and KoRn should be on the main, and The Darkness and Def Leppard on the second... a most excellent weekend, even if I did come home with Swamp Fever.

[Go_Go_Tonymon]

System of A Down - man were they over, amazing performance, shit myself when the flair was set off in the crowd right by us, couldn't have asked for anything more from the performance

[pryce]

How close to the flare were you salty? cos it went off about 6 feet to my right, shit me right up it did. I was stood at the front of that f**king ridiculous moshpit that started up near there, it was f**king pathetic - macho posturing. one kid got knocked spark out, and had to be carried away by his mates cos he kept collapsing.

[Lithium05]

Right, seeing as I have nothing better to do right now, here is my complete account of Download.

Arrived on Wednesday spot on Midday, parked at the drop off point, left one of my mates in the car, and went to the box office to meet the guy who sorted us out two free tickets and a free car parking pass

Left my mate by the entrance with my bags and went back to the car to park and get my other mate.

Finally got in around 3pm and set up camp at the back of blue near white camp. The following day and a half are a bit of a haze due to the ridiculous amount of weed smoked (didn't touch a drop of alcohol all weekend) but I remember seeing my old mucker Kunt and the Gang (he played at my and a mates birthday bash last year) on Thursday night get a decent reception on the comedy stage. Spent alot of time in the shi'sha tent too, but couldn't say when!

Friday I pre-rolled around 12 joints an headed to the arena.

- CKY 2/5 - seemed a bit half hearted, but not a bad set

- Puddle of Mudd 4/5 - after the initial "he sounds like Cobain" shock, really got into their set, really enjoyed the "War Pigs" and "TNT" covers

- Black Stone Cherry - 3/5 - would have preferred less emphasis on the new album, but overall a good set

- Thin Lizzy - 5/5 - Quality, really enjoyed them

- Alter Bridge - 4/5 - good solid performance from a quality band

Then watched the first five minutes of the darkness, started to think it wouldn't be too bad, then he started singing and we high tailed it to....

- Korn - 3/5 - bit of a slow start, but picked up towards the end. Left a bit early, to get a decent cotch spot in the shi'sha tent.

Saturday - pre rolled 16 joints headed to the arena for...

- Clutch - 5/5 - awesome, rapidly becoming one of my favourite bands

- Dio Deciples - 3/5 - good, but no "Rainbow in the Dark" lost them points!

- Mr Big - 1/5 - got bored, went to see...

- Skunk Anansie - 4/5 - never been a fan, but really enjoyed what I saw, will investigate further

- Avenged Sevenfold - 4/5 - solid, enjoyable set.

- System of a Down - 5/5 - yes, there's still tension between them. Yes, that probably means this reunion is purely for financial reasons. No, it doesn't matter when they're capable of a performance like that.

Sunday. woke up at 9, rain, back to sleep. Woke up at 10, rain, back to sleep... That continued until 1, was going to pack up, stick the shit in the car, head to the arena for bands that none of us were that bothered about until Disturbed and Rob Zombie. Decided to wait til the rain let up. It got to 4, and we realised it wasn't letting up, so we bailed. I'm not proud of that, but we didn't pay for our tickets, and had already seen more bands than last year. Plus my knee's f*cked (awaiting an op) and I was finding walking tricky on the slippery surface.

Good times, and saw alot of bands considering I probably wouldnt have bothered if I had to pay for the tickets. Here's hoping for an even better fest in 2012, preferably with no rain!

Edited June 15, 2011 by Lithium05

[luckysalt]

How close to the flare were you salty? cos it went off about 6 feet to my right, shit me right up it did. I was stood at the front of that f**king ridiculous moshpit that started up near there, it was f**king pathetic - macho posturing. one kid got knocked spark out, and had to be carried away by his mates cos he kept collapsing.

[2rare2die]

A definite highlight for me was being stood next to Benji from Skindred whilst watching Korn and watching him dance like a loon. Was blown away by Rob Zombie and especially SOAD, and also thought Ax7, Skindred, and Your Demise put on good sets. Would really have liked a lot less rain though!