Download 2018

[Jericode]

Any decent tour announcements besides Don Broco/Neck Deep/Issues?

[Peskybee]

How's the arena looking? I'm heading up for the day tomorrow for the first time, so excited!  

[Red Day]

10 hours ago, Peskybee said:

How's the arena looking? I'm heading up for the day tomorrow for the first time, so excited!  

Was brilliant today.  Site is dry and was easy to get around. Some of the queues at bars was bit ott but otherwise a very enjoyable day. I’d imagine today(Sat) is going to be heaving. Band wise today was excellent with Kaiser Frank Joseph being the best surprise. 

[HeyPorter]

GnR actually any good? 

[rivalschools.price]

5 hours ago, Retro P said:

GnR actually any good? 

Oh yes.AWESOME.

One of the best headliners that I’ve  personally seen in Donington 

[Moey]

It worked for me. Though, they were half an hour light in the set weren’t they?

slughtly miffed that they shortened everyone’s set to accommodate 3.5 hours of GnR only to finish at twenty past ten!

[thewayiam]

41 minutes ago, Moey said:

It worked for me. Though, they were half an hour light in the set weren’t they?

slughtly miffed that they shortened everyone’s set to accommodate 3.5 hours of GnR only to finish at twenty past ten!

At least they cane on early, the extra time was purely to allow for if they were late, they weren't doing 3.5 hours, it's wasn't said they were either and tbf a band is always allowed to finish before the allocated time....But hours you can't moan. Same set as last year though with just missing out Whole Lotta Rosie now. Show wise though it's awesome. If I wasn't going to be just purely looking at a screen yesterday I'd have got a ticket of gumtree but I knew I was.

[kaip]

Thought axl was pretty shite, his voice is shot

Slash on the other hand was outstanding 

[Red Day]

I really enjoyed GnR. Axl’s vocal was far from perfect but that aside they floated my boat. Was bloody hot there today. 

[BigG94]

Ozzy was phenomenal imo. Parkway Drive and Body Count were also stand outs. That weather was great too although now I’m burnt to a crisp. Only negative was that walk from the Yellow Campsite to the Arena

[rivalschools.price]

5 hours ago, BigG94 said:

Ozzy was phenomenal imo. Parkway Drive and Body Count were also stand outs. That weather was great too although now I’m burnt to a crisp. Only negative was that walk from the Yellow Campsite to the Arena

Yeah,Ozzy was great.Was worried after some of his Sabbath performances but needn’t have.

Zakk Wylde put in an absolutely stunning performance 

[Moey]

Fantastic weekend. Yes, ridiculously hot on the Sunday!

top 3 bands, for me

volbeat - 1st time seeing them, and glad I did.

shinedown - seen them a few times already and wasn’t expecting much. Knockout set tho.

GnR - yes, vocally a bit dodgy, but an epic set.

special mention to In This Moment. Wowsers!

favourite band in the tents, A and Massive Wagons.

roll on next year.

[BigG94]

4 hours ago, rivalschools.price said:

Yeah,Ozzy was great.Was worried after some of his Sabbath performances but needn’t have.

Zakk Wylde put in an absolutely stunning performance 

I think Wylde proofed last night he’s better than Slash

[Matt P]

My first festival and I was blown away. I was a bit wary about how some bands might sound, but almost everyone was great.

 

Volbeat and Shinedown sounded incredible, all 3 headliners too. Only band that I thought sounded pretty poor were Black Veil Brides. Shame In This Moment had to shorten their set because of technical difficulties at the start.

 

 

Absolutely disgusted with the mess left behind though, wasn’t prepared for that at all. Why would you leave behind a perfectly good £60 tent? 

Edited June 11, 2018 by Matt P

[Andre91]

I'm just going to do my Top 10 of the weekend and then a few others. 

1. Parkway Drive 10/10. Absolutely incredible. This was the set I was  anticipating the most and they absolutely  smashed it.The setlist was wonderful (even if they dropped Carrion), the stage show was immense and the crowd was great. I had such a good time for the entirety of the set. I am so stoked that they are moving into arenas on this tour. This band are future headliners of Download for sure. 

2.  Marilyn Manson. 9/10. WOW. Where has this Manson been hiding the last few times he has played Download? I thought he was incredible yesterday. That setlist was just banger after banger after banger. It was perfect. Crowd was huge too. 

3. Bury Tomorrow. 10/10. Blasted a hole into the ground for half an hour. Their set was far too short and they need to be playing Main Stages but they seriously get better and better every time i see them. Dan is such a captivating frontman. 

4. Rolo Tomassi. 8/10. The only word  can use to describe what i saw is BEAUTIFUL. Just stunning. The album is my favourite of the year and the songs sounded phenomenal. Again, just beautiful. 

5. Alexisonfire. 9/10. Perfect setlist . They played everything I could have wanted them to play. The band were really up for it. I had a great time. Much better than Leeds 2015. 

6. Ded. 9/10. Surprise of the weekend. I went in knowing a couple of songs and I was blown away. I couldn't take my eyes off the stage. A similar thing happened with The One Hundred last year. Very very exciting live band. 

7. Jamie Lenman. 8/10. Devolver is such a great album and the songs sounded massive. He is properly talented. So much energy considering it is just him and a drummer on stage. Lovely set for a Sunday afternoon. 

8. Neck Deep. 9/10. I left GNR after an hour as I wasn't feeling the jams and solos and I knew I couldn't enjoy 3 hours of them. ND had the tent RAMMED. I love that they came out to Sweet Child O' Mine with the GNR logo as their backdrop. Amazing energy from the band and the crowd and a great setlist. 

9. Stray From The Path. 8/10. Blasted the tent to pieces. Such a great band who give it everything live. 

10. Volbeat. 8/10. Like others have said, this was so good for them in the UK. They had a gigantic crowd who were so into it. The band sounded great and I really do think that they can headline this in future. 

 

A few others I have comments on: 

Avenged Sevenfold. 4/10. What a let down. What was up with that setlist? The middle 40 mins or so of the set was SO dull. It completely left the crowd all around me flat. They started off realy well and ended well but everything in between killed the set. Really disappointing. 

Andrew WK. 5/10. Far better in the tent the last time he played. He always has great energy but it wasn't as good outdoors. Plus he didn't play I Get Wet .

Asking Alexandria. 1/10. Rubbish setlist. Boring performance. Danny stacking it at the beginning gave me a good laugh though.

Cradle Of Filth.  I actually quite enjoyed them and they are not my thing at all. Will there be a bigger juxtaposition in 2018 than Cradle playing in glorious summer sunshine ? 

Starcrawler. 0/10. F**king dreadful. The singer came off so try hard and false. It was just weird. Properly poo. 

I watched a band in the Dog House on Thursday called Immersion (I think) and they were brilliant. Really heavy and really energetic; they had the whole tent bouncing. Really cool to see. 

OH. AS IF GNR PLAYED SLITHER. That was seriously awesome. 

Final thing; I always pay lots of attention to merch I see people wearing and by far the most merch I saw this weekend was Architects. I saw so many people in t-shirts, vests, jackets, hats. I heard lots of people talking about them saying they wished they were playing. Download should pick up on that, I think. The future is so bright for them. 

 

 

 

[Moey]

25 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

I'm just going to do my Top 10 of the weekend and then a few others. 

1. Parkway Drive 10/10. Absolutely incredible. This was the set I was  anticipating the most and they absolutely  smashed it.The setlist was wonderful (even if they dropped Carrion), the stage show was immense and the crowd was great. I had such a good time for the entirety of the set. I am so stoked that they are moving into arenas on this tour. This band are future headliners of Download for sure. 

2.  Marilyn Manson. 9/10. WOW. Where has this Manson been hiding the last few times he has played Download? I thought he was incredible yesterday. That setlist was just banger after banger after banger. It was perfect. Crowd was huge too. 

3. Bury Tomorrow. 10/10. Blasted a hole into the ground for half an hour. Their set was far too short and they need to be playing Main Stages but they seriously get better and better every time i see them. Dan is such a captivating frontman. 

4. Rolo Tomassi. 8/10. The only word  can use to describe what i saw is BEAUTIFUL. Just stunning. The album is my favourite of the year and the songs sounded phenomenal. Again, just beautiful. 

5. Alexisonfire. 9/10. Perfect setlist . They played everything I could have wanted them to play. The band were really up for it. I had a great time. Much better than Leeds 2015. 

6. Ded. 9/10. Surprise of the weekend. I went in knowing a couple of songs and I was blown away. I couldn't take my eyes off the stage. A similar thing happened with The One Hundred last year. Very very exciting live band. 

7. Jamie Lenman. 8/10. Devolver is such a great album and the songs sounded massive. He is properly talented. So much energy considering it is just him and a drummer on stage. Lovely set for a Sunday afternoon. 

8. Neck Deep. 9/10. I left GNR after an hour as I wasn't feeling the jams and solos and I knew I couldn't enjoy 3 hours of them. ND had the tent RAMMED. I love that they came out to Sweet Child O' Mine with the GNR logo as their backdrop. Amazing energy from the band and the crowd and a great setlist. 

9. Stray From The Path. 8/10. Blasted the tent to pieces. Such a great band who give it everything live. 

10. Volbeat. 8/10. Like others have said, this was so good for them in the UK. They had a gigantic crowd who were so into it. The band sounded great and I really do think that they can headline this in future. 

 

A few others I have comments on: 

Avenged Sevenfold. 4/10. What a let down. What was up with that setlist? The middle 40 mins or so of the set was SO dull. It completely left the crowd all around me flat. They started off realy well and ended well but everything in between killed the set. Really disappointing. 

Andrew WK. 5/10. Far better in the tent the last time he played. He always has great energy but it wasn't as good outdoors. Plus he didn't play I Get Wet .

Asking Alexandria. 1/10. Rubbish setlist. Boring performance. Danny stacking it at the beginning gave me a good laugh though.

Cradle Of Filth.  I actually quite enjoyed them and they are not my thing at all. Will there be a bigger juxtaposition in 2018 than Cradle playing in glorious summer sunshine ? 

Starcrawler. 0/10. F**king dreadful. The singer came off so try hard and false. It was just weird. Properly poo. 

I watched a band in the Dog House on Thursday called Immersion (I think) and they were brilliant. Really heavy and really energetic; they had the whole tent bouncing. Really cool to see. 

OH. AS IF GNR PLAYED SLITHER. That was seriously awesome. 

Final thing; I always pay lots of attention to merch I see people wearing and by far the most merch I saw this weekend was Architects. I saw so many people in t-shirts, vests, jackets, hats. I heard lots of people talking about them saying they wished they were playing. Download should pick up on that, I think. The future is so bright for them. 

 

 

 

Jesus crowd surfing at Cradle of Filth was pretty surreal. I’d say that was up there.

Am with you on Avenged. I was really up for them, and for the first few I was. The rest, was pretty meh.

My mate saw Parkway and he said they were his band of the weekend, by a long distance.

i know I mentioned this earlier, but didn’t festivals used to go on much later into the night? 10.20 for GnR and, I think 10.30 for Ozzy seems much too early. Whereas Avenged were 10.50. Headliners benefit from it, well, being dark. No point having a great light show and pyro if you’re in the blazing sunshine! 

[Chavmeisterdeluxe]

31 minutes ago, Moey said:

Jesus crowd surfing at Cradle of Filth was pretty surreal. I’d say that was up there.

Am with you on Avenged. I was really up for them, and for the first few I was. The rest, was pretty meh.

My mate saw Parkway and he said they were his band of the weekend, by a long distance.

i know I mentioned this earlier, but didn’t festivals used to go on much later into the night? 10.20 for GnR and, I think 10.30 for Ozzy seems much too early. Whereas Avenged were 10.50. Headliners benefit from it, well, being dark. No point having a great light show and pyro if you’re in the blazing sunshine! 

I believe the early finish is related to the nearby airport.

[Reece1617]

9 hours ago, Andre91 said:

Avenged Sevenfold. 4/10. What a let down. What was up with that setlist? The middle 40 mins or so of the set was SO dull. It completely left the crowd all around me flat. They started off realy well and ended well but everything in between killed the set. Really disappointing. 

I thought a lot of the middle section was great, much better than when they played on their early 2017 tour. I'm really glad they played Eternal Rest and M.I.A as I was getting bored of the same setlist every time. I don't know where you were stood but I know the pit I was in absolutely lost their shit when Eternal Rest came on... I thought their cover of Wish You Were Here was pretty decent too. 

[thewayiam]

10 hours ago, Andre91 said:

I'm just going to do my Top 10 of the weekend and then a few others. 

1. Parkway Drive 10/10. Absolutely incredible. This was the set I was  anticipating the most and they absolutely  smashed it.The setlist was wonderful (even if they dropped Carrion), the stage show was immense and the crowd was great. I had such a good time for the entirety of the set. I am so stoked that they are moving into arenas on this tour. This band are future headliners of Download for sure. 

2.  Marilyn Manson. 9/10. WOW. Where has this Manson been hiding the last few times he has played Download? I thought he was incredible yesterday. That setlist was just banger after banger after banger. It was perfect. Crowd was huge too. 

3. Bury Tomorrow. 10/10. Blasted a hole into the ground for half an hour. Their set was far too short and they need to be playing Main Stages but they seriously get better and better every time i see them. Dan is such a captivating frontman. 

4. Rolo Tomassi. 8/10. The only word  can use to describe what i saw is BEAUTIFUL. Just stunning. The album is my favourite of the year and the songs sounded phenomenal. Again, just beautiful. 

5. Alexisonfire. 9/10. Perfect setlist . They played everything I could have wanted them to play. The band were really up for it. I had a great time. Much better than Leeds 2015. 

6. Ded. 9/10. Surprise of the weekend. I went in knowing a couple of songs and I was blown away. I couldn't take my eyes off the stage. A similar thing happened with The One Hundred last year. Very very exciting live band. 

7. Jamie Lenman. 8/10. Devolver is such a great album and the songs sounded massive. He is properly talented. So much energy considering it is just him and a drummer on stage. Lovely set for a Sunday afternoon. 

8. Neck Deep. 9/10. I left GNR after an hour as I wasn't feeling the jams and solos and I knew I couldn't enjoy 3 hours of them. ND had the tent RAMMED. I love that they came out to Sweet Child O' Mine with the GNR logo as their backdrop. Amazing energy from the band and the crowd and a great setlist. 

9. Stray From The Path. 8/10. Blasted the tent to pieces. Such a great band who give it everything live. 

10. Volbeat. 8/10. Like others have said, this was so good for them in the UK. They had a gigantic crowd who were so into it. The band sounded great and I really do think that they can headline this in future. 

 

A few others I have comments on: 

Avenged Sevenfold. 4/10. What a let down. What was up with that setlist? The middle 40 mins or so of the set was SO dull. It completely left the crowd all around me flat. They started off realy well and ended well but everything in between killed the set. Really disappointing. 

Andrew WK. 5/10. Far better in the tent the last time he played. He always has great energy but it wasn't as good outdoors. Plus he didn't play I Get Wet .

Asking Alexandria. 1/10. Rubbish setlist. Boring performance. Danny stacking it at the beginning gave me a good laugh though.

Cradle Of Filth.  I actually quite enjoyed them and they are not my thing at all. Will there be a bigger juxtaposition in 2018 than Cradle playing in glorious summer sunshine ? 

Starcrawler. 0/10. F**king dreadful. The singer came off so try hard and false. It was just weird. Properly poo. 

I watched a band in the Dog House on Thursday called Immersion (I think) and they were brilliant. Really heavy and really energetic; they had the whole tent bouncing. Really cool to see. 

OH. AS IF GNR PLAYED SLITHER. That was seriously awesome. 

Final thing; I always pay lots of attention to merch I see people wearing and by far the most merch I saw this weekend was Architects. I saw so many people in t-shirts, vests, jackets, hats. I heard lots of people talking about them saying they wished they were playing. Download should pick up on that, I think. The future is so bright for them. 

 

 

 

Unsure why Volbeat just missed out Heaven/Warriors mix they had been doing. Andrew WK has been missing I Get Wet out a few places and to be honest after looking at his sets at his own gigs I feel I'd rather see it indoors with everything I want to

[devilman]

I thought A7X were outstanding. There was no flat spot for me. BVB sound was a bit crap but only watched half as went to see Thrice who were outstanding. GnR were tremendous. Yes Axl can't hit all the notes he used to but the whole collective performance is brilliant. Ozzy similar. The way Wylde nailed Mr Crowley will stick with me for a long time. Avatar set the bar ridiculously high for the weekend and nobody I saw were far below it at all. When you watch Greta van Fleet you just know you are watching greatness in its infancy. They will be huge. There's no 2nd stage slots left for those boys going forward. 

On the festival itself:

There were no urinals in camper vans, not really an issue for me as there is a very long fence but others grumbled. There were lots more showers.

Only queued for a beer for a short time on Fri as people were slower sorting out cups. Even saturday I didn't wait long at all.

Toilets had no queues at all which was great.

It was as busy as 2010 but didn't feel as bad.

I'm buying next year's ticket tomorrow.

I met Moey! He's nice. I was a bit pished and feeling a bit groovy when he found me so I wasn't as talkative as usual. I didn't meet Red Day, which must be the 1st festival in 5 years he hasn't found me at

[BigG94]

I’ve already said it but Zak Wylde is better than Slash. And thats coming from a big Slash fan, so big I’m getting a full portrait of him inked on my arm next week ? that performance for War Pigs was insane on Sunday

[BigG94]

Would love to see this small french band Onlap play so year. They’re absolutely incredible. Check out Running if any of you can

[Moey]

36 minutes ago, devilman said:

I thought A7X were outstanding. There was no flat spot for me. BVB sound was a bit crap but only watched half as went to see Thrice who were outstanding. GnR were tremendous. Yes Axl can't hit all the notes he used to but the whole collective performance is brilliant. Ozzy similar. The way Wylde nailed Mr Crowley will stick with me for a long time. Avatar set the bar ridiculously high for the weekend and nobody I saw were far below it at all. When you watch Greta van Fleet you just know you are watching greatness in its infancy. They will be huge. There's no 2nd stage slots left for those boys going forward. 

On the festival itself:

There were no urinals in camper vans, not really an issue for me as there is a very long fence but others grumbled. There were lots more showers.

Only queued for a beer for a short time on Fri as people were slower sorting out cups. Even saturday I didn't wait long at all.

Toilets had no queues at all which was great.

It was as busy as 2010 but didn't feel as bad.

I'm buying next year's ticket tomorrow.

I met Moey! He's nice. I was a bit pished and feeling a bit groovy when he found me so I wasn't as talkative as usual. I didn't meet Red Day, which must be the 1st festival in 5 years he hasn't found me at

I think we all were! Good to meet you too! Just before avatar, if I recall.

[devilman]

27 minutes ago, BigG94 said:

I’ve already said it but Zak Wylde is better than Slash. And thats coming from a big Slash fan, so big I’m getting a full portrait of him inked on my arm next week ? that performance for War Pigs was insane on Sunday

Technically you are probably right. Both are amazing. Of the solos we got at the weekend I was more transfixed on Wylde's technique but Slash's seemed more like a musical journey and took me places the Wylde solos didn't. Gonna be controversial but I also rate Syn Gates right up there too. The lead was strong this weekend for sure.

[BigG94]

8 minutes ago, devilman said:

Technically you are probably right. Both are amazing. Of the solos we got at the weekend I was more transfixed on Wylde's technique but Slash's seemed more like a musical journey and took me places the Wylde solos didn't. Gonna be controversial but I also rate Syn Gates right up there too. The lead was strong this weekend for sure.

Good shout there with Gates. For me only Eddie Van Halen tops those guys