Download 2023

[northernangel]

On 6/5/2023 at 4:23 PM, BenG92 said:

"final, final we promise" set times out, Friday Dogtooth pushed back an hour and BMTH now unopposed like Metallica and Slipknot.

Pendulum now clashing Empire State Bastard.

BMTH unopposed completely is silly. But then so Metallica both times. An alternative would be nice. I've got a run between main and second.

[gabrielomachado]

anybody got pictures from Opus stage? with so many huge bands playing there i'm wondering if they will stick to the smaller stage they got last year

[merago]

How strict are the bag size limits?  Do folk get turned away if they have slightly larger bags (as in not as miniscule as the A4 guideline, but a few cm larger -ie a collapsable pocketable "rucksack" or a cheapo airline size cabin bag)

[foolee]

If you’re on site and see any new tour posters over the weekend can you upload please? 

[FloorFiller]

On 6/7/2023 at 8:03 AM, FloorFiller said:

Looks like Shaun/Clown is gonna be missing from some Slipknot dates (which I’m assuming will include Download) as he’s had to go home for his sick wife. 

And now Craig has left the band completely. Mad.

There really gonna be just 7 of them at Download?! How are they even gonna manage?!

[Dukey]

Does anyone know if there is a specific car park for day tickets? Coming tomorrow 

[Paul ™]

12 hours ago, Dukey said:

Does anyone know if there is a specific car park for day tickets? Coming tomorrow 

South

[northernangel]

16 hours ago, Dukey said:

Does anyone know if there is a specific car park for day tickets? Coming tomorrow 

Good luck as well, they've used south car park heavily for weekend camper because the whole structure has been messed up since Wednesday. By 1pm yesterday, south was the only car park letting anyone in.

Regular comers have said it's the worst they've know it, and it is. Most of the staff working it are clueless as well. Slam Dunk was bad but mostly on timing. Download sound is good, that's it's plus point. Everything else has not change in the past 10 years. It is a cash cow. They have said follow the signs, the signs lead to every car park so until you've for an hour to enter one, get out your car and be told you can say what you want but I can't let you you, move on and blah blah you don't know. People have been directed from west to North to South. And South is a huge double back on yourself as it is. 

Hopefully for you as just a day holder it won't be as bad.

[Xeph1995]

Never seen Metallica play Orion before, bit gutted but I wasn't arsed about going this year. 

Thought it would have been nailed in for sonisphere 14 with the vote system but some melts voted for whisky a song they have played every gig for the last x years. 

[FloorFiller]

Possibly already common knowledge but BMTH have announced a massive arena tour for January with support from Bad Omens, Cassyette and Static Dress.

Hearing very good things about their Download set, and seems like the days of them somewhat pandering to the ‘heavy’ crowd are over too as their setlist was pretty unchanged from the previous shows they played. 

New album September 15 too.

Edited June 10, 2023 by FloorFiller

[markopaddy]

When entering yesterday the security checked my bag twice yet I was never asked by anyone to show my day ticket.

[fendo2004]

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. First time going to download, went on Thursday for the day after wanting to go for years and never having anyone liking the music enough to go. Went to reading 5/6 times between 2008 and 2014. Firstly I have to say the crowd/vibe At download was great - everyone enjoying themselves, looking after each other and no kids being stupid. Stages and arena seemed quite small for the number of people, but good number of bars and toilets. Wasn’t a fan of the urinals overflowing though!!!

Only major negative was the food - thought it was shockingly overpriced. Far more than any event I have ever been to before - £15 for a burrito and it was only really basic quality - the other vans near the burrito van at the back of the second stage seemed to be similar prices! Not sure if we were unlucky with where we were when hungry?

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Weekend.

 

 

[Red Day]

3 hours ago, fendo2004 said:

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. First time going to download, went on Thursday for the day after wanting to go for years and never having anyone liking the music enough to go. Went to reading 5/6 times between 2008 and 2014. Firstly I have to say the crowd/vibe At download was great - everyone enjoying themselves, looking after each other and no kids being stupid. Stages and arena seemed quite small for the number of people, but good number of bars and toilets. Wasn’t a fan of the urinals overflowing though!!!

Only major negative was the food - thought it was shockingly overpriced. Far more than any event I have ever been to before - £15 for a burrito and it was only really basic quality - the other vans near the burrito van at the back of the second stage seemed to be similar prices! Not sure if we were unlucky with where we were when hungry?

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Weekend.

 

 

Been a really enjoyable weekend so far. One thing about the food I suppose is that overheads have gone up and vendors selling the same poor quality stuff but for a higher price. The paella place to the right of the second stage was decent quality.  One bonus is you can take in your own food if you want

[FloorFiller]

Booo nothing from St Anger booo.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

On 6/10/2023 at 10:45 AM, FloorFiller said:

Possibly already common knowledge but BMTH have announced a massive arena tour for January with support from Bad Omens, Cassyette and Static Dress.

Hearing very good things about their Download set, and seems like the days of them somewhat pandering to the ‘heavy’ crowd are over too as their setlist was pretty unchanged from the previous shows they played. 

New album September 15 too.

They were amazing. Totally nailed it. 
 

I was at Slipknot in 09 when they first headlined, had the same sort of feeling. 

[Xeph1995]

I've just wanted some footage of BMTH and can't believe people enjoyed that, each to their own. 

Vocal backing track really? ..

[FeverDream]

2 hours ago, Xeph1995 said:

I've just wanted some footage of BMTH and can't believe people enjoyed that, each to their own. 

Vocal backing track really? ..

Pretty much any backing vocal you hear will be Jordan to be fair. I think Oli sounded the best he had done and I’ve seen them live a fair few times now. 

[FeverDream]

First Download for myself and thoroughly enjoyed it. Getting in and parked was a pain in the arse, but after that most things were spot on. It didn’t feel oversold to me; I never had to wait more than 5 minutes for food or to use the portaloos. Only gripe was the queue for water, specifically the arena, I feel like there could have been more water points. It seemed like I had to go out of my way to fill my bottle up a lot of the time. 
 

Would definitely return, albeit lineup dependant, and I hope we see some new bands given the chance to headline because BMTH smashed it out the park.

Edited June 12, 2023 by FeverDream

[axlgod]

Got back about 3am (eternal) this morning.

The good :

Weather was superb, ridiculously hot n sunny, which is better than rain.

The Bad.

Not a great line-up.

Car park was a nightmare getting out.

Water Stations weirdly placed around the main arena.

Festival taxed food n drink.

Security was so bad, I didn’t even get my bag searched 3 of the 4 days I entered the arena.

Car park to campsite was about 4 billion miles.

Definitely oversold tickets for Saturday n Sunday, it was crazy.

Stages too close together, if you sat n chilled on the hill towards the back you could hear both bands on the main and on the dogtooth stage at the same time.

If the stories are true about how disabled people were treated by staff, that is truly unforgivable.

Who on earth put Evanescence, Ghost, Within Temptation on the second stage? Absolute lunacy, that area around the second stage was dangerous purely down to the sheer amount of people wanting to watch those bands.

Literally no mobile date signal anywhere.

Will the download organisers give a sh*t?…doubt it-they’ll just crow about how fantastic it was n how it was problem free.

Will I go next year? Nah don’t think so.

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by axlgod

[binge.to.bopo]

Anyone struggling to buy early bird tickets???

It just keeps telling us this..

We've tried 4 different cards, 2 devices, 2 log ins and no luck

[gabrielomachado]

Rating all my sets

Thursday

Jinjer (8/10) - incredible stage presence, crowd was really into it, but the heat overwhelmed me a bit

Puscifer (6/10) - love maynard but not the best band to see live

Alter Bridge (6/10) - found them a little bit dull, love their songs but something didn't worked well

Metallica (8/10) - my favourite band of all time, great set but too many videos and interludes but i get it, they are in their 60's now playing heavy sh*t for 2 hours straight, they need a bit break
____
Friday

Hot Milk (8/10) - what a way to start a day, hope to see these guys getting bigger

Epica (7/10) - really are not my thing but my GF loves them so had to go and watch. the crowd was into it tho

Pendulum (10/10) - holy sh*t

Architects (9/10) - not gave a 10 because sam acted like a bit of a c**t

Evanescence (10/10) - had to miss the last few songs but man they were great, huge crowd and opus seemed too small for them. if andy wants a female hedlining he REALLY should call Amy in a few years

Bring Me The Horizon (10/10) - set of the weekend, set of their lives and lives up with Slipknot 09' with the best headline set download EVER had
_____
Saturday

Fever 333 (5/10) - i don't get the hype around this band, great energy of course but don't have the catalog to live up to it. i was really suffering from hungry and heat at their set tho

Alexisonfire (7/10) - had to lunch and take a break so i only came back to Mainstage when these guys were already on their 3rd or 4th song. I felt a bit underwhelmed because i used to love them at high school but great nostalgic sing along 

Disturbed (6/10) - same as AOF. sounded a bit dull but loved to sing louder to loads of songs that i used to love in my teenage days

Metallica (9/10) - really, REALLY, better than thursday. amazing setlist, amazing crowd, that stage is massive and it's a massive win to DL to be the only festival they are fully playing with the M72 tour
______
Sunday

Lorna Shore (9/10) - sounded MASSIVE. how great it's to see such an extreme band flying that high. hope they get to headline a stage one day

Behemoth (6/10) - poor setlist and they don't work so well on daylight

I Prevail (8/10) - don't listen to them that much but they put an hell of a show, hope to see them subbing or headlining 2nd next time

Parkway Drive (9/10) - even on the back of an poor album these guys really know how to smash a crowd. great, great set and they NEED to headline next time they play

Ghost (10/10) - set of the weekend along with BMTH. had to miss Kaisarion and Rats because the crowd was HUGE. it was a bad mistake to put them on opus. They really need to headline ASAP and i hope they do in 2025. Brilliant live band with a huge fanbase

Slipknot (6/10) - Seen them at DL2019 and Knotfest Brazil so i was already a little bored by the same songs and gimmicks. Loved that they changed the setlist a bit but i was already so tired that i didn't enjoyed that much. Left after Custer with my feet almost bleeding out from 4 days of metal and madness

Loved to be there, see you all in 2024!

[northernangel]

5 hours ago, FeverDream said:

First Download for myself and thoroughly enjoyed it. Getting in and parked was a pain in the arse, but after that most things were spot on. It didn’t feel oversold to me; I never had to wait more than 5 minutes for food or to use the portaloos. Only gripe was the queue for water, specifically the arena, I feel like there could have been more water points. It seemed like I had to go out of my way to fill my bottle up a lot of the time. 
 

Would definitely return, albeit lineup dependant, and I hope we see some new bands given the chance to headline because BMTH smashed it out the park.

Water queue was just stupid and lack of points. It 100% felt oversold, you could move anywhere without hassle from 3/4pm each day.

Can't comment on BMTH because I wanted a band opposite them anyway. For what I did hear of them it was very missable.

 

4 hours ago, axlgod said:

Got back about 3am (eternal) this morning.

The good :

Weather was superb, ridiculously hot n sunny, which is better than rain.

The Bad.

Not a great line-up.

Car park was a nightmare getting out.

Water Stations weirdly placed around the main arena.

Festival taxed food n drink.

Security was so bad, I didn’t even get my bag searched 3 of the 4 days I entered the arena.

Car park to campsite was about 4 billion miles.

Definitely oversold tickets for Saturday n Sunday, it was crazy.

Stages too close together, if you sat n chilled on the hill towards the back you could hear both bands on the main and on the dogtooth stage at the same time.

If the stories are true about how disabled people were treated by staff, that is truly unforgivable.

Who on earth put Evanescence, Ghost, Within Temptation on the second stage? Absolute lunacy, that area around the second stage was dangerous purely down to the sheer amount of people wanting to watch those bands.

Literally no mobile date signal anywhere.

Will the download organisers give a sh*t?…doubt it-they’ll just crow about how fantastic it was n how it was problem free.

Will I go next year? Nah don’t think so.

 

 

The whole organisation was pants....but this is Download. It was too pants. 

Within Temptation on second was fine, loads of space, Evanescence should never have been.

Skipped Ghost for a Slipknot pit position but wasn't overall bothered by previous time checking their stuff anyway. 

I very doubt unless it's a stella lineup I'd attend more than 1 day, it still continued to be the poorest UK run fest I've attended.

1 hour ago, gabrielomachado said:

Rating all my sets

Thursday

Jinjer (8/10) - incredible stage presence, crowd was really into it, but the heat overwhelmed me a bit

Puscifer (6/10) - love maynard but not the best band to see live

Alter Bridge (6/10) - found them a little bit dull, love their songs but something didn't worked well

Metallica (8/10) - my favourite band of all time, great set but too many videos and interludes but i get it, they are in their 60's now playing heavy sh*t for 2 hours straight, they need a bit break
____
Friday

Hot Milk (8/10) - what a way to start a day, hope to see these guys getting bigger

Epica (7/10) - really are not my thing but my GF loves them so had to go and watch. the crowd was into it tho

Pendulum (10/10) - holy sh*t

Architects (9/10) - not gave a 10 because sam acted like a bit of a c**t

Evanescence (10/10) - had to miss the last few songs but man they were great, huge crowd and opus seemed too small for them. if andy wants a female hedlining he REALLY should call Amy in a few years

Bring Me The Horizon (10/10) - set of the weekend, set of their lives and lives up with Slipknot 09' with the best headline set download EVER had
_____
Saturday

Fever 333 (5/10) - i don't get the hype around this band, great energy of course but don't have the catalog to live up to it. i was really suffering from hungry and heat at their set tho

Alexisonfire (7/10) - had to lunch and take a break so i only came back to Mainstage when these guys were already on their 3rd or 4th song. I felt a bit underwhelmed because i used to love them at high school but great nostalgic sing along 

Disturbed (6/10) - same as AOF. sounded a bit dull but loved to sing louder to loads of songs that i used to love in my teenage days

Metallica (9/10) - really, REALLY, better than thursday. amazing setlist, amazing crowd, that stage is massive and it's a massive win to DL to be the only festival they are fully playing with the M72 tour
______
Sunday

Lorna Shore (9/10) - sounded MASSIVE. how great it's to see such an extreme band flying that high. hope they get to headline a stage one day

Behemoth (6/10) - poor setlist and they don't work so well on daylight

I Prevail (8/10) - don't listen to them that much but they put an hell of a show, hope to see them subbing or headlining 2nd next time

Parkway Drive (9/10) - even on the back of an poor album these guys really know how to smash a crowd. great, great set and they NEED to headline next time they play

Ghost (10/10) - set of the weekend along with BMTH. had to miss Kaisarion and Rats because the crowd was HUGE. it was a bad mistake to put them on opus. They really need to headline ASAP and i hope they do in 2025. Brilliant live band with a huge fanbase

Slipknot (6/10) - Seen them at DL2019 and Knotfest Brazil so i was already a little bored by the same songs and gimmicks. Loved that they changed the setlist a bit but i was already so tired that i didn't enjoyed that much. Left after Custer with my feet almost bleeding out from 4 days of metal and madness

Loved to be there, see you all in 2024!

Just to pick Pendulum out if this, thought it was very dull. Having seen them go from playing lower down to topping stages with lights, to step back from that visually looks terrible.

Metallica were much better Saturday.

Evanescence killed it as did Bad Religion and Three Days Grace. I thought Placebo sounded good but it's nothing I've not seen before. 

[kjvffm]

First time Downloader but done a decent number of festivals before UK and abroad. In my experience it was overall an excellent event. Great line up, lots of fantastic performances, particularly enjoyed Neck Deep, BMTH, Dino Pile Up, Bob Vylan, Jinjer and Callboy. Felt it was run and managed as well as it could be, plenty of facilities, staff were all helpful and really visible throughout (which made my girlfriend feel safer than she expected).

Only a couple negatives in my opinion. The WORST thing for me was people bringing their chairs into the arena, particularly close to the front or sitting 4-5 people across, frustrating as f**k when running between stages to see loads of bands. The other thing was that the area felt far far too small for that volume of people, appreciate it was a sell out but a bit of extra square footage would have gone a long way, particularly for the Opus stage. Didn't find it particularly problematic getting in/out (queue on M1 was mad but that was expected), never waited more than 10 minutes for food/water/toilets/merch, just pick your timing wisely and its gonna be fine.

[Chavmeisterdeluxe]

9 hours ago, Xeph1995 said:

I've just wanted some footage of BMTH and can't believe people enjoyed that, each to their own. 

Vocal backing track really? ..

They just don't ever film Jordan, who's doing backing vocals. Or you watched the opener where its Daryl Palumbos vocals as he ain't coming over for 5 minutes 

[northernangel]

1 hour ago, kjvffm said:

First time Downloader but done a decent number of festivals before UK and abroad. In my experience it was overall an excellent event. Great line up, lots of fantastic performances, particularly enjoyed Neck Deep, BMTH, Dino Pile Up, Bob Vylan, Jinjer and Callboy. Felt it was run and managed as well as it could be, plenty of facilities, staff were all helpful and really visible throughout (which made my girlfriend feel safer than she expected).

Only a couple negatives in my opinion. The WORST thing for me was people bringing their chairs into the arena, particularly close to the front or sitting 4-5 people across, frustrating as f**k when running between stages to see loads of bands. The other thing was that the area felt far far too small for that volume of people, appreciate it was a sell out but a bit of extra square footage would have gone a long way, particularly for the Opus stage. Didn't find it particularly problematic getting in/out (queue on M1 was mad but that was expected), never waited more than 10 minutes for food/water/toilets/merch, just pick your timing wisely and its gonna be fine.

The chairs were terrible, like literally worse that Glastonbury Pyramid stage most of the time. Then they get annoyed you wanting to come past.