Download Fest Pilot

[Red Day]

3 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

I’ve been thinking about it at all and I think it’s the best festival I’ve ever been to. 

As an old bugger it certainly was for me. I kept thinking it’d be cancelled at some point in the lead up and the inevitable disappointment would kick in.  Once I was through the gates, the relief kicked in and even pitching the tent in the pissing rain was a pleasure. After the last 15 months it was one of the best feelings ever when Death Blooms walked on stage. 

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

10 hours ago, hfuhruhurr said:

Aren't metal heads the best festival goers? The glasto lot go on about how friendly they are, but in my experience the metal crowd are just brilliant, so friendly, such a laugh.

They're the best. I've been all over the world to multi-genre and genre-specific festivals and metal festivals by far have the friendliest, least pretentious and unified crowds.

[Andre91]

6 minutes ago, Red Day said:

After the last 15 months it was one of the best feelings ever when Death Blooms walked on stage. 

That was a genuinely euphoric moment. I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like it before. The atmosphere alone for the Vengaboys blasting over the PA just before they walked out was unreal 😂

[Andre91]

2 minutes ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

They're the best. I've been all over the world to multi-genre and genre-specific festivals and metal festivals by far have the friendliest, least pretentious and unified crowds.

Agreed. It really is a community. 

[JimMacVeigh]

I feel truly blessed and lucky to have gone to this. I won’t lie, I was nearly in tears to begin with, just with pure happiness 😂

Its been a hugely emotional weekend (in a good way), so here’s hoping July 19th we can unlock and get back up the gigging life. We’re nearly there folks, fingers crossed!

[JimMacVeigh]

13 minutes ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

They're the best. I've been all over the world to multi-genre and genre-specific festivals and metal festivals by far have the friendliest, least pretentious and unified crowds.

Absolutely. I’ve been Graspop in Belgium multiple times, and that crowd, along with the security actually, are the best bunch of people I’ve ever met. 
 

Huge shoutout to the Download crowd this weekend too. Everyone was so bloody nice and happy. An incredible community and atmosphere over this last few days.  

[Red Day]

3 minutes ago, JimMacVeigh said:

I feel truly blessed and lucky to have gone to this. I won’t lie, I was nearly in tears to begin with, just with pure happiness 😂

Its been a hugely emotional weekend (in a good way), so here’s hoping July 19th we can unlock and get back up the gigging life. We’re nearly there folks, fingers crossed!

Nearly ? I was a few times over the weekend and I’m never like that. Maybe at my age I’ve less festivals left in me than most people on here, and need to grab every moment I can.  One thing I confirmed at the weekend is that camping isn’t for me. Premier Inn booked for DL22 😍

[KingPin]

1 hour ago, Andre91 said:

That DnB/Dub/Trap set was by far my favourite of the weekend at the silent disco 😂 it was a proper party atmosphere; everyone was losing their heads. 

Fully agree with this and it was exactly what was needed after THAT Shikari set.

Anybody else feeling some serious post festival blues right now? What a top class weekend that was, Conjurer, Sleep Token, Creeper and Shikari were all the stand out acts but almost every band smashed it.

[Andre91]

7 minutes ago, KingPin said:

Fully agree with this and it was exactly what was needed after THAT Shikari set.

Anybody else feeling some serious post festival blues right now? What a top class weekend that was, Conjurer, Sleep Token, Creeper and Shikari were all the stand out acts but almost every band smashed it.

When Zoe dropped Slipshod in the middle of her set, the place erupted! Such a great way to keep the party mood up. 
 

21 minutes ago, Red Day said:

Nearly ? I was a few times over the weekend and I’m never like that. Maybe at my age I’ve less festivals left in me than most people on here, and need to grab every moment I can.  One thing I confirmed at the weekend is that camping isn’t for me. Premier Inn booked for DL22 😍

I cried like a baby during Shikari’s fanfare intro 😂

[JimMacVeigh]

26 minutes ago, Red Day said:

Nearly ? I was a few times over the weekend and I’m never like that. Maybe at my age I’ve less festivals left in me than most people on here, and need to grab every moment I can.  One thing I confirmed at the weekend is that camping isn’t for me. Premier Inn booked for DL22 😍

Fully backing you on the camping comment! I’ll be booking that hotel ASAP for next years fun and games. 

[Red Day]

1 minute ago, JimMacVeigh said:

Fully backing you on the camping comment! I’ll be booking that hotel ASAP for next years fun and games. 

Absolutely. Waking up with waist to head on a half inflated airbed and waist to feet on a hard field isn’t for me. My back felt broken.  Sleeping on one of the tables outside food stalls would have been more comfortable 

[devilman]

Well that was totally amazing. Never had such emotions at a gig. Malevolence was the first band I saw and within 10 seconds, 16 months of frustration and kicks in the baws were forced out by an unstoppable surge of happiness. It was overwhelming. My pal asked me a question about the band and I tried to answer but my mouth was no longer working and the tears were rolling down my cheeks. Proper unashamed outpouring of emotion that I had no idea I was holding. That feeling was never far from the surface the whole weekend. I was unprepared for that. At the end of the Newport Helicopter there were 6 of us bubbling like bairns. Frank Turner was even worse. I don't even like his music but somehow it was one of the best gigs I have ever been to just because of the raw emotion in the crowd and he was able to connect to it. Awesome front man. Not going to listen to his stuff though 😂
Highs: All of it. It was ace.

Lows: Ginger Wildheart. Bog queues. The seriously retarded person that thinks it's ok to throw a can or bottle into a ladies safe crowd surfing pit. Split my best pal's head open and she had to go get patched up. 16 months of shielding, then covid, then long covid and then the one thing that this grandmother has to look forward to is spoilt by a braindead fuckwit. We gotta change that culture of throwing things.

[hfuhruhurr]

6 hours ago, devilman said:

We gotta change that culture of throwing things

Absolutely. In general it seems a bit better over the years (and download isn't the worst by a long way) but if you're hit by one it doesn't matter how many are thrown. Get it banned, put messages up on the main screens between acts.

[jump]

Yeah I never really got throwing your drink, it's just a waste of your drink so I suppose I'm just too stingy to do that. Even if they suddenly start playing that song I really want to be in a pit for or if the band has finally come on stage I just down it.  

IDLES once mentioned about how you shouldn't specifically throw your drink into the crowd which is the only time I remember it being mentioned at a gig or festival before by the band.

[theesundayroast]

Never once thought Veganaboys would be my first mosh back but here we are! All I can say after that is what a weekend. Think the highlights for me were Shikari (as always), Boston Manor (helped by the appearance of Halo 4) and Frank Turner. An extra shoutout to the guys in Loathe, Lotus Eater and Static Dress who all did me very proud on the big stage.

I don't think I stopped smiling all weekend long other than during the England game I stupidly decided to stream at the back of the Neck Deep crowd.

Big thanks to everyone who made that festival what it was ❤️

[a6l6e6x]

26 minutes ago, jump said:

Yeah I never really got throwing your drink, it's just a waste of your drink so I suppose I'm just too stingy to do that. Even if they suddenly start playing that song I really want to be in a pit for or if the band has finally come on stage I just down it.  

IDLES once mentioned about how you shouldn't specifically throw your drink into the crowd which is the only time I remember it being mentioned at a gig or festival before by the band.

Always thought it was weird how everyone wants to throw pints around during England games, especially when they cost £6 from boxpark 

On another note, Tuesdays post festival are the worst

[jump]

To be honest I'm surprised this is such a talking about. They should have just smashed a guitar so it would have been more rock 'n roll.

 

The Wildhearts on Twitter: "🖤 https://t.co/vlNsPHSp2x" / Twitter

[Pr0paneNightm4re]

Fucking hell. Enter Shikari and Frank Carter knocked it out the park. Such a great weekend all in all. Does anyone know if there’ll be any official like an aftermovie or if any of the sets or anything will become available? Quite limited footage on YouTube so far and would be great to relive some of the sets 

[elias]

Echoing what everyone else has said. Great weekend - some excellent music, not all to my taste, but interesting none the less.
Fair play to all involved, the organisation was very good. A few more blokes portaloos would have been nice, but I'm sure it put a smile on the face of a few women strolling into their ample facilities while we blokes queued up.
Small downside for us was being camped close to a group of 20 or so individuals with a large gazebo who found it entertaining to shout and scream at each other at 3.00am. We went into the arena at 11.00am one morning and they were playing beer pong. Came back at 5.00pm to get ready for the night and they were still at it. Never will understand that. Still, luck of the draw who you camp next to.
Saw so many great bands and really enjoyed the 30 minute sets one after the other. Just moved from one stage to the next. Frank Turner was great as always and Creeper exceeded expectations.

Special mention to a guy named James. He came and stood near my daughter close to the front at the Creeper set. Now this bloke was at least 6 foot 4 inches and built like a brick outhouse. The sort of bloke mothers warn their daughters to avoid. He told my daughter that he liked her jacket and she told him she loved his. He was wearing a huge leather coat covered in metal studs. He asked her if she wanted to try it on. It nearly came down to her ankles and she said it weighed a ton. She had her photo taken with him.
He eventually wandered into the mosh pit. He didn't throw his weight around, just sort of stood there as people bounced off him. Absolute pleasure to meet him and he was sort of indicative of the metal fans we met, a pleasure to be around. Let's just say I'd prefer their company to the beer pong crowd.

[FakeEmpire]

Where to start?

This was absolutely brilliant from start to finish. Loved the 2 stage set up and how many bands we got to see in one weekend. 

The Celine Dion/Vengaboys singalongs before Death Blooms were just perfect and the outpour of love from the crowd when they walked out onto the stage. We all knew what we had been missing for so long.

So many highlights - Enter Shikari & Frank Carter absolutely smashed their headline sets. Both deserve to be headlining proper festivals everywhere.

Frank Turner, Creeper, While She Sleeps, Sleep Token, Bleed From Within, Wargasm, Vukovi, Saint Agnes, Chubby & the Gang, While She Sleeps all massive highlights for me.

A lot of it isn't really my bag musically but I gave everything a go and just had a beautiful weekend. Also, probably the nicest festival crowd I have *ever* been in. Not sure if that's because of the circumstances or just the type of person the event attracted but I genuinely didn't encounter a single dickhead. A really polite, gentle crowd, none of the usual pushing and shoving to get in and out of sets. 

Only negative - men's toilets were a bit of a nightmare at times. Can't understand the gender segregation of portaloos. Women's toilets often empty and men queueing for ages. They had security or toilet monitors on duty so could have just filtered some men into the ladies at certain times. 

Girlfriend and I generally hung at the back or sides and ensured we had a good amount of space around us throughout - that all went out the window when you're squeezing past a queue to get into the urinals. If I end up catching covid, it'll be from those toilets!

 

[FakeEmpire]

3 minutes ago, elias said:

 

Special mention to a guy named James. He came and stood near my daughter close to the front at the Creeper set. Now this bloke was at least 6 foot 4 inches and built like a brick outhouse. The sort of bloke mothers warn their daughters to avoid. He told my daughter that he liked her jacket and she told him she loved his. He was wearing a huge leather coat covered in metal studs. He asked her if she wanted to try it on. It nearly came down to her ankles and she said it weighed a ton. She had her photo taken with him.
He eventually wandered into the mosh pit. He didn't throw his weight around, just sort of stood there as people bounced off him. Absolute pleasure to meet him and he was sort of indicative of the metal fans we met, a pleasure to be around. Let's just say I'd prefer their company to the beer pong crowd.

Did this guy have long red hair? 

I saw a girl who'd had a bit too much on the Fri evening fall to the ground. She was picked up by a lad and leather coat man rushed over to check she was OK and give this lad a bit of a talking to about behaving himself around the girl in this state. Thoroughly decent.

[Andre91]

57 minutes ago, elias said:

Echoing what everyone else has said. Great weekend - some excellent music, not all to my taste, but interesting none the less.
Fair play to all involved, the organisation was very good. A few more blokes portaloos would have been nice, but I'm sure it put a smile on the face of a few women strolling into their ample facilities while we blokes queued up.
Small downside for us was being camped close to a group of 20 or so individuals with a large gazebo who found it entertaining to shout and scream at each other at 3.00am. We went into the arena at 11.00am one morning and they were playing beer pong. Came back at 5.00pm to get ready for the night and they were still at it. Never will understand that. Still, luck of the draw who you camp next to.
Saw so many great bands and really enjoyed the 30 minute sets one after the other. Just moved from one stage to the next. Frank Turner was great as always and Creeper exceeded expectations.

Special mention to a guy named James. He came and stood near my daughter close to the front at the Creeper set. Now this bloke was at least 6 foot 4 inches and built like a brick outhouse. The sort of bloke mothers warn their daughters to avoid. He told my daughter that he liked her jacket and she told him she loved his. He was wearing a huge leather coat covered in metal studs. He asked her if she wanted to try it on. It nearly came down to her ankles and she said it weighed a ton. She had her photo taken with him.
He eventually wandered into the mosh pit. He didn't throw his weight around, just sort of stood there as people bounced off him. Absolute pleasure to meet him and he was sort of indicative of the metal fans we met, a pleasure to be around. Let's just say I'd prefer their company to the beer pong crowd.

Think I know who you are on about. Nice fella, long, redish hair? Had a good chat with him in the queue for a pizza and then again during WSS, where he let my mate try his massive jacket on too! 

[elias]

47 minutes ago, FakeEmpire said:

Did this guy have long red hair? 

I saw a girl who'd had a bit too much on the Fri evening fall to the ground. She was picked up by a lad and leather coat man rushed over to check she was OK and give this lad a bit of a talking to about behaving himself around the girl in this state. Thoroughly decent.

No, he had black hair I think (I'd made good use of my hip flask of bourbon by this point!) I agree with you about decent people around those in need of help. I saw several instances where people looked distressed or just plain hammered and those around them immediately stopped to help and made sure the paramedics were called.

By the way, has anyone had a ping from the NHS app to say she was in contact with someone that had Covid at the festival? My daughter just has (I didn't carry a phone) and I wondered whether is was likely nearly everyone who was there would get contacted.

[elias]

1 minute ago, Andre91 said:

Think I know who you are on about. Nice fella, long, redish hair? Had a good chat with him in the queue for a pizza and then again during WSS, where he let my mate try his massive jacket on too! 

LOL. I probably was pissed or inattentive - by the sounds of it it is the same guy. 

[Stringebean]

20 minutes ago, elias said:

No, he had black hair I think (I'd made good use of my hip flask of bourbon by this point!) I agree with you about decent people around those in need of help. I saw several instances where people looked distressed or just plain hammered and those around them immediately stopped to help and made sure the paramedics were called. 

Definitely red hair. You even took the photo 😅

It sounds like I'm not the only one to get an NHS isolation notification, quite a few on one of the Download Facebook groups. Worth the self isolating though for the Creeper and Frank Turner sets alone. Great to find some new bands to get into having only ever seen the 2 Franks before on the lineup. And what great crowds! If it weren't for the trek from the campsite to the arena that I've heard about I'd definitely be considering Download again..