Download 2008
Thu 19th Jun 08
Download Download Festival 2008 After being let down yesterday, I was looking for a pick me up and found it in the form of Rose Tattoo, those of you old enough to remember will know the lead singer Angry Anderson was behind Scott and Charlene's wedding song in Neighbours, but no sign of Kylie today. Feeling the love of down under I felt that I must go and give some of the new bands a listen and give them a fair hearing. So looking down the schedule I decided to catch fellow Australians 'Airbourne'.
Upon arriving at the Turborg stage, it was clear to see that Airbourne had got a huge following. So maybe I would be in for some enjoyable music for a change. They didn't disappoint me! To give you an idea, imagine a young energetic version of AC/DC and you wont go far wrong. The vocalist even grabbed an Austrailian flag from the audience and climbed up the rafters and attached to the top of the stage. If it had have gone wrong he more than likely would have died. That's old school rock n roll!!!
Then from that point on I just wondered aimlessly from stage to stage catching bands that I may not have usually wanted to see. Apocalyptica were very talented, and even impressed the crowd, but I'm sorry that sort of classical music sound doesn't do anything for me, but I have to admit that they were worthy of playing on the main stage.
Within Temptation were also a pleasant enough band to watch and listen to. They are a more epic version of Evanescence. Vocalist Sharon den Adel was captivating to watch, and would be worth seeing in the near future.
Then it was a long trek over to the Turborg stage once again to catch another nostalgic band called The Wildhearts, who again know how to please a crowd songs like 'Caffeine Bomb' made an instant impact. Ginger may have lost his long hair but definitely not his charisma as he keep the crowd entertained whilst waiting for a new guitar, however he did encourage people to throw bottles and at one point some nutter threw a sharp object into the pit, at which point the band were pulled off stage and the set cut short.
Back on the main stage the stage was all set for the Lostprophets arrival, the crowd let out an eardrum shattering cheer, and even though I'm not a big fan of Lostprophets they certainly deserved to be headlining. They were the complete opposite to KISS in many ways, firstly there was a lack of gimmicks, no backdrop unlike KISS with all their stage props. And in comparison to KISS, Lostprophets are relatively new comers to the live circuit. But give them their dos, they clearly are able to rely purely on the music to win over the crowd, and at the end of the day if a band is able to do that, then that is their job properly done.
So in all fairness, despite all of the comments good or bad since the line up was announced. It would be fair to say that Download catered for a wide range of musical tastes, from the nostalgic old school rocker (me) to the young emo/ new rock fans. The only real disappointment was The Offspring, but even then the Download festival had a million and one other things for people to be doing. I think that's why it had been such a peaceful festival.
So another year gone, did I enjoy it? Hell yeah!! So now there is only one question left, will AC/DC play next year?? (Get the rumours circulating now).
review by Julie Weston
photos by Luke Seagrave
more pages about Lostprophets Band Silhouette |
 White Wall |
 Burn Burn (Backpatch) |
 Transmission |
 Gold Eagle |
 Logo |
 Big Lolz (Girls) |
 White Zipper |
 Mega Lolz |
 Transmission (Girls) |
 Brown Scribble |
 Logo |
 Roof Tops |
 Gothic Logo |
more pages about The Wildhearts Crest |
 Crest (Girls) |
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