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    • home » festivals » Download » Download Festival 2009 » reviews

    Pendulum, and The Prodigy are the highlights of day two

    Download 2009 review

    published: Wed 17th Jun 2009

    The Prodigy

    to
    Donington Park, Leics, England MAP
    £135 weekend, £65 any day, camping is an extra £25
    last updated: Thu 11th Jun 2009

    Once again we managed to drive straight onto site without being stuck in any traffic, which may have just been luck with timing.

    Temperature check, HOT!

    I decided to have a walk around the market stalls this morning as I didn't get much chance yesterday, do the straw hat men sell wellies if they turn up to a festival and it's muddy? I'd like to congratulate the T-shirt designers this year as I think the Download ones are the best I've seen in a while, whether any men were lucky enough to find anyone to 'Suck Their Rock' remains to be seen. The site seems a lot busier today and the queues for bar tokens and beer are already building.

    The UV body paint stall seems to be going down a storm, I'm just wondering how the topless guy with 'I heart black' written across his chest is going to look tomorrow when it washes off and he has sunburn.. if you're out there, let us know.

    It amazes me how many pink people there are today, the sun is so strong and instead of putting extra sun cream on one guy has his friends taping calippos from the ice cream van to his arms to cool down his sunburn, unreal.

    Devil Driver
    Devil Driver are on the main stage and I sit at the top of the hill looking down, I'm out the way for a reason. Front man Dez Fafara confirmed my suspicions when he ask the crowd to push themselves to the barriers to try and break the world record for the biggest circle pit, from there on in during 'Meet The Wretched' it all got very messy.

    I head up to the Red Bull stage to catch some shade, and catch a band called None The Less, an up and coming band from Watford, I can actually sit down in the tent and chill for a few minutes whilst lead singer Ant Giannaccini uses every last bit of energy bouncing around the stage.

    Dragonforce
    Dragonforce are putting in a stirling performance on the mainstage and remind me of how rock was when I fell in love with it, fast guitars and high pitched squeals. Anyone who owns Guitar Hero 3 will have no doubt pranced around their living room to 'Through the Fire and Flames' at some point and the sing along from the audience was great.


    Pendulum
    From air guitar to techo rock, the diversity on the main stage today is good and I'm soon dancing around to 'Slam' and 'Blood Sugar' yes the gorgeous boys from Australia a.k.a Pendulum are keeping my spirits up, what would my daughter say if she saw me dancing like a mad women, I just can't stop. ‘'Tarantula' and 'Propane Nightmares' add to what is a fantastic set, I think the highlight of my day so far.

    I slowly drift towards the Tuborg Stage as Pendulum finish their set as Thunder have been announced this week, and are playing their farewell gig so I want to make sure I can squeeze under the canvas somehow. I've grown up with Thunder and can't believe after splitting up breifly before they are finally leaving us this time, as soon as I hear their now infamous AC/DC 'Thunderstuck' intro I get goosebumps on my arms, and sing my way through their 40 minute set, I'm going to miss them.

    The Prodigy
    I make my way out of the tent and it's still really warm outside, so I have a quick nip to the Guinness bus before making the long trek up to see The Prodigy, not a band you'd automatically think of when you're putting on a rock festival but they pulled an amazing crowd. Keith Flint runs around the stage in his usual style, whatever he had before he hit the stage I'd like to try some for the walk back to the car park later, but seriously he has so much energy it's unreal. Maxim Reality makes up the frontman double act, and I see why they are firestarters as they are on fire on that stage tonight. The tracks are relentless and the crowd lap it up as the air cools down as the sun starts to set behind them, Flint has such a connection throughout with the crowd, I'm really torn as I was hoping to catch Slipknot on the main stage but these guys are good, I promise myself one more song before I venture back down the hill.

    What hasn't already been said about Slipknot? They give their fans exactly what they wanted and bring Day 2 to a rubber masked and super duper close.

    Time to get out the Car Park... 14 minutes.
    review by: Julie Weston

    to
    Donington Park, Leics, England MAP
    £135 weekend, £65 any day, camping is an extra £25
    last updated: Thu 11th Jun 2009


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