overview

This years Download looked impressive on paper, with just about every rock band you can imagine scheduled to play.

Despite being impressive on paper, this year just didn’t manage to capture for me the excitement and exhilaration that Download 2003 had. Don’t get me wrong - the bands that played were worth seeing - it was the organisation that let the event down slightly.



Set times for bands went completely wrong - it got so bad that Slayer were moved from the main stage to the Snickers stage and even though the audience had been told they would be on the Snickers stage at 6.35, they didn’t actually appear until 7.45 which screwed everything up. There was one point where we had queued for ages to see Bowling For Soup - getting ready to be entertained in the way that only Bowling For Soup can entertain a crowd... the lights went out, the chants for Bowling For Soup started, and a band ran out onto the stage and started playing. This was certainly not Bowling For Soup - due to the delay in set times ‘Taking Back Sunday’ had just come on to do their set. This caused a lot of puzzled faces in the audience.

Due to the time over-runs, a situation was created where acts that were near the top of the bill (including the headliners) had to cut their sets short. So we were treated to roughly 6 songs by Bowling for Soup and 6 songs by HIM. Not only was this disappointing for the audience, but the bands were quite annoyed as well.



Even the mighty Metallica had to cut their set short, which was just an hour long. Obviously this left a lot of the audience disappointed and there were a few nasty jeers from the audience. Metallica were partly to blame for their late stage entrance due to Lars Ulrich (drummer) being ‘sick’ (was this self induced rock & roll sick, with a sore head the next day?) and therefore not being able to perform. Instead of cancelling the show Metallica decided to use a few different drummers from other bands to make the best of a bad situation. Slayers Dave Lombardo and Slipknot’s Joey Jordison stood in.

Apart from the total cock up with the stage times, everything else was how it should be: hot sun, lots of people, great music. Even though Download is a rock music event the organisers did put on some bands which were slightly different to your usual stereotypical rock band. Bands like The Hives, Sum 41, and Bowling For Soup were certainly entertaining and managed to win over the audience quite easily, despite not fitting solidly into the ‘rock’ music category.

There was plenty of entertainment going on all of the time. This year they had a BMX competition with a specially constructed bowl for the skateboarders and BMX cyclists to do their stunts... which was probably the only event that actually ran on time.



None of the bands that I got to see were disappointing. Those that stuck out the most at me were Machine Head and Cradle of Filth. Machine Head put 110% into their set and got a spectacular reaction from the audience, while Cradle of Filth were impressive because of all of their stage theatrics. I don’t know much about their music, but visually they were fantastic to watch, with gothic creatures on stilts just one of the many visual effects.

.

I loved ‘Damage Plan’, who I’d never heard previously. Iggy & the Stooges were crazy and bizarre, but I’m not sure if the audience only went to see them because of Iggy's stage theatrics, or if they genuinely like any of his material.



Linkin Park were colourful and vibrant and great to watch. Metallica were great for the short time they were on stage. But I felt disappointed after waiting all weekend to see a two hour set by the gods of rock, only to find it was half that length.



Hopefully next year Download will have adopted a stricter time policy for bands, and so not create the same problems with overrunning times. It was an enjoyable weekend, but for me not quite as impressive as Download 2003.

Latest Updates