Download 2023

[BenG92]

7 minutes ago, FeverDream said:

Copping will have them back if he can’t get his trusty number ones.

Can't wait until BMTH are a success and then they headline every other year for the next 10 years

[Xeph1995]

What Download headliner bombed the hardest do you think in its history? 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Xeph1995

[BenG92]

2 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

What download headliner went down the worst do you think in its history? 

No contest

These days they'd be given a very warm welcome, people have grown up

[Xeph1995]

3 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

No contest

These days they'd be given a very warm welcome, people have grown up

Yeah this was my first thought too tbh. 

It always amazes me just how many bottles people save up for this. 

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Xeph1995

[Andre91]

5 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

What Download headliner bombed the hardest do you think in its history? 

Performance wise? System Of A Down. I wasn't at 2011 (which was supposedly awful) but was at 2017. Never in my life have I seen a more disinterested band. There's going through the motions and and then there was that. It was as if they would rather be anywhere else in the world. I think that was the year Serj's dog ran away or something? That was their excuse for the flat performance. 

[BenG92]

5 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

Performance wise? System Of A Down. I wasn't at 2011 (which was supposedly awful) but was at 2017. Never in my life have I seen a more disinterested band. There's going through the motions and and then there was that. It was as if they would rather be anywhere else in the world. I think that was the year Serj's dog ran away or something? That was their excuse for the flat performance. 

Serj was sick that year I think. That never stopped Josh Homme, I think I saw him play with the flu once, but not everyone can be that man.

[Xeph1995]

2 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Serj was sick that year I think. That never stopped Josh Homme, I think I saw him play with the flu once, but not everyone can be that man.

I don't like the Foo Fighters but fair play to Dave when he broke his leg and got back on to finish his set after it was patched up. 

Some people are built differently. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Xeph1995

[Andre91]

4 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Serj was sick that year I think. That never stopped Josh Homme, I think I saw him play with the flu once, but not everyone can be that man.

It wasn't just Serj though. Darren sounded disinterested and every time the shot panned to John on the drums, he looked beyond fed up. Shavo was still going for it as usual but that's just Shavo; he's always visibly loved being in that band the most. 

[BenG92]

Just now, Andre91 said:

It wasn't just Serj though. Darren sounded disinterested and every time the shot panned to John on the drums, he looked beyond fed up. Shavo was still going for it as usual but that's just Shavo; he's always visibly loved being in that band the most. 

Fair do's. I hear this a lot and they're still on my bucket list so I'm still hoping the world conflict has woken them up for a 2023 slot. 

[Xeph1995]

3 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Fair do's. I hear this a lot and they're still on my bucket list so I'm still hoping the world conflict has woken them up for a 2023 slot. 

They enjoy their own gigs more, I saw them in London for the wake up the souls tour which was an anniversary of the Armenian Genocide which is obviously quite close to them and they were absolutely sick. 

[FeverDream]

37 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Can't wait until BMTH are a success and then they headline every other year for the next 10 years

Yup. The headliner pool is small now and it will still be small in 10 years when Kiss, Aerosmith, Maiden, AC/DC etc are gone. It’ll be BMTH, Biffy, ADTR, Korn etc every 3 years! Can’t see them ever solving their headliner issue. The pool will always be small unless they broaden their scope and book bands like RHCP, Pearl Jam, QOTSA, whatever pop punk band is popular that year etc.

[JimMacVeigh]

39 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

What Download headliner bombed the hardest do you think in its history? 

Feeder. Not performance wise, they were really good, but it was a bit of outrage that they were headlining. 
 

performance wise was SOAD in 2017. Hadn’t seen them since 2005, absolute con job of a show. Biffy smashed them to pieces that weekend, regardless of crowd size. 

[BenG92]

3 minutes ago, FeverDream said:

Yup. The headliner pool is small now and it will still be small in 10 years when Kiss, Aerosmith, Maiden, AC/DC etc are gone. It’ll be BMTH, Biffy, ADTR, Korn etc every 3 years! Can’t see them ever solving their headliner issue. The pool will always be small unless they broaden their scope and book bands like RHCP, Pearl Jam, QOTSA, whatever pop punk band is popular that year etc.

L+R seem to be doing a good job of killing off rock, Download just need to accept that they need to broaden out and be "the UK rock festival". 

Royal Blood will headline Download in the next few years for better or worse, mark my words. 

[Spiral_Low]

2 hours ago, BenG92 said:

Saw somebody post this Biffy footage on Reddit, crikey. Didn't quite believe the stories of how dead it was but this is rough.

https://streamable.com/jdcq7o

Rather vindicates those of us who were saying Korn should headline.

[BenG92]

3 minutes ago, Spiral_Low said:

Rather vindicates those of us who were saying Korn should headline.

Shouldn't even be a debate after seeing that footage vs this:

And Biffy's ONLY competition was Myles. Korn were up against The Darkness and Boston Manor and still pulled this. 

[Xeph1995]

Yeah that Korn crowd is big but it's hardly popping off, is it me or are crowds far more tame now. 

Could be covid warping my perception of festival as I've not been to one in a few years now. 

Rammstein 2013 was definitely my favourite performance I think at download.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Xeph1995

[Andre91]

Tool was also very quiet on the Sunday in 2019. Not as quiet as Biffy but still a small crowd. This is why they should put the old bands like KISS on the Sunday, so that people stick around for them. 

KoRn will headline once the proper oldies have all packed in. 

[BenG92]

9 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

Yeah that Korn crowd is big but it's hardly popping off, is it me or are crowds far more tame now. 

Could be covid warping my perception of festival as I've not been to one in a few years now. 

The core Korn crowd has to be in their 30s now. Mileage will vary but I can't go as wild as I used to at festivals. I would bet Boston Manor was probably more chaotic thanks to the younguns

[BenG92]

Just now, Andre91 said:

Tool was also very quiet on the Sunday in 2019. Not as quiet as Biffy but still a small crowd. This is why they should put the old bands like KISS on the Sunday, so that people stick around for them. 

KoRn will headline once the proper oldies have all packed in. 

Said it before but that was a unique one for two reasons, A. Slayer's last ever UK show ate into half of their show (what a horrid clash) and B. the Tool crowd came for Tool, so many people that year didn't even know who they were, but so many of us bought a ticket just for them. They'll get rebooked for their next album in 2047

[Xeph1995]

13 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Said it before but that was a unique one for two reasons, A. Slayer's last ever UK show ate into half of their show (what a horrid clash) and B. the Tool crowd came for Tool, so many people that year didn't even know who they were, but so many of us bought a ticket just for them. They'll get rebooked for their next album in 2047

Yeah I bought a ticket the moment they got announced, as did my whole group of friends, and it was a banging set. Intolerance and Part of Me was a nice treat. 

I don't get how people didn't know who Tool are, they aren't exactly a secret, fair they don't come to the UK at all really but if your into alternative music they are massive. 

When I got into music I went through a phase where I pretty much went back and listened to every band to release an acclaimed album and assumed most people did too. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Xeph1995

[BenG92]

1 minute ago, Xeph1995 said:

Yeah I bought a ticket the moment they got announced, as did my whole group of friends, and it was a banging set. Intolerance and Part of Me was a nice treat. 

I don't get how people didn't know who Tool are, they aren't exactly a secret, fair they don't come to the UK at all really but if your into alternative music they are massive. 

They're "quietly massive" though, people would probably be surprised to hear they played 5 packed arena shows here this year. Gotta remember that their last album and UK show were both in 2006, not one new track or show here since. Some 2019 attendees were born in that time 😂

[jump]

52 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

L+R seem to be doing a good job of killing off rock, Download just need to accept that they need to broaden out and be "the UK rock festival". 

Royal Blood will headline Download in the next few years for better or worse, mark my words. 

I mean Download wants to kill off rock too. They only just begrudging accept nu-metal as young people's music but anything newer muse die!

Allegedly whenever Copping gets a Foo Fighters type act to headlined in the past he gets burned a lot as they change their mind (which says more about Download's operation/admin side that they can't get these acts tied down imo) which is why he started leaning into the likes of KISS or Def Leppard as it's a big payday to them so they won't complain or change their mind. You can see that shift between the first 10 years and the last 10 years, they had the bulls to book Limp Bizkit as a headliner the first year.

Me playing fantasy booker I'd just split the days into old skool/straight rock regardless of age so acts like Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Anthrax, Greta Van Fleet, Ghost etc. Then a day of more contemporary alt rock like Green Day, Idles, Slaves, Placebo, Muse etc the kind of stuff that use to get booked a lot at R&L. With the third day of the loud heavy shit like Slipknot, Parkway Drive, Gojira, Machine Head, KoRn etc. Mix up the second stage so it's a bit of everything and don't be scared to put upcoming bands on the mainstage like Code Orange are/were white hot so sticking them on low mainstage builds them up more and will have people curious enough to check them out when there's less notable names on in the day unlike sticking them to the smallest stage when the big names are on as no one checks them out. It's mental Bring Me have played 5 times but only once on the mainstage!

[Red Day]

1 hour ago, Andre91 said:

Performance wise? System Of A Down. I wasn't at 2011 (which was supposedly awful) but was at 2017. Never in my life have I seen a more disinterested band. There's going through the motions and and then there was that. It was as if they would rather be anywhere else in the world. I think that was the year Serj's dog ran away or something? That was their excuse for the flat performance. 

I agree with that but on the flip side, I saw them a couple of weeks later at Rock Werchter and they were excellent.

[BenG92]

15 minutes ago, jump said:

Me playing fantasy booker I'd just split the days into old skool/straight rock regardless of age so acts like Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Anthrax, Greta Van Fleet, Ghost etc. Then a day of more contemporary alt rock like Green Day, Idles, Slaves, Placebo, Muse etc the kind of stuff that use to get booked a lot at R&L. With the third day of the loud heavy shit like Slipknot, Parkway Drive, Gojira, Machine Head, KoRn etc. Mix up the second stage so it's a bit of everything and don't be scared to put upcoming bands on the mainstage like Code Orange are/were white hot so sticking them on low mainstage builds them up more and will have people curious enough to check them out when there's less notable names on in the day unlike sticking them to the smallest stage when the big names are on as no one checks them out. It's mental Bring Me have played 5 times but only once on the mainstage!

Yeah that middle day is gonna be most important. Wild that so many bands who fall into that category have either never played or rarely played.

I wanna see some co-heads starting to appear at Download, it's nuts to think that Leeds did QOTSA/Paramore back in 2014 and these days that would be an exciting DL booking

[Xeph1995]

4 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Yeah that middle day is gonna be most important. Wild that so many bands who fall into that category have either never played or rarely played.

I wanna see some co-heads starting to appear at Download, it's nuts to think that Leeds did QOTSA/Paramore back in 2014 and these days that would be an exciting DL booking

What's the deal with co-headliners, do both sets get cut short due to this? Also like surely the band who ends the night is just the headliner it just seems a bit silly to me. 

I can't imagine many bands are thrilled to co headline, both QOTSA and Paramore could have done it on their own. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Xeph1995