Download 2024

[Zampa]

39 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

Give it a rest mate, something was said on a forum in bad taste, it happens, get over it, move on with life. 
 

 

I am not sure that peadophile allegations should be taken lightly.but hey ho, each to their own.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

1 hour ago, Zampa said:

I am not sure that peadophile allegations should be taken lightly.but hey ho, each to their own.

I wasn’t making light of that, I didn’t know that’s what was said. 
 

But whatever it was, I don’t think it should continue in this thread, because otherwise it’s just going to get shut down. 

[RedJosh]

4 hours ago, Zampa said:

These Skillet Alestorm nonce allegations. Got any proof? And yes i will counter any post you put on here. 

Sorry to everyone else on what is a pretty normal forum, but the bloke is poison.

If anyone can be arsed to look up what caused our disagreement, just search for Skillet or Alestorm on the official forum.

He is not the messiah, he is a dick.

See you at the Dome next month Lee.

Well the lead singer of Alestorm is a misogynist and racist so that alone is enough for me.

Don't know anything about Skillet, so won't comment

[crumbler]

Every year I look at other European hard rock and metal festivals and curse how unlucky we are with Download. Not an ounce of imagination goes into booking it and it sounds like next year will be no different. People were praising it this year but aside from the BMTH bump it looked like business at usual to me. Very few curveballs and still padding out the upper card with the same shite from 20 years ago (Disturbed, Evanescence, Alter Bridge etc)

Edited July 26, 2023 by crumbler

[FloorFiller]

1 hour ago, crumbler said:

Every year I look at other European hard rock and metal festivals and curse how unlucky we are with Download. Not an ounce of imagination goes into booking it and it sounds like next year will be no different. People were praising it this year but aside from the BMTH bump it looked like business at usual to me. Very few curveballs and still padding out the upper card with the same shite from 20 years ago (Disturbed, Evanescence, Alter Bridge etc)

Although I completely echo what you’re saying in that Download is looking staler by the year, it’s also gotta be factored in that hard rock/metal is in an absolute commercial slump and has been for some time now. Gone are the days of the 90’s and 00’s where bands were going from playing tiny venues to arenas in the span of a year or two and jumping up lineups, so what are the options? Bumping up bands who have no right to be playing in such high slots? Because there are very few acts from the past ten/fifteen years who could realistically take those high main stage slots. Sleep Token are an obvious one who will undoubtedly get a bump up next year, and Turnstile another, but it really is slim pickings

[Hazz]

I think after their second stage headline slot this year ghost are definitely going to get the bump to the main stage. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if spiritbox , ice nine kills and motionless in white did too. Plus if anyone was at download Bloodywood will definitely get a higher slot if they come back.

As to bands that are ready to headline I’d say pendulum and parkway drive aren’t far off.and I think like I’ve said before enter Shikari will definitely get the special guest slot now. Plus if their current tour sells out andy copping may well be tipping his cowboy hat up and giving them the nod for a headline slot .

you know with the pandemic it prevented bands from forming and existing bands from building bigger fan bases just because music and gigs in general stopped for quite a while. Even rehearsal studios weren’t accessible . It’ll take a couple of years at least before bands start coming back through and jumping up lineups just remember that. Patience people!

Edited July 26, 2023 by Hazz

[FloorFiller]

30 minutes ago, Hazz said:

As to bands that are ready to headline I’d say pendulum and parkway drive aren’t far off.and I think like I’ve said before enter Shikari will definitely get the special guest slot now. Plus if their current tour sells out andy copping may well be tipping his cowboy hat up and giving them the nod for a headline slot .

Pendulum… headlining?! Literally zero chance of that ever happening. Likewise for Enter Shikari who would realistically be a bit of a weak sub at best.

Parkway… as far as bands rising up the lineup, they’re probably the most realistic option, but not sure if I actually see it happening and think they’re gonna be doomed as an eternal main stage sub.

[Andre91]

22 hours ago, northernangel said:

Well something must have given me that impression. Maybe it's the circle you mix with on here who are from Scotland. 

Anyway, where do you have to come from.

Either way though, there is no denying unless you got there first thing Wednesday morning which I've no doubt you did, the queues were horrendous. Everyone who has a quiet camping ticket or such like go to West?, no point after Wed!

That’s genuinely a really peculiar take 😂

Again, you’re dictating to me what my own experience was; I got there at about 5pm on the Thursday and, like I said already, I queued for about 10mins max to get into the car park. 

[crumbler]

1 hour ago, FloorFiller said:

Although I completely echo what you’re saying in that Download is looking staler by the year, it’s also gotta be factored in that hard rock/metal is in an absolute commercial slump and has been for some time now. Gone are the days of the 90’s and 00’s where bands were going from playing tiny venues to arenas in the span of a year or two and jumping up lineups, so what are the options? Bumping up bands who have no right to be playing in such high slots? Because there are very few acts from the past ten/fifteen years who could realistically take those high main stage slots. Sleep Token are an obvious one who will undoubtedly get a bump up next year, and Turnstile another, but it really is slim pickings

What you're saying about the upper card and the commerical viability of rock and metal these days is definitely true but with your Graspops and your Hellfests the undercard is still littered with enough gems to make up for any stagnant headliners and, crucially, you can tell it's booked by passionate music fans. Download feels lazily thrown together by comparison.

I think their best bet to keep things fresh these days would be to drop in some lighter fair that you might have seen at R&L before it shifted away from capital R 'rock' music. Weezer, Paramore etc. They were onto something with the indie day in 2005 but they couldn't pull together a strong enough lineup for it. 

[justanothername]

3 hours ago, Hazz said:

I think after their second stage headline slot this year ghost are definitely going to get the bump to the main stage. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if spiritbox , ice nine kills and motionless in white did too. Plus if anyone was at download Bloodywood will definitely get a higher slot if they come back.

As to bands that are ready to headline I’d say pendulum and parkway drive aren’t far off.and I think like I’ve said before enter Shikari will definitely get the special guest slot now. Plus if their current tour sells out andy copping may well be tipping his cowboy hat up and giving them the nod for a headline slot .

you know with the pandemic it prevented bands from forming and existing bands from building bigger fan bases just because music and gigs in general stopped for quite a while. Even rehearsal studios weren’t accessible . It’ll take a couple of years at least before bands start coming back through and jumping up lineups just remember that. Patience people!

This isn't really true. Turnstile's rise started during the pandemic and seen a few bands post pandemic gain tremendous hype such as Spiritbox and Sleep Token.

Also Shikari are never headlining, they've essentially stagnated in terms of growth and have been playing the same venues for like 8 years now.

[FloorFiller]

1 hour ago, crumbler said:

What you're saying about the upper card and the commerical viability of rock and metal these days is definitely true but with your Graspops and your Hellfests the undercard is still littered with enough gems to make up for any stagnant headliners and, crucially, you can tell it's booked by passionate music fans. Download feels lazily thrown together by comparison.

I think their best bet to keep things fresh these days would be to drop in some lighter fair that you might have seen at R&L before it shifted away from capital R 'rock' music. Weezer, Paramore etc. They were onto something with the indie day in 2005 but they couldn't pull together a strong enough lineup for it. 

Yep, your second paragraph is ultimately what is holding Download back the most in comparison to other heavy festivals - it’s downright refusal to move away from the ‘metal’ bracket and embrace some other rock adjacent stuff that would still very much go down well with that crowd, and tbh I think it’s gotten to a point now where they’ve shunned that change for so long that it’s probably never gonna happen.

I guess it could be argued that Sonisphere tried and failed in that market, but that was largely because it had to compete with Download for the small amount of acts available. There are tons of rock acts who simply aren’t playing major U.K. festivals anymore because there’s nowhere for them to go when Download is right there and should’ve made the move ages ago to house them.

[northernangel]

2 hours ago, Andre91 said:

That’s genuinely a really peculiar take 😂

Again, you’re dictating to me what my own experience was; I got there at about 5pm on the Thursday and, like I said already, I queued for about 10mins max to get into the car park. 

How am I dictating anything to you? I thought for whatever reason you had to come from Scotland, you don't, okay. That's all that's really the deal there. Well yes if you aren't there until 5pm on the Thursday then you would have been fine. But you can't ignore the well documented traffic queues. I personally thought from your buzzing nature of going you would have been there early Wednesday. Nothing gave me any impression you would be there that late on the Thursday so I wouldn't say it is dictating your own experience. Had I have actually been allowed to get into car park that was for me, I'd have been there and parked within 1hr 30.

 

[rivalschools.price]

8 hours ago, crumbler said:

Every year I look at other European hard rock and metal festivals and curse how unlucky we are with Download. Not an ounce of imagination goes into booking it and it sounds like next year will be no different. People were praising it this year but aside from the BMTH bump it looked like business at usual to me. Very few curveballs and still padding out the upper card with the same shite from 20 years ago (Disturbed, Evanescence, Alter Bridge etc)

I’m not sure which festivals you were looking  at but the ones I saw just looked like a typical Download line up in a slightly different order.

Some did show some imagination lower down the bill and some had bands that are big over there but not here (e.g. like Powermetal) but certainly the top half of most European festivals looked very much like a Download line up.

[Andre91]

4 hours ago, northernangel said:

How am I dictating anything to you? I thought for whatever reason you had to come from Scotland, you don't, okay. That's all that's really the deal there. Well yes if you aren't there until 5pm on the Thursday then you would have been fine. But you can't ignore the well documented traffic queues. I personally thought from your buzzing nature of going you would have been there early Wednesday. Nothing gave me any impression you would be there that late on the Thursday so I wouldn't say it is dictating your own experience. Had I have actually been allowed to get into car park that was for me, I'd have been there and parked within 1hr 30.

 

Wait, I’m being really thick. I got there at about 5pm on the Wednesday! 

[Galactus]

On 7/24/2023 at 6:41 PM, Andre91 said:

Don’t be so patronising. I am more aware than anyone of when I’m having a nice time. 
 

Takes me an hour to get there and I queued for 10 mins max to get parked up. 
 

I didn’t think the organisation was shocking in any way regarding campsites, entertainment and the arena itself. I was prepared for a busier than normal weekend and that’s exactly what I got. I was not hugely inconvenienced at any time. 

You're coming across incredibly ignorant. Just because it took you an hour to get there and 10 minutes to get parked up, doesn't mean other people weren't effected.

 

[Andre91]

5 minutes ago, Galactus said:

You're coming across incredibly ignorant. Just because it took you an hour to get there and 10 minutes to get parked up, doesn't mean other people weren't effected.

 

It’s a good job I’m speaking about my experience then, isn’t it, seeing how that’s what I was asked about, my experience. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Andre91

[Galactus]

2 hours ago, Andre91 said:

It’s a good job I’m speaking about my experience then, isn’t it, seeing how that’s what I was asked about, my experience. 

Except you weren’t asked. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Galactus

[sacred shape]

WTF is this thread. Can you all just stop arguing?

[Andre91]

19 minutes ago, Galactus said:

Except you weren’t asked. 

Except I was: ‘I didn't see your review from your download time which I'd be interested to’

[Andre91]

3 minutes ago, sacred shape said:

WTF is this thread. Can you all just stop arguing?

Blame all of the NPCs popping up. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Andre91

[Crazyfool01]

Mod post … please keep the discussion relating to download and any personal spats aren’t for these forums . Thanks kindly 

[devilman]

Well this all got a bit nasty! I think the general idea if you don't like someone is to avoid them. We have a button specifically for that. Stalking their every post isn't healthy.

As far as download being oversold goes, the arena was smaller than usual with the Metallica towers and the guest area being reorientated, but the main issue was that of there being no alternatives at busy times. In previous years of that level of attendance, there was always something on all the stages. The crowds were spread out. This year, after tea time, unless you liked what was on in 4th you were either sardined into 3rd or part of a herd of wildebeest stampeding and crushing between main and 2nd. It was painful in that heat. If you're not putting stages against each other then put them next to each other FFS. The water point at 4th was often without a queue and yet those down by main and 3rd were an hour long. Trouble was it was just too painful to battle through the crowds to get there. Bars looked ok but I never used one all weekend. I normally support a festival by buying all my food and drink there but the campervan price hike pissed me off that much that I refused to buy a drink and ended up spending less than usual even with the ticket hikes included. It was going to be my last one but sudden onset FOMO is a real thing and because the crew were all buying I did too. If it is A7X and Rammstein then I'm there. I'm looking at foreign festies now though. The guaranteed slot in June that was Download's is up for grabs and the tickets may get shifted on.

[northernangel]

47 minutes ago, devilman said:

Well this all got a bit nasty! I think the general idea if you don't like someone is to avoid them. We have a button specifically for that. Stalking their every post isn't healthy.

As far as download being oversold goes, the arena was smaller than usual with the Metallica towers and the guest area being reorientated, but the main issue was that of there being no alternatives at busy times. In previous years of that level of attendance, there was always something on all the stages. The crowds were spread out. This year, after tea time, unless you liked what was on in 4th you were either sardined into 3rd or part of a herd of wildebeest stampeding and crushing between main and 2nd. It was painful in that heat. If you're not putting stages against each other then put them next to each other FFS. The water point at 4th was often without a queue and yet those down by main and 3rd were an hour long. Trouble was it was just too painful to battle through the crowds to get there. Bars looked ok but I never used one all weekend. I normally support a festival by buying all my food and drink there but the campervan price hike pissed me off that much that I refused to buy a drink and ended up spending less than usual even with the ticket hikes included. It was going to be my last one but sudden onset FOMO is a real thing and because the crew were all buying I did too. If it is A7X and Rammstein then I'm there. I'm looking at foreign festies now though. The guaranteed slot in June that was Download's is up for grabs and the tickets may get shifted on.

Good little review this I feel, a regular Download goer you can recognize the problems there were. I am unsure what water point by 4th you mean?, but 3 water points for 120k people is a joke. There is no argument for that. 

[BenG92]

5 hours ago, northernangel said:

Good little review this I feel, a regular Download goer you can recognize the problems there were. I am unsure what water point by 4th you mean?, but 3 water points for 120k people is a joke. There is no argument for that. 

There was water to the left of Dogtooth, and there were like 6 water points in the arena, not 3. 

Again Download has this issue of people with herd mentality, people will just go to the nearest one and queue for an hour instead of walking a bit further to a far less busy one. I never queued more than 15 minutes for water and that was once at main. If you wanna queue less you gotta leave nearby sets slightly early, that's just festivals and it's every type of queue. 

I get that this isn't an option for everyone but a lot of the people in those big queues were more than capable of walking, they just chose not to and it only made the problem worse. 

[northernangel]

5 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

There was water to the left of Dogtooth, and there were like 6 water points in the arena, not 3. 

Again Download has this issue of people with herd mentality, people will just go to the nearest one and queue for an hour instead of walking a bit further to a far less busy one. I never queued more than 15 minutes for water and that was once at main. If you wanna queue less you gotta leave nearby sets slightly early, that's just festivals and it's every type of queue. 

I get that this isn't an option for everyone but a lot of the people in those big queues were more than capable of walking, they just chose not to and it only made the problem worse. 

I didn't need to ever go near the dogtooth stage.

It's got nothing to do with that, it has something to do with you couldn't move without people in the way, in chairs or something all weekend. I'm fairly sure the heat of the weekend, the walking to and from the camps to the arena etc was enough for many without traipsing across an arena for water.

Also, you want people to pay £350 for a festival and leave their bands set early?, absolutely bloody not!