Photo: Thanira Rates
Even through the continuous rain, day two of Download Festival 2015 promised the likes of Funeral For A Friend, Faith No More, Marilyn Manson, Hollywood Undead, Muse and many more to try and lift the spirits of dampened campers (Saturday 13 June 2015).
The downpour of rain had continued late into Friday night after Slipknot's epic headline set, but it wasn't looking like it was about to stop any time soon. Therefore festival goers were forced to battle through the showers and head into the arena, seemingly more prepared than yesterday to face the unpredictable British weather.
Around mid-day masked bandits Hollywood Undead were caught tearing up The Main Stage with their mix of cheeky rap metal. The west coast rockers played hits such as 'Undead' and 'Comin' In Hot' to a grateful crowd, who were clearly pleased to have a light-hearted act around who don't take themselves too seriously.
Meanwhile on The Zippo Encore Stage original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley could be found warming up crowds ahead of Kiss' Sunday night headline slot. Opening his set with 'Rip It Out' the 64 year-old maintained a level of cool, as the music is reminiscent to his hay-day with Kiss, post fall-out and departure from the rest of the band. Other tracks in his set included 'Love Gun' and 'Snow Blind', which resulted at the end of the set with smoke billowing out of his guitar for added showmanship. It seems like even without the rest of Kiss, Frehley still has some tricks and interesting new material such as track 'Toys' up his sleeve.
On a complete comparison musically, over on The Maverick Stage, Every Time I Die (ETID) could be found opening their set with 'Under Water Bimbos From Outer Space' to a wild foray of circle pits and crowd surfers. Lead singer Keith Buckley jokes around on stage, wearing a bra someone in the audience had earlier thrown at him. The band sound stronger and tighter than ever before with their heavy breakdowns infused with solid chorus lines making for one of the most exciting sets of the day.
Later that evening, sharing the same stage as ETID is a man who has built up a reputation for knowing and singing about how to party - Yep, it can only be Andrew W.K. The crazy frontman decided to dress head to toe in white, while the rest of the band opted for Hawaiian shirts and begin blasting through hits such as 'She Is Beautiful' and 'Ready To Die'. The party seems fairly muted until the final track that everyone's been waiting for, 'Party Hard', kicks in and the crowd go absolutely bonkers, with arguably the most amount of crowd surfers witnessed in one place all weekend.
Now that the rain has stopped the crowd's spirits are well and truly lifted, which means it couldn't be a better time to head over to catch tonight's headliners, Muse, over on The Main Stage.
Their latest album 'Drones' has divided public opinion, but Muse open anyway with heavier track 'Psycho', which is taken off the new record. The incredible riffs sounded from frontman Matt Bellamy's guitar are loud and raucous enough to draw a silence to any doubters. Muse continue hit after hit with tracks such as 'Hysteria' and 'Mercy', ensuring their combining new and older songs seamlessly together to ensure full crowd participation at all times.
Muse aren't afraid to dazzle fans with a few stage tricks either, releasing gigantic balls, confetti and firing flames into the air during their set. Stand out tracks included 'Supermassive Black Hole' and 'Plug In Baby', which manage to get everyone elevated and dancing. Yet it's the final track 'Knights of Cydonia' that bring the night to an epic close, leaving revellers completely stunned from Muse's technical live ability.
Download Festival continues today with performances from Motley Crüe, Enter Shikari, Slash, Kiss and many more.
