Download Festival 2008: Tuborg Festival Blog!

Last weekend we at Gigwise sent our Tuborg Festival Blogger competition winner Adam Murcutt out on his first excursion – to the mighty Download Festival in Donington Park. Read here his account of the weekend and flick through below to see him photographed with the bands backstage:

"God gave rock 'n' roll to you" according to Kiss so it'd be rude to not return the favour. Donington has played host to many a stadium sized band in the last 20 years but not many can pull off a two hour hits-filled set like Kiss did on Friday night. 'Lovegun', 'I Was Made For Lovin' U' and 'Lick It Up' were lapped up by the awestruck crowd. The fireworks and pyrotechnics were inevitable but Paul Stanley being hoisted out into the crowd for the encore was the ultimate cheesy but brilliant moment and something very few bands can get away with. 35 years into their career and Kiss were sounding as good as ever. Earlier in the day The Subways and the recently reformed Rival Schools had rocked the Tuborg stage, the latter throwing in a surprising crowd pleaser with Smiths classic 'How soon is now?'. On the Gibson stage, Cambridge four-piece Caimbo (see what they did there?!) managed to get the fans to look past their huge 80's hair and enjoy the tunes. Back on the main stage, Motorhead and Judas Priest were entertaining the more mature Download fans, the sight of JP lead singer Rob Halford singing atop his chrome Harley making everyone forget about the mysterious absence of Kid Rock.

Saturday started with a hangover for me but presumably not for the kids moshing to 'ragga metal' band Skindred on the main stage. I decided to try and get my bearings and discover the 'other stuff' that goes on at download. This led me to the bizarre (a fat man in a borat mankini!) to the ridiculous (a guy in a gas mask and a girls aloud t-shirt) to the sublime (an ad-hoc hot-dog eating contest). There was plenty to keep everyone occupied with fairground rides (not for me thank you), BMX stunts, EA sports games rooms and a silent disco amongst other attractions. Back to the music as Alaskan metallers 36 Crazy Fists continued the mayhem with a great set before Alter Bridge (comprised of 3 ex-members of Creed) grunged up the main stage. Over on the Tuborg stage Throwdown threw up a surprise with a fantastic cover of 'Them Bones' by Alice in Chains. Ace Frehley threatened to usurp the previous nights efforts of his former band Kiss with a brilliantly received set and Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro soaked up the sunshine on their pasty bodies as they ran through a set comprised mainly of material from 4th album 'Puzzle'.

It was back to the Tuborg stage again for Aussie drum and bass group Pendulum. Confused looks from most of Downloads more 'traditional' fans, but by the end even they couldn't help move their feet or their arms or (insert any random body part) to the music. Ending the day on the main stage were Incubus and Offspring. Brandon Boyd and his boys maybe misjudged the crowd or maybe just didn't give a shit, 10 minute wig-outs were the order of the day, interspersed with a smattering of hits such as 'Drive', 'Wish you were here' and 'Are you in?'. Now for the headliners......Welcome to the new Offspring, same as the old Offspring. Opening with 'Keep em' separated' from debut album 'Smash' and tearing through the best songs from all their albums they had the majority of the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. The set ended with a mass sing-a-long of best known song 'Self esteem' and everyone went home happy. They may look their age but they sure can still play.

A 3rd day of sunshine at Donington as the wonderfully named Municipal Waste got the ball rolling on the Tuborg stage on Sunday with some lovely thrash metal, a great way to start the day after 2 hours sleep! Everyone loves a good spot of bottle throwing and Sundays crowd got to exercise their throwing arms with Fightstar dodging missiles on the main stage and London rapper Lethal Bizzle doing the same on the Tuborg stage. Unlike Fightstar, Bizzle managed to win the crowd round with his banter and even had them singing along with an a cappella version of The Ruts song 'Staring At The Rudeboys'. Ginger from The Wildhearts has been around long enough to actually enjoy being bottled and he was positively and gleefully encouraging the crowd to throw 'anything you can lay your hands on' at them. They obliged as Frisbees, wellies, muller yoghurts and lighters accompanied the usual bottles of unknown substances. By this stage Ginger and the rest of the band had already tore through a breakneck half hour in between the frontmans Geordie ramblings. The Wildhearts were without doubt one of the bands of the weekend for me, great songs, great banter and a brilliant crowd reaction. Earth nil, The Wildhearts 1.

Welsh rockers Kids In Glass Houses and York five piece Elliot Minor had lit up the Tuborg stage earlier in the day and Coheed and Cambria were about to do the same on the main stage. Playing to one of the biggest crowds of the day, they didn't disappoint. Claudio Sanchez was in fine form and he was more than ably assisted by the rest of the band. Making their download debut, Jimmy Eat World may look like accountants gone wrong but they pushed all the right buttons here with their unique brand of 'emocore'. Saving the best for last, they ended with 'Salt, sweat sugar' and 'The middle'. I then had a tough choice as to who to see to round off my very first Download experience, Lostprophets or Jonathan Davis of Korn. I decided to do both starting with Jonathan Davis, managing to cram myself into the tiny Gibson stage to see Davis sitting on a huge throne and hear him belting out Korn classics and rarities as well as his own material. Superb, and i still had time to see the end of the Lostprophets set alongside 50,000 other downloaders as everyone took their last opportunity to cut loose. They may not have been a popular choice, but I'm sure Ian Watkins won over many a new fan with his enthusiasm. I met many great people, fans and bands alike and the atmosphere was for the most part nothing short of electric.

Now that I've tasted the metal of Download I've got a hunger for more and I'm sure this wont be my last time here.