More about: Download Festival

It’s that time of year again, awaking to the familiar noises of planes flying directly above our tents and campsite chants of “Iron Maiden”, we make our way to the arena. Except this year, the overhead planes are trains rattling past my bedroom window, the campsite chants are heard in the form of Twitch stream comments, and the arena look suspiciously like my kitchen.

Necessity breeds invention, as the folks over at Download have put together the first ever Download TV, spanning 20 hours over the course of the weekend. Logging into weekend starter, Doom Yoga, I can’t help but feel the coffee in my hand should be a warm, flat can of lager as I attempt to recreate the downward dog shown on screen. *Note the unfortunate lack of Download Dog pun. The idea of thousands of metal heads up and down the country sat in their respective rooms, cross legged, gently whispering “Namaste” in lieu of traipsing through a mud-soaked field keeps me going.

As the first real-life band to grace the (I guess) Main Stage, Dinosaur Pile-Up sign in over Zoom to talk about their fondest Download memories, set to optimistic tropical island backgrounds, a far cry from the deluge battering at the kitchen windows.

Black Futures do their best to bring the big festival sounds to us from their studio, complete with appropriate psychedelic video filters. Top tip: If you put your laptop in the bathroom, shut the door and stand back a bit, you can almost evoke the sensation of emerging from your tent and hearing Black Futures echoing round Donington Racecourse as you head to the pearly gates.

After a short break, Chester Bennington’s previous band Grey Daze throw out a world exclusive performance of ‘B12’, a track put together with some of Chester’s original vocals set for release on 26 June, and Instagram vegan superchefs BOSH show us how to make vegan Download Dogs. See below for (incredibly metal) attempt:

Next up, spinning a mix of KISS bangers, Gemma Stafford’s tutorial guides us step-by-step on how to recreate the iconic face of bassist Gene Simmons. Once it was all done, I can assure you I didn’t look anywhere near as good as Stafford, but it was mega to join in with it:

Canadian quartet Theory, (previously Theory of a Deadman) take to the screen with a nonchalant, acoustic cover of ‘World Keeps Spinning.’ Split screen into four, you get to jam alongside the band with a closeup of each of them. 

Slamming in next is Milk Teeth’s drummer, Jack, doing a colossal cover of their track, ‘Dilute’. For those unfamiliar with Milk Teeth they’re a punk group from Gloucestershire, blending in surf rock tendencies with effortless spoken word lyrics. Fronted by female singer Becky Blomfield, the group recently dropped their self-titled second studio album. In the short clip Jack slams down some militant thuds on the drums, it is not often the focal point is of the drummer in many live performances, so it was cool to see this little close-up.

Friday evening’s line-up has everything from PUP to Steel Panther, who aptly appear on screen in a leopard print clad room to cover headliner KISS’s ‘I Love it Loud’, surrounded by, um, loud jackets. Continuing the cover theme, Motionless in White’s 2017 Download performance of ‘Necessary Evil’ harks back to Lesley Gore’s ‘It’s My Party’, before Biffy take the main stage at around 8:30.

Again showing footage from 2017, interspersed by interviews with James Johnston, we’re treated to ‘Wolves of Winter’, ‘Animal Style’, ‘Bubbles’ and ‘Many of Horror’, before James talks about the “Biffy slot” - detailing how they spent years playing early afternoon slots at festivals, seemingly unable to break through the glass ceiling. 

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes premiere three songs from their massive Ally Pally show earlier this year, and it’s everything you’ve come to expect from Frank; raucous, unhinged and sweaty. 

Up next, Kylie Olsson talks with Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham about how he’s coping throughout quarantine. Cunningham brings some hope as he mentions the group have completed everything they were mixing for the new album, and that it should be out around September this year. Kylie asks the question we’ve all been waiting for, quizzing Cunningham on whether the group are going to drop their Eros album. But, Cunningham announces that since the album was never officially completed, it’s not the case of the band sitting on it, it’s more they just aren’t 100% satisfied with, thus have no plans to release any time soon. However, he does talk about the potential of making a condensed version.

“Headlining” the evening, it’s KISS’s 2015 Download performance, a spectacle that includes Tommy and Gene coming out over the crowd on fire engine cranes and more pyro than you can shake a stick at. Arriving in their own ‘KISScopter’, it’s hard not to respond “and party every day” to the laptop screen when Gene Simmons proclaims his need to “rock’n’roll all night”. As the camera swirls around fans, people have gone all out, with some in iconic KISS make-up and others head-to-toe in full glam rock costume, thrusting devil horns into the air whilst flashing some great hairography.

The things I would give to be stumbling back to a soggy tent right now. 

Find out more about Download TV here. 

More about: Download Festival