More about: Download Festival

It's Sunday! And I can honestly, hand on my heart say that I have never felt this fresh on the Sunday of a festival. Ever. 

A bit of mindfulness to kick off the day (totally \m/), followed by more cooking and more guitar tutorials, by this point we’re a bit cooked out, so we give the giant Yorkshire Pud cook-a-long a miss. Also, because it’s way too complicated, maybe. 

Ten-year-old drummer, Nandi Bushall, was initially recognised for her insane YouTube videos and throughout the years, Bushall has been noticed by Rage Against the Machine, Dave Grohl and appeared on Ellen. Not only are her drumming skills insanely accomplished for a ten-year-old, but she is proving such a massive point to young girls everywhere that they can do anything they want if they work towards it. This year, Bushall was meant to attend Download festival for the first time, in this set she covers System of a Down’s ‘Toxicity’ whilst her Download Dog rests on the edge of one of her drums.

Following is British circus act, Circus of Horrors, welcomed by ringmaster John Haze in his iconic face paint. This year Circus of Horrors had two shows scheduled in the Doghouse tent, alongside one in the main auditorium. Wistfully he says, “I’d rather be in a muddy field in Download,” and honestly, we feel his pain.

Up next is a completely change of tone as Download welcome Cody Quistad of the American five-piece Wage War. Performing their acoustic track, ‘Me against Myself’ from their 2019 Pressure album, this track rests as a simple pop-punk ballad. Quistad puts on a heartfelt, and intimate performance with this track and is a really nice interval. After a set of Twin Temple’s intriguing “Satanic Doo-Wop", Cemetery Sun perform new song ‘Supernatural’ from their pristine, open-plan American kitchens. Not a sentence I ever anticipated writing pre-2020.

Heading into the evening, it’s time for rare archive System of a Down shows as well as a brand new interview with John Dolmayan.

But first, we’re treated to some of Babymetal’s 2018 set along with The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins strutting across the Download Main Stage to ever-anthemic ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’, followed by Periphery playing ‘Make Total Destroy’ and ‘The Bad Thing’ among other songs, taking us straight to the Zippo tent.

Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick signs in on Zoom looking suspiciously like a pineapple, presumably due to lack of haircuts in lockdown, interspersed with ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ and ‘The Last Rock Show’. 

Bagpipes! Dreadlocks! Who could it be? Korn, and literally only Korn. Showing ‘Shoots and Ladders’ first, Download TV rolls through footage of staple songs like ‘Freak on a Leash’ before Disturbed’s slot opens with short footage of them playing Download in 2011, as frontman David Draiman shouts, “Let’s see those hands Donington.” The band thrash into their 2010 track, ‘Another Way to Die’, before cutting back to a recent interview where Draiman talks about how he’s been spending most of his time home-schooling his six-year-old throughout quarantine.This year marks the 20th anniversary of their Down With The Sickness album, and it’s fair to say it’s a massive shame Download couldn’t go ahead this year, as that would’ve gone down a (peaceful) riot.

Having still not released anything since 2005, eternal headliners System of a Down Zoom in from home to chat between throwback sets from 2005, 2011, 2017, with footage of the timeless ‘Kill Rock’n’Roll’, ‘Toxicity’ and ‘Violent Pornography’ to keep us sweet during the fallow year.

This year would’ve celebrated 17 years of download, but with the current situation the festival experience has ground to a halt. Ever the trooper (geddit?), Download took the three-day rock festival to the comfort of our computer screens. Packed with performances from headliners KISS, Korn and System of a Down, given the circumstances, this years’ Download is definitely something that’ll go down in history as a memorable weekend.

Find out more about Download TV here. Read our review of day one here and day two here. 

More about: Download Festival