Friday 10/06/11 Download Festival, Day One @ Donnington Park, Donnington

While originally starting as a metal festival, Download has since diversified with regards to the acts on the bill. 2011 proves no different. With names like Alice Cooper and Def Leppard - accommodating those who grew up listening to the legends of rock, Danzig and Biohazard - on hand to feed the ears of the harder metal heads, Cheap Trick and Bowling For Soup – giving the pop/ska nuts a reason to bounce, Devil Wears Prada and Bullet For My Valentine – for the new age metal fans, and even Frank Turner and The Pretty Reckless – who stick out like a sore thumb in amongst this crowd, all performing, this year’s Download Festival was one not to be forgotten. Forget that this year saw a dip in ticket sales, which was to be expected because of the current financial climate the UK faces, attending festival-goers enjoyed every second of it.  
   
Due to a bit of a tent malfunction, missing the Main Stage’s opening act, CKY, was something this scribe wasn’t too happy about. However, whilst battling with pegs, strings, and the vaguest of instructions known to man, the sound system installed echoed throughout the park and was enjoyed by all those in the vicinity. On route to the main arena from the camping site you’d have been forgiven for thinking that you were in a George A. Romero movie, due to the amount of folks dressed up in zombie outfits. Instead of it being a coincidental occurrence it was in fact ‘Fancy Dress Friday’ at Download, with the theme being zombies. 
   
Finding a good position in order to view Puddle of Mudd, who were up next on the Main Stage, wasn’t an easy task. Busy already, and it was only 13:50, was a testament to the modern day rock fan. With a weekend of non-stop music, spread over five stages, the fact that people were still flooding in to Donnington Park meant that organizers were going to be kept busy all weekend. Once Puddle of Mudd hit the stage fans were getting in to the spirit of things quickly. While the band’s front man, Wes Scantlin, kitted out in a brightly coloured beanie hat, even though the weather was roasting, rifled through a gang of hits whilst proclaiming to the crowd, “I’m on a lease,” meaning that his usually eventful stage shows weren’t going to play a factor on this occasion, blown up condoms and beach balls were seen floating about and doing the rounds. There was even the first boob flash of the day, which hilariously was caught on the two huge jumbo screens on either side of the stage, much to the embarrassment of the flasher in question.
   
As mentioned above, there were five stages on the go at Download this year; however, Friday’s line-up on the Main Stage was too good to miss out on. Next up... Black Stone Cherry. With the sun really beginning to burn the topless fans, and make those that had already had a few beers that extra bit sleepy, another beanie comes out on BSC front man Chris Robertson. With a lot more crowd participation in the form of hands in the air and lyric reciting, the band start by revisiting their first album, but it wasn’t until Robertson says, “Let’s see what you’ve got Download,” and begins the riff to ‘Rain Wizard’, that things are stepped up a gear. Almost at risk of sounding like a rapper by wanting to ‘make it rain’, but instead of throwing money up in the air, BSC quite literally want to make it rain and cool down the already baking crowed. At times the electric guitar seemed to overpower the band’s vocals but this was few and far between. Whereas when the band performed a cover of Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’, yes that’s right... a rock band cover of an Adele record, the sound volume just seemed to die. The crowd seemed heavily in to it, with a continual hand clap lasting the length of the song, it just wasn’t that easy to hear.  After announcing that they’ll be back later on in the year, touring with Alter Bridge, the band close out with some new material from their new album ‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’. Received well, Black Stone Cherry’s set closes out in preparation for classic rockers Thin Lizzy to take the stage.
   
Showing the youngsters how its done, Thin Lizzy’s performance on the Main Stage is a great early gift for all the dads in the audience ahead of June 19th’s Father’s Day. Complete with tattoos from shoulder to wrist, the Irish rockers, whose band has had more member changes than the Sugababes, performed a medley of their greatest hits to a seemingly pumped up crowd. One hit that struck a chord with everyone, no matter their age, was of course ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’. Most of the acts performing at Download mentioned, when questioned, that Thin Lizzy were one of the bands they wanted to see themselves, and it’s obvious from their performance why that is. With yet more boobs on display, and even a girl dressed up as Tigger being projected on the big screen, following the tracks ‘Whiskey in a Jar’ and ‘Rosalie’, Thin Lizzy close out their set with the almighty ‘Black Rose’.
   
With Alter Bridge up next, the evening begins to set in and get rapidly colder. With the scantily-clad ladies - complete with stockings, ripped t-shirts, and pink hair, now wishing they had put more on, and the guys they’re with wishing they hadn’t given up their jackets to them, it seems as if the reception from the audience is getting bigger and bigger as each new band emerges. With that said, Alter Bridge take the stage to huge cheers with the space in and around the Main Stage now minimal at best. Just like the bands on before them, they sift through a few of their more well known songs, and then break to reiterate what Black Stone Cherry had mentioned previously – that they would be on tour together in the UK later on in the year, November to be exact. While killer riffs on a sexy white guitar are in abundance, courtesy of Mark Tremonti, it was ‘Destination’, taken from the band’s third album, ‘ABIII’ that has the crowd’s ears perking up like a dog when its food box is being shaken. With plenty of swaying and jumping around, the Alter Bridge set comes to a close and allows people to take a break. In this writer’s case, a nice Kangaroo burger and a coke should do it.
   
Years after their breakthrough classic album, The Darkness return after a poorly received follow-up project, drug abuse, and a media panning. There’s a sense that this might be a make-or-break moment for the Lowestoft band. Emerging rocking a William Shakespeare/Guy Fawkes moustache and beard, Justin Hawkins gets straight in to it. Gliding across the stage like a madman possessed, the accuracy in which he plays the guitar is epic to say the least. With an image change that includes an overkill of tattoos, as well as the discarding of the band’s trademark jumpsuits, ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’ doubles as an air guitar anthem for all those present. The group’s instrumental prowess has alerted the audience to the fact that they are one of the Country’s finest exports, even if their finest work is behind them. No show featuring The Darkness is complete without ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ blasting through the speakers, and boy did it blast! Literally running from one end of the stage to the other, flaunting his on-point guitar playing skills, Justin Hawkins does his job, and does it well.  As a band they need a bigger catalogue of great songs, but the mass amount of pyrotechnics and the fact that quite literally everyone was on their feet, this was a performance of epic proportions. It was a pleasure to witness the band’s return to form.
   
With the Pepsi Max Stage not too far from the Main Stage it was about time to switch between two bands, who at this point were both closing the night out. On one stage you have Def Leppard, and on the other, American rock band Danzig. What an exciting hour or so this was going to be. Starting with Def Leppard, who’s on stage graphics actually make them look a bit dated, and their smash ‘Let’s Get Rocked’. Certainly getting the audience ‘rocked’, the band still has what it takes, even if the performance is slightly stagnant, to get everyone in the mood to party. The spectacular light display and multiple video screens are somewhat of a marvel, and definitely a video editor’s dream. When watching Def Leppard many discuss Rick Allen’s capability to play the drums with just one arm, and judging by this performance you can see why. Using his feet to operate the hi-hat whilst a tambourine backing track played for him to get his timings, it’s a beautiful thing to see a man with restrictions play an instrument so passionately. Going through the hits, ‘Two Steps Behind’ and ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ make an obvious appearance, as does the anthem ‘Give Me All of Your Loving’. With the rain now falling, the band discusses the fact that they’ve been performing for 25 years, and that they played Donnington for the first time back in 1986. While closing the show with ‘Rock of Ages’, it was the nostalgic ‘Photograph’ which earned the most applause from an adoring audience. Stadium rock was born again on the Main Stage tonight.
   
So bouncing over to see Danzig, it appears that Glenn Danzig is not a happy bunny. Originally complaining that the stage was smaller than what was requested in his runner, the funniest moment comes when he calls out the guy controlling the monitoring. Screaming, “Where the **** did you learn to do monitoring?” Danzig’s anger is followed by a cheer from the jam packed crowd. “Get out here so I can kick your ass mother ****er,” he adds. Donned in stereotypically black outfits, the New Jersey group have some of the most die hard fans in the world. The constant chants of, “Danzig, Danzig, Danzig,” combined with an unprecedented amount of fist pumps makes for a pretty aggressive yet exciting show. Playing ‘Mother’ gets one of the biggest responses once the angry front man tells the fans that he has another one for them. Not really catching too much of the performance, judging from the audience reaction as they left the Pepsi Max Stage, Danzig conquered musically, even with a few technical hitches.