Sunday 12/06/11 Download Festival, Day Three @ Donnington Park, Donnington

Due to an onslaught of rain, today’s festivities were ruined in a way. With less people wanting to turn out and stand in the rain to see bands, the Main Stage area appears emptier than usual. Maybe it’s half full, maybe it’s half empty, it depends on your interpretation. Either way, things are looking bleak for Sunday’s performers.
   
Again up early in search of another new band during the 11am onwards slots, and as luck would have it a fantastic new band appears before these very eyes on the Jager Rock Truck in the form of Raven Vandelle. Starting at 12:10, enough people are awake to appreciate these Walsall boys and being that the location of the Jager stage is in between the Main Stage and Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage, folks crossing from one to the other are sucked in to seeing them. On first appearances you’d be forgiven for mistaking the guitarist and indeed the bassist for Russell Brand – it later turns out that both band members are actually brothers. With a sound and delivery similar to that of say a Stereophonics, Raven Vandelle are quite possibly the discovery of the weekend. Cool, calm, and of course talented, the guys run through songs ‘Breathe’, ‘Follow Pain’, and ‘Memory’. Asking the now larger crowd, “If you can understand a word I’m saying, nod your head,” the band close with ‘Revolution’, a strong record with a funky drum kick that gives the lead singer a chance to bestow his powerful vocals on the audience.

Still the rain falls and it looks like there’s no sign of it slowing down. With that said there’s still a big turn out at the Main Stage for Madina Lake. Playing their first mammoth capacity event since the shocking attack, which led to a serious head injury for Matt Leone, the band receive a very warm welcome. With banners that read, “Welcome home Madina Lake,” and an incredible cheer at the close of each song. Rocking through an array of tracks, continually smiling and appreciating the moment itself, Nathan Leone, with a foot up on speaker, can’t help but lose himself in the moment. While quite a few of the lyrics are unable to be heard because the bass at this point is now supersonic, the audience don’t seem to care because the group are jumping up and down like mad men and enjoying themselves, and the crowd are too, even if the heavens just opened up that bit more.

After taking shelter for a while, the rain stops momentarily, which might be a sign that cutie Taylor Momsen is about to take the stage with her band The Pretty Reckless. Known more for her role on teen TV show ‘Gossip Girl’, she’s now being regarded as quite the musician. With the band’s album, ‘Light Me Up’, selling out in many stores the week of its release, and still picking up pace in the sales department even  though it was released many months ago, proving that there’s a following, this live performance would hopefully shush all the naysayers and turn the sceptics in to believers. While this is easily a possibility, Momsen doesn’t help herself by wearing next to nothing – there are moments where the black tape covering her nipples can be seen, and she can be heard complaining about her pants falling down, much to the adoration of the male crowd members. With jeers from the fellas that included, “Get your tits out,” or simply just, “Tits,” it’s obvious that Taylor has a few male followers, and rightly so. Playing a fairly long set, the band run through ‘Make Me Wanna Die’ and ‘My Medicine’, which sees Momsen strap on a guitar – constantly looking down at it, she might be new to the instrument.

Finishing with ‘Factory Girl’, after screaming at the audience to get their hands up and keep them there while a photo is taken for their website, the performance comes to a close and the attractive glare of Momsen disappears from site. For a singer whose in-ear monitors weren’t right, who then discarded them, the timings and notes were perfect, and staying on key seemed no problem. Nicely done.

With the rain now at a halt, while the ground still feels like mash potato, hoards of people are already leaving Download. Many wishing to retire to their warm bed, and quite frankly they can’t be blamed. But those leaving are missing out on the next two big acts to grace the Main Stage. The first being modern day rock outfit Bullet For My Valentine. With a big commercial following there’s no surprise to see that the audience in front of them is a big one. After being hooked up by the lovely people at Jagermeister, this scribe’s viewpoint is now one that overlooks the entire Main Stage crowd. Seeing everything is a beautiful thing. Complete with flames and loud bangs galore, it’s obvious that Bullet For My Valentine are here to put on a show. To be honest, the majority of the band’s songs tend to sound a bit samey, which is why the pyrotechnics and such like are a great idea.

Allowing the audience to enjoy a show instead of just a host of songs is a fine decision by whoever made it. Donnington Park itself is now empty. The only busy areas are the stages. The hot dog stands are empty, tumble weeds can be seen floating past the beer vendors, and the fairground rides seem to be operating with just one solo person riding them.  With Bullet going through tracks such as ‘Pleasure and Pain’, ‘The Last Fight’, and ‘Scream Aim Fire’, as a band they entertain the crowd to no end, and even when the final song, ‘Alone’, plays out, the fans are in high spirits even when their cold tired and wet bodies are telling them to give up. All in all the performance was a good one, as a group they just need some variation song-wise.

The final act of evening, and in fact the weekend, is none other than rock/rap connoisseurs Linkin Park. With the rain now at a full on stand still, no time is better than the present for Chester Bennington and the crew to take the stage. Before they do, a new hero is crated in the form of a security guard who finds himself on the big screen on multiple occasions with a cheer each time. He goes only by the name 836, his bib number.  Be on the look out for this guy in the weeks to come on blogs and websites alike. Anyway, back to the band at hand, Linkin Park storm the stage to the sounds of ‘Papercut’. With the audience lapping it up, as well as the speakers just about managing to deal with it, there’s no question that the weekend’s headliners are here. With Bennington telling the crowd that they’re a good looking audience, the performance continues on. With drum solo’s and crowd surfing moments – Bennington leaps in to the crowd throughout the entire version of ‘Breaking The Habit’, cameras go off like a trigger happy assassin during the biggest moment of the night – ‘Numb’. Songs such as ‘Crawling’ and ‘The Catalyst’ help close out what was a truly exciting year at Donnington, although the rain did ruin Sunday a bit.