Last weekend I was able to attend my third Download Festival. The line-up didn't look as good as previous years, but since Rob was going I figured I'd tag along too.
We ended up in the west carpark which sucked as it meant a long walk around to get to the entrance. However there was no queue to get in when we got there and we set up with some fellow Bathonians in black camp. The people we usually camp with were about a minute's walk away in pink, so that was good! It was stinking hot though, and I ended up by myself for a few hours while Rob went to help some of his friends get their bags so I just got burnt and read for most of the day!
The second day was just as hot! We had breakfast in town quite early, then there was a small sharkie meet-up in the afternoon. I got some very interesting tanlines in this outfit...fishnet thighs and panini shoulders. Ooops!
We had a chat outside the Sidesplitter for a while, then wandered around the shops and ended up with matching beaded bracelets with shark teeth on!
Spent the evening getting drunk and trying to watch a bit of Andrew O'Neill but neither me nor Rob were really feeling it and ended up going to sleep instead.
On Friday I was a tad too hungover for the long trek to breakfast the next morning so I chilled at camp with a can of spaghetti hoops until it was time to go see Alien Ant Farm, who were surprisingly good live!
Then Babymetal! And the most rain I've ever seen. It was just SO HEAVY, HUGE raindrops which soaked us straight through, messed up my camera, and delayed their start time by over half an hour. But was so worth the soaking! I wore my Babymetal outfit with tutus and stuff again, and once again didn't get a photo of it. They even converted Rob - when I asked if he wanted to see them at Wembley it was a massive "no", but now he wishes he had gone!
We stayed soggy for Killswitch Engage, who it turns out I really like. Will definitely be buying a few of their CDs and hopefully seeing them again somewhere drier. We did go back and change afterwards, although I kept on my tutus as they were doing a good job of keeping my legs dry.
Had intended on seeing Korn, but ended up heading to Twin Atlantic instead despite having seen them more times. It was just more fun! Somehow managed to get right near the front. We made quite a hasty exit though, which meant missing All Time Low.
But alas, we had to head over to the smallest tent for InMe! They were top of both our 'want to see' lists, so it had to be done. They were excellent as usual, I really hope their next tour brings them a bit closer to us! At this point my camera croaked though, so everything is blurry and awful. I have very few photos from the rest of the weekend due to this as my phone camera has poor zoom and I was worried about losing it in the massive mud puddles so I didn't risk it much!
The end of Rammstein's set ended our day. I'm sad that I always seem to miss most of their sets as they are a really good band, but eh there always seems to be something else I'd rather see on at the same time!
After breakfast in town on Saturday (with sweet sweet wifi), we wandered past Beartooth (too shouty!) for a couple songs of Black Peaks' set. I enjoyed them more than at NASS, but there were a lot of clashes so we left for a few songs of The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing on the other side of the arena before seeing Atreyu. We both realised this was a bad move, but we're more likely to see the former again next time they tour. There wasn't much on afterwards, I think we saw a bit of Sixx:A.M. but it wasn't very memorable.
Milk Teeth were very good and somehow Bree, a fellow lolita, ended up stood right in front of me so we had a little catch up before they headed off to Bury Tomorrow (who we caught the tail end of) while we went to see a really fun punky thrash band called Lawnmower Deth. They reminded me a lot of Evil Scarecrow from the previous year, and they were even joined by Kim Wilde during their cover of her song 'Kids In America'. Juliette and the Licks weren't doing it for us, so we wandered around and got more cider, I guess? I don't remember. Apparently I had 7 pints in the main arena that day ^_^'
Architects were the band I was most looking forward to seeing on this day, but they had to pull out a few days before and were replaced by Against The Current, which was a nice surprise. I get the feeling they're going to be a really big band some day, and they'll deserve it when they get there. Rob wanted to see Deftones and, while they're a good band, I got bored quickly as all their songs are kinda slow and samey so we went to see Skindred's set instead, which was good fun. Not very amused finding out how the singer acted towards Babymetal at the Kerrang! Awards, but luckily I didn't find out until afterwards or it would have ruined the whole thing for me!
We had no interest in Sabbath so we stayed for NOFX and they were also super fun! I danced a lot and they were definitely a highlight of the weekend even though I only know one of their songs (which, thankfully, they did play). Will have to dig out the CD I got for Christmas a couple years back and give it a listen at some point. I just find that punk bands are the most fun to see live, whether you know their music or not.
On Sunday we didn't have breakfast as we had to carry all our stuff back to the car, which we stupidly left a little late so we had to battle through all the people heading to the main arena (because they wouldn't let us take the shortcut through gold -_-). But once that was out of the way, we wandered around aimlessly and grumpily as there was nothing much on and we were tired and aching and couldn't sit down anywhere as the whole place was a mud puddle. Apart from the places that were literal rivers, anyway. Not enough straw, guys! Put some paths in next year! Jeez.
I went to see Muncie Girls (Rob had to go help Pat with his stuff and he wanted to see a bit of Periphery on the way, but I was just SO TIRED and felt a bit sick too after the huge portion of chips I had for lunch (they were out of curry sauce so they were just too...potato-y). They were good, but the songs were a bit samey since I hadn't heard them before. Caught a bit of Halestorm on the way past, and they sounded INSANE. It's not really my kind of music, but Lzzy Hale can WAIL. I'd have liked to see a bit more, but Japanese band One Okay Rock were on at the same time and they weren't bad either (so many pretty men though, haha).
Darted back for Shinedown but didn't catch any songs I knew, then back for Breaking Benjamin as I knew Rob would meet me back there. I wasn't really impressed with them as they kind of passed me by back in the day...should have stayed at Lemmy Stage...hurr. But after that, I FINALLY got to see Disturbed after a decade of wanting to. I wasn't expecting them to be any good live, but they were a real highlight of the festival. Their cover of "The Sound of Silence" was a real high point, probably the best part of the weekend. They also played a few more covers with some cameos from Lzzy Hale (of Halestorm), Blaze Bailey (formerly of Iron Maiden), and Ben Burnley (of Breaking Benjamin).
Billy Talent after that was a bit of a struggle as it was raining quite a lot and we were just so tired, but they're always a good live band. Nightwish sounded even better and I caught a few tracks I vaguely remembered from years and years ago, but we missed most of their set as Rob wanted to see Jane's Addiction. I really didn't like them, and they had scantily-clad women girating around the stage for good measure...just no.
At this point my hip and back had reached peak agony, we both had wellies full of rain, and Rob had a huge blister on his foot. So rather than wait around ages having no choice but to stand to see Iron Maiden...we went back to the car. I know, it's bad. I was wearing a Maiden shirt and everything! But we caught snatches of it between aeroplanes jetting past from the carpark, and we got to sit and use the nice carpark portaloos and soothed our aches. I do wish I'd gone back for a few songs at least, but I knew Rob really wanted to rest and he probably would have insisted on walking me back there so we just missed it all. Oh well. Their sound was terrible 3 years ago, so I'm just assuming the same held true this year...
Once Pat got back to us it took 2 hours to leave the carpark, and a further 6 or so hours to get home since we had to make 2 nap stops for Rob on the way. Harrowing. But then we got clean and dry and ate pizza and slept, so that part was good!
I do like Download Festival, but they really need to deal with the rain better. I've never been so wet in all my life. I literally had puddles in my wellies on more than one occasion. I'd definitely drag a chair into the arena next time if it would be that wet. Wish I'd done so on Sunday, and then seeing Maiden would have been no problem!
Wow, that turned into a real big wall of text. But yeah, the rain broke my camera! It has just about started working again now it is dried out, but it's still not quite what it was before (which, after 10 years of use, wasn't 100% anyway haha).
We ended up in the west carpark which sucked as it meant a long walk around to get to the entrance. However there was no queue to get in when we got there and we set up with some fellow Bathonians in black camp. The people we usually camp with were about a minute's walk away in pink, so that was good! It was stinking hot though, and I ended up by myself for a few hours while Rob went to help some of his friends get their bags so I just got burnt and read for most of the day!
The second day was just as hot! We had breakfast in town quite early, then there was a small sharkie meet-up in the afternoon. I got some very interesting tanlines in this outfit...fishnet thighs and panini shoulders. Ooops!
We had a chat outside the Sidesplitter for a while, then wandered around the shops and ended up with matching beaded bracelets with shark teeth on!
Spent the evening getting drunk and trying to watch a bit of Andrew O'Neill but neither me nor Rob were really feeling it and ended up going to sleep instead.
On Friday I was a tad too hungover for the long trek to breakfast the next morning so I chilled at camp with a can of spaghetti hoops until it was time to go see Alien Ant Farm, who were surprisingly good live!
Then Babymetal! And the most rain I've ever seen. It was just SO HEAVY, HUGE raindrops which soaked us straight through, messed up my camera, and delayed their start time by over half an hour. But was so worth the soaking! I wore my Babymetal outfit with tutus and stuff again, and once again didn't get a photo of it. They even converted Rob - when I asked if he wanted to see them at Wembley it was a massive "no", but now he wishes he had gone!
We stayed soggy for Killswitch Engage, who it turns out I really like. Will definitely be buying a few of their CDs and hopefully seeing them again somewhere drier. We did go back and change afterwards, although I kept on my tutus as they were doing a good job of keeping my legs dry.
Had intended on seeing Korn, but ended up heading to Twin Atlantic instead despite having seen them more times. It was just more fun! Somehow managed to get right near the front. We made quite a hasty exit though, which meant missing All Time Low.
But alas, we had to head over to the smallest tent for InMe! They were top of both our 'want to see' lists, so it had to be done. They were excellent as usual, I really hope their next tour brings them a bit closer to us! At this point my camera croaked though, so everything is blurry and awful. I have very few photos from the rest of the weekend due to this as my phone camera has poor zoom and I was worried about losing it in the massive mud puddles so I didn't risk it much!
The end of Rammstein's set ended our day. I'm sad that I always seem to miss most of their sets as they are a really good band, but eh there always seems to be something else I'd rather see on at the same time!
After breakfast in town on Saturday (with sweet sweet wifi), we wandered past Beartooth (too shouty!) for a couple songs of Black Peaks' set. I enjoyed them more than at NASS, but there were a lot of clashes so we left for a few songs of The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing on the other side of the arena before seeing Atreyu. We both realised this was a bad move, but we're more likely to see the former again next time they tour. There wasn't much on afterwards, I think we saw a bit of Sixx:A.M. but it wasn't very memorable.
Milk Teeth were very good and somehow Bree, a fellow lolita, ended up stood right in front of me so we had a little catch up before they headed off to Bury Tomorrow (who we caught the tail end of) while we went to see a really fun punky thrash band called Lawnmower Deth. They reminded me a lot of Evil Scarecrow from the previous year, and they were even joined by Kim Wilde during their cover of her song 'Kids In America'. Juliette and the Licks weren't doing it for us, so we wandered around and got more cider, I guess? I don't remember. Apparently I had 7 pints in the main arena that day ^_^'
Architects were the band I was most looking forward to seeing on this day, but they had to pull out a few days before and were replaced by Against The Current, which was a nice surprise. I get the feeling they're going to be a really big band some day, and they'll deserve it when they get there. Rob wanted to see Deftones and, while they're a good band, I got bored quickly as all their songs are kinda slow and samey so we went to see Skindred's set instead, which was good fun. Not very amused finding out how the singer acted towards Babymetal at the Kerrang! Awards, but luckily I didn't find out until afterwards or it would have ruined the whole thing for me!
We had no interest in Sabbath so we stayed for NOFX and they were also super fun! I danced a lot and they were definitely a highlight of the weekend even though I only know one of their songs (which, thankfully, they did play). Will have to dig out the CD I got for Christmas a couple years back and give it a listen at some point. I just find that punk bands are the most fun to see live, whether you know their music or not.
On Sunday we didn't have breakfast as we had to carry all our stuff back to the car, which we stupidly left a little late so we had to battle through all the people heading to the main arena (because they wouldn't let us take the shortcut through gold -_-). But once that was out of the way, we wandered around aimlessly and grumpily as there was nothing much on and we were tired and aching and couldn't sit down anywhere as the whole place was a mud puddle. Apart from the places that were literal rivers, anyway. Not enough straw, guys! Put some paths in next year! Jeez.
I went to see Muncie Girls (Rob had to go help Pat with his stuff and he wanted to see a bit of Periphery on the way, but I was just SO TIRED and felt a bit sick too after the huge portion of chips I had for lunch (they were out of curry sauce so they were just too...potato-y). They were good, but the songs were a bit samey since I hadn't heard them before. Caught a bit of Halestorm on the way past, and they sounded INSANE. It's not really my kind of music, but Lzzy Hale can WAIL. I'd have liked to see a bit more, but Japanese band One Okay Rock were on at the same time and they weren't bad either (so many pretty men though, haha).
Darted back for Shinedown but didn't catch any songs I knew, then back for Breaking Benjamin as I knew Rob would meet me back there. I wasn't really impressed with them as they kind of passed me by back in the day...should have stayed at Lemmy Stage...hurr. But after that, I FINALLY got to see Disturbed after a decade of wanting to. I wasn't expecting them to be any good live, but they were a real highlight of the festival. Their cover of "The Sound of Silence" was a real high point, probably the best part of the weekend. They also played a few more covers with some cameos from Lzzy Hale (of Halestorm), Blaze Bailey (formerly of Iron Maiden), and Ben Burnley (of Breaking Benjamin).
Billy Talent after that was a bit of a struggle as it was raining quite a lot and we were just so tired, but they're always a good live band. Nightwish sounded even better and I caught a few tracks I vaguely remembered from years and years ago, but we missed most of their set as Rob wanted to see Jane's Addiction. I really didn't like them, and they had scantily-clad women girating around the stage for good measure...just no.
At this point my hip and back had reached peak agony, we both had wellies full of rain, and Rob had a huge blister on his foot. So rather than wait around ages having no choice but to stand to see Iron Maiden...we went back to the car. I know, it's bad. I was wearing a Maiden shirt and everything! But we caught snatches of it between aeroplanes jetting past from the carpark, and we got to sit and use the nice carpark portaloos and soothed our aches. I do wish I'd gone back for a few songs at least, but I knew Rob really wanted to rest and he probably would have insisted on walking me back there so we just missed it all. Oh well. Their sound was terrible 3 years ago, so I'm just assuming the same held true this year...
Once Pat got back to us it took 2 hours to leave the carpark, and a further 6 or so hours to get home since we had to make 2 nap stops for Rob on the way. Harrowing. But then we got clean and dry and ate pizza and slept, so that part was good!
I do like Download Festival, but they really need to deal with the rain better. I've never been so wet in all my life. I literally had puddles in my wellies on more than one occasion. I'd definitely drag a chair into the arena next time if it would be that wet. Wish I'd done so on Sunday, and then seeing Maiden would have been no problem!
Wow, that turned into a real big wall of text. But yeah, the rain broke my camera! It has just about started working again now it is dried out, but it's still not quite what it was before (which, after 10 years of use, wasn't 100% anyway haha).
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