Download Festival 2009 - Day 1

Following a 2-year hiatus, Rated!'s anticipation of this year's Download Festival had been building up even before any line-ups had been announced - because, historically speaking, the festival spirit without the bands is good enough, and more importantly, this particular festival has almost always quenched our thirst for genuine, hardcore metal by hailing worthwhile artists....and by signing up ‘others' - which also gives us motive to criticise. We were therefore buzzing, and as soon as the first bands were announced and press accreditation was open, we were quick to make contact.

In the weeks leading to the big weekend, more bands and solo artists were announced, and in all honesty, our first impression of the fully confirmed line-up wasn't great, at least it didn't seem so on print, but despite a creeping feeling of disappointment, we endeavoured to gear ourselves up on a positive level, allowing the hype to clear the presence of any doubt. It was soon to be obvious, how misguided the thought of some artists can seem on print...or one simply forgets how good they were.

Hoards of Festival Goers

Despite earlier meteorological forecasts, clear blue skies and a scorching sun met our arrival onto the well signalled Press Parking area. The area was humming with activity. Hoards of back-packed festival goers were cramming the sides of the roads, all in high-spirits and heading towards the same destination. Cars were slowly approaching the outskirts of Donington, careful not to miss a turn and waste time in setting up camp. Dehydrated Parking Attendants were ushering drivers to the respective spaces, and ours seemed to have eyed our fruit supply for the weekend - he offered to trade a prime parking space for some water, bananas and berries.  The festival spirit had begun!

Unlike past years, setting up camp was fun. The Main Stage was in grand view ahead of us, and although it was facing away, the nostalgic notes of Staind were beginning to drift towards us. To a degree, it almost felt like being back stage, minus the close-encounters. The view from our tent was first class, with the VIP Hospitality area standing between our camp-site and the Main Stage.  We had enough time before our first selected band were to play - Parkway Drive - so we chose to embrace the moment and take it all in without having to rush off. The multitudes of people never cease to amaze us, always heading in one direction or another, unless you are right upfront any of the stages.  Even at this early hour, Donington Park was already brimming with excitement, swamped with sober anticipation, and ready to Rock.

As we entered the Main Arena just right off the main stage, drinks in hand purchased from the wigwam VIP area, our excitement shot through the roof. This was it Ladies and Gentlemen, we were here, devil horns held high, rock we salute you!  In our eagerness to get into the flow of things we forgot to bring the map of the arena but none of us were going back for it now. We headed off to the nearest stage other than the main one, thinking this was the second stage . Under a large stretched tent the crowd was jammed inside, flowing out beyond the barriers. The music was loud and crunching, shaking the ground beneath our feet. After enjoying a few songs it became clear these weren't familiar and in actual fact not the band we came to see. This was Sylosis ripping up the Turborg stage, NOT the 2nd stage. Not too much of a problem though as their thrash/metal core style really worked and had us head banging. These guys were good.

Sylosis, you have gained some new fans at VOX for sure. Before their set came to an end, we began our hunt for the 2nd stage to catch the end of Parkway Drive, somewhat doubly disappointed we hadn't seen Parkway Drive's full set due to our mix-up of stages, and for leaving Sylosis early. This was dispelled rapidly as we neared the 2nd stage to witness Australia's very own brand of thrash/metal core, recently releasing their debut album - Horizons, which has been produced by Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. They were deafening and really impressed. The sound didn't seem quite as clear as with the other two stages we had visited, and, as the weekend went on, it was made evident that it was ongoing, but they had so much energy and aggression on stage it didn't dampen the occasion. If only we could have heard ‘Carrion', what a tune!

Time to Chill Out

It was time to chill out and top up our refreshments, which were guzzled down with great ease under this beautiful British sun. So far, metal fans were blessed with good weather. One wouldn't believe the amount of strange sun tan lines we were seeing already on the fans. We made our way round past the main stage as Billy Talent were kicking off to visit the VIP area for a quick break before getting ourselves back to the main stage for Killswitch Engage. Last time Killswitch played Download was the last time we were here, in 2007 and although their entertainer of a guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz wasn't able to play then, they were still amazing.  2009 has seen the return of Dutkiewicz and all the better for it. Not to say that the lead singer Howard Jones doesn't front his band well but Dutkiewicz on guitar was more of a front man, whipping up the crowd at every possible moment and telling hilarious, obscene jokes about hairy genitalia, whilst wearing a bright red superman cape. This was a solid set. You only had to look at Howard Jones' big grinning smile as he gazed out across the sea of people, crowd surfing towards the stage. It was apparent he was loving every minute of it.....and so were we. The highlight of their performance was the mighty ‘Holy Diver', a cover of Dio's track which had the mosh pit at its most frantic.

We couldn't be more ready for Limp Bizkit now. As the crowd from Killswitch dispersed we battled deep into the masses to get as close as we could for a better view. Nothing could have prepared us for what happened next. Strangely, Limp Bizkit were one of the most anticipated bands of the weekend. You could tell from the mad rush towards the stage, everybody trying to get as close to it as they possibly could. In 2003 they were billed to headline Download but pulled out in the last moment which followed a pretty barren spell for the band. Differences between front man Fred Durst and Guitarist Wes Borland took its toll and Wes ended up leaving the band. It was confirmed earlier this year that Durst and Borland settled their differences so this performance was Limp Bizkit's first real major festival performance in the UK for a long time and with Borland back it made it all the more important. For the band I'm sure it was a defining moment in their history, but sadly wasn't for us. Borland made his entrance caked in paint from head to toe and a long dreaded wig? (Possibly his own hair, we're not too sure to be honest) to an erupting roar from the crowd followed by the iconic red capped figure Fred Durst. Opening with ‘Break Stuff' the crowd went absolutely mental, everybody flipped, pushing, jumping, shoving, pulling, bouncing all over the place. We were knocked left, right and centre and this was only their first song. On stage they were not much to look at, Fred was very relaxed, a little too relaxed. He kind of looked like a Thunderbird puppet at times staring blindly out at the crowd. It was once again the guitarist's job to whip the crowd up and Borland did so but in a less vocal way to Killswitch's Dutkiewicz. Their set was mainly made up of material from their 2nd and 3rd albums which was fine, but this set needed ‘Counterfeit' and much to every one's disappointment it wasn't played, as its probably their best tune. The best part was when Fred spotted a fan up the front against the barriers, singing every word of every song being played, and along with another fan, invited them onstage. Coincidently one of them was a spitting image of Fred, wearing the same trademark red cap. It clearly lifted the crowd and even the band's energy levels, as Download witnessed two Fred Dursts singing ‘Full Nelson'. They aren't the best band around but they proved to be a success at Download 09.