I haven't been to a festival in... over a decade now. I'm heading for one next week. Autistic, petite female travels alone to another country to attend a festival... when I haven't gone anywhere outside of my own *county* since the panini started. What could possibly go wrong??? 🤣 To say the nerves are high is an understatement. So the "boring" part of this video is highly, highly appreciated! And *thankfully* Google Street View shows that the festival area is mainly asphalt and gravel. Phew! Will be packing my good rain jacket just in case. Thanks for sharing your decades of festival experience and wisdom with those of us who are less fortunate.
I don’t know whether it’s an autocorrect or intentional that you referred to the pandemic as the “panini” but I am absolutely going to start calling it that myself 😂 Magnificent. I’m excited for you and your adventure next week! Calm and breathe. It will be worth the courage. You got this 💪🏻
@@SteveOGRock It was intentional -- something people online was calling the pandemic in the start to like not be targeted by algorithms or something, but it just stuck in my head 😂 And thank you very much! The nerves are high, but the excitement is higher.
Sounds exactly like Graspop this year in comparison with last 2 years :), tbf Last 2 days was quite good weather and barely rain but the mud never went in most areas
So good to hear Heilung get a mention. We intended to turn up for a bit then leave early for QOTSA however ended up staying the whole set. Its so hard to describe just how good Heilung sounded so happy we were there to see it.
Heilung are my favourite group, I know Kai quite well too, as they describe it, it's amplified history, some of those songs are from runinc and slavic passages dating back thousands of years, and yes, there is the opening ritual, as kai for one, is a shaman, but it's the traditional blessings given before a ritual in asatru/ heathenry, and a closing blessing, it's much more than music, its history.
I had such a good time. Saw loads of bands. Ate great food. Yeah, the mud and rain made everything 10x more difficult, but I'd do it again right now given the chance!! Great video!
Was my first year attending and I'll definitely be there again next year. Will remember to bring my own food though as I lost the Friday to food poisoning same as many others
Oh man, I appreciate that Download is missions regardless of the weather, in the slurry, it was treacherous, I was so proud of my partner and myself getting to see 38 acts over the 5 days! Highlights for me were: Limp Bizkit, Pantera, Fit for a King, RORY, Vukovi, Bambie Thug, Wargasm, Parkway Drive, Machine Head... too many to name! We had a blast!
This was my first festival (bit late to the party at 36..), I loved Brownload!! Limp Biz, Bowling, Sum 41 and Offspring were my faves.. danced like a nutter to L.B. Definitely going back
as a wheelchair user i went sunday and all i got to see was most of main stage code orange was code orange normal for them other stages were a waste of time even trying my wheels became hay collectors lol
I was there for Drownload, it was definitely more muddy that year in the sense that it was deeper, thicker mud based on the footage I've seen. That year was exhausting because I had to unstick my foot at every step, it looked like it was more soupy, wet mud this year. I'm sure it was just as intense to be surrounded by but not as physically demanding to navigate. I'm off to bloodstock and arctangent this year, pray for minimal rain because I'm too old and tired for those conditions! I hope you had an awesome download this year.
38:15 DL has been going on for 20 years at this point, they had more then time to improve the blind spots. Still one of the best Rock Fests in the world imo. Weather allowing of course.
Agree with a lot you said here. My top 5 this year: Pantera, limp bizkit, sum41, busted, while she sleeps. So gutted with what happened to babymetal. Was so looking forward to seeing them
Made the trip for the 6th time from Iceland this year. Favourites were, Slaughter to prevail, Fit for a King. Parkway drive up close was amazing aswell. Atreyu was super aswell. lot of great stuff on the smaller stages.
Great review I look forward to this yearly. An your thoughts of the festival and bands. I have been to Woodstock 94 and 99 for festivals. An always wanted to go to Wacken. But dont know if I will ever do. So I live vicariously through your stories. Thank you
Download has gone from being a true metal festival to a predominantly (means mostly for anyone who doesn't know*) Pop Rock/Synth festival like Reading & Leeds nowadays. Such a shame. It's use to stand for helping promote & push newer/younger talent etc... its the absolute opposite now. Everyone i know who use to go now dont OR, they've all said 'they wont go ever again! Its awful!'. RIP Download 2003-2019. You had a damn good run! Thank god we have Bloodstock for being an actual TRUE metal festival!! Before anyone says some thing dumb, No! this isnt 'metal elitist'. Not at all. just stating facts. you can literally see it on the past bills put out, it's slowly getting less & less heavy (which is what it stood for*) & going more & more radio/mainstream. That's fine, just not what Download was created for : )
It was my first ever festival! I had a lot of people say “it’s not normally like this!” I think it was a lot of fun and have already booked for next year!
Nice review, I stopped going to festivals about 10 years ago, mainly as I have trouble walking sometimes and can't stand the mud. i went Reading once and the campsite was about 2 hrs walk from the main stage which was ridiculous.
Yes I would have gone there just for Heilung. Have seen them before and they were absolutely amazing. So glad more people are discovering them and a metal festival seems like a good match for their style strangely.
What really pissed me off was the fact that the dogtooth stage decided that at the point when the main headliners started around 9pm,they turned up the sound to full whack so that everybody who were farther up couldnt hear nothing from the main act!
I was at drown load a few years back when Maiden headlined and will never forget the moment the ground on the hill just couldn't take any more water and literally turned liquid. A tsunami of mud just rolled down the hill through all the tents and vendors it was horrible. That was Maiden but this year's pile of shit line up was definitely not worth a light shower let alone a deluge. Download I'm afraid to say is dying a slow death which is sad. The demand is there and it has so much potential but the fact that 4 and 5 day events on the continent are getting much better line ups each year, the inevitable crap weather and the imperfect site. Although hollowed ground from the much missed Monsters Of Rock festival. They need to re-develop the layout because the long walk from camping to the arena is 1 hour! So there's no nipping back to the tent. You're out for the day when you leave. No chance of a quick power nap. The bad weather (just push it back to July!) the horrendous queues get worse each year. The prices are standard for UK festivals but still astronomical for crap food. It's just badly organised and badly run for years now. Things need to change Download!
We arrived when it was pissing it down on the Friday, took ages to find a camping spot. Agree with you on Make Them Suffer, we randomly popped in the Dogtooth, they were best band we saw on Friday by far
currently in bed poorly after download, but honestly worth it, it was so much fun. my favourites of the weekend we’re definitely pantera ( a dream come true to see them live ) and machine head. the mud made it super difficult to go between the stages for bands i wanted to see as they were spread about on all the stages so slipping and sliding the whole time. overall, saw some AMAZING live music and had a great time. my third download in a row and the first one i’ve experienced with this weather but it didn’t ruin the experience for me.
I remember back in 1999...the best live experience ever happened in pouring rain. Baal - released their album - Sensorama. It was life changing. Anyways..Steve! - if you EVER run out of songs to react to..... mark my words: Haken - Eyes of Ebony. Haken - Canary Yellow. Whatever anyone might think of Haken, too proggy or whatever, they may never get to listen to these two songs. Fuggin amazing!! All I can say. Think you will appreciate both, but you probs always know em. Take care, overthere. Cheers :)
Make Them Sufffer set had just mad weather. Looked round and it was raining on one side of the tent but not on the other! And you wasn't only one going back to guest area for a nice sit down 🤣
Hey, totally agree with your review of Download, was there with my 12 year old daughter for her first festival, the crush for Wheatus was insane :) Was great that they played 'Teenage Dirtbag' as port of BFS's set, which made her weekend. They definitely need to do something about the toilets for next year. We saw a few different acts to you, Kerry King was pretty slick, as was Tom Morello and we really enjoyed Corey Taylor, he was only at about 85% as he'd been really unwell and cancelled 2 festival slots before dragging his ass along...
The mud did my fu**ing head in 😂 but I still had great fun!! Gutted Electric Callboy pulled out due to sickness - people felt very flat after they cancelled. My mate caught Hanabie! But the Apex stage sadly the sound all weekend was having some problems, the sound wasn’t great at all tbh! ✨
Great review! RIP was the only respite from the mudload! Only problem now is it looks like I got Glasto toe and both my big toe nails are about to fall off… still was a killer weekend! MUDLOAD
Got there like 3 hours early for Parkway after I saw their instagram post that morning. I was right at the front and Winston climbed onto the barrier right in front of me. Absolutely killer show
Alien Weaponry absolutely smashed it on Opus stage - really great energy and sound. Couldn't agree more about Heilung, completely mesmerising and something I'll definitely be listening to more of. I think that 2019 Drownload was worse mud but it's the risk you take with the great British weather! You just have to embrace the mud!
we had to sleep in the carpark on Saturday night. so many cars got stuck in the mud and no one was letting anybody out so we ended up just camping there for the night.
Did RIP for first time. It saved the day, that mud was tough. Bands of the weekend were imminence (great sound for that 4th stage), pantera and while she sleeps. Checked out defects because of your download Friday video too :). No squits here, so that’s a win (although I was 90% Imodium the whole festival just in case of any of that craziness)
I was at DL this year, and the arena was an absolute mess, almost impossible to walk, it was literally ice skating through mud and water, very dangerous and slippery indeed! For this reason, mainly, I could not see the many bands I wished to watch, I needed to choose just one stage per day and a good spot and just watch all the bands there. On Friday, I stayed just on the Apex stage and enjoyed watching Royal Blood, but their presentation was somewhat marred because of the technical difficulties in a couple of songs; they needed to start over again. For QOST, l quite enjoyed their performance! On Saturday, I stayed at the Opus stage and watched Bleed from Within (the set was really short, a shame, but I will be watching them support Slipknot later in the year, so hopefully will be better), watched While She Sleeps (great set, one of my highlights of the weekend); Slaughter to prevail was insane, great performance but that blast of rain didn't help, they needed to delay the start a bit. My highlight was the legendary Pantera; they absolutely smashed and played all the classical songs! On Sunday, I started on the Opus stage and watched Allien Weaponry (great performance, some circle/mosh pits behind me) and then moved to the Apex stage and watched from Creeper to A7X, the highlight for me was Limp Bizkit, was in the front barrier and almost got smashed there, people were doing surfcrowd and pushing and singing like crazy, but I enjoyed a lot, they played twice Break stuff (my favourite song of them btw), it is pure nostalgia and they were really great!! My opinion is that, despite DL and other festivals being in farmland, they happen at the same place every year, so the organisers need to start urgently to think about infrastructure considering the not reliable weather the U.K, unfortunately, has (last year was great weather, very enjoyable but this year was almost impossible to stay on site). There are some parts that are already concreted, so I wonder why they do not do the same with Arena, at least. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time there again; it is one of my highlights of the year.
The mud made us miss a few bands simply took too long to slide from one stage to another, but the only time I considered sacking it off was first thing Saturday morning in the thunderstorm that got a bit miserable think Florence black was on, at the time, machine head were fantastic best I've ever heard them, and Winston dealt with no one being able to hear anything but drums in the dogtooth by holding the mic out and grinning while we sang his songs to him, that was the best audience atmosphere I've been on since maybe 2006. My festival ended with the nightmare of nightmare blowing the stage fuses, when you're so exhausted you're falling asleep standing up it's time to give in 😂
Hahaha would’ve been sick to meet you, I was on stage for slaughter to prevail and Alex is the nicest guy, he is so innocent he was like trying to stay out of the way of our crew.
iDestroy first on the Dogtooth Friday morning where insane, only been told they were playing 24 hours before gave it everything. my camping chair of 4 years finally gave up the ghost on the last day, so now need a new one. but yea after 2016 i learnt if you have only 2 things on you its a chair and a poncho. with those things you can do the whole day. for next year i have opted for the camper van plus as the mud this year made me re-allies i am now to old for that tent rubbish. Great review as well thank you.
We were in accessible camping which was a blessing. Struggled massively but still saw 18 bands - Creeper and Machine Head were our top bands. Still getting over it 😂
Stevie I did the one day on the Saturday. Please try and review CALVA LOUISE, (songs: Feast is Over', 'Over the Threshold', 'Under the Skin', they have 3 albums. Lead female vocalist is from Venezuela. They have heavy songs in Spanish and shes fluent in English, French, and Spanish. Watch there official videos too very futuristic if you like scifi. ALT BLK ERA, MALLAVORA especially! I recommend FREAKSHOW and NORMALLY LIKE THIS for ABE, and WAKE UP, SKIN, and IMPOSTER for Mallavora. My memories of the day is the rainbow completely took over the horizon at the lead man from Enter Shikara pointing to it and then decided to fall backwards on purpose into the disgusting mud from the height of the stage to the floor! Bambie Thug, Egregore, and her take on the Cramberries Zombie was ICONIC! I loved Doomsday Blue too! I didn't let the weather get the better of me or the conditions really. Took it in my stride! KNIFE BRIDE and RORY was very good and While She Sleeps. But left the event to the sound of OFFSPRING pretty fly for a white guy! I loved the day! The 3 hours beering it up going to the event and chilling out queuing up listening to my Spotify CAlva Louise setlist was just epic to start with. Thanks for your thoughts! Love hearing opinions from folk who know there stuff!
Geez! Sounded exhausting 😅 Honestly, not too sure I would've had the patience to go through all that, haha! This recap was so entertaining to watch. As much as the whole experience seemed a bit disappointing, I get the feeling this will not be the last straw. Thanks for sharing this glimpse into your weekend. ❤
I was there Saturday with my son was a right mess after all that rain, I really enjoyed Bambi Thug one of the highlights of the day, we luckily took chairs with us so we could sit down, I also thought the Offspring were really good,watched Enter Shikari was ok, Fallout boy was really good I enjoyed the whole set.
Thank you for the review. So which year was the absolutely muddest if this was the second one? I was working there 2016 (Rammstein, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Korn, Deftones...) and it was exactly how this video portrayed this year, so im just curious. Thank you.
Haha yep, 2016 was the one! Once the rain started that weekend it didn’t really stop. I swear when BABYMETAL are on the main stage it’s a curse. That’s when the worst rain always hits 😂
@@SteveOGRock haha i knew it! I believe im quite experienced camper, but download 2016 was the only time in my life there was water in my tent! Terrible? I was like:”oh, this is probably how all english festivals look like” and it made me never wanna come back. 🤣🤣 aww how sad with baby metal 😃😃.
You clearly don’t know anyone who went to Sonisphere Switzerland 2010. It was torrential and wet mud up past my knees (I’m 5’10”). I’m a northerner and I’ve never seen a more ominous sight than a sheet of rain emerging over the mountains. It was horrendous.
Great review dude. I went to the first 8 Downloads but haven't been back since 2010. Was seriously considering a day ticket this year but decided against it. Already booked a hotel for next year though.... out of curiosity, which camping option do you choose? The thought of doing a tent tent especially in that weather just... fuck that!
Gosh that’s 14 years! Yeah well worth dipping your toe back in 🤘🏻 I go for RIP camping in Park Farm. It’s the least expensive VIP option (I believe). I do have to pitch my own tent but I can drive my car right in to where I wanna set up camp and put my tent up right next to my car so no need to carry a damn thing. Means you can bring all kinds of luxury setups with you. Thankfully there was no rain on the Wednesday or the Sunday so setup/pack-down of tent was dry. But yeah rain for those parts of camping would be the worst.
I didn't go this year but definitely looked much worse with the mud than 2019, I'm a fit 40 something and I was still so knackered by the end of it, I think I'd of been dead on my feet after day one had I done it this year lol 😆 always a pleasure to see a good review 😊
I haven’t been to Download for a number of years, so I enjoyed your roundup 👍 out of interest, is RIP camping less busy, or is the same but with more toilets?
In RIP camping you get more space to pitch your tent, you also drive onto the camping fields and park exactly where you pitch your tent (so you don't need to carry a damn thing), campsite has proper toilets and free hot showers, you get access to the Guest Area of the arena which has plumbed toilets / more seating / faster bar service. It's worth every penny IMO.
Honestly seeing and hearing so many people moan about the weather and mud has been worse than the reality of it. While you're there you just get on with enjoying the music and people, and the conditions become of very little consequence unless you have mobility issues. It was an awesome weekend, can't expect last year's perfect weather every time.
Bowling for Soup/Sum 41/Limp Bizkit was a fantastic end to the festival. I watched about 20 mins of Avenged but they really didn't grab me (even though I like a lot of their material).
@@Rose_19911 quite possibly by attending both events? I attended in 2012 and it was grim. In fact, had we not been booked into a hotel, we wouldn't have stayed! 😂😂😂
25:47 , Code Orange and spite are two bands that I’ve noticed have great. Stage presents definitely the rock ‘n’ roll attitude to how they do music and stuff, but I think they get a little too caught up in their own personalities sometimes. , at the same time I am a punk guy I appreciate seeing around and shit like that. Fuck that. Guitar
I’d like to see what you think of night verses new stuff if you like polyphia. I’m not a big instrumental guy but night verses has some really hard hitting material.
Night Verses is decent for sure. But I really crave for them to have vocals 😅 I checked out part 1 of their new album releases (it’s on my channels somewhere).
You too! So impressed that you managed to find a group of Downloaders to hang with via Facebook 👏🏻 RIP absolutely paid for itself this year with the ability to grab seats on picnic benches instead of mud huh 😅
Not gonna lie, I've always wanted to go to a big music festival like this (live in New Zealand so we get jack sh*t over here) but this straight up turned me off entirely. That sounded like a miserable experience tbh haha. Love the optimism amongst all that though.
I was gutted I couldn't go this year but after seeing everything that happened im kinda glad I didn't go! 😅already got my ticket sorted for next year though!
For me Machine Head stole the weekend with a brilliant set. Had to queue for over 3 and a half hours to get into the arena on Sunday already had wristband needs sorting out shouldn’t have missed bands when you get there early!!
2012 by far the worst year fir mud in my opinion. unfortunately you cant control the weather. however i agree on the toilet situation, defiantly need a better plan. taking my two boys next year both 9 & 7 (first timers) can't wait!
I made the correct decision in missing my first download since 2008 and was baking in the heat in Austria seeing more or less the exact same bands. So much better organised, no long walks, nice toilets that flush and sinks to wash your hands. And far better headliners!! I had such a good time I already have my ticket for next year. And it was only 199 euros. Makes me wonder where download spend all there money because for half the price you get better organisation and better bands 🤷🏻♀️ it has ruined download for me hahaha.
Believe it or not. Wood chip is free as it’s a forestry waste product. The straw (not hay) is actually the opposite, isn’t free as it’s used for bedding for animals 🤷♂️ So yeah, could have used more wood chip
I haven't been to a festival in... over a decade now. I'm heading for one next week. Autistic, petite female travels alone to another country to attend a festival... when I haven't gone anywhere outside of my own *county* since the panini started. What could possibly go wrong??? 🤣 To say the nerves are high is an understatement. So the "boring" part of this video is highly, highly appreciated! And *thankfully* Google Street View shows that the festival area is mainly asphalt and gravel. Phew! Will be packing my good rain jacket just in case. Thanks for sharing your decades of festival experience and wisdom with those of us who are less fortunate.
I don’t know whether it’s an autocorrect or intentional that you referred to the pandemic as the “panini” but I am absolutely going to start calling it that myself 😂 Magnificent.
I’m excited for you and your adventure next week! Calm and breathe. It will be worth the courage. You got this 💪🏻
@@SteveOGRock It was intentional -- something people online was calling the pandemic in the start to like not be targeted by algorithms or something, but it just stuck in my head 😂
And thank you very much! The nerves are high, but the excitement is higher.
❤Panini
Enjoy it, I predict you'll have the greatest time in years!
Last year we were praying for some rain, this year we were praying for it to stop lol
Sounds exactly like Graspop this year in comparison with last 2 years :), tbf Last 2 days was quite good weather and barely rain but the mud never went in most areas
So good to hear Heilung get a mention. We intended to turn up for a bit then leave early for QOTSA however ended up staying the whole set. Its so hard to describe just how good Heilung sounded so happy we were there to see it.
I really love how chill you approached this festival. Always go easy on yourself or else you have no fun :) great Review Steve!
100%! Took many years to learn that one 😅
Heilung are my favourite group, I know Kai quite well too, as they describe it, it's amplified history, some of those songs are from runinc and slavic passages dating back thousands of years, and yes, there is the opening ritual, as kai for one, is a shaman, but it's the traditional blessings given before a ritual in asatru/ heathenry, and a closing blessing, it's much more than music, its history.
Won’t be able to see them in London since Live Nation decided to fuck us over with £77 for the ticket.
Heilung seeing live is a memory i'll cherish forever. These people are just geniuses. One of the best gigs i've ever been to.
Only just discovered you. You give some of the best overall reviews of the bands out of all festival goers content I've seen. Thumbs up. Well done
Cheers Michael! Very kind of you to say so 💙 Glad you enjoyed it!
I had such a good time. Saw loads of bands. Ate great food. Yeah, the mud and rain made everything 10x more difficult, but I'd do it again right now given the chance!! Great video!
🤘🏻
Was my first year attending and I'll definitely be there again next year. Will remember to bring my own food though as I lost the Friday to food poisoning same as many others
Ah damn, sorry to hear that. Onwards and upwards next year!
Oh man, I appreciate that Download is missions regardless of the weather, in the slurry, it was treacherous, I was so proud of my partner and myself getting to see 38 acts over the 5 days! Highlights for me were: Limp Bizkit, Pantera, Fit for a King, RORY, Vukovi, Bambie Thug, Wargasm, Parkway Drive, Machine Head... too many to name! We had a blast!
This was my first festival (bit late to the party at 36..), I loved Brownload!! Limp Biz, Bowling, Sum 41 and Offspring were my faves.. danced like a nutter to L.B. Definitely going back
Oh wow! That’s quite a first festival! Usually the weather isn’t so horrendous and it’s an even more enjoyable experience 🤘🏻
as a wheelchair user i went sunday and all i got to see was most of main stage code orange was code orange normal for them other stages were a waste of time even trying my wheels became hay collectors lol
It's a wheelie bin 😀
I had a great time. Bizarrely my fave set on Friday was Busted, which I was not expecting!
I was there for Drownload, it was definitely more muddy that year in the sense that it was deeper, thicker mud based on the footage I've seen. That year was exhausting because I had to unstick my foot at every step, it looked like it was more soupy, wet mud this year. I'm sure it was just as intense to be surrounded by but not as physically demanding to navigate.
I'm off to bloodstock and arctangent this year, pray for minimal rain because I'm too old and tired for those conditions!
I hope you had an awesome download this year.
It was the same slip slide stick this year Sunday was utterly exhausting, though you can do it I'm in my 50s and disabled and I managed
38:15 DL has been going on for 20 years at this point, they had more then time to improve the blind spots. Still one of the best Rock Fests in the world imo. Weather allowing of course.
Agree with a lot you said here.
My top 5 this year: Pantera, limp bizkit, sum41, busted, while she sleeps. So gutted with what happened to babymetal. Was so looking forward to seeing them
Heilung made my Friday absolutely brilliant
Made the trip for the 6th time from Iceland this year.
Favourites were, Slaughter to prevail, Fit for a King. Parkway drive up close was amazing aswell. Atreyu was super aswell. lot of great stuff on the smaller stages.
Great review I look forward to this yearly. An your thoughts of the festival and bands.
I have been to Woodstock 94 and 99 for festivals. An always wanted to go to Wacken. But dont know if I will ever do. So I live vicariously through your stories. Thank you
Oh wow, the legendary Woodstock! That’s so cool!
And thanks!
Sounds pretty good on the whole apart from the mud, would love to go but unsure about the amount of walking, is there good access options?
Download has gone from being a true metal festival to a predominantly (means mostly for anyone who doesn't know*) Pop Rock/Synth festival like Reading & Leeds nowadays. Such a shame.
It's use to stand for helping promote & push newer/younger talent etc... its the absolute opposite now.
Everyone i know who use to go now dont OR, they've all said 'they wont go ever again! Its awful!'.
RIP Download 2003-2019. You had a damn good run!
Thank god we have Bloodstock for being an actual TRUE metal festival!!
Before anyone says some thing dumb, No! this isnt 'metal elitist'. Not at all. just stating facts. you can literally see it on the past bills put out, it's slowly getting less & less heavy (which is what it stood for*) & going more & more radio/mainstream. That's fine, just not what Download was created for : )
It was my first ever festival! I had a lot of people say “it’s not normally like this!” I think it was a lot of fun and have already booked for next year!
Nice review, I stopped going to festivals about 10 years ago, mainly as I have trouble walking sometimes and can't stand the mud. i went Reading once and the campsite was about 2 hrs walk from the main stage which was ridiculous.
Yes I would have gone there just for Heilung. Have seen them before and they were absolutely amazing. So glad more people are discovering them and a metal festival seems like a good match for their style strangely.
What really pissed me off was the fact that the dogtooth stage decided that at the point when the main headliners started around 9pm,they turned up the sound to full whack so that everybody who were farther up couldnt hear nothing from the main act!
I mean I was happy when fear factory came on to drown out the sound of fall out boy (no hate to fall out boy)
I was at drown load a few years back when Maiden headlined and will never forget the moment the ground on the hill just couldn't take any more water and literally turned liquid. A tsunami of mud just rolled down the hill through all the tents and vendors it was horrible. That was Maiden but this year's pile of shit line up was definitely not worth a light shower let alone a deluge. Download I'm afraid to say is dying a slow death which is sad. The demand is there and it has so much potential but the fact that 4 and 5 day events on the continent are getting much better line ups each year, the inevitable crap weather and the imperfect site. Although hollowed ground from the much missed Monsters Of Rock festival. They need to re-develop the layout because the long walk from camping to the arena is 1 hour! So there's no nipping back to the tent. You're out for the day when you leave. No chance of a quick power nap. The bad weather (just push it back to July!) the horrendous queues get worse each year. The prices are standard for UK festivals but still astronomical for crap food. It's just badly organised and badly run for years now. Things need to change Download!
We arrived when it was pissing it down on the Friday, took ages to find a camping spot.
Agree with you on Make Them Suffer, we randomly popped in the Dogtooth, they were best band we saw on Friday by far
currently in bed poorly after download, but honestly worth it, it was so much fun. my favourites of the weekend we’re definitely pantera ( a dream come true to see them live ) and machine head. the mud made it super difficult to go between the stages for bands i wanted to see as they were spread about on all the stages so slipping and sliding the whole time.
overall, saw some AMAZING live music and had a great time. my third download in a row and the first one i’ve experienced with this weather but it didn’t ruin the experience for me.
was my first ever festival experience, im glad it was so muddy because now it can only get better next year :D
second year going in a row, the contrast in my energy is insane with being able to sit down last year compared to 2024 😭
🫂
I remember back in 1999...the best live experience ever happened in pouring rain. Baal - released their album - Sensorama. It was life changing.
Anyways..Steve! - if you EVER run out of songs to react to..... mark my words:
Haken - Eyes of Ebony.
Haken - Canary Yellow.
Whatever anyone might think of Haken, too proggy or whatever, they may never get to listen to these two songs. Fuggin amazing!! All I can say. Think you will appreciate both, but you probs always know em. Take care, overthere. Cheers :)
Make Them Sufffer set had just mad weather. Looked round and it was raining on one side of the tent but not on the other!
And you wasn't only one going back to guest area for a nice sit down 🤣
Hahaaaa yes my fellow rest-needing kindred spirit 🫂
Hey, totally agree with your review of Download, was there with my 12 year old daughter for her first festival, the crush for Wheatus was insane :) Was great that they played 'Teenage Dirtbag' as port of BFS's set, which made her weekend. They definitely need to do something about the toilets for next year. We saw a few different acts to you, Kerry King was pretty slick, as was Tom Morello and we really enjoyed Corey Taylor, he was only at about 85% as he'd been really unwell and cancelled 2 festival slots before dragging his ass along...
The mud did my fu**ing head in 😂 but I still had great fun!! Gutted Electric Callboy pulled out due to sickness - people felt very flat after they cancelled.
My mate caught Hanabie!
But the Apex stage sadly the sound all weekend was having some problems, the sound wasn’t great at all tbh! ✨
It was muddy af, food poisoning was rife, the rain hardly stopped
What a fucking amazing week. Can't wait for next year.
Great review! RIP was the only respite from the mudload! Only problem now is it looks like I got Glasto toe and both my big toe nails are about to fall off… still was a killer weekend! MUDLOAD
Oh shiiiiit dude. Sorry to hear that. Well earned! 😅
I branded this year as brownload
Got there like 3 hours early for Parkway after I saw their instagram post that morning. I was right at the front and Winston climbed onto the barrier right in front of me. Absolutely killer show
Alien Weaponry absolutely smashed it on Opus stage - really great energy and sound. Couldn't agree more about Heilung, completely mesmerising and something I'll definitely be listening to more of. I think that 2019 Drownload was worse mud but it's the risk you take with the great British weather! You just have to embrace the mud!
i didnt see most of Alphawolf, but when i rocked up tot the tent to meet my mate they just started Akudama and i was all for it aha
Haha noice!
we had to sleep in the carpark on Saturday night. so many cars got stuck in the mud and no one was letting anybody out so we ended up just camping there for the night.
Holy hell! 🤯
Did RIP for first time. It saved the day, that mud was tough. Bands of the weekend were imminence (great sound for that 4th stage), pantera and while she sleeps. Checked out defects because of your download Friday video too :). No squits here, so that’s a win (although I was 90% Imodium the whole festival just in case of any of that craziness)
Imodium ftw! 😅 That’s so cool you checked out Defects from my preview vid. Quality band.
2012 was virtually knee deep in mud, some folks left before it started, the camping ground was horrible.
I was at DL this year, and the arena was an absolute mess, almost impossible to walk, it was literally ice skating through mud and water, very dangerous and slippery indeed! For this reason, mainly, I could not see the many bands I wished to watch, I needed to choose just one stage per day and a good spot and just watch all the bands there. On Friday, I stayed just on the Apex stage and enjoyed watching Royal Blood, but their presentation was somewhat marred because of the technical difficulties in a couple of songs; they needed to start over again. For QOST, l quite enjoyed their performance! On Saturday, I stayed at the Opus stage and watched Bleed from Within (the set was really short, a shame, but I will be watching them support Slipknot later in the year, so hopefully will be better), watched While She Sleeps (great set, one of my highlights of the weekend); Slaughter to prevail was insane, great performance but that blast of rain didn't help, they needed to delay the start a bit. My highlight was the legendary Pantera; they absolutely smashed and played all the classical songs! On Sunday, I started on the Opus stage and watched Allien Weaponry (great performance, some circle/mosh pits behind me) and then moved to the Apex stage and watched from Creeper to A7X, the highlight for me was Limp Bizkit, was in the front barrier and almost got smashed there, people were doing surfcrowd and pushing and singing like crazy, but I enjoyed a lot, they played twice Break stuff (my favourite song of them btw), it is pure nostalgia and they were really great!! My opinion is that, despite DL and other festivals being in farmland, they happen at the same place every year, so the organisers need to start urgently to think about infrastructure considering the not reliable weather the U.K, unfortunately, has (last year was great weather, very enjoyable but this year was almost impossible to stay on site). There are some parts that are already concreted, so I wonder why they do not do the same with Arena, at least. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time there again; it is one of my highlights of the year.
Heilung were incredible. I was already a fan, but I'd say their set was almost life-changing. Best act of my personal Download experience.
The mud made us miss a few bands simply took too long to slide from one stage to another, but the only time I considered sacking it off was first thing Saturday morning in the thunderstorm that got a bit miserable think Florence black was on, at the time, machine head were fantastic best I've ever heard them, and Winston dealt with no one being able to hear anything but drums in the dogtooth by holding the mic out and grinning while we sang his songs to him, that was the best audience atmosphere I've been on since maybe 2006. My festival ended with the nightmare of nightmare blowing the stage fuses, when you're so exhausted you're falling asleep standing up it's time to give in 😂
Hahaha would’ve been sick to meet you, I was on stage for slaughter to prevail and Alex is the nicest guy, he is so innocent he was like trying to stay out of the way of our crew.
Well done you for seeing it through. I know alot of folk who bailed and didn't make to Sunday.
Great review of the festival - haven't been for a few years so it was interesting to see
Cheers! Glad you found it valuable 💙
iDestroy first on the Dogtooth Friday morning where insane, only been told they were playing 24 hours before gave it everything. my camping chair of 4 years finally gave up the ghost on the last day, so now need a new one. but yea after 2016 i learnt if you have only 2 things on you its a chair and a poncho. with those things you can do the whole day. for next year i have opted for the camper van plus as the mud this year made me re-allies i am now to old for that tent rubbish. Great review as well thank you.
We were in accessible camping which was a blessing. Struggled massively but still saw 18 bands - Creeper and Machine Head were our top bands. Still getting over it 😂
The mud part just makes me wanna ask have you ever been to wacken? Where this type of weather is almost expected lol
Do you know the drama that surrounding Avenged Sevenfold right now with Download?
My daughter went this year. Its not festival without the mud.
Awesome video as always dude 🤘🏼🖤
Cheers!
Heilung is not a live show, it's a ritual! I loved their show in Milan a couple years back and they gave me so much energy
Love that you enjoyed Polyphia! They are definitely one of the most interesting modern instrumental acts.
You were stood a few rows behind me for FOB lol
Stevie I did the one day on the Saturday. Please try and review CALVA LOUISE, (songs: Feast is Over', 'Over the Threshold', 'Under the Skin', they have 3 albums. Lead female vocalist is from Venezuela. They have heavy songs in Spanish and shes fluent in English, French, and Spanish. Watch there official videos too very futuristic if you like scifi. ALT BLK ERA, MALLAVORA especially! I recommend FREAKSHOW and NORMALLY LIKE THIS for ABE, and WAKE UP, SKIN, and IMPOSTER for Mallavora.
My memories of the day is the rainbow completely took over the horizon at the lead man from Enter Shikara pointing to it and then decided to fall backwards on purpose into the disgusting mud from the height of the stage to the floor! Bambie Thug, Egregore, and her take on the Cramberries Zombie was ICONIC! I loved Doomsday Blue too!
I didn't let the weather get the better of me or the conditions really. Took it in my stride! KNIFE BRIDE and RORY was very good and While She Sleeps. But left the event to the sound of OFFSPRING pretty fly for a white guy! I loved the day! The 3 hours beering it up going to the event and chilling out queuing up listening to my Spotify CAlva Louise setlist was just epic to start with.
Thanks for your thoughts! Love hearing opinions from folk who know there stuff!
Great video man!
Geez! Sounded exhausting 😅 Honestly, not too sure I would've had the patience to go through all that, haha! This recap was so entertaining to watch. As much as the whole experience seemed a bit disappointing, I get the feeling this will not be the last straw. Thanks for sharing this glimpse into your weekend. ❤
Utterly exhausting. But also a privilege to be able to see so many great bands in such quick succession.
I was there Saturday with my son was a right mess after all that rain, I really enjoyed Bambi Thug one of the highlights of the day, we luckily took chairs with us so we could sit down, I also thought the Offspring were really good,watched Enter Shikari was ok, Fallout boy was really good I enjoyed the whole set.
8:57 that reminds me of Korn playing the second stage in 2007 lol. There was enough people to fill main stage 😂
Thank you for the review. So which year was the absolutely muddest if this was the second one? I was working there 2016 (Rammstein, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Korn, Deftones...) and it was exactly how this video portrayed this year, so im just curious. Thank you.
Haha yep, 2016 was the one! Once the rain started that weekend it didn’t really stop. I swear when BABYMETAL are on the main stage it’s a curse. That’s when the worst rain always hits 😂
@@SteveOGRock haha i knew it! I believe im quite experienced camper, but download 2016 was the only time in my life there was water in my tent! Terrible? I was like:”oh, this is probably how all english festivals look like” and it made me never wanna come back. 🤣🤣 aww how sad with baby metal 😃😃.
Dang, i missed it. With Heilung and Hanabie two of my favorit bands at one festival at the same day.
🫂
I been going since DL’s inception in 2004 (Linkin Park, Korn, surprise Metallica gig…) but i missed this year. Im glad lol
You clearly don’t know anyone who went to Sonisphere Switzerland 2010. It was torrential and wet mud up past my knees (I’m 5’10”). I’m a northerner and I’ve never seen a more ominous sight than a sheet of rain emerging over the mountains. It was horrendous.
Great review dude. I went to the first 8 Downloads but haven't been back since 2010. Was seriously considering a day ticket this year but decided against it. Already booked a hotel for next year though.... out of curiosity, which camping option do you choose? The thought of doing a tent tent especially in that weather just... fuck that!
Gosh that’s 14 years! Yeah well worth dipping your toe back in 🤘🏻
I go for RIP camping in Park Farm. It’s the least expensive VIP option (I believe). I do have to pitch my own tent but I can drive my car right in to where I wanna set up camp and put my tent up right next to my car so no need to carry a damn thing. Means you can bring all kinds of luxury setups with you. Thankfully there was no rain on the Wednesday or the Sunday so setup/pack-down of tent was dry. But yeah rain for those parts of camping would be the worst.
Thanks for such a great reflection on Download 2024 👍
Cheers!
Hey Steve! just come across your channel.
do you remember a band called "back in the day" that were around 2002?
No way! A.W.?!
I didn't go this year but definitely looked much worse with the mud than 2019, I'm a fit 40 something and I was still so knackered by the end of it, I think I'd of been dead on my feet after day one had I done it this year lol 😆 always a pleasure to see a good review 😊
Thanks!
Didn’t waste my money this year. Nothing to do with the weather, just the poor lineup.
I haven’t been to Download for a number of years, so I enjoyed your roundup 👍 out of interest, is RIP camping less busy, or is the same but with more toilets?
In RIP camping you get more space to pitch your tent, you also drive onto the camping fields and park exactly where you pitch your tent (so you don't need to carry a damn thing), campsite has proper toilets and free hot showers, you get access to the Guest Area of the arena which has plumbed toilets / more seating / faster bar service. It's worth every penny IMO.
@@SteveOGRock it does sound better, thanks
Honestly seeing and hearing so many people moan about the weather and mud has been worse than the reality of it.
While you're there you just get on with enjoying the music and people, and the conditions become of very little consequence unless you have mobility issues.
It was an awesome weekend, can't expect last year's perfect weather every time.
My friends caught Heilung and I wish I’d seen them now but apparently they were amazing
Bowling for Soup/Sum 41/Limp Bizkit was a fantastic end to the festival.
I watched about 20 mins of Avenged but they really didn't grab me (even though I like a lot of their material).
I did rip too. Surprised they didn't look after the guest area and the walk to the guest area a bit better especially with the weather forecast.
Yeah they threw down some wood chips on the path but like… that was about it lol.
Yeah you missed brownload in 2012. Before they put all the dranage paths and trackway in blue behind the village was an ankle breaker.
2012 was worse but sabbath we’re playing so it’s totally even 🎉🎉
how you know it was worse?
@@Rose_19911 quite possibly by attending both events?
I attended in 2012 and it was grim. In fact, had we not been booked into a hotel, we wouldn't have stayed! 😂😂😂
25:47 ,
Code Orange and spite are two bands that I’ve noticed have great. Stage presents definitely the rock ‘n’ roll attitude to how they do music and stuff, but I think they get a little too caught up in their own personalities sometimes. , at the same time I am a punk guy I appreciate seeing around and shit like that. Fuck that. Guitar
Hahahaha excellent so glad it rained.
I’d like to see what you think of night verses new stuff if you like polyphia. I’m not a big instrumental guy but night verses has some really hard hitting material.
Night Verses is decent for sure. But I really crave for them to have vocals 😅 I checked out part 1 of their new album releases (it’s on my channels somewhere).
It was nice meeting you in the Guest Area before Fall Out Boy :)
You too! So impressed that you managed to find a group of Downloaders to hang with via Facebook 👏🏻 RIP absolutely paid for itself this year with the ability to grab seats on picnic benches instead of mud huh 😅
Not gonna lie, I've always wanted to go to a big music festival like this (live in New Zealand so we get jack sh*t over here) but this straight up turned me off entirely. That sounded like a miserable experience tbh haha. Love the optimism amongst all that though.
Bambie was epic, and by far the best of the day
I was gutted I couldn't go this year but after seeing everything that happened im kinda glad I didn't go! 😅already got my ticket sorted for next year though!
Haha yeah you dodged a bullet there 😅
I also have my ticket for next year 🤘🏻
For me Machine Head stole the weekend with a brilliant set.
Had to queue for over 3 and a half hours to get into the arena on Sunday already had wristband needs sorting out shouldn’t have missed bands when you get there early!!
Most weren't there for Wheatus, they were there for Busted afterwards
We call them 'Wheelie bins'
2012 by far the worst year fir mud in my opinion. unfortunately you cant control the weather. however i agree on the toilet situation, defiantly need a better plan. taking my two boys next year both 9 & 7 (first timers) can't wait!
Was the same in 2012... Brownload. Nothing can really be done after all it's a field.
I made the correct decision in missing my first download since 2008 and was baking in the heat in Austria seeing more or less the exact same bands. So much better organised, no long walks, nice toilets that flush and sinks to wash your hands. And far better headliners!! I had such a good time I already have my ticket for next year. And it was only 199 euros. Makes me wonder where download spend all there money because for half the price you get better organisation and better bands 🤷🏻♀️ it has ruined download for me hahaha.
Think you saw 3 bands the same as me which is WHY Download is so good
🤘🏻
Believe me . Wet Glastonbury is worse. 5 days and soooo much walking. Such a big site
Did the exact same as you, once Limp Bizkit was done - my body was screaming for some rest lmao
🫂
5:01😂😂😂
🤯😂
Wargasm we’re good
Believe it or not. Wood chip is free as it’s a forestry waste product. The straw (not hay) is actually the opposite, isn’t free as it’s used for bedding for animals 🤷♂️ So yeah, could have used more wood chip
Oh wow, I did not know that!
I was exactly the same, hoped for the used and erra but just didn't have it in me. That mud really did a number on everyone
🫂 so nice to hear I wasn’t alone in that one. It really pained me to miss them but I just couldn’t face the pain 😅
i loved the mud it was just fun, next year if its muddy im bringing crocs
Madness 😂
Nowhere to sit , just sit in the muck , it’s part of festival going . It is horrid but really not the end of the world