This was to be my first ever time camping at Download (mainly because the weather was going to be conducive to it). As a result I loaded my car with the necessary camping gear and headed for the outskirts of Derby/Nottingham/Loughborough. The first thing I noticed was the traffic was much lighter than I expected. Arrivng at 10.20 to pitch my tent, I then headed for the arena – or so I thought!
I knew the walk from the car park was going to be uphill as I’ve done it previously. What I didn’t expect was to be sent on a wild goose chase by stewards of almost 30,000 steps to find the guest campsite. This entailed walking past the Ready to Rock site, down into the arena to the press area to be told that the guest campsite was back out of the arena behind the Ready to Rock campsite.
Consequently I eventually had my tent up and ended going back to the arena by 14.20, significantly more debilitated than I thought I’d be and unable to traverse the site as much as I had planned. I though I had packed light-though not light enough.
My day one at Download experience ended up with me missing many of the second stage acts and prioritizing the ones I really wanted to see from both stages. Unlike many of the protagonists my fluid intake consisted of large volumes of free water throughout the day supplemented by frequent ibuprofen.
So, who DID I actually get to see? Kris Barras was my first act. Having seen Kris many times over the past few years I knew what to expect, full on energy and a set full of songs that could be an anthem for any crowd to join in with. Superbly supported by Kelpie McKenzie on bass dancing around like Tigger on energy drinks and Josiah J Manning on second guitar with Billy McKenzie banging the rhythm section like Animal there was plenty of energy on show. Kicking off with ‘Hail Mary’ and rattling through ‘Dead Horses’ and others, ending up with ‘Who Needs Enemies?’ and ‘My Parade’, the large crowd loved it. You’d never have guessed this was Kris’ first ever attendance at Download, never mind his first set. I’m pretty sure after this it won’t be his last.
I wanted to see Black Veil Brides in between Kris Barras and Myles Kennedy but I only managed to see the latter thanks to my knackered body from the day’s earlier events. I didn’t mind though because I’ve been a long time fan of Myles and saw his ‘Ides of March’ gig in Bristol at the end of last year. You get class with Myles Kennedy irrespective of who he is performing with, and this set was just that. Given the things that are going on in the world starting off with ‘Get Along’, and poignantly going into ‘Wake Me When It’s Over’ and including an acoustic version of ‘All Ends Well’ (Alter Bridge) and ending up with ‘In Stride’, the set was enthusiastically received by the large crowd.
I managed to worm my way to the middle barrier by the sound tower for Skindred, and it was really worth the effort. Benji Webb is a unique frontman of the first order. His Newport accent is as thick as the River Usk that runs through the city and he had the crowd in the palm of his hands for the duration of the 60 minute set. Prowling from side to side of the stage in his scarlet leather waistcoat he constantly commented to the crowd. When he appeared to “play” the opening bars of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ on a toy keyboard the crowd went wild; however, rapidly switching to ‘Jump Around’ they knew they were being toyed with.
‘Kill The Power’, ‘Big Tings’ and ‘Nobody’ followed in quick succession with loads of “Benji Banter” between songs. Getting the crowd to squat before ‘Warning’ and the crescendo of the Newport helicopter being performed by a crowd of over 60,000 was a sight to behold. Everyone left the arena in a real feel good mood for whatever they were going to see after that. Unfortunately, the day’s labours were starting to tell (and it wasn’t the alcohol as I hadn’t had any at this point) so I had to give A Day to Remember a miss as I needed to sit down in the press area for a bit before regenerating for KISS.
Coming on to the stage (which was surrounded by large KISS “statues” they kicked off with ‘Detroit Rock City’, ‘Shout It Out Loud’ and ‘Deuce’. I am going to avoid criticism. They provided a complete “show” of their virtual career in the two hours, and given this was my first (and final) time seeing them I don’t feel I am in any position to compare previous performances. Using the stage risers to enter from the top of the stage and then to undertake this amount of performance I give credit where it is due. Admittedly there were areas that could have been better but as a spectacle it was amazing. Paul Stanley taking to a zipwire was a very brave thing. Culminating with a spectacular explosion of multiple confetti cannons and fireworks it was a suitable end to a career that has spanned almost 50 years.
After a fairly comfortable night’s sleep, Saturday dawned about 8.30 without a hangover but still a few aches and pains – no one ever said Download was easy!
Kicking off a about 45 minutes late The Raven Age were my first band of the day. Opening up with the day the world stood still the energy and power they brought soon had the crowd swelling. With ‘Conspiracy’ being my album of the year in 2019 it was good to see that the recent tour with Tremonti had left the band much tighter and more polished than when I saw them on their album launch tour. Matt Cox (bass) and the twin guitarists of Tommy Gentry and George Harris barely stood still and exerted plenty of effort to get the hungover crowd going. Jai Patel really kept things tight on the drums. A good set that was worth waiting for culminated with Fleur de Lis.
I was due to see Those Damn Crows but the late start meant I had a clash with an interview with Kris Barras, apparently I missed a very good set (shame).
The Canadian rockers Monster Truck kicked off with ‘Don’t Tell Me How To Live’, a real anthem of a track that always gets the crowds going. A varied set with three new songs (‘Live Free’, ‘Country Livin’ and ‘Gonna Get My Things And Go’) gave the crowd some classic banging rock tunes which I am hoping to cover in more depth on their tour with Those Damn Crows later in the year.
Another detour back to my tent meant the next band for me was Shinedown, for me the band of the day in 2018 when Brent Smith had the crowd bouncing. However the absence of a runway on the main stage meant it was difficult to engage the crowd the same way. Kicking things off with ‘The Saints of Violence’ and ‘Innuendo’ (from new album ‘Planet Zero’) Smith continually talked between songs trying to get the crowd going and it started to happen as ‘Devil’ and ‘Cut The Cord’ wound everyone up, (I think the latter is a real belter of a track).
With a headline tour coming up later this year and the new album, ‘Planet Zero’, out at the beginning of July, it was only fitting that this was the next track. Amaryllis is possibly my favourite album and I was happy that ‘Bully’, ‘Enemies’ and ‘Unity’ got an outing, especially with what has happened over the past few years. Nonetheless, I always enjoy Shinedown and have seen them on every tour since 2013 (ticket bought for Cardiff already!). Finishing up with ‘Diamond Eyes’ and ‘Sound of Madness’, they achieved the same effect they had in 2018.
Another break during Deftones meant I was ready to see Iron Maiden for the first time also.
With the set built like a Japanese pagoda, the band entered straight into ‘Senjutsu’ with a ten-foot tall Eddie dressed in Samurai gear for Bruce Dickinson (sporting a topknot) to fence with. If I thought Kiss put on a spectacular show, this was something else! After the first three tracks from ‘Senjutsu’ (‘Stratego’ and ‘The Writing On The Wall’ being the others) set changes to corroborate the music were quicker than Usain Bolt on RedBull! (Oi, stop stealing my puns – Ed).
Commentary about how much everyone has put up with during the past two years was also prevalent in between songs so the band set about making sure that the crowd were going to enjoy themselves.
If there was ever a question about vocal ability for some bands on the weekend they were not even thought about Mr Dickinson, (well apart from a near mix up with a flamethrower and microphone at one point during ‘Flight Of Icarus’).
‘Fear Of The Dark’ had Bruce wearing a bizarre mask and cloak but that didn’t detract from the delivery. All the classics were there: ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’, ‘Number Of The Beast’ and ‘Iron Maiden’ ended the main set before the encore of ‘The Trooper’ saw Eddie make another appearance as a red-coated soldier again to fight with Bruce. ‘The Clansman’ filled the gap between ‘Trooper’ and ‘Run To The Hills’ -breathless encore.
The lights went down and some may have thought this was the end but a tape of Churchill’s “fight them on the beaches” speech and the stage lit up to a damned Spitfire replica flying over the stage before ‘Aces High’ finally closed the set. That was the right way to end my first (but not last, I hope) Iron Maiden experience and Download 2022 for me.
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