GIGGING IN 2009 - JUNE

JUNE

12th – 14th - DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL
12th – MOTLEY CRUE/Opeth/Lacuna Coil/Staind/Steadlur/Killswitch Engage/In This Moment/Billy Talent
13th – ANVIL/13 Riots/Architects/Auger Bane/Black Spiders/Dragonforce/Fightstar/ Five Finger Death Punch/In Case OF Fire/ The Auteur/Thunder
14th - DEF LEPPARD/Clutch/Dream Theater/God Forbid/Journey/Million Dollar Reload/Steel Panther/Stone Gods/Tesla/Twin Atlantic
18th – CLUTCH/Bakerton Group/ASIWYFA – Cockpit, Leeds
22nd – DREDG/Tiger Please – Barfly, Cardiff
23rd – DREDG/Young Guns – 02 Academy, Islington
24th – PEOPLE IN PLANES/Toadies – Barfly, Liverpool

After the hectic end of May, June started with a 12 day break, though with the 3 day marathon that is DOWNLOAD looking at the end of it, that probably wasn’t a bad thing!
The week leading up to the festival saw the heavens open all day and all night. Two days before the gates opened, the organisers issued a statement warning everyone to bring wet weather gear as the site was waterlogged. Someone ‘Up There’ must have been watching as, with just a day to go before the first bands were due to hit the stages, the clouds cleared, the sun shone and the ground quickly dried. By the time we arrived the temperature was in the 70’s, the skies were cloudless and the ground bone dry – leaving a lot of people looking a little odd in their waterproofs and wellies!
Day one highlights- OPETH played a masterful 50 minute set to a crowd that was readying itself for MOTLEY CRUE who were FAR better than I was expecting, so good in fact I decided against going to catch Meshuggah’s headline slot on stage three!. BILLY TALENT surprised me with a really tight performance too. The only slight let down of the whole day was STAIND who’s style of music seemed totally at odds with the beautiful sunny day!
Day two highlights – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band be as happy to be playing a headline show as much as ANVIL. Considering they were up against Slipknot on the main stage and The Prodigy on the second one, they managed to pull enough people to pack the third stage tent. Cheesy as hell, but you just cannot help like Lips & co! Most of the best action I saw came in the third stage tent- ARCHITECTS drew a massive crowd and responded with a typically intense set. BLACK SPIDERS bluesy rock came as a nice change and they went down a storm. One of the two ‘surprise Guest’ slots was filled by retiring rockers THUNDER- a personal favourite of the festival organiser, they had been given an hour on the third stage in the early evening – it seemed like the entire Download crowd were trying to watch one of the band’s last ever performances. The band responded with a classy performance.
Dragonforce and 5 Finger Death Punch were my only visits to the mainstage all day and both played well, though the crowd didn’t really seem to warm to Dragonforce as much as their energetic performance deserved.
Day three highlights – The day dawned without a cloud in the sky for the third day running meaning the only problem today was deciding which of the thirty bands I wanted to see I would actually get to. TESLA played a quite splendid set but the mid afternoon 1-2 punch of JOURNEY and then DREAM THEATER was just magical- the guy stood next to me during Journey was in tears (I checked afterwards, they were tears of joy!!). GOD FORBID and CLUTCH rocked the second stage but the biggest reaction all weekend came over on the third stage for STEEL PANTHER- if the crowd was huge for Thunder yesterday, you could double the amount of people who couldn’t get anywhere near the tent! Luckily I’d got myself a good spot and they really were great entertainment. As the sun set, DEF LEPPARD hit the main stage to close the festival. It had been 20 years since I’d seen them live and what a show they put on – great visuals and the sound guy really got the best out of the PA too.
This has to be the greatest three days of music I’ve ever witnessed- everything- from the weather through the new, improved Donington layout to the bands was just perfect – the only downside was that there were so many times I wanted to split myself into two (Even three) to see everyone I wanted to see. We left the site sunburnt, tired but happy- and 20 miles down the road..it started raining…talk about perfect timing!!
A few days to recharge the batteries before heading over to Leeds to get my first full headline set from CLUTCH –I’d struggled to ‘get’ them in the past from their recordings, but a truly great live band and seeing them has helped me ‘get’ their recorded work more. Of course, my new favourites and touring-addicts ASIWYFA were on hand to win over another new audience- going off the amount of CD’s they sold after their set, they certainly did that.
Now then.. I don’t know about you, but I’ve long had a list of bands that were ‘Must Sees’ before I shuffle off this mortal coil..I’ve ticked plenty of them off over the years, but one that had always eluded me was DREDG. Their last visit here was 7/7/2005 for a gig in London… the day of the London Tube/Bus bombings which obviously led to the cancellation of that show. When two shows were announced for consecutive nights- one in Cardiff, the other in London-I just had to make the effort. In Cardiff, the venue was the tiny Barfly. Despite a ton of technical problems throughout the show –including a power cut which caused the show to end a song and a half early- it was a very enjoyable show, but I left happy in the knowledge that I was going to get the chance to see them in a bigger/better venue the night after. The stage at the 02 Academy was about the same size as the venue from the previous night, allowing the band to spread their wings (even allowing for the ‘Stamp Of Origin’ backdrops to be raised). The turnout was phenomenal – and the band treated us to THE perfect evening. Sound was incredible, the technical problems of the previous night were a distant memory – remember the guy stood next to me at Download for Journey? I was VERY close to doing what he did there! Six months on, just remembering it as I type this, the memories come flooding back.
On the way home, as we had missed them at Download, we decided to stop off in Liverpool to catch PEOPLE IN PLANES. I was dead on my feet but I must admit but they played a really good set despite the crowd being barely into double figures.

Right… can I PLEASE have a rest???