Download Festival 2011 Preview by Tobester & The G.
by
Tobester & Gina
- added
09/06/2011
Day three, Sunday, promises to be the most varied of the weekend…from the old school NWOBHM (dragged through the time machine intact) Jameson Raid, nu-metal gods Linkin Park, down and dirty hard rockers Buckcherry to melodic hardcore Disturbed.
And just in time to make our planning easier (which this year has become almost obsessional in its detail) there’s the Download 2011 app for both Android and iPhone. Only released Wednesday, it lets you highlight the bands you want to see from the entire roster – with stage and time for each band – building your schedule as you go. The app will even alert you just before the band is due on.
They say that the data will be updated during the weekend – so you’ll know if bands are running late, but we’ll see – that will depend on someone at DL HQ doing their bit and our smartphones getting a decent data connection!!
Anyhow, enough of the advert for their app!
It’s a Picnic – Early Afternoon Day 2, Download Festival 2009
First on our (HTC phone!) schedule is the aforementioned Jameson Raid on 3rd stage. They had their heyday in 1979, including a support slot (with Magnum) for Def Leppard – Fridays headliners – before fading away with endless line-up changes and original bassist John Ace even joining Slade in 1993.
There’s a bit of a gap before we get to see an acoustic set from Voodoo Johnson, so we’ll take a flyer on one of Belligerence, Yashin or Biohazard.
Voodoo Johnson are in the process of getting new material together following the recruitment of new singer Nik Taylor-Stoakes, and if their support gig for Europe in February was anything to go by, it’s gonna be cracking stuff.
It’s then a mad panic run-around to make sure we get to the 2nd stage for Karma to Burn. I really can’t wait to see these guys – as they are the same band as Year Long Disaster (but without vocalist Daniel Davies) who opened last years Download for us. I can’t get enough of their new album ‘V’, which builds brilliantly from 1999s Wild Wonderful Purgatory.
It’s a Year Long Disaster – Somebody’s Gassed the Drummer - Download Festival 2011
We’ve then a choice between Heavens Basement close-up on acoustic, and Bowling for Soup at a distance on main…which we go for will probably depend on the weather, who’s running late, how hungry we are, and the alignment of the stars.
Although only an acoustic appearance, I’ve wanted to see Slaves to Gravity for a while. Cracking songs such as ‘Heaven a Lie’ and ‘Mr. Regulator’ have been constants in my playlist for months and months. How their heavy material will translate to an unplugged set I’m not sure – but it will be fun finding out…
Starseed perform on the Pepsi Max stage, for their second Download in a row, but this time … plugged in. On first listen they go into the grungy Stone Temple Pilots clone box, but they deserve more than that due to strong songwriting…see ‘Shine’ and ‘Stand Beside Me – Everyday’ from 2009s album Peace Machine.
Starseed Guitarist is Distracted by a Passing Crowd – Download 2010
Next up on 3rd Stage is T-34 – and if you didn’t already know, this is funny man Al ‘pub landlord’ Murray’s band. Other than they are named after a Soviet-era Russian tank, Al is their drummer, and they do rock covers, I know nothing else about this band. But hey, it’s Al Murray so what the heck.
It’s then another quick dash around to the second stage for Buckcherry – yay at last!! We had to miss them in 2009, as we decided to camp out on main stage, so it’s about time we heard ‘Crazy Bitch’ in all it’s live raw glory.
Now we are getting to the business end of the final day at Download 2011. We should manage to sneak a look at some of Disturbed on main, unless we decide to stick on 2nd Stage and see the Avenged Sevenfold stylee Black Veil Brides.
It looks like we will give Bullet for my Valentine a miss, which is a bit of a shame, but goth-hard-rockers The Cult play on 2nd Stage and let’s face it, ‘She Sells Sanctuary’, ‘Fire Woman’ and ‘Love Removal Machine’ cannot be missed!
‘Are you sure this is Camp Bestival Mummy?!’ – No Justin Fletcher, Download Festival 2010
And then it’s the big finish – the culmination of what, hopefully, will be a stonking long weekend. Linkin Park headline the main stage on Sunday, bringing with them a reputation for great live shows.
I wasn’t that into the new album ‘A Thousand Suns’ at first, but the singles ‘The Catalyst’ and ‘Waiting for the End’ are growers and of course there’s a massive back catalogue of hits - ‘In The End’ and ‘What I’ve Done’ being major highlights.
Linkin’ were one of the biggest metal bands on the planet in the noughties, so the crowd will be buzzing, bringing a fitting end to proceedings for another year. It will only be another 5 months until tickets are bought again, and the rumours fly for the first bookings for 2012…Van Halen, Iron Maiden and Soundgarden anyone?
The Sun Sets on Download Festival – Castle Donington - 2009
Check back next week for the reviews...find out what actually happened at Download 2011...Only at Rockpulse!
Words and Not-so-Funny Captions – © Tobester 2011-06-09
All Photos © Gina Tudor 2009,2010,2011
For Rockpulse
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