Welcome to Download Festival

Thu 16th Jun, 2011 in Features

About three hours north of London lies Donnington Park, a racing circuit set in the picturesque surrounds of Leicestershire. In addition to being a mecca for England’s revheads it is home to Download Festival, and has a long history of hosting events for those who like their music turned up to eleven. AC/DC, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Iron Maiden have all given the devil’s salute here over the years and this weekend past it was once again host to 80,000 metal heads, and four young lads from Melbourne.

As Welcome Wednesday’s tour bus – driven by a stocky, pulsating Frenchman who called himself V – wound its way, through green fields, rambling stone walls and church steeples, the excitable chatter of all onboard was muted when a black haze appeared on the horizon.

Nothing can quite prepare one for the sight of that many metal fans wandering around the kind of countryside usually featured in an episode of Heartbeat. Download is unlike any festival the boys from Welcome Wednesday have ever seen, let alone played, and the full weight of what was in store began to sink as soon as we entered this sea of black.

GETTING THE DOWNLOW

The space that all the music action takes place in at Download is surprisingly small. Given just how many punters attend the festival, I was expecting a Glasto like expanse of grass between the two main stags, however this was far from the case. It is comparable in size to the Sydney Big Day Out, however, the two main stages sit in separate areas rather than side by side.

While I am aware that Alice Cooper fans have a fondness for eyeliner and top hats, I had no idea just how many Download attendees had a penchant for fancy dress. Nearly every person I happened upon as I wandered around the site was sporting a devil mask, cape or ghoul-like face paint. Despite appearances, the crowd was also one of the friendliest and well behaved group of festival goers I have ever mingled with.

The good behaviour may have been in part to do with the range in ages attending this year’s Download. With vintage rockers like Cooper, Def Leppard and Thin Lizzy on the bill the presence of the over 40s crowd was felt. That said, they mixed good naturedly with the thousands of younger punters who had turned out to see The Darkness make their comeback, System Of A Down, Linken Park and a solid line-up of up-and-coming UK punk bands on the Red Bull Stage.