Download
Friday
Arrive. Discover traffic is directed to a car park nowhere near the campsite. Decide to load ourselves up to do it in one run. Very heavy. Takes well over 2 hours to walk from car to camp site, during which time the bag holding the tent canvas splits and makes it all more difficult. Heels now bleeding. Rescued by assistance of husband and Rich. Pitch tent. Discover it's a 40 minute walk from tent to arena. Miss Sweet Savage, Duff McKagan and most of Black Stone Cherry (we arrived at about 11.30 and despite not taking any breaks for beer or food, we didn't get into the arena until about 4pm simply due to the massive distances involved).
Black Stone Cherry sound quite good as we're walking in, but we couldn't get close enough to see much, so they were a bit of a write off. Would like to see them in a smaller venue. Wandered over to see The Damned Things, who were quite good. Was located by my old mate Anders, who I haven't had a chance to catch up with properly in about 20 years. Good to see him. Liked Children of Bodom a lot, despite them failing to produce an lovely cafetiere for me (yes, I know). Pottered over to see FM. Not very good. Ejected at speed when the cheese factor exceeded my tolerance. Only got the piss taken by the guys a little bit. Met up with John's friend Dave. Very hyper. Hid in the Zippo tent for ages - can't remember why. Might have been cold in my miniskirt. Lots of male attention on Friday actually; good for the ego.
Went to see Danzig. Had been looking forward to them, but the sound on the third stage was pretty bad, so they were disappointing. The others wandered off to watch something else. I nearly got in a fight with a big bloke, but luckily he backed down after some shouting and shoving. Danced a bit. Wandered out to see the end of Def Leppard's set. Danced a lot, as I turned up at just the right time for them to play a long list of their better songs. Felt like 1987 again, but with hurtier feet.
Limped back to camp site, exhausted. Argued with John. Went to bed. Discovered tent was about 80 yards from fence at end of runway for East Midlands airport, and that said runway seems very busy in the small hours of the morning. Lay there shivering and being annoyed at aeroplanes for a while. Eventually fell asleep some time after dawn.
Saturday
Woke up feeling pretty horrid. Discovered huge hole in the back of right foot. Tried to patch it up, but plasters not really big enough. John went on a mission of mercy to retreive my spare boots from the car. Decided to stay in bed with a book rather than limp down to the arena. Rather enjoyed that actually, so much so that I was a bit late to see Dan Reed (who started at 2.50pm). Went down the front. He was dead good, actually. Far better than I expected. He did an acoustic cover of "Holy Diver" which was nothing short of brilliant. It's probably blasphemy, but I think I prefer it to the original. All good.
Joined by John and Rich, who had been off seeing Maiden United. I would have liked to see them too, but for the clash with Dan Reed. They brought beer, and we positioned ourselves up front for Clutch. They were really, really good. Sounded like they were playing through a swamp. Lots of dancing as softer boots today. Band of the weekend. Yay!
Went for beer and food. Wandered back for Mr Big, who I enjoyed, even if others felt them too commercial. And they didn't play "Alive And Kicking", which annoyed me. Hmmm. Billy Sheehan amazing though. Wandered about for a bit thereafter, not really sure what we saw. Met up with Wolf, but couldn't settle to much. Went on brilliant fairground ride which whooshed and whirled us about. Yay. Wandered over to see Cheap Trick. Lasted less than a song as they really were appalling. Aging singer in white captain's uniform looked very silly. Tried Avenged Sevenfold, but they were lacking in anything inspirational, so wandered over to the Pepsi tent to check out The King Blues. Brilliant. Not blues at all, but more like a modern version of The Clash. Skanked a bit outside the tent. One of the best bands of the weekend - what a great surprise.
Others wandered off to see System of a Down. Ick. I looked at some stalls, acquired myself some salmon and a cup of tea (the beer was pretty dreadful) and settled to Alice Cooper. Better than when I saw him last. Quite good actually. I like ticker tape and mirrored jackets. When he finished I went up to see System of a Down as I had nothing better to do and I thought I'd give them a chance. Really don't like them. Seemed like a good performance, but I was terribly bored. Not my thing at all. Met up with the guys at the Calzone stall, then started the long limping hike back to the campsite village area. Needed a cup of tea by the time we got there. Met up with Wolf. Spent half hour or so retrieving jumper and bootflask of armagnac from tent, then wandered slowly about campsite entertainment area unable to get into entertainment tents and unwilling to spent huge amounts on fairground rides. Most stalls now closed. Bit dull. Wolf and John both went off to bed. Rich and I went on the House of Fun thingy. Gave girl a swig from my flask as per her request for "something alcoholic". Her eyebrows shot up and she complained that it was ridiculously strong - was she expecting alcopops? Her boyfriend looked embarrassed, and not quite as amused as we were. Kids today! *tuts* Went for more tea - how rock n roll. Watched dawn. Very lovely. Went to bed. Shivered a lot.
Sunday
Raining. Lots. Decided that as beer too poor to drink and tent too cold to sleep in, may as well pack up this morning. Decided head to foot leather much better idea than waterproofs. Feeling vain but smug. Did first load to car (not all at once after Friday). Boots soaked, so swapped into New Rocks. Much screaming due to skinned heels. Limping about thereafter at much reduced pace, eventually causing leg muscles to seize up. Sent John and Rich off to see Bowling For Soup whilst I dropped the wet tent and took another load to the car.
Just about made it to the arena for the start of The Pretty Reckless at 3.10pm. Liked them - music great, singer gorgeous (rock n roll Britney!), between song banter - terrible. Would have liked to see them all, but only watched half due to clash with Gwar. Yay! Gwar! If you don't know, look it up - monsters and robots and spraying fake blood. Very silly.
By this time feeling less happy about the vanity as am soaked to the skin and very very cold. Miss Turisas (who sounded very good) as off looking for something more suited to the climate. End up drier, but not really warm enough and totally lacking in sartorial elegance. Hobble down the front for Buckcherry.
Buckcherry excellent, but unable to dance due to weather, clothing, broken feet, seized legs etc etc. All Bernie's fault. Grumble grumble. John jets off to watch Disturbed, whilst Rich waits for me to limp and hobble. Coming to conclusion that I can't really move and we're all far too cold and wet. Thinking that we should get off site for a couple of hours to warm up. John appears - has given up on seeing Disturbed as too many umbrellas in the way and is too cold and wet to enjoy them. Decide to head back to car to warm up - the guys to go via the camp site to get the rest of the stuff. Takes AGES due to walking distances involved, so no time to get off site and warm up then get back for headline bands. Think "sod it" and decide to just drive home instead. Disappointed to miss Rob Zombie, The Cult and Linkin Park, but pleased to be warmer again.
No way am I camping at Download again. Not after this weekend. In fact they'll be lucky if they get my custom at all. It was simply the most appalling festival I've ever been to, and was ruined by the layout - if things had been closer together we'd have seen more bands, had more fun and my feet and legs wouldn't have ended up so trashed that I still couldn't walk properly on Monday, and still can't wear ordinary shoes, even now. And I expect we'd have spent some money at the bar if it had sold something nicer.
But Clutch, Buckcherry, The King Blues and many others were dead good anyway.
Arrive. Discover traffic is directed to a car park nowhere near the campsite. Decide to load ourselves up to do it in one run. Very heavy. Takes well over 2 hours to walk from car to camp site, during which time the bag holding the tent canvas splits and makes it all more difficult. Heels now bleeding. Rescued by assistance of husband and Rich. Pitch tent. Discover it's a 40 minute walk from tent to arena. Miss Sweet Savage, Duff McKagan and most of Black Stone Cherry (we arrived at about 11.30 and despite not taking any breaks for beer or food, we didn't get into the arena until about 4pm simply due to the massive distances involved).
Black Stone Cherry sound quite good as we're walking in, but we couldn't get close enough to see much, so they were a bit of a write off. Would like to see them in a smaller venue. Wandered over to see The Damned Things, who were quite good. Was located by my old mate Anders, who I haven't had a chance to catch up with properly in about 20 years. Good to see him. Liked Children of Bodom a lot, despite them failing to produce an lovely cafetiere for me (yes, I know). Pottered over to see FM. Not very good. Ejected at speed when the cheese factor exceeded my tolerance. Only got the piss taken by the guys a little bit. Met up with John's friend Dave. Very hyper. Hid in the Zippo tent for ages - can't remember why. Might have been cold in my miniskirt. Lots of male attention on Friday actually; good for the ego.
Went to see Danzig. Had been looking forward to them, but the sound on the third stage was pretty bad, so they were disappointing. The others wandered off to watch something else. I nearly got in a fight with a big bloke, but luckily he backed down after some shouting and shoving. Danced a bit. Wandered out to see the end of Def Leppard's set. Danced a lot, as I turned up at just the right time for them to play a long list of their better songs. Felt like 1987 again, but with hurtier feet.
Limped back to camp site, exhausted. Argued with John. Went to bed. Discovered tent was about 80 yards from fence at end of runway for East Midlands airport, and that said runway seems very busy in the small hours of the morning. Lay there shivering and being annoyed at aeroplanes for a while. Eventually fell asleep some time after dawn.
Saturday
Woke up feeling pretty horrid. Discovered huge hole in the back of right foot. Tried to patch it up, but plasters not really big enough. John went on a mission of mercy to retreive my spare boots from the car. Decided to stay in bed with a book rather than limp down to the arena. Rather enjoyed that actually, so much so that I was a bit late to see Dan Reed (who started at 2.50pm). Went down the front. He was dead good, actually. Far better than I expected. He did an acoustic cover of "Holy Diver" which was nothing short of brilliant. It's probably blasphemy, but I think I prefer it to the original. All good.
Joined by John and Rich, who had been off seeing Maiden United. I would have liked to see them too, but for the clash with Dan Reed. They brought beer, and we positioned ourselves up front for Clutch. They were really, really good. Sounded like they were playing through a swamp. Lots of dancing as softer boots today. Band of the weekend. Yay!
Went for beer and food. Wandered back for Mr Big, who I enjoyed, even if others felt them too commercial. And they didn't play "Alive And Kicking", which annoyed me. Hmmm. Billy Sheehan amazing though. Wandered about for a bit thereafter, not really sure what we saw. Met up with Wolf, but couldn't settle to much. Went on brilliant fairground ride which whooshed and whirled us about. Yay. Wandered over to see Cheap Trick. Lasted less than a song as they really were appalling. Aging singer in white captain's uniform looked very silly. Tried Avenged Sevenfold, but they were lacking in anything inspirational, so wandered over to the Pepsi tent to check out The King Blues. Brilliant. Not blues at all, but more like a modern version of The Clash. Skanked a bit outside the tent. One of the best bands of the weekend - what a great surprise.
Others wandered off to see System of a Down. Ick. I looked at some stalls, acquired myself some salmon and a cup of tea (the beer was pretty dreadful) and settled to Alice Cooper. Better than when I saw him last. Quite good actually. I like ticker tape and mirrored jackets. When he finished I went up to see System of a Down as I had nothing better to do and I thought I'd give them a chance. Really don't like them. Seemed like a good performance, but I was terribly bored. Not my thing at all. Met up with the guys at the Calzone stall, then started the long limping hike back to the campsite village area. Needed a cup of tea by the time we got there. Met up with Wolf. Spent half hour or so retrieving jumper and bootflask of armagnac from tent, then wandered slowly about campsite entertainment area unable to get into entertainment tents and unwilling to spent huge amounts on fairground rides. Most stalls now closed. Bit dull. Wolf and John both went off to bed. Rich and I went on the House of Fun thingy. Gave girl a swig from my flask as per her request for "something alcoholic". Her eyebrows shot up and she complained that it was ridiculously strong - was she expecting alcopops? Her boyfriend looked embarrassed, and not quite as amused as we were. Kids today! *tuts* Went for more tea - how rock n roll. Watched dawn. Very lovely. Went to bed. Shivered a lot.
Sunday
Raining. Lots. Decided that as beer too poor to drink and tent too cold to sleep in, may as well pack up this morning. Decided head to foot leather much better idea than waterproofs. Feeling vain but smug. Did first load to car (not all at once after Friday). Boots soaked, so swapped into New Rocks. Much screaming due to skinned heels. Limping about thereafter at much reduced pace, eventually causing leg muscles to seize up. Sent John and Rich off to see Bowling For Soup whilst I dropped the wet tent and took another load to the car.
Just about made it to the arena for the start of The Pretty Reckless at 3.10pm. Liked them - music great, singer gorgeous (rock n roll Britney!), between song banter - terrible. Would have liked to see them all, but only watched half due to clash with Gwar. Yay! Gwar! If you don't know, look it up - monsters and robots and spraying fake blood. Very silly.
By this time feeling less happy about the vanity as am soaked to the skin and very very cold. Miss Turisas (who sounded very good) as off looking for something more suited to the climate. End up drier, but not really warm enough and totally lacking in sartorial elegance. Hobble down the front for Buckcherry.
Buckcherry excellent, but unable to dance due to weather, clothing, broken feet, seized legs etc etc. All Bernie's fault. Grumble grumble. John jets off to watch Disturbed, whilst Rich waits for me to limp and hobble. Coming to conclusion that I can't really move and we're all far too cold and wet. Thinking that we should get off site for a couple of hours to warm up. John appears - has given up on seeing Disturbed as too many umbrellas in the way and is too cold and wet to enjoy them. Decide to head back to car to warm up - the guys to go via the camp site to get the rest of the stuff. Takes AGES due to walking distances involved, so no time to get off site and warm up then get back for headline bands. Think "sod it" and decide to just drive home instead. Disappointed to miss Rob Zombie, The Cult and Linkin Park, but pleased to be warmer again.
No way am I camping at Download again. Not after this weekend. In fact they'll be lucky if they get my custom at all. It was simply the most appalling festival I've ever been to, and was ruined by the layout - if things had been closer together we'd have seen more bands, had more fun and my feet and legs wouldn't have ended up so trashed that I still couldn't walk properly on Monday, and still can't wear ordinary shoes, even now. And I expect we'd have spent some money at the bar if it had sold something nicer.
But Clutch, Buckcherry, The King Blues and many others were dead good anyway.