and it’s bigger than ever!
10th – 12th June 2022 – Donington Park
I have finally fully recovered from one of the best weekends I have had in my photography/gig career to date – Download Festival on a Press Pass for RockZoneUK! I was so grateful for this opportunity and very excited!
I left early Friday morning to arrive at the festival and checked in to receive my accreditation. After finding the press tent, getting familiar with surroundings, and meeting Benji from Skindred, I was ready to get shooting. Now there was a hell of a lot of amazing bands lined up as expected, and too many to see all of them unfortunately. I had an arena pass, so it was a bit more challenging to grab a perfect photo, but I like a challenge.
First on my agenda for Friday, Day 1 were Bury Tomorrow. Having checked them out prior to the festival, I wanted to catch these. I enjoyed their set, good heavy vibes here and lot of pyro flames going off! Next I was not missing one of my faves – Skindred who nailed it on the Main Stage, and they had a great interaction with the crowd, always do. I want to give a shout out to the girl I got chatting to and together we squeezed through the crowd to get near front, and to the guy who offered to put me on his shoulders to get a better shot. I politely turned him down as I was scared I would flatten him haha.
Off I went to 2nd stage for Airbourne, another of my faves. Joel and the guys laying on bags of Aussie banter in their high energy set, with Joel doing his legendary beer can busting on his head in the middle of the crowd. I hung around after that set for Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, another lively one, and some crowd walking from Frank made this another highlight.
I left to go get set up for KISS, this was going to be huge as it was their last UK gig. They descend onto the stage on separate platforms, along with loads of pyro already! What a huge performance from them involving lots of bangs, firework explosions and Gene’s tongue gestures! You would not think the age of these guys, that was a brilliant and memorable headliner and great closure to day 1.
Day 2 – I was up and at em on site for 11am as the band I wanted to see was on first on 2nd stage – Dirty Honey. Their set was brilliant as expected and really won over the crowd at their debut UK show! I will be catching them supporting Rival Sons on their UK tour soon. I got a quick chat and photo with them later, fan girl moment! 😊 Next on the same stage was Cassyette, who was on my agenda, so stuck around at the front for her fab set, what a voice and a great crowd, who she had in the palm of her hand. Again, great chatting to hard core fans down the front.
Here are the Canadian rockers – Monster Truck over on main stage opening with “Don’t Tell Me How To Live” this is a banger! Few of their new tracks thrown in, and you have yourself a smashed set! Following them Black Label Society, to see the legend Zakk Wylde just ripping it up on that guitar with epic solos was awesome. Another shout out to the young girl from Lancaster who I got chatting to as I tried to find a good position. The crowds were all brilliant with me getting past them all, respect to them for putting up with me tripping over them and standing on their feet.
I have to mention the cocktail bar and dj just near the guest area. What a fabulous set up this was, and great idea. Each time I walked past it was like I was somewhere else, a cheesy nightclub or bar with your favourite guilty pleasure songs on. I walked past at one point and Dancing Queen was blasting out, and there was a pit of people formed dancing in a circle, well I just had to join in. What a lot of fun that was! Another time I walked past Neil Diamond was playing, and loads of other songs. People wearing metal shirts and tattoos, were there dancing. What a great atmosphere this festival has!
Quick food and drink and it was time for Shinedown, my first time seeing these, and they were brilliant. Vocals spot on from Brent. I had a bit of an epic fail with images from these, the crowd were too mad and I struggled to get inbetween them. Stop having fun! Haha. I hot footed over to stage 2 for Megadeth, bit of nostalgia here as I used to listen to these back in the 90’s. A great show from Mr Mustaine and crew. Then time for the mighty headliners Iron Maiden. I struggled to find a good position as it was so busy and crammed down at the main stage so didn’t get many photos. I have seen them before, and always put on a good show, bringing out the plane on stage, the real Spitfire going overhead, and Eddie making an appearance. Bruce belted out their songs, the whole band smashed it to a loud crowd reception, another fantastic rap up to Day 2.
Day 3 and I am not sure how I am still walking, adrenaline mainly I think! This day’s line up started with an early morning with Wargasm. I have heard good things about these, and they didn’t disappoint. An energetic Milkie led the 3-piece, delivering their set and was hard to keep up with my camera. “We’re Wargasm who the f*ck are you” was the shout out. With tracks including “Backyard Bastards” and “Fukstar” you know you’re in for a treat. Another shout to the fan originally from America who let me squeeze in next to them to shoot. I stuck with the main stage for the morning and caught the German power metal band Powerwolf, donned in full make up, they looked and sounded fab. Then the Scottish pirate themed rock band Alestorm bounced on stage with their huge rubber yellow duck in tow. This was a very tongue in cheek fun set, and they sure got a party going in the crowd. With favourite tracks “P.A.R.T.Y” & “F*cked with an Anchor” how can you not be having fun? Inflatable swords and random animals held up the air, and ending on the whole crowd sitting and pretending to row boats was just surreal to say the least.
I headed to the Dogtooth stage, in the tent for a couple of bands to mix it up. First was Anchor Lane who I wanted to see from listening to their music. As a newish band on the scene it was great to see the support in there, they brought an army with them! Brilliant energetic set from the guys, jumps and interaction from the crowd involved in this packed out set. Now for something different, I caught up with Bimini, a British drag queen act best known for their appearance on Ru Paul’s Drag Race. The tent was packed out for this set, as it was not a usual act to be seen on a Download bill, but the place erupted when Bimini stepped on stage, opening with a fitting track “God Save The Queen”. What a great set, and I am glad I caught this act, great to shoot as well as Bimini lapped up the attention.
As the sun still shone on Download, it was early evening and the final bands I caught included Danish Rock band Volbeat, as amazing as always. Blasting out heavy bangers and included couple of my faves “Bulletproof” and Johnny Cash’s “Sad Man Song” The Darkness burst onto the 2nd stage and delivered a brilliant show yet again, Justin in his pink Jogging suit and jumping around, Frankie and his cowbell made an appearance as well. Pyro’s a plenty, the crowd loved every minute and singing along. Another big highlight for me was Steel Panther who always are brilliant fun with their foul mouthed jokes and hand gestures. Some may cringe at their obscenities, but is all part of the show and is clear to see they still have a huge following. There were inflatable dolls, and willies flying around the air, the crowd were partying hard with the most entertaining parody band in rock, who just love to have a good time!
The weekend comes to a close with Biffy Clyro headlining main stage, and they do this in style. Simons amazing vocals and the roaring guitars fuel the non-stop set with fans singing along. The closing track “Many of Honour” was perfect as this is a popular one amongst fans, and the smiles from the band and fans says it all. With a mass of fireworks this saw the weekend rounded off in style and proved Download Festival is fully back!
Here’s a short gallery of some fans and their wacky outfits and just generally having a good time, because that’s what it’s all about right!
On my drive home, it gave me time to reflect on what was a fantastic weekend. I want to thank LD Communications for arranging my press pass and looking after us all in the press area, the wonderful staff at the event who could not do enough to help, the bands, fans and the organisers. I had blisters on blisters, aching tired body, but I didn’t care, I met some lovely people, had a brilliant time and looking forward to doing it all again. Anyone that is considering going, just do it, you will not regret it! See you in 2023.
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