Saturday 21 July 2012

Download Festival - Sunday - August Burns Red, Black Label Society, Lamb of God, Megadeth, Soundgarden.


Finally a day with some sun! No longer do we have sit in puddles and sink beyond our wellys! Let the music begin :)

AUGUST BURNS RED

August Burns Red do a fine job at waking up Download’s sleepy faces; a slightly lethargic start to a set with some passive nodding from the crowd is soon smashed to pieces with August Burns Red’s powerful break downs kicking us all in the teeth. The ever growing crowd are drawn in by the huge volumes this band creates and with Jake Luhrs constantly thanking the audience for their attendance; the crowd make this a very pleasing set.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY

On to the big guns! Black Label Society brings the start of what promises to be a historical evening of Download goodness.
Hmm...Wylde, obviously an absolute legend, but, in all honesty seeming a little uninterested in his main stage appearance. I suppose the length of a daytime set never really lends itself to the huge bands with years of albums to chose from, especially when they use a large proportion of it for a fairly mediocre guitar solo.
Don’t get me wrong, BLS’s songs couldn’t have a bad word said against them, all brilliantly performed and got the crowd really pumped. It just felt like the boys never really let go, no real personality came through and they were easily forgotten once they left the stage. A real shame as it was band I was very excited to see.

LAMB OF GOD

A huge buzz fills the main stage as we await Lamb of God. The anticipation is apparent; the keen Download’ers creating a circle pit before the band even takes to the stage, showing the love this crowd have for one of the top heavy metal bands.
‘Desolation’ begins Lamb of God’s set and the circle pits grow and grow. “Brutal” doesn’t even begin to explain it; Lamb of God tears the crowd to pieces with their sheer power and brute force. Songs from all eras of the bands career keep fans new and old very happy and the bone smashing ‘Laid to Rest’ along with ‘Redneck’ ensure absolute butchery in the pits. The set closes with ‘Black Label’ sealing the deal that Lamb of God are untouchable when it comes to crowd battering metal.


MEGADETH

A slightly more weathered looking than usual Megadeth hit the stage with their never failing top flight sound. As tight as tight can be MegaDave and crew sound perfect doing exactly what is expected of them; mixing the newness of ‘Public enemy No.1’ with many classics including ‘Hanger 18’ making for an amazing set and a welcome vocal cord warm up for hugeness we have to follow.

SOUNDGARDEN

Over 15 years we have waited for this musical giant to grace our British shores and what an event they have chosen to make it happen! Vocalist Chris Cornell 'greets' the crowd with a walk around the stage, judging his surroundings and taking in the enormous number of eager fans.
Cornell’s voice is nothing but perfect, incredible power and prowess hold each of the bands brilliant songs with style all backed by the bands instrumental master class.
Soundgarden have huge flexibility which has been shown through their many years of class albums, and we got to see it all. From the revelation of Grunge with songs like ‘The Day I Tried To Live’ to the more modern rockier stuff of ‘Outshined’ and ‘Jesus Christ Pose’ the band play hit after hit keeping the whole crowd entranced. ‘Rusty Cage’ and ‘Black Hole Sun’ being possibly the bands most well known songs went down an absolute storm, with the hundred thousand strong crowd all singing along.

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