A fortnight ago, Download 2024 had reached its final day. LeftLion was there to witness an incredible climax to a weekend of rock and metal music at Donington Park...
Our coverage of Day One of the festival can be found here, and Day Two is here.
And somehow, it’s Sunday already, and the final day of the festival... Once again the traffic was a breeze and I headed onto site at 10:30 for the 11:00 start.
Unfortunately for me, the organisers had made the wise decision to delay opening the gates until 12:00 to allow extra time for steps to be taken to improve safety following the awful rains. Farmers tractors zigzagged across the site throwing tonnes of fresh straw down, in an attempt to soak up as much of the horrendous mud as possible. Maybe in some ways a short term relief but a good move, as fans finally rushed in to the site to grab their spaces at the barrier.
With the delays, my first band on Dogtooth was not until 2:15 so I got the chance to take in some of the opening set of the day from Lord Of The Lost on the main stage. I felt for them as they started to an empty arena, but the fans dashed forwards and not long into the set there was a healthy happy crowd at the barrier.
LOTL are a great band who seamlessly blend so many different elements into one joyous entity. There’s metalcore, heavy doses of goth, with a dash of industrial electronica, and a hearty sprinkle of glam, which results in a sonic and visual extravaganza. Chris Harms' vocals are stunning, delivering deep dark sections and soaring highs with equal ease. The set ends, as you’d expect with their 2023 Eurovision hit entry Blood and Glitter. And so far….. no rain !
As with yesterday, I start my time in the tent with some hearty metalcore to wake me up, courtesy of Until I Wake who deliver a chest pounding set, with some brutal riffs with a post-punk edge. Just as with yesterday, early morning yoga stretches were thrown out for surfing and circle pit exercise!
Dogtooth filled sharpish and the pit got real busy with photographers and reviewers for the arrival on stage of our next act, Harper. I have to admit to not knowing much if anything about Harper. Going viral on America’s Got Talent at the age of ten, her incredible roar has impressed judges and metalcore fans alike. Today, she becomes Download’s youngest-ever performer. A short set of original tracks and ending with a cover of Bring Me The Horizon’s Chelsea Smile.
It may be me, I may be an old and set in my ways, but – I just didn’t enjoy it. She is incredibly young, and maybe that’s it, its just too soon? Extreme vocals including guttural roars and throat singing are an art and incredibly hard to do both well and without causing long term damage. For me, it just didn’t hit the spot.
Next up are metalheads Split Chain who grew up on the Emo and Grunge scene, they deliver a class set which encompasses elements of Shoegaze (think Møl), Grunge and Nu-Metal. The guitars are immersed in chorus, whilst still delivering that gritty hardcore energy. The vocals are ethereal and distorted. Top stuff.
Taking advantage of the dry weather, I take a trip: across the site to Avalanche Stage and arrive in time for the set from Noisy. They were another great example of the change this year at Download, as the lads from Worthing deliver their brand of anthemic rock with a heavy electronica influence. With Cody Matthews on vocals pacing the stage, Spencer and Connor work the keyboards guitars and tech gear. It's very different, and mixes influences such as the Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy along with the likes of the Happy Mondays and The Streets. The music has a youthful energy and attitude to it. They deliver big hooks, bigger choruses and even bigger levels of energy.
Heading out into the afternoon sun….. yes actual sun, I managed to catch part of the Kerry King set on the Apex stage. The legendary guitarist from “SLAYERRRRRRR”, Kerry has launched a solo career and a self-titled debut album this year to rave reviews. As you’d expect this was thrash of the utmost brilliance.
The album's intro Diablo set the tone before they launched into Where I Reign the melodic riffs smashing the speakers as the sound launches across the arena at us. Paul Bostaph's drumming is brutal with some killer solos. Vocals are provided by another thrash legend, Mark Osegueda from DeathAngel. It may not be Slayer, but Kerry serves up a couple of favourites for the eager crowd with Black Magic and of course, the iconic Raining Blood. As with Walk from Pantera yesterday, the crowd went wild.
Realising the time, I rush back just in time for Pinkshift the US rockers from Baltimore. Led by Ashrita Kumar on vocals with Paul Vallejo (guitars) and Myron Houngbedji (drums) they’re another band with a wide range of influences from Nirvana to the Arctic Monkeys. The 90s grunge influence is clearly evident in their sound. Most enjoyable with a great stage presence.
I had seen Brighton three piece rockers Tigercub a couple of years ago (with Green Lung) supporting Clutch and found them really enjoyable. The set has several songs from their most recent 2023 album The Perfume of Decay. Show Me My Maker is a straight up alt-rock number with a massive central guitar riff with the bass playing along in unison, with the distorted bass taking a prominent role on the chorus sections. Play My Favourite Song has some fantastic screeching guitar leads snaking their way into the choruses and the set ends with the impressive title track The Perfume of Decay. Perhaps their most metal sound it starts with thick, distorted bass, which gives way to a seemingly never-ending electric guitar run straight out of some nightmarish, hellish fairground ride, snaking viciously around colossal drums. Once again they don’t disappoint!
Back out in the dry (!) and a quick trip round to the Opus stage to catch a bit of one of my favourite bands Elvana. They played Download last year and were a huge hit. If you’ve not come across Elvana before, they are an Elvis-fronted Nirvana fronted tribute band. That’s right, Elvis singing the grunge hits of the 90s ... You’d think it wouldn’t work, but somehow...it does, and very well too, and the crowd lap it up.
Each and every track is a classic, whether it be Nirvana’s anthems Lithium or Rape Me, or Elvis classics such as Since My Baby Left Me and Suspicious Minds and everyone sings along. Its crazy and yet somehow addictive, and they deliver some of the best mosh pits around.
Another change of sonic direction with California rockers Of Mice And Men and they open the set with one of my favourite tracks Obsolete from 2021’s Echo. There’s a great mix with O.G. Loko, which shows how intense Of Mice And Men can be, and the circle pits open up in the crowd before the set ends with an early track (from 2010) Second & Sebring, an anthemic banger that brings wave after wave of surfers over. As the track ends the crowd are singing along in full voice to Aaron's exceptionally clean and powerful throaty vocals.
Atreyu are a band you just can’t miss seeing at some point. Exceptionally talented musicians they deliver bucket-loads of energy and personality throughout their live performances. Brandon Saller on vocals has an enigmatic personality and Dan Jacobs on guitar is unmissable with his tennis sweat-headband. Drowning has a massive chorus and just as massive riffs, and this is just what Atreyu are all about. You could really see how much they were enjoying themselves. Brandon owns the stage interacting with the crowd easily.
My set highlight was Battle Drums with Brandon and Marc McKnight bouncing off each other nicely vocally. It’s a song made to be sung live.
The Avalanche tent is once again rammed despite the crazy good acts out on the other stages, as Hoobastank take to the stage. The US rockers are best known over here for their hit track The Reason, way back in 2004 (how ?!?!), which has racked up over a billion plays on Spotify!
They played a really engaging set and singer Doug Robb was clearly at ease with the audience taking every opportunity to talk to them.
We learnt Doug should be back home coaching his daughter's soccer team. The set was a run through their best known tracks with Same Direction, Out of Control, and Running Away, ending on Crawling Away.
Doug stopped at one point and asked the crowd to cheer his 13-year-old daughter up with a video message from dad and the crowd at Download! And of course, Doug told us next up is the heaviest song ever written... as the unmistakable single note piano intro from The Reason rang out. The crowd were dancing and singing along, and I have to say, even 20 years later, it’s just as magical now as ever. A really enjoyable set.
After the softer tones and enjoyable time with Hoobastank, my final band Counterparts, the Canadian melodic metalcore band from Hamilton, Ontario came screaming into my life. It was a sonic assault on our ears as they unleashed a ferociously emotional metal beast on the eager crowd. What's so good about Counterparts is they craft the setlist so well, giving us moments of respite, to catch our breath momentarily and appreciate some of the more intricate and complex elements of their music, before smashing us round the head with some delightfully fierce noise.
Vocalist Brendan Murphy is at the centre of the intensity, and he controls the stage with a presence that cannot be ignored. His guttural tones cut through the air, resonating deep within. The band are well oiled in what they do, and they execute every intricate guitar riff and crushing breakdown with precision. The circle pit is circling, the surfers are coming over in waves, and it’s unapologetically raw and intense.
I’m worn out. Three days at Download in thick heavy mud will do that to you. On the plus side, I haven’t slipped once and covered my camera gear in mud – I count that as a success.
Walking back across the site I stop at the Opus stage to catch one of my favourite bands headlining – Machinehead on the Opus stage. Robb Flynn is on fire and his gritty, gnarly vocals shake the very ground and the guitars offer up that iconic full intensity riff frenzy that Machinehead are so well known for. Locust is a belter, powerful and intricate catching your attention as the confetti cannons fill the air. As the set draws to a close we get their classic Davidian, one of the most iconic 90s metal tracks as the crowd join in with “let freedom ring with a shotgun blast”.
Talking to punters, reviewers and photographers, there were also killer sets across the Download site from the likes of Corey Taylor, Sum 41 and Limp Bizkit, who perhaps stole the show.
I trudge slowly back to the car. My boots twice the size they were first thing, with layer upon layer of thick dried mud. I reflected on my experiences at Download 2024. Beforehand, the festival opinion was divided on the roster, with ‘no big hitters’. For me, I thought the organisers did a brilliant job this year. The selection of bands in general, and in particular the headliners, meant there was something for everyone, whatever kind of rock / metal you liked:
There were the fun, enjoyable acts like Elvana, the more Pop-Rock content from Busted and Wheatus, and some of the best Industrial Metal around from Fear Factory and Machinehead. Pure unadulterated Rock from Queens Of The Stoneage, Punk Rock from Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, Thrash from Kerry King, Doom from Urne, Alt-Rock from ALT BLK ERA, intricate and beautiful Prog-Rock from Polyphia and Bayside, the stunning Ritual Folk sounds of Heilung and some of the best Metalcore you could want from the likes of Slaughter to Prevail... The only thing missing really? Some of my favourite black metal bands.
The weather was atrocious, and although this caused some delays, and there were some reports of suspected food poisoning from a couple of vendors, the organisers did an amazing job in keeping the show running, and keeping us all safe.
And for me – the mix of bands was spot on. Well done Download. I can’t wait for 2025. I might even have managed to scrape off the mud by then!
Main stage photo credits: Danny North (courtesy of Download Festival)
Main stages performance of the day: It had to be Machinehead – utterly brilliant.
Lower stages performance of the day: Atreyu – power, energy and fun!
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