Bristol Rocks Download 2008

Festival Revue

Download Festival; Donington Park, 13th-15th June
		By Moose

God, was this monster metal-fest really a year ago?? It only seems like yesterday I was camping out to see a selection of fine, damn fine and not-so fine bands, and here I am doing the same thing again!! This time around I had a bit of a posse organised, with two vans and a gazebo set-up on Friday as the advance camping party, with a further van and caravan joining in on Saturday for good measure. Once combined we had brought beer, plenty of food, beer, fold-up chairs, beer, gas cooking equipment, beer, blow-up beds, beer, warm duvets, beer and anything else you could think of to make a festival as civilised as possible. Did I mention we had beer??

For 2008 the bill wasn't quite as strong as had been the case in previous years, but there seemed to be a definite aim to get a bit more balance, with old school classic bands scheduled alongside the newest of the new, with softer slightly more indie orientated stuff side by side with the nastiest of the de-tuned metal-racket merchants. Fair play to the LiveNation for attempting this, even if it makes the price of a weekend ticket score a little lower on the value-for-money-o-meter than previously. There was a bit of pre-event controversy on the various forums too….. Now, I'm gonna break with tradition here and review the three days in reverse order - you'll find out why in a bit, read on………..
Sunday, 15th June. Things kick off for me on the main stage for Fightstar, complete with the ex-boy band guy Charlie that now thinks he can rock out fronting a US-style nu-metal type band. To be fair he does and ok job, but the songs lack a certain something, and he seems too focused on showing how much he can scream to notice that occasionally something decent is buried in there somewhere. In my view, they'd benefit from a shift to the slightly more tuneful stuff that creeps out from time to time, but that's probably just me missing the point…….
*Black Stone Cherry* are up next, and are a far better proposition. The boys from Kentucky seem to know exactly what they're trying to do, with a raucous set mainly drawn from their debut CD, but also being brave enough to drop in a couple of new tracks from their yet to be released follow up. They grind when required, and occasionally they come across as a metal-injected version of Lynyrd Skynyrd or one of those old southern rock bands. They're amazingly well received by a fully engaged crowd, and they're back later in the year for another headline tour, moving up from a Bristol gig at the Fleece to the Academy this time. Definitely a Moose recommendation if you can make it……
I last one song from Apocalyptica and their crazy "metal on cellos" stuff, which apparently started off as covers for fun kinda thing, but is now mainly original material and much more serious. To me rock music is all about loud guitars and great singing, so as there's no chance of either from these crazy guys from Finland I head off to the 2nd stage to catch Airborne.
The party-crazy boys take to the stage like they own the place, and proceeded to tear up a right old storm. Yep, it's old-school AC/DC style basic boogie-metal that's been done a million times before, but who cares!! They came to party, brought their own Jack Daniels, and conquered. As the 2nd song starts up the front man spots an Australian flag in the crowd, so jumps down from the stage and grabs it. The initial idea was to drape the thing over his stack of Marshall 4 x 12's, but he thinks better of the idea and proceeds to scale the lighting rig to the very top to tie the bloody thing about 30' from the ground. And this was while still wearing his white Gibson Explorer cowboy style on his back!!! He joins in with the riff from the song from the top of the lighting scaffold, then descends back to the stage for the rest of the set - clearly a man that understands showmanship!! There's also cans of beer thrown into the crowd, a nice change to see things going in that direction, but only after they've been banged around enough to explode mid-air. "You guys are supposed to be good a cricket" quips the front man. "Dropped catches lose matches, so come on!!" he yells, as the next can of Carlsberg also hits the ground in the squabble to catch it. This is another band making a return to the UK later in the year, but this time they're moving up from the Louisiana to the Academy, so that's how big they've got in a couple of months. Get along to check 'em out, but bring something waterproof and some wicket keepers gloves!!!
*Elliot Minor* are next up for me, again on the 2nd stage, which for this year is a big outside set-up on a large area of tarmac hard standing - much better than the large marquee from last year. I don't know much of their material, but they do a great job of the harmony vocals that seem to be used for most of their songs, or the swap between the two guys on guitars for the lead vocals - it must be great to have two accomplished vocalist in one band. They take a bit of grief from the crowd with a few bottles heading their way, but they front things out well enough that by the time they kick in Jessica and one or two other Kerrang! TV aired tracks they've won over everyone that that stayed to check 'em out.
Unfortunately Chris Cornell pulled out of the event for some not exactly clear reason a month or so ago, so we're left with Jimmy Eat World as the penultimate band of the day back on the main stage, another band that I don't know too much about. There's a couple of songs I recognize from Kerrang! TV, but I'm clearly in the minority as a partisan crowd is going bonkers down the front, while they rock out an indie-tinged US-style set that has a fair degree of panache.

For event closers Lost Prophets we head down the front to blag a spot about half way between the stage and the mixing desk tent, and by the time the boys from Wales take to the stage it's packed. They're clearly a bit overcome by the crowd reaction and major headline status, almost apologising a couple of times for the fuss that their appointment at the top of the bill caused. But they deserve their spot in my view, having slogged away to build a strong reputation in seven or eight years on both sides of the Atlantic, with a couple of excellent CD's and a brace of memorable videos nailed along the way. They're another band that has two great vocalists, with the keyboard player being as strong a singer as the main man, giving the harmony stuff a real push, but also allowing some excellent question and answer things from time to time. On the guitar front we have a Fender Tele wielding main man, and maybe this is part of the problem for me - the guitar sound is definitely more indie than metal, even in the most manic sections. By the time they close out with Burn Burn they've played all the hits and more, not even saving a special song for an encore - possibly a mistake, possibly part of the plan, we'll probably never know……..

Saturday, 14th June Wind the clock back 24 hours to Saturday, and we have a few bands I'm interested in seeing, plus a decision to make about which of the headline bands to check out. It's mid-afternoon by the time Alter Bridge take to the main stage - one of the main bands I was interested in checking out, especially after their amazing performance at the Academy a couple of months back. Obviously we get a cut down set to fit the forty-five minutes they've been allocated, but it's still great. Myles Kennedy in particular seems to be born for the larger stage, while Mark Tremonti has that "been there, seen it, done it" thing going on from his days in mega-band Creed - mega in the US anyway. Actually, they lack a little energy maybe because of this, but by the time they close their set with the anthemic Rise Today I'm probably the only one to notice.
Next up is Biffy Clyro, which for me is another act that fall into the "know a couple of tracks from Kerrang! TV" category, but they make a damn fine racket for a three piece. The front man looks like a cross between Jesus and Ewan McGregor from the end of Long Way Round, but doesn't sound like either. Well, maybe the latter when he speaks. He plays a Fender Strat on a strap that's at least six inches too short, but doesn't let that hamper his energy one little bit. Very impressive…….
I stay put for Bullet For My Valentine who are next up on the main stage, but by the end of their set I'm not really sure why. They have a sound that comes from the heavier end of the spectrum that's normally right up my street, and the vocalist is quite good too, but I can't quite get into 'em for some reason. Again I'm in the minority, so maybe I'm missing something.
I'm glad I didn't miss Saxon though, as they take to the 3rd stage as returning hero's, then confound about 60% of the packed tent by kicking off with a brand new song. We shouldn't worry though, as Motorcycle Man is up next, with Wheels Of Steel, Heavy Metal Thunder and Princess Of The Night rattled off in quick succession. There's another new track to let us get our breath back, before closing their set with The Bands played On - a song actually written about their appearance on the bill of the very first Monsters Of Rock festival at Donington back in, yikes, 1980. Yep, I was there that day too!!! Biff Byford is amazed by the reaction, and I'm sure LiveNation wished they'd have bumped 'em up onto the 2nd stage - there was certainly enough punters trying to watch to make it worthwhile. From what I can tell, only Biff and guitarist Paul Quinn remain from the original band - the latter minus the obvious wig that he used to sport back in the 80's, fortunately!! They're on the bill with Motorhead at the Colston Hall later in the year, so get a ticket quick if you fancy it 'cause it'll be a sell out.
To close out the day I go for Him on the second stage, rather than Testament on the 3rd stage or the Offspring on the main stage, and it was another good choice. The front man has that enigmatic/mysterious thing going on, almost as if he's acting the part of a singer for a film or something - kinda like a cross between Johnny Dep and Vigo Mortensen maybe. The band are red hot, with a keyboard player supplementing the sound dramatically, which also allows the guitar to really cut through on the solo's etc - no riffage from a 2nd guitar player to lift above. There some self depreciating humour, unusual from someone from Finland, and by the end of the set there are girls in the crowd openly crying their eyes out - yes it was kinda emotional. Things are lifted for set closer cover Rebel Yell, the old Billy Idol anthem, which works really well as a counterpoint to the dark moody stuff from the main set - superb!
Friday, 13th June. So, it was 24 further hours earlier that the festival kicked off for me with the Stone Gods on the 2nd stage. They'd actually cancelled their gig at the Thekla the day before 'cause the drummer was ill, but the time was obviously used well to rehearse a replacement for this critical slot - critical to their career anyway!!. They rock out with tracks from their ep-thing and their yet to hit the shops new CD, kicking the event off in fine style. The energy from their recent gig at the Fleece was slightly lacking, but they translate to the bigger stage very well, handling some patter with the crowd with ease and getting a bit of early-slot buzz going - nice one……..
After that it was a full on main stage mega-fest, with even the no-show from Kid Rock not taking the gloss off proceedings too much, especially as the time was allocated to the rest of the bands due to play, with each getting slightly extended time slots. Disturbed are up first, and play a decent if not entirely inspiring set of technical nu-metal type stuff, including their rocked up version of the old Genesis chestnut Land Of Confusion.
After that it's Motorhead, and expectations are high, but they don't quite deliver. Yeah, we get some of their great songs old and new, and even an appearance of old guitarist Wurzel for one number, but there's something lacking, and I can't quite put my finger on what. Maybe it's that Motorhead work best in a sweaty club or a smaller hall where the impact of the racket they make is more apparent, but a late afternoon outdoor slot certainly doesn't work as well for 'em. Maybe Lemmy had to get up a bit earlier than normal, or perhaps he was still a bit jet lagged from the flight in from LA??
*Judas Priest* are next, and make the most of their special guest billing as effectively the next most important band on the bill after the three main stage headliners. They have a complex multi-level stage set which is used extensively, and an extra kick from the lighting rig and the PA system. The set is mainly drawn from their new CD Nostradamus, but we also get a few classics like The Sinner and Ram It Down. Rob Halford gets to change his coat at least six times, plus bring out the Harley Davidson from underneath the drum riser for the climax to the show. Guitarists KK Downing and Glen Tipton still have the chops, the fancy studded leather clothes and the weird shaped Gibson or Hamer guitars, while former Racer X man Scott Travis pounds away on the kit like a man possessed - you can see why he was recruited by Priest all those years ago.
Which brings us to Kiss, and the reason why this review is ass-about face in terms of ending with the Friday headliners. We wanted the best, and there was no question that we got the best! After a totally amazing set that ran to over two and half hours, I can't imagine there was a punter in the place that wasn't amazed - I know I was, and I can't really count myself as a huge Kiss fan, only ever having seen 'em back in the minus-makeup and costumes Crazy Nights days .
For starters we have a massive wall of cabs either side of a huge drum riser - sixteen Ampeg 8 x 10's on one side in four rows and thirty two Hughes & Kettner 4 x 12's on the other, all topped off with a double row of amps. We have lights that you wouldn't believe, cannons firing confetti so dense that you couldn't see the stage from 20' feet away, explosions, fireworks and flame throwers that you could make toast on from the front row barricade - all coming from the four rows of "backline" speakers.
We get a drum riser that elevates into the sky with smoke belching out the bottom, we get Tommy Thayer shooting rockets from his Gibson Les Paul, Gene Simmonds spitting fire at one point, then blood a bit later while playing his god Of Thunder bass solo (frankly a crap old racket, but who cares, or notices……), prior to flying up on wires into the lighting rig. Paul Stanley vamps it up in the eye of the storm, with his new hip working well, and his voice sounding as great as it ever did. He flies out over the crowd on a wire towards the end of the set, taking up a spot on a small stage next to the mixing desk, and didn't even use the safety harness the ring he held onto was fitted with. Oh yeah, all of this is done in 8" platform boots, full make-up and costumes!!
For the songs we get old stuff - the whole of the original Kiss Alive set with some later additions for good measure. Yep, we get Stutter, Black Diamond, Deuce, Cold Gin etc etc. We also get the old disco-thing I Was Made For Loving You that they had a hit with back in the late 70's, but is works amazingly well. We get Rock & Roll All Night and Shout It Out Loud, and we even get a brief snipped of Won't Get Fooled Again by the Who, a track they'd used as a sorta-intro tape. Eric Singer gets to, err, sing a bit from the drum kit, Gene sings and Paul sings too. The whole thing is so amazingly well presented it's hard to believe it's really unfolding right there in front of your eyes live, but it is. You can even buy an officially recorded CD of the show within an hour of the set closing - that's how confident they were it was gonna be a great gig. They weren’t wrong……..
So, that was it. Friday was the highlight for me, mainly due to Priest and Kiss, but Him were a surprise and Saxon proved there's life in the old dog yet. Roll on next year, not sure I can wait that long though……..