Now in its 11^th year, Download Festival has long set the bar for insane headline sets, huge mosh pits and levels of rain that make Glastonbury seem like Rio De Janeiro. While decent weather conditions kept the mud slides at bay, a stellar line up, led by metal behemoths Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Rammstein, made sure that this year’s festival didn’t disappoint.

Friday

Despite patchy rain dampening the atmosphere slightly, energetic metallers Rise To Remain (***) and Architects (****) do a good job of opening the Main Stage with Architects’ well judged combination of heavy riffs and pop sensibilities going down particularly well with the crowd. Meanwhile, at the Pepsi Max Stage, new hardcore act Palm Reader (****) successfully tear their surprisingly large crowd a new one with their visceral and chaotic sound. This is clearly a band with their eyes on bigger things and with the reach to achieve them.

You’d be hard pressed to even attempt to describe Papa Roach (***) as a ‘Nu Metal’ band anymore, with frontman Jacoby Shaddix looking less like an angst-ridden teenager and more like someone auditioning to join Motley Crue. Indeed, their more recent material is given what can politely described as a ‘muted’ reaction. Nevertheless, when they get stuck into older hits, like ‘Last Resort’, the mood lifts greatly and the audience’s goodwill towards them is restored. While Europe (*) proceed to test the patience of the enormous crowd gathered at the Zippo Encore Stage, who are clearly just waiting for them to play ‘The Final Countdown’ with laughably poor rip-offs of The Doors and Stevie Wonder, Korn (****) remind everyone watching them just how enjoyable their deranged and dissonant metal can be. Even their Skrillex collaboration ‘Get Up’ is well received and by the time they drop ‘Freak On A Leash’, singer Jonathan Davies has Download Festival in the palm of his hand.

Though Bullet For My Valentine (***) do a functionally job with their poppier take on thrash metal, there’s an overwhelming sense that they are merely the appetizers for the main event. Singer Matt Tuck looks visibly frustrated at the crowd’s lack of energy and practically storms off the stage at the end. Based on the type of thunder that Slipknot (*****) bring, he needn’t be so down on himself, as barely a band on the planet can compete with the sheer firepower that Corey Taylor’s men display tonight. It’s almost overwhelming how much love this festival has for the band and a touching tribute to late bassist Paul Gray are proof that Download is Slipknot’s home from home. By the time they unleash ‘Duality’, there’s little doubt that they are now a world-class headline act worthy of any festival.

Saturday

For any people nursing a hangover from last night’s campsite antics, Mastodon (****)’s trippy hard rock style might be a little bit too much for their fragile senses to handle. For the rest of us, their unique sound manages to be boundary pushing without being self-indulgent. It’s an act that Alice In Chains (***) somewhat struggle to follow and, while the play hits like ‘The Rooster’ and ‘Them Bones’ well enough, they lack a certain energy needed to hold the audience’s attention.

Initially seeming out of place on a bill packed with heavier and more theatrical bands, it’s hard to believe quite how quickly Queens Of The Stone Age (*****) make these trappings seem pointless. More menacing than a thousand death metal bands and more danceable a thousand DJs, Josh Homme’s Stoner Rock mob easily blow all the competition away. With tracks from seminal new album ‘…Like Clockwork’ peppered throughout a set which showcases their harder edged material, they are impossible to tear yourself away from. Outstanding.

There’s rarely a festival recently that Enter Shikari (****) don’t seem to be playing, but, on the strength of their Zippo Encore Stage headline set, no one seems to be complaining. Their electronic-heavy metalcore sound combined with singer Rou Reynolds’ politically charged lyrics shouldn’t work at all, but the collision of genres works to deliriously enjoyable effect.

It’s hard to pinpoint what’s lacking from Iron Maiden (**)’s headline set on Saturday. Maybe it’s that, compared to the other two Main Stage headliners, their production feels a little bit too well rehearsed and oddly tame. Maybe it’s that Bruce Dickinson seems a little bit too keen on promoting the band’s beer and future tour dates than actually singing their classic songs. Whatever it is, their set feels strangely and disappointingly sterile.

‘Sterile’ is certainly not a word that could be used to describe The Hives (*****)’s performance on the Pepsi Max Stage. Armed to the teeth with sharp punk tunes and even sharper suits, they make good on their legendary live reputation. As they close their set with an extended version of ‘Tick Tick Boom’, their status as the most fun live band on Earth is confirmed.

Sunday

Stoner Rock godfathers Masters Of Reality (***) might not be playing to an enthusiastic crowd on the Zippo Encore State, but still put on a brave face and attempt to pack a 28 year career into a 30 minute set. At the opposite end of the scale, up and coming rap rockers Hackivist (***) are impressive but barely have enough material to fill their short early afternoon slot. Mark this one down as a ‘work in-progress’.

Short of actually moving into Castle Donington, there isn’t much more Corey Taylor can do at this point to show his love for the festival, as he plays his second Main Stage set of the weekend with Stone Sour (****). Though lacking the anarchy of Slipknot’s performance on Friday, Taylor’s ‘other’ band does a fantastic job of working the crowd into frenzy. It’s a performance that The Gaslight Anthem (***) simply can’t compete with. While their relaxed, Springsteen-eqse rock is a welcome change of pace from the relentless heaviness of the rest of the line up, it occasionally feels as if they’ve turned up at the wrong festival.

As the majority of the Main Stage crowd head back to their tents as 30 Seconds To Mars (**)’ Jared Leto reads the band’s upcoming UK tour dates from a piece of paper like they were The Ten Commandments (which tells you all you need to know about their hugely pretentious performance), the Zippo Encore Stage is gearing up for Nu Metal poster boys Limp Bizkit (****) to take the stage. When they emerge, the crowd reaction is unbelievable, with every song causing mass carnage. It also helps that Fred Durst’s group are much easier to enjoy fully when they aren’t taking themselves seriously and go out of their way to crowd-please. It’s not perfect (their whiney cover of The Who’s ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ hasn’t improved with age), but you’d struggle to find a better crowd atmosphere all out week.

Closing this year’s Main Stage, at times, it’s hard to comprehend just what is happening during Rammstein (****)’s set. Featuring camp costumes, enough pyrotechnics to take over the whole of Leicestershire and (we’re not making this up) singer Till Lindemann simulating sex with a gimp before spraying foam from a mechanical penis over the crowd, they make every other band look boring in comparison. Though the music might not be to everyone’s tastes, their stage show simply has to be seen to be believed.

It may not have the variety of festivals like Glastonbury or Reading, but there’s no denying that Download can easily match them in terms of sheer entertainment value. Long may they continue to rock on.

Like Our Facebook Page and Follow Us on Twitter

Follow Liam Harris on Twitter 

Music Festival: Reading/ Leeds Music Festival:

Final Head liner and Other Acts Announced

Greenday was the final Act announced to headline the Reading and Leeds music festival along with Eminem and Biffy Clyro, that takes place between the 23^rd and 25^th August.

Greenday will be playing on the first on the three day festival with many other acts also announced yesterday.

Other Acts announced Monday 11^th March 2013:

Friday 23^rd August

Frank Turner, Skrillex, A$AP Rocky, Major Lazer, Bastille and Peace and Deap Vally.

Saturday 24^th August

Chase and Status, White Lies, Brand New, Tame Impala, Imagine Dragons, Johnny Marr, Palma Violets, Modestep, Magnetic Man and Devlin.

Sunday 25^th August

Nine Inch Nails, The Lumineers, Editors, Phoenix, Azealia Banks, Disclosure, City and Colour, Haim, Alex Clare and Knife Party.

Other Acts announced

Baauer, The Blackout, Hadouken, Iggy Azalea, Mallory Knox, New Found Glory, The Strypes, Swim Deep, Temples, The 1975, Theme Park, Tomahawk, Twin Atlantic and While She Sleeps.

The poster below shows the full line-up and there is still more acts to be announced.