I would say I would like to apologise for not blogging for the last 2 or so weeks but, I am not! Yeah! It is because I am a certified badass! The last to weeks, my followers, has been one of the best two weeks I have had in a long time and it was fueled by junk, energy drinks, touring London
It all started when T came to London London Camden Town , Harrods, Harvey Nics, Westfield , Museums, Piccadilly Circus , the Trocadero all got done and along the way we had Snogs, Cinnabons and pretzels! Awesome!!! It was awesome hanging around with T. All that was missing was nights in watching ‘The Horror Channel’.
Following T’s departure I had Download festival to look forward to. I had bought the ticket months ago and I couldn’t believe it was here so quick. I had many things to do prior to leaving such as pack, go to the gym and make sure I had cash and food for the festival. The first thing I did was went out for food shopping and, if you are anything like me, you know not to get healthy food at these events because of the fact that you are sharing about 1000 portaloos between 80000 campers….messy. Disgusting. Rancid. So, you do not get healthy foods such as fruit, nuts and things such like due to the high fibre content thus, allowing you not to need the toilet so much. What did I pick up? Well, junk. Cookies, crisps, sweets, chocolate, biscuits and energy drinks. My nutrition prior to these two weeks was second to none. I was eating a tremendous amount but all healthy and I was going to the gym 5-6 days a week. This binge was good!
In addition to the food shopping I really wanted to get to the gym, but I could not go. Time was quickly moving on unfortunately and we still had a two hour drive to Donnington Park – a celebrated venue where many, many legendary bands have played such as; Iron Maiden, Metallica, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Status Quo, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Rage against the Machine, Black Sabbath and so many more! After a haphazard 5 minutes of packing together some t-shirts, shorts and clothes to keep me warm at night, we left. It was 6pm. We arrived at around 8pm and we went to a nearby service station to meet up with some friends who were joining us on this epic weekend of heavy metal! After having one last proper meal, we all left for the venue. Excitement ensued.
Upon arrival to the car park we were not made aware how far the campsite was from the car park itself. I decided to carry all the heavy things so that we would not have much left on our second run. The Campsite was at least 2 miles from the car park and it was over the work terrain. It began with concrete and then gravel and then long stem grass patches which was just as hard as concrete. We finally got to the halfway point and decided that this was too much. I took the executive decision to send half our party to take the tents and all the lighter things and just go and set up camp. I sent my friend to go and get a wheelbarrow to help us push all of our things along. I waited with the remaining luggage. After what seemed like hours we eventually got all our stuff to our campsite and had to make a second journey with the remaining things. It got to the early hours of the next day and we were all physically exhausted. We crashed out.
The next day was a lot of nothingness really. I kept cursing the person who had made the layout for the Download festival. Whoever did make the lay out: CAMPSITE – VILLAGE – ARENA – CAR PARK instead of ARENA – VILLAGE – CAMPSITE – CAR PARK is the most vile, hideous, cuntish prick I can think of. Worse than Hitler, if you ask me. We scoped the place out and I was really impressed by the ‘Village’. There were many food outlets – ones which catered to every whim I can think of including; vegans, meat lovers, Chinese, pizza and many more. It had a pharmacy, a 24 hour super market and it even had a shisha tent and a cinema! Not to mention showers, a comedy tent and all the rides.
That evening I went to see some of the acts in the comedy tent. I caught a former circus showman who was from Ireland London
The first day of events came along and this was heavily anticipated! It was a good first day to get the ball rolling as well as I was very much looking forward to seeing some of the bands. We began with Puddle of Mud which were so bad they were good! Unfortunately they did not sing ‘Blurry’ which is one of the most hysterically shittiest songs I have ever heard. Following that band, Duff McKagen of Guns ‘n’ Roses came on with his band and they were ok. It was good to see another rock god on stage doing his thing and rocking it. The crowd got into it and this was good for the atmosphere. After these guys, a band I had never heard of called ‘Black Stone cherry’ came on and I really enjoyed their set. A band from Louisiana and have been around for a little while, they gave a great set and even did a cover of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep which was FAR superior to the original. I enjoyed watching these guys and I really want to get more of their stuff. One of the more outstanding songs from their set, for me, was ‘White Trash Millionaire’. Tune! Thin Lizzy were on next and it was great seeing them live. Although it was not the original line up as their original front man – Phil Lynott who was the iconic bassist/lead vocalist had passed on. They played a phenomenally genius set! It included Jailbreak, Whiskey in the Jar, Rosalie and of course The Boys Are Back In Town.
There was a brief spell of bands that I was not really interested in seeing such as Bring me the Horizon. I saw them last year at Sonisphere and I just laughed at them. Their fans were all these douchey scene kids and I remember thinking their lyrics were just the most inane load of shit I have ever heard. They just screamed down a mic and that was it. So I made up my own lyrics like “I WATER MY PLNTS EVERYDAY!!!” because that is the kind of shit they would say….anyway, Korn eventually took the the stage and we only managed to catch the last few songs which was unfortunate. I would have really liked to have seen them. There were so many people there to see them and they weren’t even headlining the second stage! It was a total farce! Even Jonathon Davis, sporting his famous kilt and body of a female microphone stand, mentioned that he could not believe how many people were there to see them on the second stage. They then did their own rendition of ‘We will rock you” by Queen. Meanwhile on the main stage no one was going to see the Darkness which was a wonderful ‘Fuck you’ to those dicks in leotards and tight 80s apparel. I never did like the Darkness. I found it nonsensical for them to be on the main stage as the penultimate act for the day. On the second stage, Pendulum were closing the night and Def Leppard were closing the main stage and it really should have been the other way around. There were thousands more people who went to go and see Pendulum than Def Leppard. After about 15 minutes of watching the so-called ‘legendary’ Def Leppard, I got tremendously bored. I left. I had seen Pendulum before and I wasn’t that impressed.
That night we went back to the comedy tent and we saw Madam Pain’s Boudoir Circus. I was completely blown away by this act. It was just so immense. So many flexible, beautiful women performing amazing tricks and acts, my jaw had never made a greater acquaintance with the floor, ever! It was an immense 2 hours! It even had pole dancing!
The following day, I was so psyched for the rest of the acts. We went to see Skindred – a Jamaican metal band. I have never been in a crowd that have all taken off a garment of theirs and done the helicopter. It was different. It was amazing to see. After Skindred we went to see an Iron Maiden tribute act called Maiden United. They were a good band – they played an acoustic set and they attracted many, many Maiden fans such as me but, their vocalist was terrible. I developed a deep, intense hatred for him. I found him extremely infuriating. Finishing this we went shopping for T-Shirts and had a quick smoke of some shisha. We missed a few bands that we would have liked to see like Skunk Anansie and Twisted Sister but, we saw Avenged Sevenfold. I know many people that like them but, I never really got into them. They put on a great show. I enjoyed watching them. Following A7X was the band I was looking forward to the most. System of a Down – for a long time my most favourite band! They had taken an indefinite hiatus for 5 years and I was devastated! I was ready for their heavily anticipated come back! It went wild when they came on. They were on for nearly two hours giving us a 26 song set-list. It was awesome!!!
My last day was ruined by the rain. I was awoken by the noise of the rain and I thought it would be a good idea to stay in the tent until the rain died down. It did not. I could not be fagged facing up to a whole day of bullshit rain when all the other days had been good. We decided to leave. It was depressing as I was looking forward to seeing Bowling for Soup, Disturbed (who I have already seen twice before), and Bullet for my Valentine and Linkin Park
It may have been one of the best decisions I had ever made to leave early. It felt good to get back home.
I loved Download. I wish I had got to see all the bands I wanted to on the Sunday as it would have taken me back to the pinnacle of my teenage angst. Shit happens I guess. I thoroughly enjoyed that weekend regardless.
Much love,
Jackson L.
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