Download Festival 2012 Friday & Saturday

So its here again, another Download Festival. Like those before for us it began with drinks and a game of pool in Derby at The Waterfall. Perhaps its a small tradition but I would not normally find myself drinking Guinness at such an early time in the day, but we are heading for a festival right?

Actually we appear not to be, the first taxi we approach says simply, "I don't wanna go there so the price is £35", we respond calmly, actually the agreed and advertised price is £20.

It turns out as we quickly find out that as well as the delayed opening of the festival the road network heading there is Gridlock, nothing moving in or out. It takes us and a very nice taxi driver - Taz! 2 hours to get from Derby to Castle Donnington - Google it - that's a long time - especially when https://twitter.com/#!/_Lalabum has had sausages = phew!

Sp our first day ends up being an evening really after the long walk to the entrance of the festival and then, well then comes the mud! You know if I wanted mud I would have headed to Glastonbury, actually I wouldn't, but you get the idea. It's really muddy, I mean REALLY.

So what do we see on our brief Friday visit?

We catch the last few songs of Little Angels, transporting us back in time to younger days. The voice may not hit the high notes but they sound good and draw a good crowd, they're fun whilst you buying the beer tokens.

Its at this stage that things get weird and well if truth be told laziness kicks in. You see we've arrived at the Zippo Encore Stage (which will be known from not on by its former name, The Second Stage), the mud is high, the drizzle is a pain and we're tired, some of us (me!) are too lazy and tired to walk back to the next stage, this is the weird bit - Machine Head are about to get it on!

From where I am standing I can here the opening I am Hell - shit, that's loud, really loud. Part of the group spilt off to watch them and by all accounts they tear it up - I have no doubts.

By choosing to remain static we watch Opeth, who for me are technically brilliant but I still question whether they are a festival band. Mikael never ceases to wow me with his technical abilities but it appears that they are favouring their lighter side more often than not these days.

Following this we enter unknown territory, Nightwish, who appear to begin with bagpipes and by the end of their set we are jigging, that's right jigging along nicely having know nothing about them previously. They have some great band members resembling Lord of The Rings cast members and some looking truly Metal. We sum up their set as Metal infused Enya with a large dash of Michael Flattley Riverdance Rock!

Our final act of the evening is the mighty Slash & Myles Kennedy, oh and lets not forget the Conspirators. Slash as always delivers, he is simply Cool! Myles delivers, he is a great singer an front man. Paradise City on a cold damp Friday night - a nice ending to a pretty hellish beginning.

Saturday comes. the weather is much nicer. Breakfast rocked and we return to battle the mud.

We get there later than expected (actually we expected it). We miss Black Veil Brides, a band that divides so well the community. I like the album, I have a soft spot for Glam, I was keen to check out their show but alas that must wait.

I am however there for one of my favourite bands Trivium and boy  do they deliver, they are full on, they own the stage, they own the crowd and they will definitely be back in a higher billing spot in 2013 Awesome.

At this point and because the mud is less brutal (or we're just used to it) we head for a tent, the Pepsi Max Tent to be precise.It is mainly to avoid Steel Panther, who  I have now seen three times and whilst I admire their show and homage to all things Glam (see that soft spot returns), I simply couldn't take the same jokes again.

The tent produces some surprises. The Treatment are all things rock n roll, like transporting me back in time top my soft spot era. They are a welcome surprise.http://www.myspace.com/the_treatment

We trudge back to the Main Stage (R.I.P. Jim Marshall) for the D - Tenacious D that is, I love the film Pick of Destiny, I love the film School of Rock, I love Kung Fu Panda (ok there's no metal but its cool). The D leave me cold. Three acoustic songs in and I am bored, very bored.

I return to the Pepsi Max Tent for my second surprise, My Passion.http://www.myspace.com/mypassion. I very nice band to hear in a tent, thumping, bassey, solid songs with stage presence and attitude. I liked this a lot. It was, how do you say, Different.

Followed on by this was my reason for visiting the ten, Sylosis, who despite some shoddy sound still slayed the riffs and pulled in an enormous crowd partly due to the act to follow, Corey Taylor.

Corey Taylor unplugged - genius, pure genius. What a singer (best singer in metal IMHO), what a guitar player (who knew he could plays those solos), a country version of Spit It Out (is it wrong to almost prefer this version?), a guest appearance by Lizzie from Halestorm (what a great voice) - at the end he gets a Golden God award from Metal Hammer and he cries - it is a Top 5 Download Festival Moment - one for the history books - stunning moment in time.

Next up Metallica. I am going to say little on this as I will get killed. They were as I expected great, however I have been treated to their greatness for so many years on records live and studio, with and without orchestra; I have hyped this moment up so much that I was left cold- there I said it. Yes they have awesome presence and yes their catalogue of hits is awesome and perhaps it was where we found ourselves in the crowd with sound that lacked - it just failed to live up to the hype in my head so I took a walk to but my little man and rock and roll bib!

Whilst walking I heard You Me At Six performing against the Metallica Juggernaut an you know what they were bloody great. I stayed and watched 5 songs, got to see Oli  Sykes get angry with them and heard them applaud genuinely those fans who watched them tonight - they are a brilliant British act and its a shame for them that they were pitted against a quarter of the Big 4.

Sunday will be next - but I need longer to prepare (I am still in awe)....