Download Festival 2023

Rkphilpot · June 2023

Anybody want to discuss the state of Download Festival at its 20 year anniversary?
Be interested to hear of peoples experiences. Especially those who went circa 2006-2012 and remember the good days.

axisus · June 2023

My son used to go, he loved it. He went a few years in a row maybe ending 5 years or so ago. He has a partner and 2 kids now so doesn't get there any more. One year him and his mates all turned up in childish onesies, he was a frog. Saw a lot of cool bands.

My regret was that one time I went and picked him and his play up, and there were tons of abandoned tents, I should have grabbed a few good ones!

Rkphilpot · June 2023

Thats good to hear, seems there were a lot of mixed experiences. We done the same. Hadn't been as a group of guys since 2017, all have kids etc now, wanted a reunion and wish we had left it to fond memories.

MrTee · June 2023

First one I've missed in donkeys years. Get the impression I dodged a bullet

Rkphilpot · June 2023

Long Post Alert !!

From where I’m sitting Download has become another product designed by a greedy corporation with the intention of ripping off the consumer at every opportunity.

Cost - This year was £345 for the full 5 day camping, advertised as being a 4 day festival and that it was going to be huge, in reality the Thursday didn’t start till nearly 16:00 and when you add up the total bands there were actually only 9 more bands than your average 3 day Download. 9 bands over 4 stages and a whole day. Brilliant. Food and Drink was extortionate, I understand everything has gone up but £7 for poor beer and £3.60 for a CAN of water. (I’ll come to my can issue later). At one point I was charged £20 for a mixed kebab and chips. If you are taking a family it would be crippling.

Line up – I think the lineup was really weak this year, I know a lot of that is preference but when you look at the size of bands in historical years compared to this year, one cant help but feel they blew the budget on two nights of Metallica and Slipknot. 2010 for instance; ACDC, RATM, Aerosmith, Deftones, Megadeath, Motorhead, Stone temple pilots, 30 seconds to Mars, Stone Sour, Billy Idol, Slash, KSE. There are some huge names there and I haven’t touched the smaller stages. 2013 was also a big year. I also think BMTH (I’m not overly a fan) really demonstrated that its time to let some new bands headline, especially when you’re giving Metallica 2 days. I’m a Metallica fan but understandably they looked very tired the second day and I found their performance very boring. Let the new wave of bands do some headlining!

Sound issues – I have never been to a festival where so many bands had so many issues. There were noticeable FOH issues with Metallica with Kirk’s guitar often not coming through FOH, Clutch had terrible problems with IEM’s, something I don’t think they usually use. Bob Vylan had problems with backing, Dinosaur Pile Up lost half their set time because of unexplained technical issues. Placebo had back line issues. Caskets was quite possibly the worst sound I’ve ever heard, but that may have been a result of the 4th stage facing the mainstage so the noise pollution was bad. It was also set strangely uphill making it hard to see from the back. A strange decision but what do I know ?! I wonder if they sound engineer company are the cheapest possible one they could find?

Recycling – This kind of ties in with price, the festival gave the big recycling pledge. This involved groups of 4 household wheelie bins dotted around the festival. These bins weren’t emptied all day, which meant that within an hour they were overflowing and the festivals neat recycling centres had become mountains of cross contaminated waste. I refuse to believe these piles were then being sorted through before the arena opened the next morning. Aligned with this was the fact you could no longer buy a plastic bottle of water. Which I am all for. They didn’t sell plastic bottles because of recycling and becoming eco, great. What they did conveniently sell were £3.60 cans of water. Cans that cannot be sealed if reused as a drinking vessel, rendering them pretty useless. I genuinely feel this was just a tactic to rinse more money out of people. The disregard for their own recycling system and complete lack of water points to refill a bottle if you had brought one into the arena all points to a scheme to make you keep buying cans of water. Paper cups?! What happened to the deposit scheme with a proper plastic cup you could take home?!

Water Points – There weren’t enough and there never is. On top of that the water pressure was weaker than a piss stream, meaning people were queuing for sometimes over an hour, on the hottest day of the year, with no shade, for some water. Again a complete lack of regard for the welfare of the consumer. Don’t worry though, you can just buy another £3.60 can.

Shade – Would it really take much to put up some more covered areas? Canopies, sails, etc. I saw people desperate for shade actually collapsing or breaking down in tears.

Toilets – This was mostly in the campsite. This year they split the Male and Female toilets, which seems strange in an age of non assuming genders and a festival with the androgynous Placebo playing. The quiet campsite had queues of over 1km long in the morning. People were waiting 2 hours to use the toilet. I feel that splitting the toilets isn’t a bad thing. But at a festival which is, what I would estimate 75% male you need more male toilets. In the quiet campsite there were 100 female toilets and 30 male. There were genuine Woodstock vibes in the air, with people ripping the signs down by the third day and just using any toilet.

Merch – Hideously expensive, with people who used click and collect queuing two hours to be told their order wasn’t there. They also didn’t limit the special items. Like the Metallica posters and hoodies. One guy on Ebay is selling 3 of each at over £200. Scalping scumbag. Plus how can they charge full price for tshirts where half the bands have pulled out or changed?!

Free Stuff – I know we live in a world where everything is going up and nothing is free, but in previous years there would be the Jager Ice truck, giving away free merch, the Pepsi Max stand giving away free lunchbox size cans of Pepsi, I think even Crave cereal were there on year giving free cereal away. None of that this year.

Entertainment – In between bands specifically, the same 4 min advert real for Nordic Spirit, Redbull, etc…..because we aren’t spending enough money already. What happened to the music between bands and the camera crew filming the crowd? with people trying to get onto the big screen. The ability to text the big screen with a funny message for all to enjoy. No instead we have to watch the same adverts with that fucking Genexis BMTH advert, over and over and over. There was a noticeable lack of atmosphere this year and little things like this contribute to that.

Traffic – We all know how bad that was, it made national news, 20 years of doing that, how did they get it so wrong? The second day there was to be an announcement at 8am with regard to which junction to take. It came at 09:04. Why say 08:00 if you’re not going to honour it.

Ignorance – The festival didn’t acknowledge a single thing, they are still banging on now like it was a huge success, ignoring their own comments section. Take clutch for example, they put a post up, but didn’t once apologise to the fans or the band publicly for the sound issues. Just pretended it didn’t happen. They didn’t acknowledge FFDP pulling out or wished them well, just announced Skindred as a replacement. They just seem completely delusional. Nothing Nowhere pulled out and not a single thing was said.

Chairs - Bring your chair into the arena by all means, but they shouldn’t be allowed inside the first barrier where the pits and things happen. The amount of old men asleep in chairs 5 rows from the front, waiting for Metallica. Not cool.

As you can tell I’ve had a lot to say on this with nobody to say it to, so I apologise for this rant! But I am genuinely interested to see what other people think. I feel like the festival lets its longest customers down by getting progressively worse. Its become like every other big corporation, its interested in nothing but making as much profit as they can. I understand the profit is important but I feel they are in rip off territory now. A new generation coming through don’t know any different and quite frankly deserve better.

Go to Rock Am Ring or Rock Im Park in Germany to see how a festival should be done.

Rkphilpot · June 2023

MrTee said:

First one I've missed in donkeys years. Get the impression I dodged a bullet

You did sir.

mrkb · June 2023

^ yeah, but did you have a good time ?

EricTheWeary · June 2023

An old friend of mine went and posted a load of pics on Facebook. They had the glamping option which looked quite nice. Lord knows what it all came to for a weekend, joy of double income no kids I guess.

We were driving back from Eurotunnel on the Thursday and listening for traffic announcements on the radio. Nowhere near us but plenty of announcements about problems on the motorway caused by Download. Feels like a lot of hard work to get there.

Sky Arts usually have some random hilights so I’ll look out for them.

oh_pollo · June 2023

I don't understand how festivals can still be getting toilets wrong. You know how many people are coming, you've got years of past data to work with, it should be a solved problem.

Bod · June 2023

This is the first time I've been for the whole thing, but have had day tickets in the past. Living only 30 minutes away my son and I opted to commute each day and park in the south car park. I bought a parking pass but you were also able to pay at the gate, which struck me as odd as it meant that it could potentially fill up therefore denying access to those that paid in advance for a pass.

We got there on the Thursday about 12pm and drove straight in without issue, but getting out was another story. Apparently there's a lockdown on all car parks until the main arena is empty but this is not explained anywhere. We sat there for 2 hours barely moving and not a single steward was present to direct traffic. It was a total free-for-all and we eventually got home at about 2.30am. We abandoned the car park idea after that and used the East Mids Parkway park and ride shuttle bus, which was much better. I later learned that they were directing any and all other ticket holders to the south car park, which should be for day and weekend ticket holders only, due to all the others being full.

I'm of the opinion that they completely oversold tickets. The site was rammed, bins overflowing (I didn't see any recycling bins, so I'm surprised to hear that they were there), and massive queues for the limited facilities.

Also, and maybe this had something to do with the number of people, but we didn't have our tickets checked once. They were more concerned about the contents of my bag to make sure we didn't sneak something in that they could charge us for once inside. On day one, we parked up, walked over the bridge, had our bags checked and that was it. Straight in. Considering that you could pay on entry to park, we could feasibly have got into the festival for free. Perhaps many people did?

Food and drink was overpriced, which is standard for a festival I guess but yeah, I dread to think how much I spent on the two of us.

As for the second stage - lots of issues there as @Rkphilpot stated. I witnessed Cancer Bats, Elvana, and Dinosaur Pile Up (who pulled no punches about how poorly organised it was) all have their sets cut short with the first two literally having the main faders dropped mid-song.

However, a highlight was seeing my lad close to tears as Metallica started their Ecstasy Of Gold intro. He's 18 and it was his first time seeing them, and it was an emotional moment. I remember feeling the same when I first saw them aged 16 in 1990. We hugged, both with tears in our eyes. Worth the price of entry alone and a moment that will stay with us forever.

Another highlight was watching The Bronx. My boy decided he'd leave me there and go to watch WVH on the main stage. About 15 minutes later I saw him appear on the big screens in the circle pit with the singer of The Bronx! "WVH was boring so I came back"

Rkphilpot · June 2023

That's an awesome experience to share. Case in point of it being what you make it and who you're with!

RobDavies · June 2023

Thanks to @Rkphilpot for reminding me why I don’t do festivals anymore.

I used to love Donington…. 1 day, 1 stage, 7 really good bands. But nowadays, there’s too much going on, too many acts, stages and it’s just too big. I’m not up for walking 1.5 miles to my tent after standing in a field of piss all day, waiting for Slipknot to come on.

Meanwhile, Andy Copping is laughing all the way to the bank.

Rkphilpot · June 2023

1.5 miles, you're mad aren't you? We averaged 15 miles a day walking from campsite to arena, village, toilets etc. The first day with two trips to the car was 37000 steps.
I can't help but think a race track isn't the best venue when you have to walk round it and aren't allowed across it.

RobDavies · June 2023

Bod said:

However, a highlight was seeing my lad close to tears as Metallica started their Ecstasy Of Gold intro. He's 18 and it was his first time seeing them, and it was an emotional moment. I remember feeling the same when I first saw them aged 16 in 1990. We hugged, both with tears in our eyes. Worth the price of entry alone and a moment that will stay with us

I cried when Metallica played in Donington in 87… I absolutely adored them back then. Just couldn’t help myself.

I also get a bit emotional when Maiden hit the stage these days… only for a minute but when they played Aces High/Where Eagles Dare on the last tour it definitely got me in the feels.

RobDavies · June 2023

EricTheWeary said:

Sky Arts usually have some random hilights so I’ll look out for them.

Not this year, apparently.

RocknRollDave · June 2023

I went once, for one day. It was the day Lars had a funny turn and Joey Slipknot/ Dave Slayer and Lars’ tech stepped in on drums.

Thought the whole thing was badly organised, especially parking/ exiting - no marshals to be seen at the exit directing cars safely, just a mad every-man-for-himself scramble across an unlit field.
Oh and the Metallia tees had Donington spelled wrong on them.

Wouldn’t go again even if it was free and The Beatles were headlining with support from Elvis, Zeppelin and Hendrix.

Moe_Zambeek · June 2023

I’ve stopped going to any gig bigger than the Barrowland - these days it is probably going to be shit, and it’s been like that for years. Any large event is a punter-rinsing mechanism and the current financial issues are just making it worse.

andyp · June 2023

Moe_Zambeek said:

I’ve stopped going to any gig bigger than the Barrowland - these days it is probably going to be shit, and it’s been like that for years. Any large event is a punter-rinsing mechanism and the current financial issues are just making it worse.

Same!

I can’t hack big venues anymore. It’s just not nearly as enjoyable. As far as outdoor stuff goes, the one day 4-5 good bands setup is what I prefer. Those are the best ones I’ve been to… but it’s been a while.

S56035 · June 2023

Sounds like every festival I've been to, including Download.

Jonathangus · June 2023

In a word - rammed. Been every year but one since 2010 and never seen it that busy before. There's usually space at the top of the hill from the main stage, but this time it was chocka. Apparently it was the first time it has sold out; I don't know if that was the sole reason, or if they actually released more tickets than usual, but it was too full. Not enough toilets; fairly sure there are usually toilets over to the left of the second stage, but they'd gone (unless you're female). The site - and the surrounding area - really can't cope with those numbers. Had it rained, it would have been total carnage.

The line-up wasn't great either. Normally we head in to the arena and stay for the whole day, but several times we went back to the campervan (not doing Tent City at my age!) to chill for a bit. Didn't make it through the first song of BMTH before deciding it wasn't worth it, and didn't stay long for Slipknot either. Wasn't particularly impressed the first time I saw them, and nothing's changed.

On the plus side, seeing Metallica for the 14th and 15th times was great; Kirk must have used Greeny for a dozen or so songs over the weekend, and James looked like he was really enjoying himself. Bad Religion won Best Guitar Sound again (Gibson into JCM800 - who knew?), and finally got to see Clutch (yes, a few tech issues, but that can happen to anyone).

And @onlyonebradders and I found our long-lost brother:

Image: https://tfb-user-images.eu-central-1.linodeobjects.com/d162befaf98571601ef160b1ff61806bc7c25f78e5e4b10cb5

See you next year, then?

Rkphilpot · June 2023

Unfortunately, I don't think I will ever do the full festival thing again. As mentioned above, a lot of them are all the same now. The most I will do is day ticket a day that has at least 5 bands on that I want to see.

It was definitely oversold this year, from what I can remember, the busiest year and last sell-out was when Black Sabbath got back together and played. I think that was 2012. That was a reported sellout and wasn't as busy as the oversold Thursday this year.

Springywheel · June 2023

Haven't been since 2005. It's slowly gone downhill since then. For the past few years I've been to Poland's Mystic Festival and Sweden Rock. Great lineups, and I think it costs less than the full Download package, including travel.

hollywoodrox · June 2023

It was best when it was Donnington - monsters of rock

Reverend · June 2023

A few friends played it this year. One said his onsuagw sound waa awful.
At least half the fb/insta posts i saw were industry people so a very different experience to punters. Ive only ever gone on one day to see maiden and/or kiss

DefaultM · June 2023

I've only ever been to 1 day of Leeds Fest but it sounds very similar. The toilets were enough to make me never go again. I never thought I'd experience horror like that.

Philly_Q · June 2023

20 years of Download? Wow.

I haven't been since Monsters of Rock in 1981 so I have no input to offer.

west · June 2023

When i went it was called donnington .... in 1984 the lineup was

AC/DC

Van Halen ... ( with roth )

Ozzy ( jake e lee )

Gary Moore ...

Y+T

Accept

Motley Crue

tommy vance ...

a very fond memorable day .... !! burgers and cheap cider in plastic juggs ...

StefB · June 2023

west said:

When i went it was called donnington .... in 1984

Monsters of Rock, surely?

west · June 2023

StefB said:

west said:

When i went it was called donnington .... in 1984

Monsters of Rock, surely?

yes but we always called donnington where it was held .... actually i meant to pop this link in ... what a line up in 84 ....

https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/donington-1984.html

Philly_Q · June 2023

We always mis-spelled Donington as Donnington as well.

west · June 2023

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Download Festival 2023

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