Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
- 231.8K All Categories
- 22 >> Start Here <<
- 12 New Members
- 8 FAQs
- 83.3K Gear
- 37.9K Guitar
- 3.2K Acoustics
- 1.3K Bass
- 14.1K Amps
- 16.7K FX
- 157 Digital & Modelling
- 730 Other Instruments
- 7.9K Making & Modding
- 406 Gear Reviews
- 100 Guitar Reviews
- 72 Amp Reviews
- 119 FX Reviews
- 84 Other Reviews
- 734 Made in the UK
- 932 Theory
- 1.8K Technique
- 2K Live
- 3K Studio & Recording
- 2.1K Making Music
- 202 Events
- 15 Guitar Show 2018
- 762 Plug My Stuff
- 100.6K Classifieds
- 39.2K Guitars £
- 2.6K Acoustics £
- 132 LH Guitars £
- 836 Basses £
- 10K Parts £
- 17.6K Amps £
- 32.8K FX £
- 2.6K Studio & Rec £
- 5.8K Misc £
- 443 Personnel
- 52.7K Chat
- 35.3K Off Topic
- 987 Tributes
- 6.3K Music
In this Discussion
Become a Subscriber!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45
Download Festival 2023
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Personally, I had a great time, yeah there were some sound issues now and again but not enough to spoil any performances I saw.
The price of food and drink was a joke and the amount of chairs too close to the main stages needs looking in to. We had weekend arena tickets and I drove (live only 25 miles away) so I brought my own food & drink with me.
My head said brake, but my heart cried never.
So, the positives:
- The atmosphere on the Saturday was incredible. So many people there made it very special.
- The weather (albeit it was a bit hot saturday, but so so much better than if it was raining)
- Metallica as headliners was brilliant and, for me, the ticket was great value for money considering the bands I did get to see (Metallica, Alter Bridge, Disturbed, Mammoth WVH, Ice Nine Kills, Placebo, Coheed and Cambria etc. etc).
- I saw some truly excellent smaller bands, Rituals were a real highlight.
The negatives:
- The sound at the dogtooth stage was truly horrific. We saw Caskets there and couldn't hear a thing. We nicknamed it the Dogshit stage it was so bad.
- The sound for Metallica on the Saturday was very poor. When they started I literally couldn't hear James' guitar. At all. We genuinely thought his amp had failed. We then moved 100m or so to the right and could hear James' guitar, but it was still very quiet. Kirk's guitar completely overpowered everything, and he wasn't playing that well!
- The traffic management was abysmal. I drove to Derby and caught the shuttle bus from the train station. On the Thursday it took aout 30 minutes to do the 6 miles to the airport, and then 1 1/2 hours to do the 1/2 mile from the airport to Donington park. On the way back, I managed to get an earlier bus (thanks to my long legs and purposeful stride) but if I'd been only 5 minutes later I'd have likely been waiting well over an hour to get a bus. It then took an hour and 15 minutes to do 7 miles.
- The facilities were poor. By the Saturday people were just pissing up fences etc, and the toilets were overflowing. You had to walk through puddles of raw sewage to go for a piss. In 30+ degree heat, that's really really unpleasant. The water was non-existent. The food was expensive and pretty average.
- If I ever see one more advert for BMTH Genxsis I'm going to murder someone.
- Coheed and Cambria were incredible. I would go as far as to say the best band of the weekend. For some reason known only to the organisers, they were put in a tent, with a tiny stage. You couldn't get near the place. They should have been on a much bigger stage.
- The lineup was pretty average, to be honest. BMTH are not my thing, that's fine. But outside the headliner for each day, and the key sub-headliner, there wasn't that much to get me excited.
All in all, I would say I had a good time, but I'm in no rush to go back
I was stage front at the right hand side and yeah, James's guitar was absent on Whiplash, then suddenly during Bells it seemed like someone plugged something in. After that it was quiet and Kirk's tone was super hot but I thought it was because I was down the front. It all balanced up a bit later in the set, but Kirk was still a little too loud (not enough to put me off) and yeah, plenty of clams
Still loved it TBF, also I didn't find water an issue bar the queue I guess, also thought the Gyros were nice (if a little pricey) as were the bubble waffles!!
My head said brake, but my heart cried never.
And I did notice that the sound faded in and out at points, like it was being blown away by the wind. It was strange.
As you say, I still loved it. I went home Thursday and Saturday absolutely knackered, with no voice, and some truly great memories. I am just very very glad I wasn't camping like a couple of friends were. They were in the quiet camp, and had pre-paid for parking near the camp. Parking was full when they arrived, and they were sent to a car park 7 miles away from their campsite. They had to lug their camping gear, food, and drink, oveer 7 miles (took them 2 1/2 hours) in the heat. An absolute shitshow
Agree with everything else you said too.
What disappointed me was that this was billed as 20 year anniversary 4 dayer. Yet overall they only had 9 more bands than last year. A whole day, 4 stages and only 9 more bands, for all that extra ticket money?!
Plus you'd think after 20 years they would have the basics nailed by now.
My head said brake, but my heart cried never.
My head said brake, but my heart cried never.
My head said brake, but my heart cried never.
My head said brake, but my heart cried never.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/6247851455313173?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V
Now, it may come as a surprise to some of you.... But I'm a massive Metallica fan
Thing is though, despite that you've gotta be honest and this isn't is it? I get massaging things a bit, maybe drag a vocal up or a guitar whatever, but this is probably too far for me. I still had a great time either way, and they've been better live since playing with a click, but that signature part in One has been out of Lars reach for a good while now.
My head said brake, but my heart cried never.
There is also a clip, not sure if it is Seattle or Mexico gig where James passes some REALLY snide comments to Jason before a song. Again, it sounds like he is loaded up on the booze so won't hold it against him.