I was one of the lucky 10,000 who managed to secure a ticket to the UK’s first camping festival since the pandemic began: Download Pilot – at Donnington Park near Derby.
When I heard that the Download Pilot was going to go ahead I was ecstatic. The pilot was announced a mere four weeks before the festival date and though at first I thought I was torn between going and saving my money, in the end it took me about five seconds to decide to buy those tickets for me and my girlfriend Mia.
After shopping round for a tent and getting my dad to send my camping stuff up from Cornwall, we were all ready to go.
Friday morning came around quickly, and to get to our coach on time we had to leave at eight. The rain was treacherous. But that wasn’t going to stop me from enjoying the weekend.
We got to Victoria Coach Station in good time which allowed us to look around at all the other people on their way to the type of weekend that none of us had experienced in almost two years. As it turned out, some of those faces would become very familiar to us by the end of the weekend.
At last the coach arrived and once our stuff had been loaded and we had our seats there was no turning back. We would be at the festival in a matter of hours.
Everyone was excited as we arrived at the site, but our moods dropped as the skies opened and we became drenched. Then we walked around for what seemed like an hour to find a place to set our tent up and eventually found a spot about two minutes away from the arena. We rushed to get the tent up, but by then it didn’t matter. We were soaked from head to toe and the pair of shoes I had brought had turned into slabs of mud.
Once the tent was up we unrolled our sleeping bags and prayed that the rain would stop before the music started. Regardless of the weather I decided it was best to get out and have an explore – and to get some wellies as I had forgotten to bring any. After about 10 minutes of walking around the rain eased off and we were relieved. Maybe the weekend wouldn’t be a complete wash out.
At around 5:30 we went back to the tent. I put on my new wellies and we grabbed some ciders and headed to the main stage to see our first live gig in over a year and a half.
Hot Milk are a small northern band, and watching them was a great way to start the weekend. Everyone was dancing in the mud. Mosh pits were forming on either side and we were all having a wonderful time. One of our personal highlights from the Hot Milk set was a song called Candy Coat Lies.
After Hot Milk, we had a good hour to kill before the next band, so we headed back to the tent and were excited to find that we had neighbours, who as it turned out had been at Victoria Station with us, though we got on the bus before them. Once we had introduced ourselves to the neighbours and grabbed a few more ciders, it was time to head out again, this time to see a Welsh band called Neck Deep.
Neck Deep are one of those bands I got into as teenager and although I had seen them live, over the years I listened to them less and less. And so it was a surprise to me when I found out I still knew every lyric to every song and I have to admit they were 10 times better this time than when I saw them last. Their performance had so much energy and I even jumped into a mosh pit for Don’t Wait.
After Neck Deep I headed to the second stage while Mia headed back to the tent. The next band was one I had heard great things about but hadn’t listened to much. Maybe I would discover something I would like, and how right I was. From the moment they came on stage adorned in black robes and masks with smoke lingering behind them I knew that I was going to love this band. Sleep Token is a progressive metal band from London. I tried to pick up the lyrics so I could sing along but failed miserably. But I’d say that Sleep Token were one of my favourite acts of the weekend. My favourite song from their set was The Night Does Not Belong To God.
After Sleep Token I went back to the tent and we decided it was time to get some food as neither of us were particularly bothered about seeing the headliner that night, Frank Carter and the Rattle Snakes. So instead we sat at the back of the crowd with a giant Yorkshire pudding stuffed with sausage and mash while Frank Carter played. Then we went to join the queue for the silent disco.
Joining the queue early was a good idea because by the time Frank Carter ended the queue stretched from one side one the main stage to the other. Once in the silent disco we were treated to a mix that ranged from pop punk acts like Blink 182 and Green Day to metal music from people like Slipknot and Pantera. We danced the night away for about three hours until our feet ached and it was time to head back.
The sun shining down on our tent on Saturday morning made it unbearably hot so we got dressed as quickly as possible and sat with our neighbours planning our day over breakfast. Between us we wanted to see a whopping eleven bands, but fortunately there was not a single clash.
For the most part that morning and afternoon we decided to sit at the back of the crowd, listening to the bands while still enjoying the sun. First up was Conjurer, a British progressive metal band with a range of sounds. They put on a really good show, especially when one of the members jumped into the mosh pit with the crowd. After that we caught a few other bands including post-hardcore UK band As Everything Unfolds, and Scottish metalcore band Bleed from Within.
The next two acts on our list were ones we were excited about. I discovery them during the 1st lockdown thanks to that fact that both of them featured heavily on Download TV back in the June 2020. First up was The Hara, whose frontman came out in a dress and had so much energy that you couldn’t resist singing along with the call and response. The highlight track for me was Fiends, but the band had so much passion for what they were doing that the whole set was fantastic.
Wargasm were up next, but although I had loved listening to each of their new releases, their live set fell a bit flat for me. The fact that there was feedback every couple of minutes didn’t help, and the screechy female vocals were just a bit off putting. That did not stop me having a good time however, and I found myself in a huge mosh pit during their most popular song, Spit.
After Wargasm we got some food and headed back to the tent, only to find that our neighbours had made friends with some more of the people camped around, and so now we were a big group of fifteen. For the majority of the rest of the afternoon we sat around drinking, chatting and generally having a good time, almost has if Covid and the lockdown were ancient history. It was during these moments that I realised how much lockdown had affected people’s ability to socialise and how being at Download had lifted a great weight from us.
Then it was time to get going again and so we went off to the second stage to see Those Damn Crows, a Welsh band that were excited about being able to celebrate their drummer’s birthday. But instead of us singing happy birthday to him, the singer encouraged us to insult him instead!
After Those Damn Crows we head back over to the main stage with a few more ciders and some rum and sat at the back to watch Scottish band Twin Atlantic. Although we didn’t know them, we recognised one of their hits, Heart and Soul.
After this we met back up with the group and were having such a good time that we missed the next two bands that we had planned to see – and by the time we realised what time it was the Saturday headline act Enter Shikari were about to start.
We had been listening to loads of their songs for weeks – new and old – so that we would be prepared for whatever they performed. Everyone cheered as the lights dimmed and then a fanfare version of Live Outside began and everyone started shouting “I want to live outside, live outside of all of this” over and over again as the band walked on the stage.
Frontman Rou Reynolds came to the edge of the stage while the entire crowd was singing to him, and you could see in his eyes how much it meant to him to be performing live in front of so many people who wanted to hear the band.
Once the fanfare faded out, Enter Shikari absolute rocked the stage. The crowd was loving them and equally they were loving the crowd. They played a 90-minute set and every minute was phenomenal. Even when it started raining, the crowd was not deterred in the slightest. As well as Live Outside, their set included brilliant hits such as Sorry, You’re Not A Winner.
But unfortunately 11pm rolled around and with the end of their set we had to make a move and see if we could get into the silent disco – but not before checking the tent for leaks and grabbing some more cider.
But that is when disaster struck. While I was queuing for the silent disco, Mia went to the toilet and when she came back, she realised that during the dancing and jumping around to Enter Shikari, she had lost her purse. We went back to where we had been standing, but couldn’t see it. So we pulled everything out of the tent, but still no purse. So we wondered down to the lost property, hoping that someone had handed it in. Inevitably it was busy with other people who had lost things like phones and wallets, so we waited in the queue. Then a steward could see that she was stressed so he asked us to describe the purse and amazingly someone had handed it in! Thank you whoever you are!
After that we decided that we weren’t really in the mood for the silent disco, so we went back to the tent and sat with our neighbours until the early hours and then called it a night.
When Sunday morning rolled around it was still raining a bit, but it was light enough that we could still enjoy the festival. I couldn’t believe how quickly the festival had gone by, and I was determined to make the most of the final day, especially as the band I had been waiting all week to see was headlining.
Sunday was a slow burn. None of the acts I wanted to see were on until the evening, so we decided to do a bit of shopping around the arena. I managed to find myself a really nice Iron Maiden t-shirt, a metal tankard and 10 new patches to stitch on to my jacket.
After shopping and getting a few drinks from the bar we dropped everything back at the tent and headed to the first band of the day, Massive Wagons, a rock band from Lancaster. I hadn’t heard of them before seeing the the line up for the festival. But I gave them a listen and enjoyed them, and so thought I would go see them live. I am so glad that I did because they put on a really good show and played brilliant songs such as House Of Noise; In It Together and a song called the Curry Song which is literally about ordering a curry. Massive Wagon will now also always have a place close to my heart – because they are the first band that I ever crowd surfed to!
It was almost time for the Sunday headliner, but first Mia wanted to see Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. I knew absolutely nothing about them apart from the fact that they were more ‘alternative’ than the your typical Download act. But even though I am not the biggest alternative fan in the world, I really liked Frank Turner. The music was different to what we’d seen in rest of the festival, and so it was a welcome break. I found myself singing along and dancing and I have even added a few of their songs to one of my playlists. Definitely one of the biggest surprises of the festival.
Then it was time to see the band that I had waited all weekend for. The final headliner was Bullet For My Valentine and I couldn’t wait to get into the crowd. But there was a problem. I had lost Mia – and by the time I found her again the band had already started.
However, not being someone to lose heart, I still found my way into the mosh pit and that is where I stayed for the entire set – and I loved every single minute of it. This is what I had missed for the past 18 months: that feeling for being part of a crowd in which everyone is looking after each other and pulling each other off the floor when they fall.
I can safely say that it is one of the best feelings I have had in a very long time. I even managed to crowd surf again, not once but twice! The Bullet For My Valentine set relit that fire I have for metal and the passion I have for writing reviews and telling my stories about festivals.
However, even something as good as Bullet For My Valentine has to come to an end, in this case with the outstanding track Waking the Demon.
Then we headed back to the tent to sit down and enjoy the rest of the evening. While sitting I could feel the bruises forming from the battering I had taken in the mosh pit and I smiled, realising the amount of fun I had had. While we sat under the gazebo with our neighbours, we were joined by some friendly strangers, and we exchanged stories from the weekend and from other festivals. We discussed bands, TV, politics and whatever else came to mind. One of them even lived one town away from where I went to secondary school.
The night rolled on and it was soon time for bed. We would have to pack all of the stuff up in the morning, and make it back to the bus by 10am.
We woke up Monday morning knowing it was time to head home and back into a world where Covid restrictions were still in place. The coach back was a quiet one, with everyone tired from the weekend. There was a sense of sadness that we had to return to wearing masks and keeping our distance.
