Magic People, Voodoo People!
What is a drum and bass act doing at Download? Well, given the actual words in the genre you'd think that drums and bass were important things to have at a metal festival? There were rumors that Pendulum would get bottled off stage and all that sort of thing. Not a bit of it. In fact, this is the biggest crowd that the Tuborg Stage has seen yet and possibly, the biggest for the entire festival.
Why? Because people like to dance.
It's good to see a bassist, guitarist and drummer backing up the synth and electronic elements of the band. It certainly gives a more metal and rock feel to the proceedings. The sound is better than it was during the early part of the day. The crowd are certainly loving it with plenty of bouncing and shouts. I was surprised that they performed "Voodoo People" but it was certainly very welcome. The whole crowd had begun to move and by the the time "Granite" is played even more people are coming to the stage. The crowd really hits the fever pitch with "Blood Sugar". No-one is left standing still! Theres even a circle pit forming at the front of the crowd.
It's certainly not something you'd expect at a metal festival but then the Prodigy gathered a similar crowd in 2006. Everyone likes hard dance music with a punk edge and heavy beats and Pendulum certainly have the crowds attention today. "Blood Sugar" seamlessly gives way to "Slam". The MC didn't really need to say much to the crowd to keep the energy flowing.
Pendulum close to "Hold your Colour" which surmises the performance quite well. It's sung rather than sampled and the vocals are not terribly strong. Throughout the set the MC has been sightly weak. However the drumming and guitar work, especially the final solo, are excellent and really make the performance. Despite the majority of Pendulum's songs having the same beat, they went down very well today.