Come Back Soon
Volbeat don’t look like guys you’d mess with. Each one built like the quintessential brick house, they cut a menacing figure as they take to the second stage for the mid afternoon slot but something just doesn’t seem right. Within no time front man Michael Poulson is joking with the crowd, hilariously declaring that they are Motorhead with a near perfect Lemmy impression. Between laughs Poulson’s dedicates the next track to Johnny Cash, launching into a rockabilly blast of ‘Sad Man’s Tongue’ that pays homage to Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ and immediately results in portions of the crowd dancing insanely.
But Volbeat aren’t finished yet. Packing a raucous punch that sounds like the lost love child of Elvis and Metallica, ‘Radio Girl’ briskly stomps by before Poulson’s comedic antics surge once one, quipping about how metal shows are all about shouting as many “fucks” within the space of a few seconds as possible. It would seem though that Volbeat don’t do typical metal shows as Poulson asks everyone to split down the middle, not for a wall of death as is common, but for a wall of love. That’s right instead of inciting a collision of tangled limbs the Swedes instead get everyone to run across to each other and hug resulting in the weirdest sight at Download this year.
In the end though it’s the surprise inclusion of Dusty Springfield’s ‘I Only Want To Be With You’ that truly steals the show. Injecting a party atmosphere into the sunny afternoon, Volbeat’s mind blowing rendition breathes new life into the track as riffs chug underneath Poulson’s gruffly inviting vocals leaving a smile permanently plastered on every face and leading to the most bizarre sing along of the festival. A fun end to an astounding set that begs only one question - when are Volbeat next in the UK?