As the Friday morning sun (or rain clouds) rose across the hallowed turf at Donington, excitement was understandably stirring for the weekend ahead of live music and the guaranteed chaos that goes with it. Friday at Download this year belonged to the masked maniacs of Slipknot, a point made vividly clear when looking at the attire of large sections of the Donington pilgrims. Slipknot are one of those unique bands who seem to attract an army of followers wherever they go now, much in the same mould as the giants of this genre like Metallica and Saturday's headliners Iron Maiden.
As the day kicked off however, I found myself descending on the third stage, otherwise known as the Pepsi Max Stage. The small, and local outfit Emperor Chung(6/13) provided an energetic and quite inspiring opening to this year's festival. The band were clearly over the moon to not only be playing Download, but had the chance to bring their own brand of eclectic heavy rock and open one of the stages. The key also is they won over the attention of the crowd that tended to build as the show went on. Sticking with the Pepsi Max Stage, a few bands down the line the riff heavy Hang The Bastard(7/13) delivered an impressive performance, launching from riff to riff to riff, keeping the crowds gathering in and around the tent slowing headbanging away. The set suffered a bit from sound issues, as the key components to these riff junkies, the guitar, kept fading in and out all over the place which ruined the show somewhat. They still ploughed on with great energy though and had no doubt won over a fair few new fans in the process.
Speaking of riffs, up next on the Pepsi Max Stage were a band whom Geezer Butler himself has said comes closest to the Sabbath sound and feel. The Sword(9/13) have an ever-growing fan base and as they opened their set with the brilliant Veil Of Isis they were greeted with a triumphant roar. The great thing about this band, is the fact that once you know what to expect, you can really appreciate their brilliance. They're not going to run up and down the stage, swinging their guitars all over the place; instead they perform songs delivered with spectacular precision, moving from one heavy riff to the next. Speaking of riffs as well, as The Sword's performance came to a close, the legendary Down(6/13) were taking to the main stage. However, for all their prowess and ability the live performance all felt a bit sloppy. For large periods it just didn't feel like everyone on the stage was completely connecting with each other. Phil Anselmo is still one of the best front men in Metal, even when the rest of the band seem a bit off key. It didn't really pick up until one of the ultimate metal anthems Bury Me In Smoke melted faces across the arena.
Up next on the main stage were the Nu Metal titans Korn(10/13) and with the return of original band member, Head, into the fold there was a new level of excitement brewing for this performance. It's only when seeing bands like Korn live you realise how extensive a back catalogue they actually have, and opening with Blind proves to be an absolute masterstroke. Immediately the crowd were whipped into a fury. Looking back at the festival as a whole, it can safely be said that the sound for Korn's set was easily one of the best all weekend. The extremely heavy bass driven tracks did not lose any balls. Perhaps the only downer across the set list was the fact that they persisted to stray into the dubstep territory from the most recent album, which caused a slight detachment. It felt a shame that with such a rich back catalogue, (especially with Head back again, we should have heard some real rarities!) they still felt like there was time to show off their dubstep experiment. All was forgiven though with the double whammy of Got The Life and Freak On A Leash to close the set, the latter of which causing one of the biggest sing along's all festival.
This next band seem to be well on their way to headlining Download in a few years, I'm putting it out there, Download 2015 or 2016 will have Bullet For My Valentine headlining! Their breed of metal is just incredible and more than anything they're a treat to watch for any metal fan. The initial O' Fortuna sends shivers down the spine as the Welsh wonders make their way from back stage and kick into Breaking Point. Their set is sprinkled with fan favourites such as Waking the Demon and Last Fight. 'This is Download! The whole planet is watching Donington!'. Matt Tuck says before demanding circle pits...as if he needed to ask, as he said 'this is Download'. Ending on the song that kick started their career the epic Tears Don't Fall. (11/13) (Richard Ounsworth)
Now onto the main event. There are few bands that have made that step up in recent years, that step up to headliner status to rival the likes of Iron Maiden and Metallica. Slipknot have done just that, and have never failed to deliver in their new heightened rank amongst the Metal elite. That performance at Download in 2009 has gone down in metal folklore now, along with the emotional comeback after Paul Gray's untimely passing at Sonisphere in 2011 which was also a tremendous performance. So with all that going for them, would the hype be too much rolling into Download 2013? Well the hype was indeed significant, but my word did they live up to it. As with any Slipknot show the sense of intrigue is also huge, and as the particularly bizarre intro music of Billie Jo Spears' Get Behind Me Satan And Push belted out across the arena, cue the confused expressions (although the diehards know this was a cool harp back to the earlier days of Slipknot, a nice touch).
As the band ripped into the thunderous opener Disasterpiece all hell proceeded to break loose. This track has always been such a crowd favourite at live shows, but for arguably one of the angriest Slipknot tunes (and that's saying a lot) to open the show? Talk about setting the tone. As the set ploughed through several more classics including Liberate and Wait And Bleed the energy across the band and across the crowd hit an almighty high. So high in fact that the barrier broke, for the first time tonight, just before the epic Before I Forget stirred up the night's first proper big sing along. The phenomenal set list rolled on as the band were able to pluck hits from across all four albums, from Eyeless to Sulfur up until the barrier broke for a second time during Left Behind. Despite of course the barrier actually breaking, it is important to acknowledge how quick both the band and organisers were to react to the incidents, everyone was respectful of the pause, so kudos all around.
Perhaps one the main highlights of the show came from the band's performance of the weird yet brutally heavy Gently. They went all out with the performance of this tune, blowing small bits of foam all over the crowd (if you've ever watched the Disasterpieces DVD you'll know what I'm talking about) and just delivering it with such passion and heart you couldn't do much more than just admire.
As the crowd favourites Sic, People=Shit and Surfacing ripped through the night sky and the set came to close, the band had already set a monumental marker. Just an absolutely awesome live force. (13/13)