As the sun absolutely obliterated everyone come early afternoon on Saturday, that was seemingly the same modus operandi for Hatebreed (11/13) as they bulldozed on to the main stage and immediately crashed into I Will Be Heard. There was absolutely no fucking around here, a 1pm set and Hatebreed had all of the pyro and an enormous sound - the perfect antidote for any potential Friday headaches. Speaking of enormous, late on in the set, instead of calling for a wall of death, the band brought out the BALL OF DEATH (a few giant inflatable balls to bounce around the crowd) which just added to the party atmosphere Jasta and crew were able to curate.
Hailing from Nepal, the next act for us were Underside (9/13) who, much like Windhand in a similar timed slot the day before, only really started to hit their stride fully in the final stages. Energetic and exciting, most of those in the tent were checking them out through sheer curiosity as anyone walking in to the arena to start their day would've been drawn by the absolute racket this group were making. They suffered a little against other hugely popular acts on the Apex and Opus but they more than held their own.
Ears fully ringing, next up were AWOLNATION (0/13) who were frankly abysmal. Embarrassingly poor performance in which even the massive hit Sail couldn't save things as the set reached it's conclusion. Enough said on that.
On the same stage a little later on came the far better Eagles Of Death Metal (10/13) who hit the stage with more bombast and style than anyone else all weekend. It was impossible to know which of the colourful characters to focus on as Jesse Hughes has managed to pull together a group as confident as himself in this, the latest incarnation of the band. Not sure anyone properly told them how long they had though as they ambled through an overly long version of their Save A Prayer cover early on which could've probably been dropped in favour of some of the missed hits (no Mexicola!). They did close out with Bowie's Moonage Daydream which fared a lot better cover-wise. Guitarist Scott Shiflett nailing the closing solo incredibly, it made for a great little mid-afternoon festival set. As Jesse put it, the whole show made him feel like a big golden erection encrusted in diamonds - us too mate.
Immediately following Eagles Of Death Metal, next up were The Darkness (11/13) who continued the theme of colourful outfits and bombast (we told you this would happen in our Previews!). No catsuit but a rather dashing silk shirt which sadly only last two songs. Anyway, ever popular at Download, the band drew a huge crowd on the Opus as they ran through a hit-filled set which sparked some of the worst sounding singalongs all weekend - work on those high pitched screams everyone! It won't come as any surprise that all content played from Permission To Land garnered a huge response - Growing On Me and Get Your Hands Off My Woman early on really got everything going. Dips in the set came from newer material - sadly for The Darkness, people still struggle to care about anything outside of that debut record aside from Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) (yes they cracked it out). Justin Hawkins still epitomises frontman energy beyond belief with his small bits of banter between tracks leading to actual belly-laughs across the crowd. In the midst of it, with the blaring hot sun starting to chill out a bit and the drinks in good flow, this just felt like another set perfectly suited for a festival good time.
In what was a truly fun run of bands atop the Opus on Saturday, next up came the stage headliners Sex Pistols w/ Frank Carter (12/13). We'll go ahead and declare it now, this was our set of the weekend. It was so much better than many probably anticipated, with the sound issues that had apparently plagued this stage all weekend subsiding for a set of all-time greats. The incredible energy generated for these classics reached fever pitch, with the heavens opening for a prolonged period just adding to the filthy mad Punk spirit which grabbed the crowd by the throat from start to finish. Opening with Holidays In The Sun, the classics simply flowed. By the time they'd reached Pretty Vacant about four or five tracks in, Frank Carter's attempt to get the crowd to do a circle pit around him whilst he sang in the middle fell apart very, very, quickly as the place just descended in to unbridled chaos. Two stoppages for health and safety reasons in this song alone should help capture what we're talking about here.
God Save The Queen being cracked out midway through the set came as a mad welcome shock for those probably expecting it to be the closer but it helped level as much "what will happen next" as can be generated from a band essentially still touring off the back of just one record. Actual closer Anarchy In The UK was Frank's opportunity to throw a middle finger up to EDL, IDF and USA as he cleverly twisted lyrics at defining moments throughout the track. Shortly prior to this, their cover of My Way which Sid Vicious did so many years ago seemed to genuinely get Frank Carter choked up, as well as a touching tribute from Steve Jones himself about the impact he's had. Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock & Frank Carter... take a bow chaps. That was a blast; there was nothing rotten about that.
Rounding off the day and back over to the main stage, by some distance one of the most talked about sets in Download history, both before and after it had wrapped up. It was the turn of Sleep Token (10/13) to take their bow as one of the few bands who have risen all the way atop the bill at this festival. It's natural that a new headliner, one in which a perceived "risk" has been taken (although not sure how much of a risk it is bumping a band selling out arenas for breakfast and having number 1 albums in both the UK and US) draws comparisons to similar moves in the past - Slipknot 2009, Avenged Sevenfold 2014, Bring Me The Horizon 2023. Placing this on the scale of these types of "moments", it probably ranked somewhere between Bring Me The Horizon and Avenged Sevenfold. The band came on with a hell of a lot of bombast, Look To Windward sounded huge despite the curtain apparently getting stuck halfway down for a period of time.
There was a pocket of the crowd further down the front who were absolutely glued. Erupting into pits when the riffs landed one minute, swaying to the huge soaring choruses the next. Further back, there was less enthusiasm. Casuals who had come down to check out these new headliners from further back had their experience hampered by the fact that all of the screens, including those on the sound towers, had terrible visuals. Rather than watch the band, there was a terrible sort of filter with erratic time delays and slow-motion movements. One of those ideas that probably sounded quite good on a post-it note in a meeting room somewhere. All the big hits were covered off, from The Summoning through to Damocles and more. We feel that next time, and there almost certainly will be a next time, there's potential for Sleep Token to take things up a notch.