Enter the Tokyo Dragons!
It's twenty to five on a Friday afternoon at Download; enter the dragons, the Tokyo Dragons to be exact. Kicking in with a laid back, catchy, almost classic rock feel, they manage to rouse a response from a few members of the audience and soon enough almost everyone is head-banging along to this feel-good band.
With influences of punk and early rock, this energetic band makes a nice change from the heavier stuff happening on the main stage and the Snickers Stage - however, something is missing.
Trying their best to be as animated as possible, with ownership of guitars belonging to both lead and backing vocalists, they give the music their uttermost heart and soul and for the most part it does breathe some life back into it. However, this factor cannot continue to distract attention away from the fact that something is a little wrong with this performance. Then again, technics for the Napster stage are not particularly up to par today, and thus the sound balance is very off, making the band difficult to listen to, which is a shame for those who had been excited about seeing them.
The two front-men do have powerful and unusual voices and have great stage presence and audience communication skills, involving the audience as much as they can and really creating a friendly and energetic atmosphere.
Relentless like a dragon, their infectious, feel-good music intoxicates your mind and very soon, the audience can’' help but find themselves jumping along to the head-banging, addictive rhythm and the sheer thrill of life found within their music. A great band to have visited if you were in search of something softer and refreshing to take a breather from all the heavier genres playing at Donington today.