Download Festival 2009 @ Donnington Review Part One (Friday: Faith No More, Korn, Limp Bizkit)

I’m very much still on edge; anxious, excitable and slightly jumpy. I woke up in a tent yesterday morning after my fifth night in the Download campsite. I woke up this morning in my bed, several thousand kilometres away and am somewhat unsettled. We arrived on Wednesday during a torrential storm. Things did not bode well. We travelled from the west of Ireland, through Wales and down towards Donnington Park, soon the rain was so thick that transparent arteries bled across the windscreen, seriously limiting any visibility. After getting lost in Derby (shut up, I know), we arrived at the desired location via a ridiculously narrow walled road near Melbourne.

Car parked, we bundled everything together and began the trek to the campsite. Forty five minutes of walking later, we were saturated, the rain relentless but thankfully not cold. The hill through the green campsite was turning into a river of sludge already. If this was only Wednesday, it was looking like it was going to be one hell of a muddy weekend. I haven’t pitched a tent since I was about thirteen and trying to negotiate one in the dark, in the lashing rain on a rocky hill isn’t the ideal situation for resurrecting such skills. Perseverance and misery prevailed and the tent was erected. Shortly afterwards we felt settled, until the ground began to rumble.

I hadn’t realised how close Donnington is to East Midlands Airport, I had even less of an inclination that our campsite was beside the runway. Every hour or so, everything would appear to forcibly undulate due to the departing aircraft a few metres away. Nothing so trivial could spoil my weekend though; I don’t sleep much at the best of times anyway. This momentary relaxation was shattered when we discovered that the next tent over had several industrial megaphones with them. Even if I fail hear the phrase ‘Buttscratcher’ ever again, it will never leave my brain, damn you.

Then there were the toilets, or lack thereof. I have seen poo in places where it is impossible to put poo without severe determination, effort and a great deal of dexterity. What were you doing with it people? Don’t play with it for the love of God, just get rid of it. There is a point where poo stops becoming funny and just becomes smelly.

This is where all the negative points ended. Thursday morning was so hot that by lunchtime, the mud had all but disappeared. Summer had reappeared with a vengeance. The village by the campsite was pretty well equipped for anything that you may have needed over the weekend, but we had come prepared. The day was spent meandering around doing nothing in particular. Energy was being conserved for Friday when the bands started, in hindsight; this was a very good idea.

The excitement upon pouring into the Arena on Friday morning was electrifying. With 100,000 people congregating with a shared love and passion for the music, this really was something special. There is certain camaraderie and bonhomie that exists amongst metal fans that is horribly absent from almost every other form or genre. There was no point where I felt out of place or experienced any form of elitism whatsoever. This was so refreshing and made conversing with total strangers easy, the general feeling of goodwill remained prominent throughout.

With the first band, came the first mistake. Someone had told me to go and see Steadlur, that they were worth watching. They were wrong. Whilst there was nothing inherently bad about what they did, it just held no appeal to me. Their pub rock stylings are those which I have already witnessed dozens of times before and it was only a few songs in before I got bored enough to wander off and catch the last few minutes of Hollywood Undead, who I wished I had gone to see. Still, that was a minor regret. They are a new band and I’m positive I will catch them again.

There were very few major clashes on the Friday, Motley Crue clashed with Faith No More, but given the Crue’s rigorous touring ethics, it was no contest really. One guy was wearing a great shirt with both of the band’s logos in it with the caption ‘You want it all but you can’t have it’ which I think summed it up well.

A Day to Remember were next up on the second stage, this is a band that I was really excited about seeing. The Florida based pop metal act are reaching higher ground each year and this live show did a lot to support this development. Their entrance to ‘2001’ which broke into ‘Downfall of us all’ was so energetic and forceful that it was the definite beginning of the festival for me. They are a band who are so close to perfecting what they do. This made it such a pleasure to watch. The response was immense and they were visibly appreciative. Their traditional metal and punk moments contrast surprisingly well with the sing a long chorus format that was so indicative of Nu Metal. They are a band who are well worth looking out for, and their accessibility and general appeal is something to be savoured and not scorned.

Now I mention it, it was all a bit of a Nu Metal resurgence for me, the bill was littered with acts whose glory days were very much in the late 90’s and early 00’s, it was going to be interesting to see how they performed over the weekend. Resurgence or not, nothing was going to get me to go and see Staind, who were on next, and so I went to the bar instead. Now happily relaxing on the bank overlooking the main stage, I watched Billy Talent from afar. It’s good that bands like Billy Talent are included on the bill, because it gives the attendee time to explore the food courts, merchandise stands, use the bathroom and anything else that is far away from the musicians as possible. I spent about fifteen minutes trying to figure out what the point of this band were before I realised that my feelings were not exceptional in any way. Their response was lukewarm, leading their lead singer to threaten the audience by saying ‘Any of you who are booing us, I’ll come down there and cut your face’. Not the best way to win new fans really; I wouldn’t expect to see them back next year. They are Canadian, which resulted in lots of Terrence and Philip quotes being thrown about, which pleased me greatly. Especially when the singer referred to the crowd as friends and one wag responded ‘I’m not you’re friend, buddy’ in a remarkable T&P impersonation. Ah, referential pop culture humour, it’s what binds us all.

One act who I had never really gotten into was Killswitch Engage, although for some reason, I had an idea that they would be worth seeing live, so I made my way closer to the front. I didn’t realise that the front would take me for the next six hours or so.

Either I missed something when I was listening to Killswitch before, or they are primarily a live act, because I was truly blown away by them. They were such a remarkably tight band, achieving a spectacular overall sound and presence the entire time. Their crowd control was something else, during ‘Rose of Sharyn’ they set up one of the biggest ‘Walls of Death’ that I have ever seen. They also do a fabulous rendition of Dio’s ‘Holy Diver’.

It was very decent of the festival to allow live streaming of almost every act. Especially now that I am back at a pc and can nab them all for prosperity! Mwaa ha ha.

Killswitch were a bit exhausting, but there was only about twenty minutes to recover before Limp Bizkit started on the main stage. I’ll get this out of the way now, I used to like Limp Bizkit, well, the first two albums anyway (Chocolate Starfish was woeful), so I was pretty eager to see them. This was perhaps also due to the return of original guitarist and delightfully eccentric Wes Borland. With a scratch filled intro by Ex House of Pain man DJ Lethal, it was moments before it struck me why Limp Bizkit were such a success. Why? Because they are amazing showmen, that’s why. They put everything into their concert, with Fred Durst seemingly leaving his ego back in the ‘Rolling’ era. He was consistently gracious and humbled to have returned to such a reaction, even thanking Korn at one point for all they had done for them. The crowd happily thrashed about to the likes of ‘Break Stuff’, ‘Faith’ and ‘Show Me What You Got’ and it occurred to me that some bands don’t need poignant lyrics and highly developed concepts. Certain things are just fun to leap around in the sun to, amongst thousands of people who are enjoying it just as much as you are.

It would be easy to be snide, to be facetious about Limp Bizkit but what would the point be? What I saw was a very well prepared band, delivering a brilliantly developed performance to a grateful and thrilled audience. If that’s cause for backhandedness, then I’ll gladly pass, thank you. It may be childish, but it was the perfect hour of escapism and I’d happily see them again if the opportunity presented itself.

By the time they had finished, I found myself (via a few circle pits) in the front centre stage area of the audience. Faith No More were only one act away. I decided to retain my position at the front throughout Korn. That wouldn’t be too hard, would it?

Ouch.

Korn was a gig that took effort to remain in any one position for too long. With a setlist comprising of mostly recent material, it was a conflictive show. The sound was superb (as it was all round with one notable exception) and Fieldy is a G. David Silvera and Head are missed though, having been replaced with two musicians who are obviously not far enough through the hazing process to appear on the band’s tour t shirts yet (Cold, guys, really cold), but they did their best to replicate a sound that is unfortunately, quite inimitable. If this absence of magnetism (Davis practically ignores all the band members for the entirety of the show), the obscurely picked setlist, or Davis himself were the main factor in the lack of connection, I am not entirely sure. Like I say, it’s hard to explain, the crowd loved it, everybody had a great time, but you never once got a feeling that Korn were enjoying themselves. It was everything that you would expect from a Korn show, but maybe that was the problem. It’s a possibility that Korn have now become so uniformed in their live acts that they have mutated into a ‘by the numbers’ rock band such as The Eagles. That would however make them The Eagles of Nu metal, so I might have to revisit that analogy later. It was my first time seeing them live and I wasn’t in anyway disappointed, but I didn’t feel the love.

Still, I didn’t give a fiddlers flute what Jon Davis and Co made of it all because Faith No More were on next, they being the main reason that I was at the festival in the first place.

I had retained my place; I was standing at the front of almost 100,000 people about to see one of my favourite bands of all time, who I never thought I would get to see. Where the hell do I start?

The luscious red curtains towered over the stage and any behind the scenes activity caused a roar of applause. The anticipation and excitement grew continually as the time approached. The sun finally eased off slightly, allowing for a very welcome breeze across the front row. The sealed area filled with press and photographers, the majority of them looking bored and miserable. Why do music journalists often seem to be this way? Have years of writing hundreds of standardised chin stroking articles depleted their serotonin? Probably not, that’ll be the cocaine. After observing this lethargic bunch of ingrates for a while, it was time and for the next two hours, I focused on nothing but what lay a few feet away from me.

Emerging to a gloriously acerbic cover of Peaches & Herb’s ‘Reunited’; they had us all at ‘Hello’. Faith No More have always been a band who excels on the festival circuit. Footage of them at 1997’s Bizarre Festival in Germany remains one of their greatest unofficial live concerts. With each band member beaming at every given opportunity, great things were promised in the opening moments. Mike Patton wobbled shakily onstage with the help of a white cane, emerging in a full red suit which brought Willy Wonka to mind, reappearing outside his chocolate factory gates after years of ambiguity and mystery. Patton’s projects outside FNM have always been fantastic, but they never received the adulation of his original breakthrough band (yes I know he was in Mr Bungle first). This is where he belongs, in front of tens of thousands of people, all of them baying for him.

Twenty three songs were played (twenty four if you include the cover of Lady Ga Ga’s ‘Poker Face’ on the introduction to ‘Chinese Arithmetic’), each version trumping any studio rendition that I have heard to date. Patton’s banter was sublime, he also proved himself to be the epitome of debonair. His grace and vocal dexterity are second to none, adding both impromptu and intensively laboured oral diversity, sometimes mid song. The strength of his vocals is matched by the relentless talent of the rest of the band. Billy Gould, Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum and Jon Hudson were amazing to watch, and just as spellbinding as Patton.

There are few artists who work together quite so well and it’s a thrill and delight to have them back. They can deliver everything and broaden your musical horizons without you even knowing it. The set was everything that I could have wanted; I have included some clips so that you can see for yourself. The feeling that they commanded was nothing short of magical, it was truly one of the most memorable shows that I have ever seen. I urge you to take the time to watch some of these exerts because they really are worth it.

Before I knew it, they had finished and the gargantuan crowd began to disperse. I left somewhat dazed, slightly battered and feeling so grateful that I had been there to witness it. I abstained from any subsequent tomfoolery because I knew that an equally gruelling day lay ahead of me tomorrow, if it was going to be anything like what I had just witnessed, I was going to need some sleep.

Faith No More Setlist Download Festival 2009:
1. Reunited
2. The Real Thing
3. From Out of Nowhere
4. Land of Sunshine
5. Caffeine
6. Evidence
7. Poker Face / Chinese Arithmetic
8. Surprise! You’re Dead!
9. Easy
10. Last Cup of Sorrow
11. Midlife Crisis
12. Introduce Yourself
13. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
14. Take This Bottle
15. Ashes to Ashes
16. Malpractice
17. Cuckoo for Caca
18. Be Aggressive
19. Epic
20. Mark Bowen
21. Encore:
21. Chariots Of Fire/
22. Stripsearch
23. We Care a Lot

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