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DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL 2003.
1ST JUNE 2003. DONINGTON PARK.

Welcome to the morning after the night before. Rather than mess around pitching a tent etc, we decided to sleep in our car. I got about 3 hours sleep in the end. Our car park was now virtually empty. Most people parked in it left over night. Fools. If only they knew what they were about to miss.
After doing my make up and having some breakfast, (which consisted of more Haribo), we left for the arena at about 10.50am and arrived just in time for Instruction. They were the 1st band on the main stage. However, later in the day they also played on the Scuzz stage, replacing one of the bands that pulled out. I was very, very impressed by them. I knew a few of my friends liked them but I had never heard anything by them. They reminded me a lot of the Foo Fighters. The lead singer had a voice just like that of Dave from the Foo Fighters. The two bands sounded very similar.
When they had finished I decided to go take some photos of the festival site. Unfortunately my camera suddenly stopped working for no apparent reason. I wasn�t amused. I went to watch Raging Speedhorn. I hadn�t seen them since about 4 years ago went they were a support band in a tiny venue before they made it big. Not a lot has changed since I last saw them. Most of their songs still sound the same. I still couldn�t understand much of which was been �sung�. Frontman Jon is still rather fat, bald and ugly. The woman stood in front of us was enjoying herself though. She was going crazy to them.
One Minute Silence were a bit disappointing. I have a few of their singles at home. They sound really good on CD but live they were quite a let down. Apparently this was their first ever festival appearance. I find that hard to believe but maybe they were telling the truth. Maybe it was their first ever festival appearance. I�m not convinced.
We spotted Jon from Raging Speedhorn afterwards. He was wandering around the festival site trying to get recognised by as many people as possible. He was stood still on one of the main walkways using his mobile phone. He was clearly just trying to draw attention to himself. What a wanker. Not only does he have a massive belly but it turns out he has a massive ego too. Bet he has a small dick though.
We headed back to the main stage in time for The Darkness. They were here playing their 1st proper outdoor gig. They�re going to have to get used to playing outside to large amounts of people as next month they are due to support Robbie Williams at his huge Knebworth shows. I wouldn�t say they are exactly the most ideal choice of support though. The Darkness are a stadium rock group. Robbie is a pop star. A strange combination me thinks. Frontman Justine had promised fans he would be fired onstage out of a cannon. This didn�t happen. Shame. The highlight of their set was their cover of �Street Sprit�, originally a hit for Radiohead. They received a mixed response from the crowd. At first most people seemed to be throwing bottles at them. This stopped as the set went on. Either the crowd started to like them or they simply ran out of bottles to throw. Who knows.
We managed to catch a few tracks by the Real McKenzies. What we did see sounded really cool. In between bands, the stage was invaded by a Scuzz TV presenter. The quite old fat one with long hair. You know the one I mean? You do? Fantastic. Well anyway, he was almost naked at the time and after swearing a few times and playing air guitar for a bit, he was wrestled off stage by security.
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster were on next. It was the best set I have seen by them yet. They were ment to be followed by Apocalyptica, a Metallica tribute band from Norway. However, there had been rumours all week that it would be the real Metallica playing in that slot, not the tribute band. Now was the moment of truth. Just who would be playing next? It was a question everyone was dying to know the answer to. The tent gradually filled up. I don�t think anyone was actually expecting to see Metallica, especially as just days beforehand festival organisers had issued a statement saying that Metallica definitely would not be playing. People continued to pour in though, just in case Metallica did happen to turn up.
A few minutes later and the crowd were going mental. The curtains at the back of the stage had opened to reveal a shit load of massive amps and a huge drum kit. Die hard fans recognised the equipment immediately and identified it as belonging to Metallica. It seems the rumours were true. One of the biggest bands in the world were about to play un-announced, on a shockingly small stage at 3.30pm in the afternoon to a crowd of around just 8000 people.
As you can imagine, the news soon spread throughout the festival site and there were reports of thousands of people running towards the Scuzz tent were the rare event was taking place. Extra security was drafted in to prevent crushing. This was the first time Metallica had played in the UK since 1999. Some how I managed to get on the 2nd row from the front.
I don�t even like Metallica but I certainly wasn�t going to give up my place. I wanted to be a part of this historic gig which will be talked about for years. The loudest cheering of the weekend could be heard as the band strolled on stage. I don�t even know their names. I wasn�t going to admit that at the time though. They performed for about an hour. By the end of it I was totally fucked. I got totally crushed. It was a greatest hits set apparently. I personally didn�t recognise one song of those performed. Tracks like �Master Of Puppets�, �No Remorse� and �Creeping Death� were amongst those included during the set. Two new tracks, �St Anger� and �Frantic� were also premiered.
I really don�t understand all the hype surrounding Metallica. No offense if you�re a fan of them but I thought they were shit. Every song sounded the same. There was no variety. They weren�t exactly exciting to watch either. I�ve seen bands that are way better. Oh, and the singer guy can�t sing. And what is going on with that moustache of his? Jesus Christ. Sort it out man.
Afterwards I went to go join the queue at the signing tent. This time it was to meet Stone Sour. After two long and very boring hours I finally got the chance to. Corey was moaning at the amount of things he had to sign. He seemed like a very nice guy though and even posed for me while I took a photo of him. My camera started working again just in time. I also managed to sneak in and meet Shit Skank, basically because they had run out of people to meet. That must be well embarrassing, been in a signing tent and not having anyone that actually wants to meet you. They seemed a bit depressed. If I was in Spine Skank I think I would be depressed too.
I made it back over to the main stage in time for Flint, the new band from the Prodigy frontman Keith Flint. They were really good actually. I wasn�t really sure what to expect. They were more rock orientated than the Prodigy, which is obviously a good thing. Keith must have been nervous or something as in between songs he didn�t speak once. I doubt the embarrassing start to the set helped matters. Music is played out in between bands. The sound guy forgot to turn this music off when Flint walked on stage. It resulted in Flint looking as though they were miming. Flint were playing their instruments etc but we couldn�t hear them. All we could hear was the music that should have been turned off. Not sure if that makes any sense to you but I know what I mean even if you don�t.
Zwan were next. I felt really sorry for them. A lot of people seemed to be throwing bottles at them. Things got much worse when it started to rain. It wasn�t just a quick shower. It totally pissed it down and for about an hour. It was thundering and lightening. It was all very very frightening. A big chunk of those watching Zwan left for either their cars, their tents or for the sheltered Scuzz stage.
We were amongst those that headed for the Scuzz stage. Even that was leaking quite badly in places. We briefly heard a few tracks by Bouncing Souls. We were stood at the back so saw little. They sounded pretty good and lively though. We headed closer to the front for Boy Sets Fire. They were yet another band I hadn�t heard anything by before. They were truly amazing. Their frontman is fantastic and seemed to be quite political. He spoke about the war amongst other things. I would definitely go see them again.
We ventured outside again afterwards to find the whole site covered in lakes and mud. The whole place was flooded. Festival staff were clearly not prepared for this. It was just a stroke of luck that the rain came at the end of the festival and not at the beginning. The whole event would have been a wash out if it did.
We went to watch Audioslave for a bit. We were stood near to Jon from Raging Speedhorn. Maybe he fancies me. Why else would he be stalking me like this? After a few songs by Audioslave I got rather bored. They don�t exactly make the best headliners in the world. I was very disappointed by them. Very, very disappointed. So much so in fact that less than half way through their set we decided to leave and head for home. And that was that. Download 2003 was over. I�m already looking forward to next year. Lets just hope Audioslave, Raging Speedhorn and Metallica don�t turn up. They all sucked. The end.

BY MR MARTYN. JUNE 2003.

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