![]() The hour they have passes before you can say 'Donington Park', and save for some occasionally wobbly clean vocals, it's a tremendous showing. They also succeed hugely in making a spectacle out of it, with blasts of fire and, more surprisingly, a violinist and cellist for Shadow Boxing and seven-minute arena ballad Darker Still (jokingly referred to by Winston as "the drinks break"). What follows is an hour of leviathan proportions, crammed full of only the meatiest riffs and huge yell-alongs (the ' KILL! KILL!' refrain of new cut Soul Bleach feels custom-made for such an occasion), while the chaos reaches a nadir when Winston gets in the crowd for Idols & Anchors and the ensuing mosh-pit resembles a cyclone. It opens with a flaming torch being carried onstage before frontman Winston McCall steps out dressed in an all-white vest and trousers, which feels like a rockstar power move in and of itself. Wunderbar! (SL)Ī massive band deserves a massive stage show, and Parkway Drive are reveling in their chance to be arena metal behemoths. One of the most stupidly enjoyable Download sets of all time, and a mighty tease for what Electric Callboy will be packing when they return in October. A good number do run off when they drop (their first slice of) thumping mega-hit MC Thunder mid-set, but the masses that choose to stay are treated to fragments of Let It Go from Disney's Frozen and Backstreet Boys' I Want It That Way and a whole bunch more madness than is really possible to write down. Musically, they overdeliver, too, with everything from the exuberant Spaceman and superbly self-aware Best Day ("We want to try something that no band ever has before: you set down, then when this sink kicks in, you jump up!") sending the huge crowd bonkers. And a bright red grand piano chucked in for good measure. ![]() More ticker-tape and sparkles than, well, anyone. Reportedly arriving to Download's insanely overflowing silver and red tent with eight trucks carrying their German arena production, there is something inherently riotous about seeing this kind of show in a space where you'd normally be happy with a printed roll of fabric and some pretty lights. You want silly? Electric Callboy gives you silly, babay! "They told us that Download was going crazy," grins vocalist Nico Sallach early on, "but this is even more than we expected!" The German jokers have made a career of pushing synth-stained modern rock to its outer limits (then gleefully over the top) and this Avalanche Stage headline sticks brilliantly true to form. Read the full review: What happened when Slipknot headlined Download 2023 Normality is peering over the horizon, but tonight was a true celebration of freedom, perseverance and survival on both sides of the barrier. A victorious, emotional close to one of the best Downloads in its 20-year tenure. Nothing comes close to the Slipknot live experience and when they fully click into gear, they’re unstoppable. In a weekend headlined by Hall Of Famers Metallica and legends-in-waiting Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot do not come to fuck around, reminding everyone just how dangerous and formidable they are with a triumphant closing salvo of Duality, Custer and Spit It Out for the biggest jump-the-fuck-up in history. …From the perennially awesome Eyeless to the criminally underplayed Left Behind to an invigorating rendition of Snuff to Download Festival’s national anthem Wait And Bleed (dedicated to a certain Kerrang! magazine), it’s sledgehammer hit after hit for 90 minutes. A palpable sense of tension hangs over the main stage, as the past few days have been some of the most chaotic and uncertain in the headliners' turbulent history, with the 90,000-strong crowd unsure if lynchpin and founding member Clown is actually going to be here (spoiler: he is) and the recent surprise departure of Craig Jones… ![]() There’s something in the air tonight, and it’s not just the looming threat of thunderstorms, as the gathering black clouds finally cool down a baking, dusty Donington.
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