Download Festival 2016 - Friday

We arrived at Donnington in a blaze of sunshine, popped up our tent, made ourselves at home, kicked up a barbeque, cracked open the cider and sipped at it with sunglasses and sunscreen (but not enough) in our camp chairs ready for our second UK summer music festival of the year.

But after one whole day in the sun we decided we’d had enough of all that, pulled on our wellies (well one of us did anyway) and headed down to the main arena for our first official day at Download Festival 2016.

Unfortunately we did all of that just a little too late to catch Alien Ant Farm (completely gutted) which meant that the first band we caught were the almighty Babymetal.

I said it at Reading last year, and I will say it again. Babymetal are amazing and genuinely unlike anything you will ever see. It brings joy to a huge crowd to see those dance routines in front of shredding metal guitars. From the second Suzuka Nakamoto, or “Su-metal” as she is known, squealed “Hi Guys!” she had Download Festival eating out of the palm of her hand.

Crowd pleaser, and my favourite Babymetal track, Gimme Chocolate as well as brand new track Karate were particular highpoints but their whole set had the huge crowd forgetting that they were standing in the year’s worst weather and throwing up their horns in their thousands.

The original plan for post-Babymetal was to hang out for the rest of the day at the Zippo Encore stage (for reasons that will become apparent soon). However, when I say the year’s worst weather, I’m under-exaggerating. At the risk of sharing too much information on the internet, once the rain started it took approximately thirty seconds for every inch of my person to be completely and utterly saturated and, sadly, I was not quite as prepared as I had believed.

Turns out the very beautiful rain mac I bought especially for the occasion was in no way, shape or form water proof. My wellies were also very pretty but basically just little empty paddling pools waiting to be filled. But at least I had wellies on. RIP my colleague’s Van’s. You served well old friends, but you were no match for this occasion.

Clearly we had to head back to camp and attempt to pull ourselves together, but once we’d done that we jumped right back in and managed to catch The Amity Affliction who opened with a song called I Bring the Weather with Me, so apparently we’ve got them to blame.

The Australian metal-core act brought five tracks to a stage where they looked right at home. A more stern performance than our first of the festival, they performed to a crowd of loyal fans who screamed back both the roars of Joel Birch and the clean vocals of Ahren Stringer. The Amity Affliction proved that when looking for your new favourite music, get you a band that can do both.

Ever the suave performers, The Amity Affliction took this set in their stride with Birch pointing to a low-flying plane over head, muttering “that’s cool” and then unleashing pure mayhem less than two seconds later. Masters of a genre that is perfect for both the festival world and headline shows, I cannot wait to see these guys play their biggest UK tour to date in December.

Daryl Palumbo - Glassjaw

Download Festival, Donnington

10/06/2016

According to the plan, we stuck with the Zippo Encore stage where Glassjaw’s experimental and progressive rock was next. Known for their intense performances, the New York quartet wasted no time in launching into the classic Tip Your Bartender.

Forming in 1993, Glassjaw have spent well over 20 years leading the post-hardcore and underground scenes, shaping them both into what they are. But today they just did what they do best and, above all, enjoyed it. Relying heavily on the 2002 album Worship and Tribute, Glassjaw proved that they shared a core value with their hosts – a dedication and love of their genre.

It’s really important to me that you understand that the weather I mentioned a while ago had not improved during all of this. No. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as it originally was but it was still pouring. I just want to make sure you get that.

Luckily, I had a pretty huge coat. Luckier still, it was Twin Atlantic time.

Ross McNae - Twin Atlantic

Download Festival, Donnington

10/06/2016

You remember when I said at Slam Dunk that, although a line-up might be inundated with incredible bands, there’s always one that makes your attendance at a festival non-negotiable? Well, ladies and gentleman, I present to you the reason I went to Download Festival 2016.

I might have mentioned a few times that I really rather like Twin Atlantic. It seems like we’ve been waiting a million years for news of their new album, but in reality we only said goodbye to them 10 months ago when they announced they would be taking a break after their now legendary set at Reading last year.

But now the time has arrived. Twin Atlantic have announced that in September they will release their fourth studio album, GLA, and quickly unveiled two tracks from it before playing what can only be described as an incredible hometown show at King Tut’s in Glasgow before announcing a whole host of intimate shows on a UK club tour. Yeah. It’s been an exciting time.

To say I was dying to hear the new tracks, No Sleep and Gold Elephant : Cherry Alligator, would be ridiculous, because frankly it was all I could talk about and I am overjoyed to say that they both play to all of Twin Atlantic’s strengths. Live, vocalist Sam McTrusty surrenders his guitar for the new offerings and both the change in focus and new lease of life mean that he has never sounded better. Imagine that.

As soon as Twin were announced for Download Festival I hoped that they would take the opportunityThe Ghost of Eddie and when that opening riff reverberated from the stage just second in their eleven track set, the crowd went mental.

Sam McTrusty - Twin Atlantic

Download Festival, Donnington

10/06/2016

to play their heaviest track to date,

Given the environmental circumstances it seemed unlikely that the crowd would be getting on the floor ready to fly into the air when I Am An Animal kicked in for its finale. Who cares for likeliness nowadays? Every person in that crowd adhered to the request and knelt down in the mud that we would fester in for another two days because that’s what sets like this do to people.

I could go on about this band for days but luckily we got three more Twin Atlantic shows to cover over the next three weeks as well as something really special coming up for Louder Now too so I got the time to revisit this but let it be known that there was nothing more special then to hear that Heart and Soul chorus ring loud once again.

Jack Barakat - All Time Low

Download Festival, Donnington

10/06/2016

And from those that fit right in to the most unlikely of Download headliners, next was All Time Low.

When guitarist Jack Barakat announced during their arena tour last year that they were playing Download Festival I thought he was, characteristically, taking the piss. To be honest I still didn’t really believe it until I saw them up there with my own eyes.

Nevertheless, All Time Low are born headliners and, as it turns out, are adaptable to all situations. That being said, they did not compromise their trademark hilarity and good-time nature for one second. Having seen these guys a ridiculous amount of times now I have always loved Barakat for his tendency to go missing from the stage but I never appreciated just how bat-crap crazy he really is. This guy loves those fans more than any musician I have ever seen perform and he opts to spend most of the set just hanging out with them, and I’m talking fall blown conversations, getting his pecks out, cheek-kissing, hanging out.

As ever, they played a career spanning set, even pulling out Jasey Rae from their EP to a rapturous

Alex Gaskarth - All Time Low

Download Festival, Donnington

10/06/2016

reaction from the audience who lapped up every second of it.

No strangers to covering songs, we’ve seen All Time Low do it all but an impromptu cover of American Idiot was a pleasant surprise in amongst a sea of absolute bangers.

And if all of that weren’t enough they even brought some cosy fires to the stage with them which I’m sure those close enough to feel them were eternally grateful for at this late stage in the very wet day.

After All Time Low wrapped it up with the ever sterling Dear Maria, Count Me In we hobbled over to the main stage to see the last of Rammstein’s incredibly visual industrial-metal set.

If anybody wants to tell me that Download is a singular festival I refer you to my last sentence.

As first day’s go our Friday at Download Festival 2016 was pretty incredible but, with two more days to go, it was about time we took a towel to all of our clothes, scraped our hair on to the top of our heads and collapsed onto an inflatable bed somewhere.

Download Festival 2016 – Saturday will be uploaded tomorrow.

How All Time Low Convinced Me They Are NOT A Pop Band

Jack Barakat & Alex Gaskarth
3Arena, Dublin
16/02/2016

I’m not going to sit here and claim that All Time Low are some sort of hard rock band, because I’m not on drugs or delusional (not currently or completely at any rate). That being said, they have for the most part stayed on the right side of the line that divides ‘rock music’ from…let’s call it everything else.

Nevertheless, I haven’t seen them in a year (didn’t see them at Reading Fest, only went one day, got no money, please send cash) and I’m man enough to admit that I was starting to worry. Risky moves have been made and I was pretentiously passing judgement all over the place.

But All Time Low eliminated those worries, shot down my pretentious judgement and proved that they are still the same boys that I fell in love with when I was 16. It wasn’t easy though. The way I see it, they adopted a four step program to achieve it.

Step 1: Take Good Charlotte out on tour.

YEP. YOU GUESSED IT. CAPTAIN HIPSTER HAYLEY SAW GOOD CHARLOTTE IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

No but seriously I did. I had to do the research but I haven’t seen them since 2005, and that was a good 5 years into their career.

Alex Gaskarth & Joel Madden (Good Charlotte)
3Arena, Dublin
16/02/2016

Good Charlotte are a part of pop-punk identity and by taking them out on tour All Time Low have played a huge part in preserving that. Better yet, they’ve helped re-launch it.  

The rough challenge of making a ten-song set list out of a ten-year career was made to look easy with some expected tracks (Girls and Boys, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous) but more importantly with some absolute bangers in Riot Girl and The Story of My Old Man.

I thought I hit peak nostalgia at Reading but that was N-O-T-H-I-N-G in comparison to seeing those songs played live again. Mad props to All Time Low for having the balls to choose a band that holds a piece of pop-punk history, and means something to the community on a deep level, as opposed to a corner-cutting act that realistically might have sold a few more tickets. Way to hang on to your identity, and your place on that dark side of the line.

Step 2: Don’t play a single song from THAT album.

I’m not one to often take chunks out of an artist publicly but All Time Low themselves have said that 2011’s Dirty Work was potentially a step in the wrong direction for them. I’m not saying the album is trash, far from it, but for me it represents a time when they very nearly crossed that line and forgot who they were.

The fact that their set list spanned their entire career, even including Coffee Shop Soundtrack from their 2006 EP Put Up Or Shut Up, but did not include one single track from Dirty Work speaks volumes about All Time Low’s determination to never come that close to the line again.

I felt the absence of the So Wrong It’s Right era, in particular Remembering Sunday, but I respect their decision to bump the acoustic track in favour of Missing You since it’s a song that clearly means a lot to them (it struck a chord with me too, there were tears).

Jack Barakat - Guitar
3Arena, Dublin
16/02/2016

Besides, they played Poppin’ Champagne with all the ridiculous bra-drenched energy they always

have done, so it’s not as if set list crimes were committed.

The night relied more heavily on Nothing Personal (because it’s a blinding record) but was dominated by the edgier tracks from last year’s Future Hearts like Kids In The Dark and Dancing With a Wolf.

Honestly, I was chuffed with their set list choices and I could have forgiven a lot more as well. Perhaps fans that have followed them since the very, VERY, beginning would have a few words to say if they saw it written down but here’s the thing, All Time Low are incredible performers and frankly, they got this.

Step 3: Stop the set half way through a song because the Mosh Pits aren’t up to scratch.

So it’s pretty clear to me by now that All Time Low really are going as far as they can to stay true to themselves and stay with us here in the alternative world. But last night they proved that there will be no crowd-slacking on their watch.

When a rock vocalist like Alex Gaskarth tells you to start a mosh pit, my advice to you all is to start a

Alex Gaskarth - Vocals
3Arena, Dublin
16/02/2016

mosh pit. If you don’t, he will stop the song, he will call you out and he will tell you that you failed and demand you work harder.

Of course, he will then completely forget what key the song is in and have to restart it again but that’s irrelevant (and mostly hilarious). My point is, you might be fooled into thinking that you can go to an All Time Low show with your glow-sticks and iPhones and spend the entire show uploading footage to your Snapchat Story or Whatsapping bae but frankly, this was a pop-punk show and you’re an eejit. Embrace the traditions that make these shows what they are, or leave.

I heard an Irish woman say eejit whilst doing an impression of a Leprechaun at the National Leprechaun  Museum on Monday. It was a really special moment in my life.  

Step 4: Announce that you’re playing Download Festival half way through the tour.

And finally, just in case anybody was still in doubt of All Time Low’s love for the rock scene, they go and announce that this summer they will be playing Download Festival 2016.

Rian Dawson - Percussion 
3Arena, Dublin
16/02/2016

Not only will they be playing at the spiritual home of rock music but they will be headlining the Zippo Encore Stage. They’ll play just after Twin Atlantic (it’s as if all of my dreams have come true) and at the same time as Rammstein.

Pop-machine bands don’t do that.

You would be right to think that going all the way across the water is a bit mental, especially considering we live in such close proximity to the London arena (and what an incredible venue that is).

It’s not even as if we can justify it and claim it was because of the band. All Time Low are not Irish. (FYI: this is an incredibly subtle way of reminding you of that time we saw Twin Atlantic in Glasgow…it’s best to remind you since I don’t bring it up a lot.)

But it turned out Ireland was the most sensible place in the world to see All Time Low. My favourite thing about this place is that it has an incredible history, an unrivalled sense of identity and the Irish go to wonderful lengths to help preserve that.

I hate to suggest that words are not omnipotent but the fact of the matter is that there are NONE to describe how happy I am to tell you that All Time Low carries that exact same spirit in their hearts.