Download Festival 2016 - Sunday

It was really sad to be waking up on the last day of Download Festival 2016. I was only consoled by the still very distant prospect of my bathroom, my bedroom and my cat.

Somebody pointed out to me recently that it’s worth forking out for a hot shower on the last day of a festival so that you don’t start wishing the whole thing to be over because you know the luxury that awaits you. Unfortunately, this wasn’t pointed out to me until after Download so by this point I’m really starting to feel it.

On the plus side, those huge PVC ponchos are dynamite for covering up how little attention that you’ve paid to yourself for a week. Silver linings.

The Sunday came with early celebrations because it was the first and only day of the festival that we managed to actually see a band before 3PM. Hurrah!!

Amon Amarth

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

The celebration was even bigger because that band happened to be the one and only (and never has that catchphrase been more apt) Amon Amarth.

I’ve heard that Amon Amarth put on a sterling performance that’s not to be missed but when we walked down the hill towards the Lemmy Stage and caught site of the two giant dragons on it, I immediately got very excited.

Here’s an attempt to summarise this band (don’t have high hopes, this is the hardest of tasks):

Amon Amarth are a Death Metal band from Tumba, Sweden who were formed 24 years ago (coincidentally, the year I was born, just in case you were wondering).

Having taken their name from the sindarin name of Mount Doom, a volcano in J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth the quartet tends to base their songs on Norse and Viking mythology.

Amon Amarth

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

Live, that all translates into the most incredible production you have ever seen. Those dragons weren’t just background scenery. Oh no. Those bad boys breathed smoke and doubled as platforms that the band members casually climbed up on to from time to time.

But that was just the beginning. By far the most dramatic thing I saw at Download Festival was frontman Olavi Mikkonen drag a giant hammer to centre stage before victoriously lifting it above his head and then smashing it to the floor, at which point a shit ton of fireworks went off and he looked like the hero we have all been waiting for.

Once that spectacle was over we skipped back over to the Maverick stage where we were lucky enough to catch The Dirty Youth. Not a band we had planned to see, I’m chalking it up to fate that we did because they were amazing.

Danni Monroe - The Dirty Youth

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

Formed in 2007 The Dirty Youth have chalked up an impressive four appearances at Download Festival, and the experience really showed. Pop punk with a metal spine and electronic embellishments they brought heaps of energy and the chance to really dance.

I have a lot of time for electronic rock music, and vocalist Dani Monroe brings everything out of the genre that could possible by brought. With dance moves on point at absolutely no detriment to her vocals, she was really inspiring. An absolute must see again.

All in all it was a deeply impressive morning and I was so pleased that my friends had suggested such amazing bands to check out. After all, that’s what festivals are all about. So we moved into the afternoon with the next suggestion. I had been assured that it was absolutely necessary for me to see Attila. So that’s what I did. We didn’t last long.

Chris Linck - Atilla

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

Ultimately Attila were incredibly good at what they do. With a reckless attitude they assaulted their set with all of the sass that I expected, sunglasses and all. It would have been impossible to not be impressed with the power behind every track we saw them play. It was a full force type of set.

Kalan Blehm - Atilla

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

But for me, the crowd were the best part and it is true that for most of the set all cameras were pointed their way as opposed to the stage. There was a might mosh pit, crowd-surfing and middle fingers in the air. Not quite the carnage of Neck Deep the day before, but somewhere close, and at only midday that’s a triumph.

Next on our list was Halestorm (another Lauren Golding suggestion) but unfortunately logistics made it impossible, bringing my missed band total up to four for the weekend. We’ll have to revisit that as soon as possible.

Instead we went to collapse our tent, which, quite honestly, I had been panicking about since we got our Download tickets. After a lot of swearing, a moment of near-tears and shouts of uncontrollable abuse, that sucker was in it’s bag and we were headed back to the arena from the car park to see Don Broco.

Simon Delaney - Don Broco

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

Most of my previous swearing had come from the idea of missing this band, and that’s because it wouldn’t have been the first time. I’ve only seen Don Broco once before (a thousand years ago) and have been dying to catch them again, but every time the opportunity arose I just couldn’t make it work. This was my chance.

Don Broco are the suavest men in British rock right now and their Download set was full of surprises. Do not let that well-dressed charisma fool you. These guys are rock through-and-through and can pull off a wall of death as good as any metal act on that bill.

The sun shined bright on the Encore stage for one of the few times that weekend, paving the way for banging dance moves and singing along as if it was summer or something. Don Broco are the ultimate festival band, it really doesn’t matter what festival it is.

Rob Damiani - Don Broco

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

The only thing that disappointed me that there were only two songs in the set list from the 2012 album Priorities. Having said that Fancy Dress and Priorities are incredible tracks and in a nine track set-list, which even included a snippet of Rage Against The Machine, I just can’t complain in good conscience.

The reality of the situation began to set in. We had just two bands left before Download Festival 2016 was officially over. Luckily, those two bands were the most perfect to close this legendary weekend. The first was Nightwish.

There’s no easy way to put this but, I got Nightwish completely wrong. One glance and I thought I had those guys completely figured out but I could not have been more wrong.

Nightwish pride themselves on being storytellers first and foremost. The fact that they happen to achieve that through the use of multiple instruments and in the most spectacular of ways is second to the fact.

Another band with a history of line-up changes the absurdly talented Floor Jansen now runs the show and she does an incredible job of it. Her vocals switch from being the things that lullabies are made of to the most hair-raising metal-queen yelling you have ever heard. Her hair whipping skills are also wildly impressive.

Floor Jansen - Nightwish

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

But by far my favourite thing about Nightwish was watching Troy Donockley on the big screen. Every time the camera panned towards him, Donockley was grasping a completely new instrument and I honestly don’t even understand where he was getting them all from.

As humorous as I found it then, ultimately it’s crazy impressive. Many of the musicians at Download Festival this weekend could only dream of being able to play half of the instruments that he can: Uileann pipes, tin whistle, guitar, keyboards, bass, pump organ, bouzouki, cittern, bodhran, mandola, harmonium… The list of the tools he uses to tell these stories is amazing.

And that brings us to the main event. After Mr Dickinson landed his Boeing 747, Ed Force One, in East Midlands Airport on Sunday afternoon the Kings of this festival were ready to headline the whole affair. Iron Maiden were ready.

Iron Maiden

Download Festival, Donnington

12/06/2016

It is only right that the award for most extravagant stage production goes directly to Iron Maiden. Ed took various connotations, my absolute favourite was a giant Ed head and shoulders that emerged from the back and made these musical legends look teeny tiny (pictured).

To carry on the theme that Nightwish kickstarted, Maiden did what they do best and told a narrative of stories. We learnt all about the Mayan Civilisation as well as the fundamental issues of the world. We also learnt how to dance like a monkey. All of the important lessons were delivered.

Bruce Dickinson is a performer in everything that title encompasses. Several costume changes, extravagant displays of almost dance (NB he is a British man) and a fight with a stilt-walker culminating in a heart being literally ripped out of a chest – that is how you nail a festival headline slot.      

Tears of a Clown was emotionally dedicated to another legend, Robin Williams, keeping that special moment feeling at peak momentum. Hearing the 100,000 people seeing Fear of the Dark sent tingles down the spine.

The set was 2 hours long but only 15 songs were played. Another sign of a time long past but not tonight they reaffirmed what these thousands of Iron Maiden t-shirt wearing people already knew. It’s nowhere near forgotten. 

After a remarkable weekend it was well and truly time to take myself off home for a well deserved nap and a much needed shower but it wasn’t without a very poignant feeling of sadness.

Download Festival will always have a place in my heart as the festival to end all festivals. It is a legendary place, the spiritual home of rock music and means so much to so many people that to have the opportunity to experience it again in all of it’s glory is incredible special to me.

As all good festival experiences should be, this was made up of seeing bands that I adore, bands that have been strongly recommended to me and bands that I have never heard of before but happily fell upon. If you can tick all three of those boxes at the end of a festival weekend then, my friend, you did a fantastic job.

Six long years had been and gone since the last time I was at Download (see picture evidence for proof of how long a period of time this actually is). So much has changed in that time, more than I could have ever imagined and I find that remarkable.

I will not leave it that long to be back at Donnington. Just try and stop me.

Download Festival 2016 - Saturday

After all of that we had ourselves a well-deserved lie in which was both wonderful and catastrophic in almost equal measures. Sorry Beartooth and Atreyu (three bands notched on the missed tally so far.)

But once we were sufficiently recovered we were ready to face the main arena once more and we had it on good authority that our first band of the day were something  pretty special.

Lauren Golding has been harping on about Dead! for months now and the second she knew we would be at Download she insisted that we see them. Never one to turn down a trusted recommendation I was front and centre to see the young prog-rockers on the Dogtooth Stage (which was gratifyingly slight and also a tent, hurrah for shelter!)

Alex Mountford - Dead!

Download Festival, Donnington

11/06/2016

Their dramatic entrance to the stage caught my attention but it was retained by the sheer aggression

that Dead! attacked this set with. Vocalist Alex Mountford is one of the most dynamic performers on the scene today, and looks like a frontman with an extensive history on stage.

New track You’re So Cheap is the perfect way to display everything this band are capable of: gritty with a splash of beauty and a hint of allure. They have a distinctive glam sound reminiscent of a past scene, but when it’s this brash and addictive then there is plenty of room for it today.

Moral of that story is that if Lauren ever tells you to go to a show…then you go.

Kevin Thrasher - Escape The Fate

Download Festival, Donnington

11/06/2016

If there’s one thing that Download Festival has in abundance its nostalgia including for the more recent rock history. With that in mind it was only right we skipped across the arena to catch Escape The Fact on the Maverick Stage.

When we arrived the Vegas emo-metal-core (just go with it) outfit were already in full swing playing to a packed out tent full of the most loyal of fans. These guys have stuck with Escape The Fate through a wild history, not to mention numerous line-up changes. To date, only one original member of the band remains, drummer Robert Ortiz.

That being the case the current line-up has done a damn fine job keeping the ETF fire alive and it shows because the fans turned up with flawlessly executed hair and make-up to lose their minds for a 5-song set list. That never ceases to amaze.

All of those fans matched the band’s impressive energy and showed Download what crowd participation really looks like shouting out the one, two and three of the fearless One For the Money. But that was nothing compared to the extraordinary tempo of closing track This War Is Ours which was potentially the best song intro I heard all festival.

Juliette Lewis - Juliette and the Licks

Download Festival, Donnington

11/06/2016

But Escape The Fate weren’t the only band billed with an interesting past. One of the most exciting

parts of Download was to see Juliette and the Licks on the line-up. Having broken up in 2009 this band were one of the few that I had accepted I might never see and since their reformation last year I have been dying for my chance.

Enigmatic frontwoman, Juliette Lewis, took to the stage in an apt red, white and blue cat suit embellished with stars and stripes for a naturally American rock set in a sea of British acts.

The set list did not disappoint with all the key players in attendance, Smash and Grab, Hot Kiss and Killer were the tracks I was waiting for but an incredible few bars of Rolling on a River at high speed was absolutely amazing.  

Lewis is very talented but whipping her hair all over the stage, dancing with the stage security, harmonising with the crowd, she proved that she is a born frontwoman. Sure, she might be wild, but that’s what makes this band so exciting and ultimately enthralling. I am begging for a new album soon please!

I think it’s clear that Saturday afternoons just don’t get much better than that. Sure, it was still raining but what’s one more damp day? Besides, checking out more bands playing tents then we had on the Friday gave us some great relief from the elements (Dear Download, I feel the Encore Stage should be a tent. Thanks.)

Neck Deep

Download Festival, Donnington

11/06/2016

It was in one of those very tents that we then went to see, for the first time, a band that have had the most remarkable for few years. It was time for our daily dose of pop-punk, today from Wrexham’s finest, Neck Deep.

We listened to Neck Deep play live at Maida Vale for Radio One’s Rock All Dayer (which was very much appreciated by us by the way) on the day we drove up to Download and decided that our spot in the audience was non-negotiable. Another act with a huge, dedicated and incredibly loving fan base, Neck Deep are a sure-fire sign that pop-punk is undeniably back.

Not all light-and-fluff, Neck Deep tore up the Maverick Tent with their edgy pop-punk (more emphasis on the punk). They exploded into our lives with Citizens of Earth, also the opener of last year’s album Life’s Not Out to Get You, which called for much jumping up and down and head banging from every body crammed into the place.  

It’s a pretty momentous title to hold but Neck Deep claimed the first real crowd surfers that we saw at Download, which says it all really. That crowd lost the plot altogether, all inhibitions evaporated and anything was on the cards. To all extents and purposes it was glorious carnage, until I got mud in my hair. I won’t lie, I was pissed about that.

When they launched into December both band and crowd alike gave it 100%. This track is pretty, unforgettable (for literally days) and live they step up the tempo to make it just as hardcore as the rest of their performance. Bravo Neck Deep, overly impressive.

Hopefully you understand that, whilst we were appreciated of the shelter that all of these tents were offering us, we had already planned to see these bands. The fact that there was a roof involved was just a happy coincidence. That was until Pennywise happened. So anyway…

So here’s the thing about Download Festival, the thing that makes it, above and beyond, the best major summer music festival in the UK (come at me, bro). Download has a history of the most legendary, rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame level headliners. Saturday June 11^th will forever be known as the day that I saw Black Sabbath.

I don’t mean to excessively embarrass her but I cannot explain to you how much I loved my colleague for her first sentence upon seeing Ozzy Osborne in the flesh. I quote: “Oh, is Ozzy the vocalist? Why am I picturing him with a guitar?”

Ozzy Osbourne - Black Sabbath

Download Festival, Donnington

11/06/2016

Ridiculousness aside, Black Sabbath was everything I wanted them to be and so much more. This set

was what millions of people across the world dream to see, made so much more special by its extraordinary setting.

As the masters and creators of metal, the set list could have been almost anything but War Pigs was a sensational, and uncomfortably relevant, high point. I’m sure all 100,000 people in attendance will agree with me.

It would be futile to tell you how good Black Sabbath are, they are one of a small group of bonefide rock music legends and they prove it every time they take to the stage. What did surprise me however, is just how endearingly British Ozzy Osborne is. Of all of the things that I have seen and heard in my life, I will forever remember hearing Ozzy Osborne say the sentence: “Why does it always have to pissing rain?”

With names like Ozzy Osborne and Tony Iommi taking over the stage it would be easy to hide in their shadow. But for session drummer Tommy Clufetos that clearly was not something he could consider. At one point, Ozzy exclaimed: “Back in a bit…” and promptly wondered off stage (at a surprisingly brisk pace) leaving Clufetos to deliver a flawless drum solo to the applause of the huge crowd.

As the final notes of Paranoid rang out across the festival it was pretty clear that something momentous had happened, even if it wasn’t for the last time. Can you really be mad at Black Sabbath for changing their mind on that score? When it’s this good, it has to last for as long as physically possible.

And that was Saturday! Filled up with bands that I was seeing for the first time, which is novel. All attempts at being presentable were well and truly abandoned by this point so all that was left for us to do was pass out. That’s after we realised that we had just one day left at Download.

      

   

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.