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Jun
20
2005
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Download Festival Uncovered |
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Sunday, 19 June 2005 |
I hadn’t even thought about any festivals this year as I was going to give it a break for 2005…. That was until a week before the Download Festival someone tempted me with a ticket to see Black Sabbath play. My mind immediately started calculating. What are the odds that I will get to see these original rockers again? Well, lets be honest, the odds have to be pretty slim, as you don’t “say sex, drugs, longevity, rock and roll”. The massive area around Donington Castle and the racetrack ooze, rock. Donington has always had a place in history as the spiritual home of noise and black apparel, same as Glastonbury is to hippy and Montreaux is to Jazz. The list of entertainment this year was huge and the three stages pounded with a list of bands each one heavier than the next alongside the skate and BMX “Soul Bowl”, retail area, fairground rides and performance artists. There were so many bands playing that I found it impossible to see everyone as I felt like a salmon spawning every time I stage hopped, swimming upstream, all be it a stream where there had been a massive oil slick, hence all the black surrounding me. I managed to see Mastodon pull off the crowd, no, wait… uh pulls off a great set. Sorry I got confused there, as it was one of the best-received sets I witnessed. My prediction- it will be their last set on the minor stages. I saw Towers Of London throw a hissy fit on stage and launch their equipment like teens -who found their moms threw away their best porno mag. They will be interesting, are interesting, to watch just because of the posing and the attitude. Again, if they work on the material they will be one to watch. I saw Velvet Revolver make history as the best-paid cover band, ever. What are the statutes of limitations of covering the songs from previous bands? They covered Guns ‘n’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots songs as well as Pink Floyd and The Sex Pistols. Weiland made a great Axl replacement and was slightly more contemporary than wearing stars and striped Lycra, thank God. All joking aside they did put on a good show and they have, in a short time, become a band that doesn’t just have star quantity but also star quality. Slipknot were their usual mischievous selves but this time they had some kind of hug fest going on with the crowd. No more talk of “maggots” doing their will but vocal hugs for support and the missing “clown” (one of the guys that belts the crap out of the drums at the side whilst running around frantically) and “family”. Sure they added a few “motherfuckers” in there but they were more Labrador than Rottweiler and amazingly when they said jump everyone still said, “yes master, how high?” They managed the same trick as last time they played Donington; they got everyone (well about 20,000) to sit down then jump up and “go fucking nuts” on queue. That is a spectacle trust me on that one. Funeral for a Friend were the “surprise act” on the small stage. At least ½ the crowd were disappointed it wasn’t the rumoured Motley Crue or Iron Maiden. The Society One lead singer played the whole set suspended from hooks for a record-breaking act. He was pushed around like a demented pendulum for at least half an hour whilst guttural growling his way through the songs. Duuuh -duuuh –duuuh- duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh, duuuh -duuuh –duuuh- duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh, FINISHED WITH MY WOMAN CAUSE SHE COLD’NT HELP ME WITH MY MIND… Queue the crowd going ballistic and singing as loud as possible. Sabbath didn’t disappoint, not one bit. Whenever you see Ozzy on stage he seems to get energy from the crowd and suddenly he is Peter Pan, a dark, comical, deadpan and showman extraordinaire Peter Pan. Ok he still runs funny on stage- kinda like he has two dead arms- but he is still a master in front of a crowd. He stands there deadly still apart from his Action Man eagle eyes and his insane grins actually look more realistic now. Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Geezer Butler on bass Bill Ward on drums and Tony Iommi on guitar all managed to make Sabbath what it used to be- moody, mystical, loud, fast, classic ROCK. They motored through every big hit- Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Fairies Wear Boots etc, like it was still the 1970’s but they were too stoned to move much. The rapturous applause echoed across the fields. I was left wondering…. “if you added up the amount of people that have stood here at Donington clapping at Ozzy since they first played, would they- hand in hand- reach down to Beelzebub himself?”
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Download festival
