Download Festival

June 11th, 2017.

Getting there

We left Liverpool at 7am and got to Donnington Park at 9.30am – took a tad longer due to a McDonald’s breakfast pit stop. It has to be done … doesn’t it?

The journey down was so smooth and easy. When you get into Derby there are signs directing you to Download Festival, unlike something like Leeds Festival. It was unbelievable actually, we arrived with no wrong turns or anything, which is not usually the case at festivals.

We got directed to where we needed to park up and then we were there. Ready to dance the day away.

Ticket and security checks

I think due to the recent horrific events around the world involving terrorism, the security staff at Download upped there game – to the point where festival-goers were actually high-fiving and saying thank you to security and police for being there.

The first queue you enter, there’s a bags and no bags section – one of which does bag checks and the other that promptly checks your ticket and send you on your way. They also have random searches on festival goers here, checking everything from their shoes to their wallets.

You then come to some open land where you walk for a little bit to get to the main gates, walking past tons of patrolling policemen. You then arrive at the main entrance to the festival for yet another full bag check, it is only at this point where they officially scan your ticket.

Download Festival Stages

Download Festival has four stages.

The Main Stage which is where you will see the headline acts and essentially the popular bands. This is the first stage you will see when coming through the entrance as it is the largest and away from the other three at the bottom of the hill.

The Zippo Encore Stage is set towards the left of the Main Stage and is closer towards the main entrance. If the Main Stage is number 1, the Zippo Encore Stage is number 2.

The Avalanche Stage is sponsored by Kerrang – so you can imagine the type of music and crowd that is involved here. I’ve always been a massive Kerrang fan but I didn’t like this stage at all – maybe I’m getting old. This stage was set the furthest away – out of the main arena.

The Dogtooth Stage overlooks the Main Stage and the crowd, standing there looking down towards the main stage when the headline act is on must look incredible, due to the vast space covered in thousands of people.

Wrestling. Yes, I said wrestling. Located next to The Avalanche Stage was a wrestling ring with surrounding seats. I don’t really understand wrestling and why people are fascinated by it. I just cringe at it, but that’s just me.

I don’t really understand the relevance of it being at Download Festival. It seemed to go down a treat though.

Food and drink stalls

Do you ever get that feeling of just wanting to eat all of the time? That’s how Download made me feel. I’ve been to a few different festivals now, and Download definitely has the most selection when it comes to food. My mouth was watering about what to eat next – even whilst eating.

There was Yorkshire pudding stalls, noodle stalls, BBQ stalls, Pancake stalls, chippy stalls, pizza stalls, chicken stalls, Mexican stalls, Chinese stalls, burger stalls and much, much more. And that was just in the main arena.

Our first feast, I got a giant Yorkshire pudding filled with pork, chips, stuffing and gravy and Rich got a Pizza Cone – yes you heard me. A Pizza Cone. We then snacked on six mini sugar donuts and a white chocolate and cranberry cookie and ice cream throughout the day. Then later on I had a portion of curly fries and Rich got sweet chilli noodles.

The best stall there was the Slush stand. I’m slightly addicted to Slush Puppies, so when I see one, I instantly need one! Other non-alcoholic drink stalls also feature, selling fizzy drinks, tea, hot chocolate and energy drinks.

You don’t go a couple of yards before you reach the main bar as they have a couple dotted around the arena grounds, you will find that the later on in the day the bar queue just gets bigger and bigger. I don’t know why that is, possibly due to people’s alcohol consumption, who knows. So, If you need to get the drinks in, you’re best getting them in early.

They had cool merchandise cups when ordering a drink too. You had to put a £2 deposit towards your drink, so you could keep it, or you could get your £2 back if you brought it back. I genuinely think this is a brilliant idea – one way of stopping littering. Lots of people, especially young kids, were going around collecting bottles and cups, if you collected a bag of plastic bottles you would get paid £5 when taking them to the recycling.

Clothing stalls

As we were at the festival on the last day we got the ‘Brucey bonus’ lot of all the sales!

I love all of the stalls at festivals, you can get vintage clothing, band clothing, festival wear and loads of random stuff like hats, camping chairs, belt buckles and more. This year I bagged myself a few bargains being a Slush Puppies top (Obvs), Hard Rock Cafe London Vest (Obvs again) and a ‘Pugs not Drugs’ vest.

Near each stage were merchandise stalls selling a bunch of different branded things, from lanyards to t-shirts – we both got a different Aerosmith tour top each.

Rides and games

To the right of the main stage (if you are looking at it) it’s more like a village of stalls than a strip of stalls like in other parts of the arena, and you will also see fairground rides like the Waltzers and other rides that don’t mix well with alcohol.

There were a few game stands too. When I say games, I mean things you could have a go for free and get something even if you didn’t win. Everyone’s kind of game!

There was a Zippo lighter stand, and a spinning board you simply had to spin to land on a number to win a prize. I won a guitar pick (for Rich) and Rich won a bandanna (for me). There was also a karaoke game you could get involved with but anyone who knows me will know I gave that a miss. We also won one bag each containing a smartphone plug-in fan at a ‘Tyre arcade”.

Bands

We saw many, many bands throughout the day – we timed it so well, we got to see bands that we wanted to watch, and then dipped in and out of other gigs like Airbourne and Steel Panther ( you would not believe how their fans dress) and we even went to a techno rave which was … bizarre.

There was three bands that I rather enjoyed, first The Cadillac Three – which I now can’t stop listening too. Think of Kings of Leon and a typical country-rock band and you have them. We had listened to a few songs beforehand and liked them, and after watching their set live, I actually love them.

Before our big finale, we watched Alter Bridge. Alter Bridge remind me of a mix of bands from Muse to Pearl Jame to Nickleback to Led Zeppelin to Dewey Finns struggling band in School of Rock. They were insane. Their lead singer, Miles Kennedy whom is also the guitarist may I add, has some serious vocal chords.

Last buy not least and the main reason for our trip to Download Festival … AEROSMITH!

For as long as I can remember, I have loved and wanted to see Aerosmith – I think they’re incredible, and that Steven Tyler is the ultimate rock star. He is BEYOND cool and extremely talented. I mean what nearly-70 year-old can belt out a scream like he does!

Aerosmith were at Download Festival as part of their Aero-Verderchi Tour which will be their last ever gig in the UK as they are saying farewell to us all.

Let’s just say Aerosmith didn’t disappoint. They started the show with a massive tease before they came on (which I find hugely frustrating when I’m trying to film them entering the stage!) But nevertheless, they put on a brilliant show and played all of the songs I love – it was a great farewell show. They ended the show with two songs on the encore, the first being ‘Dream On’ which is a dream come true being my favourite song by them and then the obvious ‘Walk This Way’.

I think the best song of the set was ‘Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing’, I mean, it’s already an emotional and beautiful song as it is, but Steve Tyler performed it phenomenally and the crowed sang their hearts out from start to finish – it was an overwhelming experience.

Also, I never released how ‘sick’ Joe Perry was on guitar – he was giving it beans all the way through – he is insane!

 

I will stop talking about Aerosmith now, it was incredible and I’m and beyond happy that I have seen such an iconic band live!

Toilet facilities

I feel the toilets were that good that they deserve there own little paragraph.

Purely judging them to the horrendous toilet facilities at Leeds Festival, Download’s were immaculate. At each set of toilets was a steward checking them and cleaning them after each person had used them and then shouting the next person over. So there was no nastiness to avoid and no queue jumping.

Camping and caravaning

Walking into the arena I didn’t see one campsite, so I can only imagine that they are quite a trek away. Like all festivals, they have various camp sites, one of them being the do-not-stay-there-unless-you-want-to-sleep-naked-without-a-tent.

However, passing through the carpark to get the the arena, the campsite in HUGE! You could see it at the top of the hill when looking down towards the main stage, which was a bit of an eyesore but people staying in the caravans are definitely living the luxury there!

Leaving Download Festival

During Aerosmith’s thank you and goodbyes, we started to head out of the crowd to beat them to the carpark – which we did. If you have a day pass there is an exit to the left of the stage which was a godsend! We got out of the arena in a matter of minutes and without any crowds.

Before we knew it we were warm in our car, eating Haribo on the motorway ready for a good night’s sleep.

Overall

I think the people who organised Download have there heads screwed on, down to tidiness and security. I’ve never felt more safe in the time that we are currently living in.

I mean, the one thing people worry about going to a festival is the toilet situation, and as far as toilets go, they were spot on.

And at the end of the day, we got to see one of the greatest bands ever, so my day was made!