by Ian Carroll
Saturday morning dawned, and we headed into Leeds to catch the coach. The tannoy system announced the bay to go to catch the bus to the "Donington Pop Concert" and we tutted at National Express's ignorance of musical genres (as you tended to do at that age). The journey down the M1 was uneventful, but when we pulled off at the last services before getting there (Toddington) there seemed to be long hair and denim everywhere. It started getting exciting.
Getting off the coach into a sea of patches, studs, leather and denim we were swept along to the entrance with a very palpable buzz. Through the gate and into the arena. That’s when the "Donington moment" hit me. A sea of every kind of rocker and metalhead you can imagine. The Dunlop Bridge to one side, burger vans and a bar to the other and an incline down to the stage which towered over everything. Nostell Priory was a sedate afternoon at a village fete in comparison.
It seemed a heaving mass of people. Bottles (some empty, some not) seemed to orbit over our heads. I remember one time, later in the day when I'd managed to force my way as far as the sound desk a bottle landing on my back, wedged between me and some guy behind me and glugging its contents down the back of my German army jacket. I never wanted to know what was inside.
To start with we found a spot where we could enjoy the distant site of Magnum (no screens that year I seem to remember) rattle off what seemed to be a very brief 30 minute set.
Ratt were quite a disappointment from that distance, but Metallica were quite a revelation. Far from being the clichéd meathead fodder I was expecting, I found myself getting into their energy.
Bon Jovi showed all the promise they'd later come to fulfill - ready for the Arena stage, Jon Bon Jovi climbing the speaker stacks.
About this time we started to press forward as my favorite band - Marillion - were about to come on. They were pretty big at the time and really not a Monsters Of Rock type of band but as always they blew me away. It was the first time I'd seen Fish perform without his trademark makeup. There's a picture of Fish kneeling on the stage in Mick Walls "Market Square Heroes" Biography and my face is clearly visible in the crowd.
Then came the wait for the headliners. I moved out of the crush a bit at this stage, and the crowd roared in appreciation as the ZZ Top "Eliminator" car was flown suspended from a helicopter over the crowd - not something you'd get away with now! Their set was fairly unremarkable and a retread of the one I'd seen a couple of years earlier, so the day ended on a bit of an anticlimax. Spirits were high on the way home but I little realised the impact that day had had on me.
As I said earlier, I wasn't much into metal then. But I think that day changed me. I particularly think Metallica changed me. It didn't happen overnight, and it was a few years till I returned but it was to be another major day in my life.”
Phil Hull (Download Forum Administrator)
“The first concert I went to was Monsters of Rock 1985.
The sun blazed down all day, the beer was wet and the burgers luke warm, but the music...well, that was a feast to behold!
Bon Jovi had just released ‘Slippery When Wet’ and their set was full of
sing along songs EVERYONE knew.
Metallica were a relatively unheard of band at the time but after that day and the performance they gave it was obvious to everyone they were going to be BIG! Sorry, did I say big... I meant ABSOLUTELY FUCKIN HUGE!!
To top the day off the ‘Eliminator’ car was suspended beneath a helicopter
and flown over the stage prior to ZZ Top Rockin the Castle!
So, a 250 mile drive home after my first festival with the sights and
sounds still buzzing my senses. Only 364 days to go till I get to do it
again...Hell Yeah
This year will be my 8th visit to the sacred home of Rock and 25 years
since my first and for the 4th year my wife and kids will be with me...and
my parents said I’d grow out of it!!!”
Doug Rae (Hawick, Scotland)
“Although on paper the line up looked relatively weak compared to the previous two years, some of the performances were excellent.
ZZ Top had returned to headline this year. Earlier in the (sunny) day their ‘Eliminator’ car had been flown over the site suspended beneath a helicopter. Several thousand plastic bottles being propelled skywards was quite a sight. The played a good solid headlining set.
I didn’t really get Marillion at the time, but like me the previous year, some of the gang went down to the front and came back raving about the performance (most reviews backed this up over the following days….shows how much I know).
Bon Jovi were a fairly new name at the time, their meteoric rise to mega stardom was still a year away. Their performance was brilliant. One member of our gang (a Donington virgin at the time) even predicted that this band would headline within two years…….how right they were.
Definitely a contender for band of the day.
It would take me another 5 or 6 years before I took any notice of Metallica (or any thrash style bands), so it would be unfair for me to pass comment at this stage.
Magnum on the other hand was a band I was looking forward to seeing. The album ‘On a Storyteller’s Night’ was one of my favourites at the time. Even though they were first band on they didn’t disappoint. It would another 5 years before a band would challenge them for the title of best opening band. One image I remember is Bob Catley being hit in the crotch with a clump of (accurately thrown) mud. He was wearing very pale jeans which made it stand out even more.
Another warm day.”
Paul Hartshorn (Chesterfield)
1986
Ozzy Osbourne,
Scorpions, Def Leppard, Motorhead, Bad News, Warlock, Tommy Vance
The rain was back and so was another ‘Monsters Of Rock’, now into its 7th year and increasing in status each year.
Warlock were up first, fronted by the current poster girl for the ‘rock & metal brigade’, Dorothy Pesch; at the time she could barely speak any English at the time, but that didn’t hinder her and her band from getting the show off to a fine start.
Next on was the controversial choice of the day Bad News. A comedy band formed from the actors in ‘The Young Ones’ (Mayall, Planer, Edmondson and Richardson), the whole show was filmed to be used as part of the ‘Comic Strip Presents’ series, entitled ‘More Bad News’. Bad News were seen by most of the crowd as a waste of bill space that could have been given to a ‘real’ band.
Motorhead made their debut at the festival and Lemmy stopped the show when someone fired a rocket at the stage, but carried on again after no one took up his offer to come on stage for a fight; Motorhead are booked in 2010 for their 4th appearance.
There can be only one reason that Donington 1986 sticks in people’s memories and that was because of the victorious return to live performance of Rick Allen the drummer with Def Leppard. Allen had been in a severe car crash where his left arm had been torn off on New Years Eve in 1984. Now able to drum one handed, with a specially adapted kit which could involve more footwork, he returned to playing (after a few warm up shows) at probably one of the biggest shows that Def Leppard had done at the time.
Def Leppard received great applause and Rick Allen achieved a standing ovation.
Scorpions were back for their 2nd appearance, six years after their first one and the second German band on the bill for the day. Scorpions were at the high point of their career at the time and were well justified in their ‘special guest’ slot.
‘Love At First Sting’ in 1984 had seen them reach #6 in the USA and #17 in the UK and tracks from the album featured heavily in the set including ‘Bad Boys Running Wild’, ‘Big City Nights’ and the crowd pleaser ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’.
The 4th British headliner came in the shape of Ozzy Osbourne, back after a two year absence and now looking very much part of the ‘hair metal’ revolution that was taking place at the time in the UK and especially America. Lowered to the stage on a flamboyant g
olden throne, Ozzy was certainly perceived as the ‘Prince of Darkness’.
Wearing what looked like a diamante dressing gown, Ozzy belted out the hits and several new tracks from his latest album ‘Ultimate Sin’ including the single ‘Shot In The Dark’, which summed up the style of the whole album.
So, another festival ended and so did the appearances by Tommy Vance. Sadly no more Thomas ‘The’ Vance at Donington, apparently due to some article that he had written. So another British institution was gone and the following year Donington would see another radical change, no British bands and a bill that was known as ‘The American Year’.
“We came back for another show in 1986 with Ozzy and Def Leppard.
Looking back, those shows were among the most exciting and unforgettable gigs in the 80's.
Donington Rocks!”
Scorpions
“My first experience of Donington was in ‘86; it was Rick Allen our drummers first big gig after his awful accident where he lost his arm. We had done ‘warm ups’ where we’d been playing in Ballybunion and other places in Ireland in the middle of nowhere. We had two drummers out; we had Rick Allen and just to play it safe, as he was playing electronic drums which were quite new back then, we had another drummer Jeff Rich, but he couldn’t make one of the shows, so Rick played and he was great.
So we got to Donington and it was really emotional, because it was England. We’d never really been accepted as a major band in England, I think because we had such huge success in America and everyone got a little bit pissed off for whatever reasons. But they loved it because Rick had overcome his accident and it was amazing. It was a big deal, for us that one minute he had two arms and we take all that for granted and then he came back and it was huge, as he was doing such an unusual thing, playing drums in a rock band, but now you can’t even hear a difference. Back then he was still learning and learning how to be a person again, which was really cool.
It kind of overshadowed everything and I remember Joe introducing Rick; everyone stood up and it was really emotional, there were people crying, but it worked out.
I also remember the weather wasn’t great.”
Phil Collen (Def Leppard – Guitar)
“It was the biggest gig we’d ever done and was about 100,000 people.
When we went up the stairs to the stage, I could hardly walk as my knees were shaking and it was so overwhelming. I remember the fans were going crazy and they were very supportive. The fans were so good to us and there was such a good atmosphere. My heart was beating; I thought I was going to have a heart attack as my adrenalin was so high!
We didn’t have a long set, but we gave it our all and I was the first female to play on that stage!
The catwalk out to the people in the crowd was so long and I was so happy.
It was also the first time that I talked to Lemmy and he said ‘hey let’s go and see Ozzy Osborne’, I said to him that I didn’t have the right pass. Then someone was walking towards us and he said ‘excuse me’ and ripped the pass off the guy. He said ‘that’s mine’ and he replied ‘it’s hers now’ and we then walked arm in arm to watch Ozzy Osborne.
I couldn’t speak English back then, so our conversations were a little limited.
I watched every band on the day and it was the first time that I got to see the Scorpions, even though I’m from Germany!
Everyone was so proud of Def Leppard’s drummer as it was his first gig since his accident and they were amazing.
Somebody threw a firecracker at Motorhead and Lemmy was so pissed off that he walked off stage and then came back and said that if anyone did that again, they wouldn’t come back on.
For us it opened so many doors. After the concert we had our first US release
; all the record company people had come to watch.
It was one of the most important gigs of our life, which we didn’t know at the time, but afterwards we went off and toured Europe with Judas Priest, who were my favourite.
It was phenomenal. It was just an honour to play there with our heroes.”
Dorothy Pesch (Warlock – Vocals)
“I loved Monsters of Rock; from when I was 14-16 it was great leaving the village of Cheddar in Somerset, getting on a coach with loads of ‘metallers’ and it was awesome, lush, just being with a bunch of other people of a similar ilk.
The festival was wicked because it was full of people all pretty much looking the same; being part of a massive gang.
There were bottles of piss being thrown and it was really hardcore.”
Jack Bessant (Reef – Bass)
“The first time I came to Donington was in 1986 when I was 12.
It was the ultimate show; Ozzy got lowered down onto the stage in a giant chair, it was amazing and fantastic, imagine being that age and seeing all that, it was incredible.
I also came in ’87, ’88, ’90 and ’91 as well.” Richie Edwards (Stone Gods – Vocals/Guitar)
“Having attended as fans over the years it was cool to have reached a stage in our career where we were invited as guests. It was a shock to realize that if you wanted to see the bands perform it was on a small TV monitor.
It was cool to hang out with so many old mates and a good place to make new contacts but if you think the Bailey’s are watching Def Leppard on a piss pot TV screen, think again! We would often just piss off into the audience to watch the bands then leg it back stage.
A slice of world history was made during the 86 MOR. We ran into Def Leppard and were talking to Rick Allan and his mum who looked more nervous than he did. Rick was playing his first official gig since losing his arm in a car accident. Def Leppard made a triumphant return and when Joe Elliot turned around and said” Rick Allen on the drums” Rick got a standing ovation from the entire Donington audience. Rick’s mum kindly gave the Bailey’s a photo of him up on stage that day. It was also the day that we helped launch Metal Hammer magazine in the UK. We handed out thousands of flyers to the legion of metal heads attending on the day and gave it our seal of approval.
Bad News robbed an artiste of a slot on the bill and were what you would expect, a joke.
The Scorpions were, as always, energetic, entertaining and as tight as a ducks arse. We met Ozzy Osbourne back stage and he looked scary. He had way too much black mascara on and looked out of it. Somehow he still managed to get his arse on stage and do what Ozzy does best. Mick is never shy of organizing a photo shoot so pulled Ozzy, Brian May and Phil Collen of Def Leppard together for a mug shot.”
The Bailey Brothers (Mick & Dez Donington Comperes)
“I started running the site in 1986, I was the site manager. I ran it from 1986, right through to 1996.”
Stuart Galbraith (ex – Donington Organiser)
“Record companies would do their best to get a part of it, out vying each other with tents backstage and “extras” (giveaways, girls in army uniform, helicopters etc)....and of course other stars would turn up just to support their friends on the bill. Brian May came to support Bad News - and got stopped at the gate. Bad News were a controversial addition to the bill – they were pretty scared beforehand, probably quite rightly too, 72,500 bone fide rock fans were a tough audience to play to.” Judy Totton (Monsters Of Rock PR)
“This was my third visit to MOR, 1985 had been good but nowhere near as good as 84, however, that was largely down to the lineup for me, I could not stand ZZTop so their lacklustre (boring to be honest) headliner performance marred my day. ‘86 was a different kettle of fish altogether; I loved most of the lineup so this one was always going to live up to expectations.
The weather was hit and miss all day but the atmosphere was great as usual, Donington has always retained its friendly and good humoured atmosphere and there has always been a sense of togetherness, this is not something that I have felt at most of the other festivals that I have attended.
First band on were Warlock who were fronted by the pin-up rock chick favourite of the day, Doro Pesch. The band faired well a
nd played a crowd pleasing set without getting too many missiles chucked in their direction, these of course were saved for the next band.........Bad News.
Bad News was the fake band consisting of members of the ‘Comic Strip Presents’, Ade Edmonson, Rick Mayall, Peter Richardson and Nigel Planer. They came on to a rapturous bottling which did not let up until they left about half hour later. I don’t think that the crowd appreciated having the piss taken out of them, although this was a great success on TV and we all loved it, this simply did not work as well live. The band stumbled their way through about three songs and spent the rest of the time getting us to shout 'Fuck Off' and other profanities at them, this was later edited and formed part of the More Bad News. I for one was not that bothered by them and found it quite amusing that some people in the crowd were getting so worked up, however, I could not wait for some real music to begin again.
Motorhead were next on and got the crowd going quickly with heavy as fuck tracks like opener 'Iron Fist' newish track 'Killed by Death' and of course 'Ace of Spades'. All was going well until some dick threw a lit flare on to the stage! Lemmy quickly stopped the set and went mental, threatening to kick the shit out of the culprit if they dared to come on stage and face up to their wrongdoing. This interruption fortunately did not last long or spoil my enjoyment of the set. As they neared the end of their set a Bomber flew over the crowd, this obviously was not a coincidence and had been planned to great effect, I was impressed anyway.
During the interval I saw this bloke walking towards us carrying a vast tray of beers, so many in fact that he was having trouble getting his arms around them, he got to within two metres of us when a huge missile (which I think was a half full five litre cordial type container) came out of the sky and hit his tray. He lost the lot and went crazy, he started to rant and rave about the bastard bottler taking his soul or something along those lines, he then burst into tears and fell to the ground and started to pound the chip and urine covered grass with his fists, this was the one and only time I have witnessed anyone crying at Donington (but not the last time that I would witness a tray of drinks getting knocked out of someone's grasp.