by Ian Carroll
Sean Yseult (White Zombie – Bass)
“The Donington experience was a fantastic dream to me, brought forth by nature spirits, it seems.
We flew in the night before from Los Angeles. I was very excited about the event because I have always been intrigued about the "Earth energy secrets" for which Donington is well known. Plus, I dig the shit out of castles (who doesn't?).
Ideally, I would have liked to share a snifter of brandy next to a lit fireplace with Diane Cilento and Christopher Lee, singing dirty limericks in the gatehouse, but hey, I'm like Wickerman damaged (I fucking love that movie). As it happened, we flew in and were on early. The time window was so short that we literally had to leave for home almost immediately after the show.
I do remember Slash and I hanging out with Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden sometime before driving to the event. We had a smoke out in the front of the hotel, loitered a bit (like proper rockers should), and then drove to the stage.
I looked out amongst the thousands before our set and thought, "Fuck, yes! This will be a real memory, not some blank weekend warrior recollection!"
We got on with the gig, and I remember that indescribable feeling of energy. It was electrifying and tremendous to play for so many and in such a setting.
We ended our set, said good evening and here comes Metallica!
We then were taken offstage to a V.I.P area somewhere further away (but not behind the stage, so we could still see the show).
I remember a few last things.
I have never heard the real sound of a mechanized armor unit on the move in person before, but from the moment Metallica got on, that's what it sounded like! I dug the hell out of it. It could have caused pensioners and small children to poo themselves! It was that loud right down to the twig and berries chakras.
We spent the last while before leaving for the airport chatting in the tent with people, enjoying the English countryside, laughing, a few drinks, kiss kiss. Bye.
After the lag wore off in L.A., it was back to 'Eric Dover, did you pay the electric bill?' and 'Can you run to the bank?' Back to the normal daily affairs.
"I can BUY ANY of this fucking food I want! I played at Donington, bitches!"
Eric Dover (Slash’s Snakepit – Vocals)
“As a kid growing up and listening to rock and metal music, I went to my first Donington in ’95; Metallica were headlining with Skid Row, Therapy?, Corrosion Of Conformity and Machine Head and having seen a massive festival like that as a kid, I never thought that I would end up playing it. If someone had come up and told that 13 year old rocker kid that I would have been playing in the same position that Corrosion Of Conformity played, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Dave Warsop (Beat Union – Vocals/Guitar)
“I remember this Monsters as it was my first and the one I developed chicken pox at. I got sicker and sicker throughout the day and the noise of the bands did nothing to improve the throbbing pain in my head!!!”
Mike Horton (Plymouth)
“We had not heard about Metallica headlining the ‘Escape From The Studio’ show in 2005 until late and by then we had made other plans.
To be honest, I do not think that it was organised or announced until fairly late on,which was a shame as it had a pretty damn good line-up.”
Roger Moore (Glinton, Peterborough)
“Metallica’s fourth appearance saw them headline for the first time and they kicked a bit of life into the old festival with a mixture of old and new numbers (even a couple of brand new songs).
It’s a pity I can’t say the same about the rest of the day.
As in 1994 bands such as White Zombie and Machine Head were awful to these ears.
Special guest slot was occupied by Therapy?. Not what I would call a Donington band (or not the kind I wanted), but they performed satisfactorily and were OK.
I also enjoyed Slash’s Snakepit for their short early in the day slot.
I was the last of the old gang to attend this year. I got a lift with some younger Donington newcomers.
I could sense the old beast was beginning to breathe its last.”
Paul Hartshorn (Chesterfield)
“Back in 95 the weather was scorching, (so I remember) anyway, me and a mate had just finished watching Slash’s Snake Pit. I was absolutely starving so decided to go grab a bite to eat. We went to the nearest available burger stall. What with Donny’s reputation for their ‘dethburgers’ I ordered 2 hot dogs. Carrying one in each hand. While walking back to where we were sat beforehand walking down a grass verge I felt my legs slip from under me. And landed in the only stretch of mud for miles. Looked up and there was a single tap water point where the remainder of water had been draining all day and made a mini mud slide. It was about no longer than 7 foot long and a foot wide and I had managed to slip on it. Claire (my mate) laughed hard. To which I received a large cheer and a round of applause from the hundreds of people sat watching me. I took a bow and disappeared rather quickly. My legs / shorts were caked in mud and my mate couldn’t stop laughing. In my defence I didn’t drop either of my hotdogs though.” Mike Fairhurst (Urmston, Manchester)
1996
Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Sepultura, Biohazard,
Dog Eat Dog, Paradise Lost, Fear Factory
2nd Stage
Korn,
Type O Negative, Everclear,
3 Colours Red, Honeycrack, Cecil
This year saw the return of the second stage and also the return of Kiss as joint headliners with Ozzy Osbourne, who was also making his 3rd visit.
The line-up for the day was very diverse, especially across the acts on the mainstage. Opening with the ‘industrial metal’ of Fear Factory and having Dog Eat Dog’s ‘nu metal rap crossover’ hybrid playing later that afternoon, no one could complain about the lack of variety on offer.
Early afternoon saw the British ‘gothic metal’ band Paradise Lost draw a considerable crowd and include in their set tracks from their album ‘Draconian Times’ which had been released 2 months earlier.
After Dog Eat Dog, Biohazard returned to Donington after their truncated set on the second stage in 1995.
The show for Sepultura was a very strange and sad one. Max Cavalera’s step son had been killed in an accident and so rather than cancel the show and let down any of their growing legion of fans, Andreas Kisser stepped up to the mark and sang all the songs for the set instead. Max stayed at home, to be near his family.
Over on the second stage there were performances from Cecil (whatever happened to them?), Honeycrack and 3 Colours Red, who have both since split up; the members of Honeycrack have gone on to other careers, Hugo Degenhardt the is now playing the part of Ringo Starr in the Bootleg Beatles, CJ is in the Wildhearts and Willie Dowling is writing music for TV shows and films.
Elsewhere on the 2nd stage, Everclear, the multi million selling ‘alt rock’ band from Portland, Oregon, USA, put on a fantastic show and were a big success on the day.
Also gaining many fans were Type O Negative, putting in a rare appearance on the day; playing a whole set that only consisted of three songs over a period of 30 minutes, but what a great 30 minutes they were.
Finally the 2nd stage came to a close with Korn, who at the time were a very much ‘underground’ act and won over the crowd; who couldn’t love a band with a dreadlocked bagpipe player?
On the mainstage Ozzy preceded his set with a montage of amusing video clips, with him superimposed in famous historical clips and music videos.
Always a popular choice and making his third appearance at the festival, Ozzy played all the classics ‘Iron Man’, ‘Paranoid’ and an encore of ‘Crazy Train’ and ‘Bark At The Moon’; he would return to headline the Ozzfest day at Download 2005, 9 years later.
Finally, Kiss were back, this time with full make up, the original line-u
p and a set that featured all the classic Kiss songs. Playing a twenty songs set, with music only from their ‘make up days’, Kiss proved why they were a band at the top of the rockpile and put on one of the most amazing shows ever seen at the festival. Starting with ‘Deuce’ and ending with ‘Rock And Role All Nite’, the crowd was entertained by the worlds number one showband; it would be another 12 years before Kiss would return and by then Peter Criss and Ace Frehley would both have been replaced in the band.
So that was it, the final Monsters Of Rock at Donington. Going out on a high, with a double headline slot was a great way to end to an iconic festival, though it would return in a slightly different guise at the Milton Keynes Bowl in 2006.
“I remember being on stage and I thought I was seeing amazing kind of special effect, twirling through the air, but it was water bottles filled with piss.”
Paul Stanley (Kiss – Vocals / Guitar)
“Donington was a major part of breaking our career here in Europe.
I remember that at our first show in ’96, there was a big lead up to it with ‘Korn’s coming, Korn’s coming’, thanks to Rob Flynn from Machine Head who was talking us up a lot in the press, in Kerrang! and a lot of other magazines. He was saying ‘you’ve gotta hear this band called Korn, you’ve gotta check ‘em out’, so there was this buzz going round about us.
That was really our ‘coming out’. We had come over before with Primus and nobody really knew who we were, but Donington was the show that really blew the doors wide open for us; there was no turning back after that show.
It was a magic show, a funny show that I will never forget.”
Jonathan Davis (Korn - Vocals)
“At this time in our career, Dog Eat Dog was used to playing large festivals, but sharing the stage with two of our all time favorite bands, KISS and OZZY, was a dream come true!
It was like a big party with our friends Biohazard, Fear Factory, and Sepultura also on the bill. Add in the beautiful weather and this was a day we'll never forget. I got to shake Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley's hands as they walked thru the backstage. John got to meet Ozzy. Everyone was happy.
This was one of the most important shows in DED's history and we will always remember it fondly."
Dave Neabore (Dog Eat Dog - Bass)
“First of all I was so stoked to play with Ozzy and Kiss, being a kid of the 70s and 80s; Kiss were there and I had an all access pass. All I knew about our stage was this band from Cali called Korn was gonna play after us.
The year had been a whirlwind of radio/summer festivals. We had no pull in Europe but things were going well for us in the States.
When asked to do the show I jumped at the chance while the rest of the band resisted. I was a HUGE KISS fan and knew that Ace was gonna be on the grounds.
So we set up, got everything in place and I remember seeing people drink alcohol or something out of what looked like plastic pouches. Ok... your gonna be there all day bring your own drink, I thought. Our crew began to set everything up. Korn was to go after us and they were very stoked to play, Munky and I hung out for a while, super cool guy!!!
I think the crowd was ready for Korn but we were next. So while our crew was setting up a few, maybe 3-4 people threw their bags on stage hitting our trusty road crew. They wandered off stage asking, "Why would they throw beer at us?” Well... after they finish drink the beer/alcohol from the bags... it becomes somewhere to piss. Our road crew became targets for their piss bags. Not sure why?
I also hear that Ozzy was not singing that day and there was a guy under the stage singing for him.
I was back stage "MAIN STAGE" and saw two young women holding ACE up cuz he was sooooo fuckedup. GENE and PAUL came out and were the usual freaks, Gene looking for girls and Paul looking for guys.”
Craig Montoya (Everclear – Bass)
"We played the last ever Donington Monsters of Rock Festival, the headliners were Kiss.
It was an amazing event to be part of as the Monsters of Rock Festival was something everyone dreamt of doing in those days.
Our label at the time was Music For Nations. They had a tent set up for us backstage in which everything was black; food, drink, everything, pure Spinal Tap and the black sandwiches weren't very popular.
It was also an honour to be playing the main stage.
The show was awesome. A sea of people and even some banners just for little, old us.”
Gregor Mackintosh (Paradise Lost - Guitar)
"Donington meant everything to me, I remember watching AC/DC and Van Halen being interviewed by Andy Kershaw for the Whistle test in 1984, also, my old man would drive us up from Devon as a kid some years, one of my earliest memories...
So to get the chance to play there was almost other worldly, 3 Colours Red, to my knowledge were either the first, or one of the first bands to play the event as an unsigned act, I think it was '96 so it was a bit nerve wracking, the crowd were well up for it which was great because we were brand new. I remember looking at the massive tyre and being at a loss as to what to say for once, so I tried the line - 'knowing us 3 Colours Red, knowing you Donington', the whole crowd shouted 'A-HAAAAAAAAAAAAA'... Awesome.”
Pete Vuckovic (3 Colours Red – Vocals/Bass)
“My main memory of Donington is of seeing Kiss' helicopter fly in and land backstage, and later on watching them tottering towards the stage on their
platform shoes in full rig, thinking "Wow. That’s Kiss".
Our time onstage was just a blur of adrenalin. And volume, of course.”
Hugo Degenhardt (Honeycrack – Drums/Vocals)
“I couldn’t go that year; but I remember when I was a kid taping the rock show on Radio One and Max from Sepultura’s step son had just been killed and I remember Andreas doing all the singing for them and it was amazing.”
Tom Lacey (The Ghost Of A Thousand – Vocals)
“My first experience of Donington was a near-death one aged 16 at Monsters Of Rock 1996.
My mate Simon and I crawled a quarter mile through a trench that ran under the security fencing and found ourselves in the VIP area - Valhalla to a young metal kid!
After drinking more free booze than we could handle, and making acquaintance with members of Cradle Of Filth and Anathema, we all decided to go back to the main arena to watch Kiss, but got caught in a dust storm as their helicopter landed.
We just lay on the floor until the explosions (they had a LOT of pyro) stopped, and got up shaking, with sand, mud and shit in our hair. Then we watched Kiss jump out of said helicopter.
That event pretty much solidified my entire future, and I've been lost in rock ever since.”
Adam Sagir (The Noise Cartel)
“The next trip was 1996 - The Ozzy/Kiss double header. This time it was a minibus full of drunken idiots and a lunatic for a driver. I was married by this time and we all got picked up in the early hours. A crate of beer in the back and a few "herbal" cigarettes going round meant we were in fine spirits when we arrived. The sun was shining, a first for my Donington trips I believe, and we got to the gate. "Can't bring bottles in" said the guard, offering us a plastic bag with a tap on it "but you can have a couple of these for a quid each."
Decanting our various bottles and cans into these, which looked suspiciously like a bag of piss, we made our way in. To be honest, the drink we'd had on the way down means that it wasn't the most active or memorable of MOR's. My "Donington moment" seemed odd with a second stage at the top of the hill. We found a spot about halfway back, basking in the sun and just drinking in the atmosphere.
Shops made a welcome addition to the burger vans, and I ended up buying my wife a pair of leather trousers. Burger vans were being edged out by Noodle bars - what variety.
Biohazard were ok, Sepultura were impressive if incomplete - Max was absent due to the death of his stepson - and I remember lying down half asleep while Ozzy was on.
Everyone in the group got bored watching Kiss - who were doing a much bigger show th
an in ‘88 - and we left before the crush at the end of their set and watched the fireworks from the van. I don't think we even bothered to check out the second stage at all. I mean, who the hell were Korn?
And that was Monsters Of Rock. Time went by, I got divorced. After a fallow period with music, I started listening to new music again.
Phil Hull (Download Forum Administrator)
“Kiss had reunited for their ‘Alive’ world tour, and were in full makeup; what an iconic performance.
Ozzy’s performance, despite the fact that he looked like he could have done with some sort of assistance walking, was also amazing.”
Mike Horton (Plymouth)
“August 17th 1996 could not come round quick enough for us, the main reason was a one word reason - KISS. Yes, we had seen KISS four times previously but this was different, this was the original line-up reformed with full makeup and 'Alive' era stage show to boot. This was great news and only got better when it was announced that Ozzy would be co-headlining (although his set was really only a ‘special guest’ spot). From then on I was not bothered who else got booked, these two were enough for me, in fact when the rest of the bill was announced I could not be bothered with any of them, Fear Factory aside.
In reflection, I think that for us the last few years Monsters Of Rock bills were far inferior to the mega line-ups of ‘84 and ‘88, they had more bands with the two stages but we found the under card to be somewhat lightweight. I do not blame the organisers for this, I think that it was as a result of Grunge which had destroyed the Glam scene and was steadily destroying everything else 'Metal' in its wake. To be honest, if the Headliners had not been great, we may have missed ‘94 and ‘96, this would have been bad looking back at it now, as we had no idea that they would be the last two under the MOR banner (although I am still unsure whether ‘96 was called MOR as the ticket just says Donington ‘96).