by Ian Carroll
Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God – Vocals)
“We played the smaller side stage and had an amazing show, it was unbelievable; at the time it was the biggest show that we had played. The reaction that we got was truly flattering and we didn’t know that many people shared our enthusiasm about our music and so we were really excited about that show and it always stuck out in my mind.”
Chris Adler (Lamb Of God – Drums)
“The second time we played was in the tent, which I preferred really, because within the environment of the tent you can take your stage show to the limits of the tent, so it’s a lot more confined and made it a lot more comfortable for me really, as a performer. There is something really special when you are onstage and the tent is rammed full of people.”
Matt Davies (Funeral For A Friend – Vocals)
“The first time that we played at Download Festival was in the tent and it was a rainy day and very cold. It was a great experience and the first time that we had played a festival in the UK.
I remember seeing Motorhead in the tent; it was the first time that I had seen Motorhead and they were really loud.
I was also impressed because there was skateboarding going on, which was really good as it was the first time that I had seen something at a festival that was not related to the music.”
Andrea Ferro (Lacuna Coil –Vocals)
“Download in ’05 was probably our first really big show and we all very excited to get over. We were on the smallest stage and Crucified Barbara and were on before us; Micky had to lend them some bass gear, I think he was trying to get in there, bit he got knocked back.
It was a great gig to play, a dream come true to play at Donington. I remember listening to Monsters Of Rock as a kid in 1990 with Whitesnake, so it was good to finally make it there.
We had a great time hanging out and watching bands too; I remember Black Sabbath were on and Cormac had a few beers and needed lavatory and jumped over the middle fence where the sound desk was and proceeded to piss there, while Black Sabbath were playing ‘Sweet Leaf’ and somehow managed not to get thrown out of the whole festival, I don’t know how. Ozzy didn’t seem to mind too much.
We watched System Of A Down from up on the hill, it was a great weekend.”
Paul Mahon (The Answer – Guitar)
“Download to me is everything. When we were kids growing up listening to rock music, you always heard about Donington. When we found out that we were coming to play at Download, our manager told us, it was incredible, it was like we’d made it, we were actually getting some respect for once.
All the legends that have played there over the years it’s incredible, every year the line-up is great and there’s someone that you want to see.
The first year that we played Therapy? were on, friends from back home. They were a band that we looked up to and our friendship began to grow and now we’ve been friends with them for many years now.
I also will never forget watching Helmet. They headlined the small tent on the Saturday night and then the next day they played in the morning in the bigger tent; it was like going to mass on a Sunday morning with hardcore; 15,000 heads all bobbing in time.
When we walked out on stage, there were all these black t-shirts looking back at us, it was amazing; it was where we should have been all the time.”
James Heatley (The Answer – Drums)
“It takes a special festival or show to really stand out from the thousands of shows a band plays. It usually takes a certain occurrence at that particular show, the reaction of the people in attendance or sometimes the venue where that show happens can make it stand out. With Download there is a certain combination of all those elements that make it stand out as one of the best show memories we have ever had. From the historic value of the yearly event, to the amazing line ups year after year, to the different stages bands can play, to the backstage village the bands can hang out in and have the party of their lives post show and finally to the amazing energy and vibe the crowd continuously puts out throughout the entire festival is something that rarely happens anywhere in the world.
From our first experience on the fest in 2005 we were hooked. Of course the honor of being invited to play the gig is mind blowing, but then to actually be there and play a mid afternoon set on the Snickers Stage to 10,000+ metalheads destroying the pit, crowd surfing, singing along and throwing their fists and horns up in the air gave us such a sense of pride that it is tough to explain with words. The adrenaline that one show instilled in our veins on that particular day is something I will never forget.
After the show I got to roam the grounds of the festival with some friends and see In Flames crush the Snickers stage, see the Anthrax reunion (one of my favorite bands of all time) from the crowd as well as the mighty Black Sabbath grace the stage.
Enjoying our set and then other legendary metal bands sets was then capped off with a party with a bunch of our friends in the metal village after the show was over for the night. The amount of debauchery that ensued that evening was epic and all I remember is our tour mates in Lamb of God and Every Time I Die stumbling back to our bus more than an hour late for bus call. Yeah the tour managers and bus drivers were not pleased, but we had a damn good time on that day.”
Trevor Phipps (Unearth – Vocals)
“Download was really good, it was really great.
I remember watching Dave Mustaine and thinking that this was really absurd that we were going on after.
The thing that was really cool was everyone was switching stages, so when we actually went on, the field was really sparse and empty. Then everyone started moving over and by the third or fourth song we had a full audience, it filled up.
The festivals to me a so large and it’s hard for me to have a good time.”
Murph (Dinosaur Jr – Drums)
“I thought the field was empty the whole time!!!”
Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr – Vocals / Guitar)
“We played the Snickers stage and it was fantastic.
Going to the festival now, most people have short hair and we’ve got a history of 14 years and we were thinking will the young kids like this, but they did!
What I feel about the metal fans that I do admire is that those fans are the most up for it fans in the world. With a lot of indie fans if you make a bad record they could all drop you and it may take years to get those fans back, whereas with the metal fans they will tell you that you’ve made a bad record and that it stinks but they won’t leave you.
We have still got quite a hardcore fan base worldwide, because people say ‘you’ve made some naff records that we didn’t like, but we’ll still come and see you play and buy your new record and see what it’s like’.”
Andy Cairns (Therapy? – Vocals/Guitar)
“Our second experience of Download was totally different; we played the mainstage in the middle of the afternoon and had an amazing show.
We had a blow up sheep thrown onstage and a banana and we did things to the sheep with the banana!”
Jaret Reddick (Bowling For Soup – Vocals/Guitar)
“This year they asked us back and we got to play the mainstage. Everyone was keeping a close watch on everyone else, ‘You’re not drinking too much are you?’ We didn’t show up early in the morning, we had our night out the night before and then got up late in the morning.
It was absolutely amazing, the largest crowd that we’ve ever played for was that show. It was a very humbling experience to see that many people out in front of you that are enjoying what you’re doing.
You’d expect with that many people; you’re going to have a certain number of people who like it and a certain number of people who don’t give a fuck! But as far as you could see people were on their feet, pumping their fists in the air, it was an amazing thing to see.
It was a marker in time. Walking on stage and everyone stands up and cheers and it was the most people in front of me ever.
There was a cloud of dirt, a thi
n layer of brownish air about six feet above everybody and it was like their breathing that all shit in!!! Everyone would need to blow their nose when they got home!!!!!”
Erik Chandler (Bowling For Soup – Bass)
"We were on the mainstage after A, so we got to see them again which was awesome and two bands before Anthrax, which was pretty amazing as we got to sit on the stage and watch Anthrax! It was the Ozzfest day.
Erik took a blow up sheep onstage and stuck a banana up its ass!
There was a lot of drinking and not remembering shit!
Gary Wiseman (Bowling For Soup - Drums)
“The next year we got picked to play on Ozzfest day, on the mainstage and we actually made it on the Ozzfest DVD and it was so cool to see that.
To this day when people or family come over, that’s the first thing I show them, our Ozzfest performance from Download on the Ozzfest DVD.
I also met Max Cavelera and he was so nice to me and when I walked up to him, some crazy girl was playing with his hair, so he was looking for someone to get him out of that situation and so I stumbled along at the right time.
Dave Mustaine was a really nice to me and I also got to meet Billy Idol”
It was so much fun and so many people and the good thing about that year was that we actually played good!
We actually rocked it!
We did the ‘sheep bit’ and carried it over to 2007.”
Chris Burney (Bowling For Soup – Guitar)
"Download, that was last year? Holy Jesus."
Dave King (Flogging Molly - Vocals/Guitar)
"We all watched Black Sabbath and we started our set with Paranoid."
Bridgette Regan (Flogging Molly - Fiddle/Penny Whistle)
"The Saturday was the metal day and we played the mainstage before Megadeth on the Friday, but when you play Donington you don't care when you play. I don't want to be associated with just the whole metal scene. I’m a metal fan, but what I do it's metal, it's punk, it’s rock, it's a lot of things.
We played early at 2 o'clock, which may as well have been 10 o'clock and we carried on drinking and drinking and doing interviews.
Right before we left I saw Steve Stevens and walked up to him and said 'Hey man my name is Wednesday' and he said 'yeah you're in Murderdolls, you did White Wedding, I know who you are' and I was like 'that's cool', I was kind of shocked by it.
We had a very hectic press schedule, so we just kept drinking!!
Wednesday 13 (Wednesday 13 - Vocals / Guitar)
“We came back in 2005 and played a lot later in the day, second to last on the second stage and they couldn’t stop chanting out name. It was almost like we weren’t allowed to play; they just wanted to chant our name!
It was just so overwhelming.”
Mark Hunter (Chimaira – Vocals)
“The second time with 'A' we played on the main stage; it was great (especially when a bottle smashed into my guitar at the beginning of the first song!). Apart from that minor glitch we had a great time.... I even managed to blag a Total Guitar front cover pic with Slash, Scott Ian and Mark Tremonti... Three players who have made more than a little impact on me and a few million other guitarists around the world. I couldn't believe it.”
Mark Chapman (A – Guitar)
“Playing Download Festival should be a big deal to any band so when we were first asked to play in 2005 it was a huge honor.”
Olly Mitchell (Johnny Truant – Vocals)
“Considering the history of Donington and the place it holds in our hearts thanks to the Monsters of Rock festivals, playing the Download festival in 2005 still holds up as being one of the greatest shows Panic Cell have ever had the privilege to play.
The whole vibe, atmosphere, weather and especially the crowd participation were amazing, we couldn’t have asked for a better show. Considering that back in June 2005 Panic Cell were pretty much an unknown act, we were astonished that by the time we went on the tent was packed out and over spilling, we could see people outside the tent watching as they could get in... it was that full!! Smiles a million miles wide and plenty of beers were had that day we promise you.
An awesome, mind blowing weekend was had by all, we met a lot of cool people and made a lot of new friends over the time we spent there.”
Bobby Town (Panic Cell – Bass)
”The second time we played was maybe a little more special to me though. To this day it has to go down as one of the all time Speedhorn shows! We played second from top in the tent, with our mates Napalm Death.
It was the last show of our first UK tour with Bloody Kev, and he was pretty nervous.
There were so many people in the tent!! I met loads of people afterwards who said that they couldn't get anywhere near the inside of the tent, such was the crowd there!
We were about 2 songs into the set and the crowd was really kicking off! I have an everlasting image of all these extra security guards ascending to the front of the stage to cope with it. It was just unbelievable. It was one of those shows that take your breath away and make you think...”Holy shit!"
When you play 200 shows a year, it takes something special to take you to that extra level, where you're just floating on adrenalin; that was one of those shows...”
Gareth Smith (Raging Speedhorn – Guitar)
“The first thing that struck me was that it as so big, enormous and we were pretty nervous when we entered the stage. We played early in the day at about 1 o’clock and we didn’t know if there were going to be any people at all.
We had heard so many stories about the crowds throwing bottles of pee, so we were like ‘how’s this going to be??’
But, when we entered the stage it was packed and it was really good and we had an awesome gig.
We saw some friends from Sweden from In Flames and Messhuggah and hung out backstage and we saw the Osbourne Family, which was really strange.
It was just fantastic and we hope to be back.”
Mia Coldheart (Crucified Barbara - Vocals/Guitar)
“It was really big, like REALLY big! We had to a van to get from the backstage area to the stage. I remember I had my camera with me and we took photos of people like the singer from Slipknot and they closed the backstage area because Ozzy was coming in there, so we had to wait. I watched some songs of Velvet Revolver. I also remember that they had a massage chair in the backstage area and I thought this was really good, but nobody was using it, I sat there but no masseuse came up; and you could get your hair done.” Nicki Wicked (Crucified Barbara - Drums)
“I remember that it was so big and at night I wanted some cigarettes and I walked with Jesper (Strömblad) from In Flames. We walked for 1 hour to get cigarettes and it was like ‘my god, where are we?’ We were just walking, walking, walking, walking and finally we got to somewhere to get cigarettes, it was just huge. I remember some stupid photographers in the press area asking us if we were a band or just groupies? I had never heard such a stupid comment as that before and I thought he needs to get spanked!!” Klara Force (Crucified Barbara – Guitar)
“I had no idea that Download festival would become a regular part of my job and I’d be able to watch amazing bands, like the original Anthrax line-up, from the side of the stage.”
Emma Watson (PR – Bowling For Soup/MC Lars/Zebrahead)
“We started off on year one and year two as a 2 day festival and then in year three we changed it to a 3 day festival and I think that it was the best decision that we ever made.
To be honest the line-up on the Friday, which was quite ‘Indie’, was the best that we could do. The interesting thing about Download is that Monsters of Rock ran its course, but was very niche, but with Download I’d like to see it here in 10 years time and if we are going to achieve that it has to maintain its core and its roots as a rock festival, but it’s got to have a really broad base. If we keep coming back and doing the same core rock bands, then we are going to run out, I’d like to see bands like Foo Fighters and Muse play here as well;
even bands like Linkin Park take us a little bit broader and I think that the broader we make it the longer it will last.”
Stuart Galbraith (ex – Donington Organiser)
“2005 was a massive year for Download which saw it expand to include a third day, boast its biggest line-up to date and achieve sell-out status - no mean feat in just its third year of existence. The online operation scaled-up to match. By this stage, the message boards had become so active that full-time dedicated coverage was required to administer and manage them. I needed some helpers and they came to me in the form of two amazing people called Phil and Carrie. This larger than life couple had, off their own back, already put a lot of time into helping me out with the boards and they seemed to be on there permanently. With Clear Channel's blessing I appointed them the official 'mods' and they're still there running the show today, for the love of it - very special people.
As Download's online activities increased, our role began to have a more tangible effect on the shape of the festival. There was a lot of talk about 5-a-side football games being organised in the campsites by fans, on the forums so, at the next production meeting, I proposed that we put in a proper pitch to house this activity. My suggestion was met by a roar of laughter that almost blew me out the room. "Metallers can't play football!” someone snorted. Next time, I arrived with a petition of several hundred fans who claimed otherwise. I was given a space in the market area, £200 to buy some goals and branded footballs, and told I'd better make this work. As soon as the Dog relayed this info back to the 'boardies', as yet another case in which they had been allowed creative input into the event, they made sure it not only worked but was such a popular attraction that 5-a-side pitches started popping up at festivals all over the country after that, from Reading to T in the Park. Less ubiquitous now is the other attraction we installed that year - giant games of Twister! All weekend-long, this favourite with the girls generated a writhing tangle of limbs as black-clad young rock chicks fought to out-flex each other. It also proved a big hit with the artists backstage, becoming both a magnet to attract curious/bored rock stars to our interview area and a prop to generate unusual content.