Sounds great… but make sure they sign up to the live webcast this time. Spent all day waiting for Whitesnake and a no show with, so far, no explanation. Given that DC says it was an artistes responsibility to take the music to the people this time, this is a bit poo. I’m sure the official reasoning will be, er, spin doctorish, but no doubt it’s all about filthy lucre. A great shame David!

The webcast has generally been great though.

So, Aerospliff (about that time to get round to Europe on their new tour) and Ozzy then (who should have his new album out about then methinks) ?

Or Download 2010 maybe?

VAN HALEN.

I was at Download yesterday. The main stage was the right place for the classic acts but there is an underlying problem.

Some of the bigger acts…….Journey for example were given 40 minutes which is way too short for people of their stature. They were superb, the crowd all sang to Don’t Stop Believing and then off they went.

There are too many bands on one stage. The stage timings were very precise and changeovers really smooth but 40 mins is too short.

However I must say that the amount of time Whitesnake had was too long. I love Whitesnake and have seen them well in excess of twenty five times right from Lovehunter. But now David C is using more and more use of echo effects, his voice sounded awful, sometimes drowned out by the backing vocals. They used some acoustic moments to give him a rest ,a drum solo thankfully short and a duelling guitar part. The songs were not right for a festival and he just could not do it. Whether it was a cold or throat problem I don’t know but there were a lot of disappointed older fans.

ZZ Top sounded ok, but things only got going when the big hits came, We went home before Def L as we had a problem elsewhere to attend to.

Skin were great welcome back,

Dream Theater were awesome and split the crowd woh did not know what they were about. A good brave set.

Tesla were fine too.

How about having for next year

As near to the original 1980 Donington festival

Saxon

Scorpions

Judas Priest

Journey

Purple or a reformed Rainbow

Just a thought

here we go………….VAN FUCKING HALEN,……………GOT to be……..throw in the reformed Mr.Big and NU where tarkinn!!!!!!!!!!!

open letter to DC ….

give it up mate.

His voice is no where what it was, far too much filler (guitar w@nk) and extended endings – could’ve played Ready & Willin’ and FFYL in that time.

Have just got back from Download’s Classic Rock day, sunburnt, but having thoroughly enjoyed it. I missed Stone Gods (planned to get in for it, but it’s quite a walk!). Tesla were ok and Skin were actually a revelation (very enjoyable). Was a bit disappointed with Black Stone Cherry, and Dream Theater were not a good choice for the Classic Rock bill. However, it was well worth it to see Journey and ZZ Top on top form, both of which should have been on longer (certainly Journey deserved an hour). Next year a complete Classic Rock bill on the mainstage, and maybe start a little later at 12. Finally, though, I must say I was impressed by the organisation and sheer volume of facilities – having never had to queue long for the beer tent or food.

the classic rock part of download was great ive never been before but didnt want to miss a classic line up.i thought tesla and skin who i hadnt herd of were brill and thought they should have had more time than they did.whitesnake were a bit poor due to dc relying too much on echo to try and make him sound better(didnt work) sounded amaturish really.but zz top def leppard and all the rest were cool,really enjoyed it.

I was there too and I think Alan has got everything just about spot on with his comments. Personally I thought Dream Theater were reasonable although I would have preferred a set that featured less of the new material, but then again when that’s the album that’s just been released it makes sense to play a few tracks off it. If they had played everything off albums pre Six Degrees that would have been even better.

The original Donnington Festival would be awesome or if they just had 3 days of Classic Rock – but for that it would have to be a whole new festival, although I reckon there are enough people who would be up for a weekend of Classic Rock to make it worth the organiser’s while.

JOURNEY have humiliated ALL the bands of this edition of download as well as all the bands of the past editions(not very difficult to say the truth).
Journey have shown the power of AOR which is not made of aggressive primitive neanderthalian nature but is made of homo sapiens intelligence,AOR is the most modern and evoluted form of rock!
I hope CR editor to take note and start to discover NEW bands of this fantastic form of rock like the amazing WORK OF ART and their debut album ARTWORK.

Fantastic line up on the last day, everything was going amazing until Def Leppard came on stage, but it did give me a reason to leave early. I could have done without them, and let the other bands have more time. As for Sir Coverdale’s voice, sounded mighty fine to me. All down to personal taste I suppose.

Was hoping Whitesnake would be my band of the festival, yet was surprised to find that it turned out to be Def Leppard. I’ve never a big fan (though I was stood watching em 23 yrs earlier), esp. of their later stuff, yet I thought DL sounded tight, with a great sound and Joe Elliot’s voice holding up well. Their set list was well balanced (My hope for Die Hard the Hunter was a tad unrealistic, I guess) and they played with honesty and professionalism. A superb way to round off what was a great weekend of rock and metal.
Crue would have stolen the show had they not talked so much, mind

Journey were soooo good.

ZZ Top were perfect for the sun/hashpipe/ride wine feeling I had in my brain box.

Whitesnake were a bit weak..apart from Bad Boys

Def Leppard were ok.

DOWN were amazing

Pendulum got me dancing like a fool.

Im HUGE on my classic rock… but
I had wayyyy more fun listening to the metal bands than the clasic rock bands this year at download. being 19 years old, and despite loving zz top, def leppard, whitesnake, and journey, their show was just plain boring at some points!

Understandably, though, as the auidance mostly consisted of middle aged fellas standing still with a bevvy in their hands. no crowd surfing, no pits, no intensity..

and Im not usualy big on my metal, but man Slipknot, down, killswitch engage, Hatebreed, devildriver were all amazing and put on such epic performances, there was an energy in the crowd that couldnt be matched.

I guess its cause mostly old dudes were listening to the classic rock bands, whove been there/done that with rocking out, and just want to quietly enjoy the show.

but with those metal bands, theres loads of young energetic people lsitening to it, hence the pits etc

I saw it on the internet and yes Whitesnake was not Whitesnake no more. Def Leppard seems to get better and better. I was verry sad that there where only 2 songs that i culd see from Def leppard. First time i saw them live. Now i know why they sel more than 60.000.000 albums. they are pro!!