After the big confirmation that the juggernaut festival known as Download would be making it’s way down to Australia, music fans around the country rejoiced in the fact that there was finally a heavy music festival back in Australia. A huge gap had been left since the now defunct Soundwave Festival crumbled into the void with the remnants still making it’s effect known, both with artists and fans alike. The team at Download Festival, after many rumors, effectively picked up the festival slot right where it left off 3 years ago but this time there was a cautious awareness of what not to do with a lineup that wasn’t such a burden financially and logistically but still enough to attract the punters who poured in by the thousands on a typical Melbourne day filled with all kinds of weather.
It should be noted up front that the festival was organised brilliantly, something that became an obvious difference between Soundwave and Download. Not that this is a comparison match by any means but clearly the Download team effectively put into place all the right ingredients that made the event such a seamless piece of work, the well oiled machine filtered into the Aussie department as was pretty obvious by the jovial fans who embraced everything that was on offer.
Before getting into the music side of things, there was a feast of activities and other mini events and various things put into place that really gave the festival a great atmosphere. Despite the rainy weather early on which did eventually clear up and hold off for the rest of the day, there wasn’t much that marred the event at all. Plenty of tents all well placed, the smorgasbord of food and drinks with lines that were surprisingly short and quick considering the amount of people that had come in for the festivities plus security who were actually helpful and chatty, all of this made for a fairly relaxed day that can sometimes become tiresome and frustrating.
You could be forgiven for even forgetting about the bands playing and judging by the groups of people scattered through out the parklands on the grass areas, chatting and casually taking in the vibes, some were happy just to be a part of the event and merely rock up to the occasional show when interested. There was no rushing around trying to catch your favorite bands set, clashes were virtually non-existent unless you actually wanted to see every band and even then, you probably could catch the tail ends of every set if one happened to choose too. Stages were divided into 3 areas with the 2 main stages, Black and Red for the main acts and the Avalanche stage for the punk stuff right across from the main area plus the Dogtooth stage a little further away featuring the more metal stuff. One could argue the quality of the lineup may have played a part in the relaxed ease of the patrons on hand but you could also argue that they wouldn’t of forked out the hefty ticket costs if there wasn’t enough bands of interest to warrant the attendance. But as pointed out before, the festival organisers had to do this right and start this festival with the right type of bands to steamroll the next one in coming years.
Back to the side stuff, beer gardens were aplenty but there wasn’t a need to, the whole venue was an open beer garden and that fact may have added to the real casualness of it all, the waiting in lines and being cornered into hot, sweaty pockets of Flemington racecourse all but gone. Even smoking was abundantly open and the only restricted areas were the backstage and media tents set up for those involved in the festival in one form or another, The Rockpit included!
Of course aside from all those nice little extra tidbits, the music was the main focus and we got to see as many of the bands as we could but in our review we focused a little more on some of the bands that really catch our attention. Hitting it up early on were Aussie locals High Tension kicking things off on the main stage, the band looking particularly tiny on the huge platform that they were performing on with a small but passionate crowd of early show goers giving the band some great support. Moving over to the smaller stages, Ocean Grove filled the electronic sounding component early on but in a fashionably metal way while Punk locals Clowns tore it up on the other stage with a highly energetic set.
Many Aussie bands were noted on the bill, something that a lack of did become a somewhat controversy in the past considering Aussie festivals. Northlane brought the first big crowd on the main stage Red for the day as their djenty grooves gave some early crowd movements while Tassie band Psycroptic gave a tight performance over on the Dogtooth stage for some good old fashioned real metal.
We head back to the main stage and stay there for a considerable amount of time as a big chunk of what many would consider to be some of the main drawcards, at least for metal fans, were hitting the main stages one after another. Of Mice & Men came prepared as they brought their heavy grooves to the table but were slightly overpowered by the building crowd chanting “Sabaton” for the Swedish power metallers who many came to see. The bands blend of folk and power metal gave plenty of punters enough to sing along with as the set became a huge chorus line of gleeful singing and shenanigans. As was expected at any festival, the sound was a slight hit and miss depending on where you were standing and how the wind was coming through. Unfortunately on the right side of the stage the guitars were completely drowned out but sounded better on the other side where French act Gojira were getting ready for their show.
Also another winner and one of the highlights of the day, Gojira absolutely killed it as they played tracks from their latest album “Magma” as well as a few other notable numbers. By this time the rains had cleared, the sun was out and Viking warriors Amon Amarth hit the Red stage as they pummeled the crowd with some foot stomping metal for the masses. “Raise Your Horns” and the classic “Twilight Of The Thundergod” were two of the many highlights from their set, another great performance from the band who clearly love Australia with their regular attendance to the country. Mastodon followed suit with their prog rock touch, another band who seemingly tour the country pretty regularly which the crowd didn’t seem to mind one bit as they poured into the mosh area emphatically before Good Charlotte hit the neighboring stage afterwards.
During the afternoon on the Avalanch stage, Aussie punk all girl band Bad Cop / Bad Cop hit it big with the crowd as did Trophy Eyes, Neck Deep and The Story So Far. All bands that catered to those were not interested in the more metal leanings of the other stages which speaking of, extreme act Nails tore the Dogtooth stage apart with their chaotic brand of pure unadulterated aggression which was contrast to the more melodic sounds of Issues and Falling In Reverse who unfortunately had the job of following. More Aussie metal followed however with Perth locals Make Them Suffer raising the heavy flag for the west while Melbourne heroes King Parrot were just their usual crazy selves, an onslaught of grindcore action that apparently some punters could not handle amidst the eruption of moshers that ensued.
The hip hop crowds were well represented with Limp Bizkit hitting the main stage Black, one of the main drawcards for the night that brought a bit of 90’s nostalgia alongside the headliners Korn and more. Fred Durst pounded the stage in only the way he does and of course the legions of fans who by this point had the main stage areas well covered, lapped it up. Prophets Of Rage also brought the dancing shoes to the show with their political brand of hip hop grooves, singalong chants and some mighty guitar riffs from the one and only Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine fame.
During all the flash in the pants non-metal stuff however was one band that has a cult following from the streets – Suicidal Tendencies. Their first appearance in Australia with new drummer and ex-Slayer sticksman Dave Lombardo was much anticipated among the joint mixture of both punk and metal fans, their cross over style embraced by anyone who just loves a fun show. Mike Muir was his crazy self as always, running around the stage like a madman but Dave Lombardo truly stole the show with his massive drum sound and a performance that pushed the band to next level. Suicidal Tendencies have never sounded this good!
The Avalanche stage was not done however as Hot Water Music and NOFX followed suite, the latter also a major drawcard for the punk fans who clearly had no interest for what was going on elsewhere. Moving over to the Dogtooth stage was the final act for this end of the venue with Swedish metallers Arch Enemy drawing the biggest crowd for this stage and clearly one of the main acts people came to see. The first time performance for singer Alissa White-Gluz with the band in Australia was hotly anticpated and her performance was exhilirating to watch as she bounded across the stage with ease, even with some sound issues early on with her vocals getting a little drowned out. Other than that, Arch Enemy were on fire as was the twin guitar attack of Michael Amott and newest member Jeff Loomis who was probably just as anticipated to be seen with the band for his technical proficiency on the guitar. Mind blowing doesn’t even start to describe what he was doing on stage but his addition to Arch Enemy is a much welcomed one.
There was only one band left at this point as everyone crossed over to the main stage for Korn’s set, the crowd size overwhelmingly saturating the entire 2 stage area to the point where even if you wanted to watch Korn, chances are you weren’t gonna see much from any distance. The behemoth nu-metal act of the 1990’s clearly still had a massive pull even after all these years so in some ways it was a fitting end to the first ever Download Festival in Australia. The fact that this was held in Melbourne also made sense as arguably it’s the musical capital of the country. But reflecting on the days events, the organisation and all the bands on display, we say let’s do this again! It was a success all around and with an even better lineup, we can see this becoming THE music festival in Australia for years to come.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by SAS75 Photography
