Download 2007: Saturday Blog

United Kingdom | | 09 June 2007

10.11pm
With little in the way of props or stage pomp, Linkin Park kick off their Saturday night headline set 20 minutes late with their breakthrough hit 'One Step Closer'.

9.26pm
It’s a who's who of Download at Motley Crue's headline set. Bowling For Soup, Perry Farrell, Job For A Cowboy and Mastodon all line the side of stage to pay homage.

9pm
The Answer play one of the sets of the day on the Tuborg Stage, classic Deep Purple-esque rock that gets everyone ass shakin'!

8.10pm
Rumour alert! Devil Driver are planning to break the world record for the biggest ever circle pit when they take to the Dimebag Darrell Stage tomorrow. They'll have a job beating Machine Head's attempts today!

7.45pm
Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx has just held a press conference backstage. He discussed his new book, 'The Heroin Diaries', a collection of his journal entries from 1986 to 1987 when his addiction was at its height. The bass player told journalists he was thrilled to be back at Donington for the band's third show and when asked how Motley Crue fit in with today's rock scene, declared typically, "Maybe we don't. It's more exciting that way." Tonight's headline show on the Dimebag Darrell Stage threatens to be a classic!    

7.21pm
Marilyn Manson has just kicked off one of the most eagerly anticipated sets of the weekend. With a microphone made up of a large dagger, things get off sedately enough but you can't help get the feeling there's a lot more to come…

7.07pm
Malpractise are down at the Nokia Rock Up And Play tent checking out Headcrusher. Maybe they need some recharging.

6.27pm
There are a few casualties, drenched in sweat with newly acquired limbs, making their way from the heaving Slayer circle pits!

5.57pm
My Vitriol play some Pantera in tribute to Dimebag Darrell, then follow it up with a helping of Rage Against The Machine, before a slice of that rock icon- Burt Bacharach! Five years away possibly hasn't helped their sanity!

4.51pm
Machine Head are laying waste to the Main Stage. Frontman Rob Flynn pays tribute to Dimebag Darrell prior to the awesome 'Aesthetics Of Hate'.

4.15pm
Gallows, Gallows, Gallows!! What a show. The band posted a message on MySpace prior to their first ever Download show, asking for some fresh underwear for their bassist (apparently he stinks!) Right on cue someone tosses over a clean pair of pants! That's service. Singer Frank Carter is on fire, dedicating a song to Paris Hilton ("I hear she had a breadown") before calling up his mum ("A very special person") and while she was on the line ordering the crowd to "give it up for my fucking mum!" After diving into the masses a few times, then smashing up almost every mic stand on stage, the band launch into Black Flag classic 'Nervous Breakdown'. One of the sets of the weekend. Belive the hype.

4.13pm
Aiden (ahem) rock the Nokia Rock Up And Play tent following their main stage set. Their two shows at Donington are the first time they've played new material and its really rather good! The band took time out to speak to almost every fan at the interactive arena and we grabbed a few words too. Asked whether they were bothered by a bit of a bottling, Wil Francis told me: "We don't give a fuck about some narrow minded people who just come to see one band. But it's all worth it for those guys who have never heard us before but leave as fans."

3.33pm
Still on the Main Stage, Bowling For Soup stop the song 'Punk Rock 101' for a minute, so that one of their giant sheep props can give birth to a small inflatable baby sheep that's been thrown on stage. It's a touching moment.. Circle of life and all that.

2.37pm
30 Seconds To Mars go down a storm on the Main Stage as vocalist Jared Leto heads into the crowd for a mass singalong to 'The Kill'.

1.54pm
Aiden have just started a 'wall of death' - that'll teach those bottlers!

1.27pm
Aiden have just been met with a barrage of bottles but seem to be enjoying it - they barely taken any notice and kick up a storm! 

1pm
Dozens of crowd surfers are raining down on the Main Stage as Shadows Fall finish their set with a bruising 'Redemption'. 

12.56pm
The big screens on the Main Stage are getting bottled, as images of My Chemical Romance's triumphant set are flash up. Clearly not everyone was won over last night! Whereas over on the Dimebag Darrell Stage the chant of the day seems to be "Get off, we want Motley Crue", which is being heckled sporadically at any band that'll listen. Did some people not get a lot of sleep last night?
 

 11.29am
The sun is out and the smell of rock hangs heavy in the air as Finnish folk metallers Turisas take to the main stage - a bizarre band of Viking invaders who lay pillage to the main stage crowd with pulverising fiddle-fused songs sounding like a cross between Europe and The Levellers - just a lot better then that sounds! Their fiddler launches a scathing attack on "those guitar wankers hanging back stage" , instructing the crowd to repeatedly chant "fuck the guitar solo!", before launching into an audacious cover version of Boney M's 'Rasputin'!

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