After three years of mud, Download Festival rockers were treated to relatively firm ground to enjoy the heavy metal mayhem.
The rain largely stayed away as legions of music fans descended on the home of rock, Donington Park, to enjoy three days of performances from the world’s biggest bands.
Friday’s highlights included a devastating electronicore onslaught from Donington first-timers, Crossfaith, an amazing thumbs-up tribute to fallen brother Stephen Sutton, and a blistering set from Wales’ own Skindred, before Avenged Sevenfold blazed through an imperious debut as headliners, cementing their reputation among the most epic live musicians on the planet.
Saturday saw a thunderous performance from Killswitch Engage while Sheffield superstars Bring Me The Horizon moved up to the main stage for the first time, thumping out some killer metalcore, defying many naysayers in the process.
Over in the Pepsi Max tent, Bingley youngsters Marmozets showed why they have record company bosses seeing “£” signs with a flawless blast of energetic pop rock in the mould of Paramore.
American groups Fall Out Boy and Linkin Park topped off the day with clinically performed sets, the former playing for the first time and the latter harking back to their 2005 peak, Hybrid Theory.
Sunday was the day of the guitar gods on the Stephen Sutton Stage, as such legendary axemen as Richie Sambora and Joe Bonamassa, preceded the comic-glam-metal brilliance of Steel Panther, finally promoted to the big time despite their x-rated show.
Hard rockers Alter Bridge provided more Stateside born tunes with frontman Myles Kennedy lashing out his Axl Rose-esque vocals before an utterly irrepressible, extra-terrestrial headlining performance from the world’s biggest rock band Aerosmith, with Steven Tyler at his absolute mic-stand twirling, camera-licking best.
A special mention must also go out to a familiar face on Huddersfield’s live scene, Jon Gomm, who wowed the Jagermeister Stage audience with his guitar slapping, drumming and scraping skills, even finding time to give everyone a lesson.
With rival festival Sonisphere grabbing the marquee metal bands this year, including Iron Maiden and Metallica, crowds were inevitably slightly down. But that’s not a bad thing when you’re queuing for the bar or the toilets!
I’m sure festival band booker Andy Copping has already got something up his sleeve for next year to get the world’s top acts back to the home of rock in 2015.
Click here to take you back to more What's On news .
To follow us on Twitter click here
