It's my favourite time of year; Download headliners.
In the last year my poxy day job has kept me from immersing myself in new music as much as I would like, which has meant the creative blogging juices can get a bit dry. However, come Download headliner time, the plethora of material to choose from across the webosphere is more than I can cope with.
So what do I think, I hear you ask?
Avenged Sevenfold, the first announcement, was pretty obvious and a great response to both crowd demand and the schools who believed no 'new' bands were ready to step up the the plate (aside from Slipknot). This will be the biggest gig A7X have done and it's going to be a lot of work for them but as Synester Gates riffs his way through The Beast and the Harlot I'm sure the crowd will get moving.
Next came Linkin Park. I have always said I would only see Linkin Park if they played Hybrid Theory, an album which I almost wore out at university whilst trying to impress girls with my baggy combat trousers and classic turn of the century over-gelled hair. I firmly believe everything they've done since has been disastrous (except for the outing with Jay-Z) but as they have confirmed they'll be playing Hybrid Theory in full, this will be one hell of a show. Possibly.
And then there's Aerosmith. Good old Aerosmith. Their last headline performance at Download 2009 (I think that's right) in the pissing rain fluctuated between average and bloody spectacular. Steven Tyler has one of the greatest voices in the rock world and the spirit of the crowd during songs like Love In An Elevator is something else. Are they exciting enough to close the festival? Absolutely. Is it the best booking? No. I backed Bon Jovi in a conversation with my mate The House (but at least mentioned Aerosmith so can retain a small level of 'told you so'-ness) as I reckon they would tear Donnington's hallowed ground apart.
My [always correct] opinions aside the absolute highlight of the festival season is the internet trolls. My eyes lit up when I saw A7X and Rob Zombie announced; with only these two out of the 100+ bands on the poster comments like "shit festival" and "rubbish emo band" made my day. Adding Linkin Park was even better and I could sense thousands of greasy haired teens in Seasons In The Abyss t-shirts pausing World of Warcraft to furiously protest by commenting on the Metal Hammer Facebook page.
It's going to be a fun few months.
M
\m/
1 comment:
My first thoughts were that this is a weak lineup but in a way,that's only because once you scratch the underbelly of metal and discovered that maiden and Metallica arn't going to do it every year, there is a real gap between those two and the rest in terms of festival filling metal bands.
But it's for those bands to step up, show their metal and rise to the occasion and prove themselves on that bigger stage but more importantly be given the chance to do so. That's what really matters, is being given a chance and taking it.
Good luck to all the bands, who cares if it's the best,worst or somewhere in the middle in terms of line up's. It the one week per year when you can get muddy with thousands of your best mates and celebrate a shared sense of music and fun. Bring it on.
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