Download Festival 2024: Sunday – Festival Review © Abbie Shipperley Download – Day Five (see also Days One/Two, Day Three and Day Four)Donington Park, Derbyshire12th-16th June 2024 Sunday The UK’s biggest alternative festival, Download, returns to the hallowed grounds of Donington for yet another year. How does it hold up for Louder Than War’s Dave Beech and Rebecca Bush, who are there to find out… Sunday starts early, with the unusual feeling of sun through the tent, surprisingly making it too warm to be comfortable. As such, it’s a leisurely and somewhat social start to the day, managing to enjoy the final morning with the campers around us. Something we’ve not really managed this year due to the weather. It’s this morning where rumours of the secret band start to swirl more heavily, both across social media and throughout the campsites, with all signs pointing towards Parkway Drive. It’s also at this point that the news comes in that the arena will be opening an hour later than planned today. Thankfully, one can only assume that it’s due to them trying to make the arena more manageable than yesterday, and so it’s a delay we can forgive, even if it has a knock on effect over the course of the day. As such we arrive at the arena just as Alien Weaponry take to the Opus stage. Falling somewhere in between Korn and Disturbed, it’s a brutal assault of Māori metal that feels like the perfect way to kick off the final day’s proceedings. In further proof of the Festival’s keenness to shine a spotlight on rock from other cultures, the band’s effortless blend of English and their native Māori make for an impressive start to the day, whilst the weighty backbone of bass and drums provides a steadfast bottom end, allowing for some outstanding headbanging displays from both guitarist Lewis de Jong and bassist Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds. Given the delays the arena has already been subject to today, it comes as little surprise that the band manages just five tracks in their short time on stage. It’s five tracks that make a lasting impression though, and final number Kai Tangata is a blistering affair that sees the sizeable crowd in front of the stage erupt into an early afternoon mosh-pit. Whether here through curiosity (such as ourselves) or devotion, such as those willing to cake themselves in mud front and centre, it matters not. What does matter is that, with the sun still on their side, Alien Weaponry leave both the stage, and a lasting impression. An excellent way to start the day. From here it’s a quick trip across to the Apex stage noting that, despite the delays to the arena opening, it seems to have made very little difference to the ground almost everywhere. However, we still manage find ourselves further forward than we have all weekend for what proves to be a festival highlight. Creeper Creeper are one of the bands we’ve been looking forward to seeing on this stage for a while. They’ve become regulars at Download in recent years (this being their sixth appearance here since they formed in 2014) having headlined the Second Stage at the Download Pilot in 2021. A small troupe of gothic-looking dancers are first to come out on stage, letting us know straight away that this is going to be a theatrical performance. The band members run out, complete with blood running down their chins, the pyro exploding the second the music starts, the band kicking off with the dramatic Cry to Heaven, taken from last year’s Sanguivore. Most of what follows is made up of tracks from this record and the influence of ‘80s gothic films and music such as The Lost Boys and The Misfits are clear to both see and hear. The sound is perfectly crisp from where we’re standing, just forwards of the sound tower, and frontman Will Gould’s over the top performance style and crowd interaction is on point, drawing us in. They feel like a band who have truly grown into a main stage slot, and we wouldn’t be surprised if they are given the chance to headline the Opus stage with the festival at full capacity before too long. Closing track Lovers Led Astray sees the band joined on stage by Dan Jacobs of Atreyu. We understand that several bands have had to shave some time from their sets to accommodate the late opening of the arena this morning, but the set feels over all too soon. One thing we would have liked to hear from Creeper today is a little more variety, digging deeper into their back catalogue to showcase the diversity in their music. However, with the announcement of their co-headline show with Black Veil Brides at Wembley at the end of October, perhaps the band are leaning fully into their current aesthetic and wish to stick to this new sound going forwards. Either way, there’s no faulting their performance today, and we expect to see bigger and better things coming Creeper’s way in the future. My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Skindred; all names that have been thrown around as potential secret acts this year. But we finally receive confirmation over the app this afternoon that Aussie titans Parkway Drive will be performing a secret set on the Dogtooth stage. We don’t expect to be able to get anywhere near inside the tent, and we’re correct. However, finding a rather cosy (read: squashed) spot near the merch stand in the sun that mercifully seems to be sticking around for us today, we wait in anticipation as Kerry King finishes off on the Apex stage. The crowd inside the tent roars, letting us know that the band has arrived. They leave us in no doubt as they launch straight into riff-heavy Glitch, and although the sound is a little quiet from where we are standing, it’s perfectly clear. “No tricks, just hits. More singalongs, more pits” frontman Winston McCall promises, as the intro to Prey starts up. The sound is louder for those of us outside the tent now, and just as promised it’s hit after hit from the boys from Byron Bay, cramming all of their energy into a storm of a 30-minute set of heaviness and crowd pleasers which ends with the usual singalong staple, Wild Eyes. Out of breath, McCall thanks everyone for coming to watch them and is drowned out by chants of “Parkway Drive” from the audience. For a surprise half an hour from this band, we really couldn’t have asked for more. A brilliant shout for a secret set, and a rather well-kept secret at that. Our only offer of constructive criticism? Get them back on the Apex stage where they belong… With the sun beating down from above us, one of us opts against the sweltering sweat-scented crowd of metalheads and heads across to the Opus for the sun-kissed sounds of Californian pop-punks Zebrahead. Despite never intending to catch the five-piece, it’s probably the fifth or sixth time we’ve seen them at a festival. This time however, it’s easily the best. An upbeat and explosive blend of ska and pop-punk, it’s quite the opposite of the weighty riff-fest happening a couple hundred yards away, but it’s just as good. A huge crowd has amassed in front of the Opus, surprisingly big given the nature of the band on stage. Within two tracks it’s easy to see the band’s mass appeal, however. Upbeat and utterly irresistible, their crowd interaction is second to none, announcing that it’s Frank the Security Guard’s birthday today, and that he wants as many people to crowd surf as possible. Not too many oblige, given the glue-like nature of the mud beneath our feet, but those that do are propelled forward, clearly making Frank’s day. The announcement that the band is filming a video for a new single precedes I Have Mixed Drinks About Feelings, before the entire crowd erupts into a good-natured circle pit that’s the perfect reaction to the weighty, ska-infused punk. Fan favourite and breakout single Anthem closes the band’s set proper, but not before a giant lobster is given directions to take charge in the inevitable mosh pit that opens instantly. It’s irreverent, and it’s fun, confirming Zebrahead as both a surprise highlight of the weekend, and the perfect appetiser for the next two bands over on the Apex stage. If you’ve seen Bowling for Soup once, you’ve seen them 100 times, but don’t take that the wrong way. Each time might feel familiar, but it doesn’t stop the shit-eating grins from spreading across our faces every time they take to the stage. Today is no exception. As the band’s obligatory theme song airs out of the PA, the familiar smiles hit our faces once again and Bowling For Soup stroll out onto the Apex stage. There’s one glaring difference, however. The band are without founding member Chris Burney, who’s unfortunately sitting out this appearance due to ill health. Girl All the Bad Guys Want kicks this off in perfect style. “We Are Bowling For Soup, the best band that ever existed!” enthuses frontman Jaret Reddick. It’s tongue in cheek, but the massive crowd that has amassed in front of the Apex stage suggests that they might just be one of the more popular bands on…
