We had a little help from a man called Alan North who's birthday should be a national holiday. This is in spite of his disgusting habit of cupping his hand over his arse when farting then putting into your face and holding it there like chloroform on a rag while you struggle about in panic trying to escape. He still helped us get in though, so for that we can forgive him and his farting fetish just this once.
We arrived just in time to hear Mastodon playing on the main stage, but all of the stuff we wanted to see was in a tent at the far end of the event, called The Dimebag Darrel Tent. Before we got there Suicidal Tendencies had already played, shame we never got to Donington earlier. We saw:
Orange Goblin
Orange Goblin are doom metal, or stoner rock maybe. Think of Black Sabbath on the Master Of Reality album or the song Supernaut even, that's what Orange Goblin sound like to me. They came on and we ran down to the front, then past the pit (when it finally happened 3 songs into the set) and stood close to the barrier, getting shoved in the back and loving it. I remember Patchie saying "I love Orange Goblin!". Then - I saw it - I noticed that the singer (Ben Ward) has got a big L.F.C. tattoo on his left shoulder. I pointed it out to Patchie, who then looked away in disgust saying "I hate Orange Goblin!". Haha, nah he never said that really, but it was something to that effect. They played a good set and set the rest of day up nicely.
Paradise Lost
Last time I saw Paradise Lost was in Liverpool about ten years ago, they were touring with Die Krupps at the time. Die Krupps were really good, Paradise Lost were pretty shit. When we saw them at Donington I ran down the front with Northy's missus and when we got there we stayed for about 5 minutes and then walked back to the rest of the gang. The PD crowd is very still, no dancing at the front of the crowd at all. I didn't enjoy this set much, which is a shame. I always like the album "Icon" by Paradise Lost too. Ah well, seen them twice now anyway.
Napalm Death
Napalm are playing here in Liverpool on Thursday night and I don't think I can make it along to see them because I am working and can't get leave. Just as well I bunked into Donington to see them instead then eh! As soon as they got on Barney (vocals) started running around on the stage as though he was in a pit, all on his own, bouncing about off thin air. Then the music started and I don't remember much else because I was right down at the front (again) pitting with aplomb. They played about 20 songs in 20 minutes and finished their set with their cover of Nazi Punks Fuck Off - I used to have that on 7" but sold it on ebay when I was broke. As for the set, I think this was the most fun I had at Donington.
The Lauren Harris Band
We never really saw much of this band - I ran into the tent where they were playing especially to have a look for roughly 2 songs, then left. I made sure to go and check them out especially so I could write this small paragraph for you to read... now that it's here in print, was it really worth it??
Cult Of Luna
COL played in the same tent as the Lauren Harris lot, and again I ran in and had a quick blimp, nothing more than that. But that still counts as having seen them live... right?
Evanesence
Okay this is getting a bit boring now. Yes, they played, yes, we were there. But no, we never actually saw them per se, we just happened to be stood there chatting amogst ourselves while Evanesence did their thing over on the main stage. I remember the singer chick saying "Thank you Download! We love you!" at the end of their set. I also recognised a few of their songs. Sorry, I am not into this band at all, although I am sure the kids down by the stage loved every second of it.
Iron Maiden
If you are interested, there is a video of this complete set available for download here. Maiden were great. Well, I remember them as being great, but this is the main reason that I went along to this festival so really they could have come out on stage and stood waving at the crowd for 2 hours and I would still have wrote a review about it saying that they were great. They played a stack of new stuff to begin with, then a stack of old stuff to end with. I was pleased with the lot of it! Apparently Bruce Dickinson fell over while running across the stage at one point, proper went arse-over-tit. I didn't get a very good view of that from the middle of the crowd though! We went down to the front a few times, just for the sake of being at the front for Maiden at Donington. It was too much to bare for much more than a couple of songs, after that we retreated back up the hill to actually watch the band and not get squashed by the thousands of idiots cramming together and not hearing the songs properly for 2 hours. They only did one encore before the night was over, then the band left the stage and Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life started up, signaling the end of the set. Towards the end of the show you could see plumes of smoke billowing from piles of rubbish all around the festival site - gangs of kids were steaming about the place (a criminal act where gangs use sheer force of numbers to intimidate) and setting fire to anything they could get their hands on.
That about covers it. It was a great day though, sun shining for most of it. I really enjoyed it. Napalm Death was particularly awesome.
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