Live Review: Download Festival 2019 (Pt. 2 - Saturday)

The Saturday at Download this year is potentially its strongest day, and most notably features a practically flawless main stage lineup. It’s all kicked off at 11am by a band whose reputation precedes them: Alien Weaponry (8/10). After a slightly dodgy start (due to some minor technical difficulties), the hype all becomes understandable – the three-piece are an absolute joy to watch. With not a single member over twenty, you can feel the youthful exuberance and excitement radiating from each person on stage as they blast out riff-laden rager after riff-laden rager. The unique use of native Kiwi language helps keep their brand of metal fresh and exciting whilst also evoking bands like Sepultura and Lamb Of God, and the crowd continue to lap it up with every introduction of a new song. Mosh-ready set closer 'Rū Ana Te Whenua' is undoubtedly a highlight, and leaves me with the impression that this band could go on to do some properly substantial things in the future. Keep an eye out.

Next up are Royal Republic (7.5/10), who I knew nothing about, and thus end up being pleasantly surprised by. As soon as the band take to the stage in matching red suits, two things are clear: firstly, Royal Republic take a lot of inspiration from The Hives; secondly, the next half-hour is gonna be a lot of fun. Currently touring to promote their new record, Club Majesty, the Swedish quartet relish in creating a party atmosphere in the sunshine (for as long as it lasts) through the use of toe-tapping beats, funky guitar lines, and catchy choruses. There are memorable moments aplenty throughout their show - from vocalist Adam Grahn inviting the audience to break a record by forming as many three-person circle pits as possible, to a surprisingly tight cover of Metallica's 'Battery' (and a promise to play 'Hammer Smashed Face' if they hit Download again). It's a spot-on booking to get the good vibes started early.

Headliners aside, Power Trip (9/10) are easily the band I was most excited to see in the run-up to the festival. The Texan thrash-metal prodigies have been making waves in the underground since the release of their breakthrough 2017 rager, Nightmare Logic, and to see them on such a sizeable platform is thrilling – especially putting on a show this good. At the very start of the set, vocalist Riley Gale yells to the crowd “for the next forty minutes, you are ours”, and he’s totally right: the main stage audience are putty in Power Trip’s hands. There’s hardly a second that goes by which isn’t occupied by a riff the size of a mountain, a circle-pit-inspiring drumbeat, and a vocal line which harks back to the golden era of thrash. 'Executioner's Tax' is, of course, the moment which feels "biggest" in the setting, but tracks such as 'Hornet's Nest' and 'Crucifixation' are almost equally powerful, and it means that every single time a new song kicks in, the chances of the band continuing to absolutely demolish stages this big are bolstered tenfold.

Still recovering from Power Trip, I head over to the Dogtooth stage to catch the end of Queen Zee (7.5/10). Though I'm only there for the last four songs, it seems that the Liverpudlian glam-punks are on great form, smashing out tracks from their recent self-titled album with a perfect balance of sass and snotty punk energy. The tent is pretty full to receive them, and deservedly so. As wonderful as Download is, there are certainly times at which it could be accused of being ruled by traditional masculinity and straight-laced American-style rock; in this regard, Queen Zee are a fabulous, glittery breath of fresh air. 

It’s back to main stage after Queen Zee to bear witness to the most formidable force in extreme metal – Behemoth (9/10). I’ve been waiting to see Behemoth for the better part of five years now, so to finally experience one of their shows on such a grand scale is absolutely mind-blowing. As they take to the stage to the children's chant of 'Solve' and launch into 'Wolves Ov Siberia', decked in full-on corpse paint and all-black robes, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this band could be the headliners; pillars of fire stream out over their heads, and two screens lie either side of the drum kit, showcasing dark and haunting visuals. It's a spectacle, and the music at its core is unbelievably good. The combination of brutal, double-kick-led drumming, unholy riffs, tremolo-picked guitars, and Nergal's iconic vocal delivery makes for a style of blackened death metal that nobody else could even begin to replicate. It's as extreme as it is unapologetically blasphemous, and when 'Chant for Eschaton 2000' ends the set with a ferocious "Hail Satan!", I'm all but ready to draw a pentagram in the mud and sell my soul to Behemoth.

It must have been part madness, part fear of getting soaked through by rain, and part certainty that I’d see them again that resulted in me missing most of Skindred’s set on Saturday afternoon, but the fact of the matter is that I only saw one song - ‘Kill The Power’ - from a distance. Instead, I spent that portion of the day under cover, exploring merchandise tents and accidentally seeing Paddy Considine’s band, Riding The Low (4/10) on the Dogtooth stage. It’s pretty obvious that this dull radio-rock was only booked for the festival based on the name of the frontman – on music alone, they’d be far better suited to playing down your local pub. Instrumentally, it’s bang-average, and lyrically the songs are often pretty cringeworthy. And to think - Palm Reader could've had this slot.

The next band up on the Dogtooth stage are The Hu (7/10), who pull a much bigger crowd (and are decidedly more enjoyable) than the previous act. Mongolian throat-singing rock isn't a genre I can say I'm too au fait with, but it's certainly great to see live, especially when the band themselves are having as much fun as the crowd. Playing a multitude of traditional instruments I couldn't even tell you the names of, The Hu still manage to have the audience headbanging, pumping their fists, and chanting "HU! HU! HU!" along to the infectious rhythm of each song. It's a brilliant meld of old and new, and - whilst there is a degree of one-off fascination - the band manage to escape the pigeonhole of "novelty act" through sheer strength of songwriting.

Trivium (7.5/10) are the sub-sub-headliners on the Saturday main stage, and they live up to their booking with confidence and a whole lot of pyro. The band are in their element in front of a crowd this big, with choice cuts from their seminal album, Ascendancy, standing out as clear set highlights alongside singalongs like ‘Strife’ and ‘Until The World Goes Cold’. Frontman Matt Heafy repeatedly lets the audience know that Download feels like a homecoming for Trivium (after their 2005 performance got them a one-way ticket to stardom), and there is a sense of magic in the air - this band are meant to play this festival. The closing song, 'In Waves', has absolutely everybody singing along, and poses the question - could Trivium, a few albums down the line, be on their way to a headlining position?

After Behemoth decimated the main stage earlier in the day, my hopes for their Polish peers in Batushka (5.5/10) were higher than one might expect. As it turns out, I would’ve been right to doubt their success on the Dogtooth stage; there’s a time and a place for haunting, atmospheric, immersive black metal, and it definitely isn’t in front of a whole load of drunk Slayer fans. Most curious punters are intrigued when the band take to the stage (redesigned to look like a church) in hooded robes, but intrigue quickly turns to boredom, boredom to bemusement, and bemusement to frustration when Batushka spend about fifteen minutes lighting the hundreds of candles which adorn their set. It produces an interesting range of reactions; there are heckles aplenty; the guy in front of me turns around, says “fuck this!” and promptly leaves; someone even chucks their half-full pint at the band. When the music finally begins, it’s actually very powerful and striking – the most evil-sounding black metal you could imagine – but by then the atmosphere isn’t ideal, to say the least. I can’t help but feel I’d really enjoy Batushka in the right setting, but this isn’t it.

The Wonder Years (8.5/10) are my only reason for visiting the Avalanche stage all day, but the sheer quality of their performance does make it one hell of a reason. It feels like a cathartic set for the world's best pop-punk band, with vocalist Dan "Soupy" Campbell telling the crowd that they had, true to their lyrics, just come in off the red-eye flight, and not slept or even properly eaten since arriving in the UK. This just makes their energy levels that bit more impressive, as each member throws themself into their role with as much vigor as any band I've seen all day (despite the fact that they unfortunately have a weaker crowd reception than most). Soupy is on incredible form, and the emotion he puts into modern classics like 'Passing Through A Screen Door' and 'Cardinals' make them hit home even harder than they would normally. It's a song off their most recent album which sticks in my mind most firmly, though; 'Raining In Kyoto' damn near brings a tear to the eye. We cannot take The Wonder Years for granted.

Now, we move onto the main event. I’ve consistently been seeing live music for about five years now, and all throughout those five years, only one band has remained at the very top of my bucket list without being struck off… until now. On Saturday night at Download Festival 2019, I saw Slipknot (10/10). Finally.

Living up to MOPE’s “Reviews From The Pit” tagline here, I was down the very front for this set, so it’s likely that my version of events is affected by a maelstrom of adrenaline, sweat, and mud. That being said, I'd wager that you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who saw Slipknot's headlining set and didn't think it was anything less than incredible. As soon as the curtain falls and the opening riff of 'People = Shit' whips the crowd into a frenzy, it's clear that the Iowan legends are on brilliant form. It may be that they can't jump around and endanger themselves quite as much as they used to, but their stage show is still massively exciting: there's a complex, industrial-style rig which showcases each member in all their glory; flame-throwing pyro every ten seconds; Corey getting up-close-and-personal with the crowd from the ramp; Chris Fehn's mysterious replacement going absolutely apeshit; Sid Wilson prowling about on treadmills at the back of the stage. At times there's so much going on that it's hard to keep track, but feeling assaulted via multiple senses is all I could ever hope from a Slipknot show.

Musically, they sound amazing as well. To hear some of the most iconic riffs of all time played live with such energy and technical mastery is a pretty special thing - you'd better believe that I went absolutely mad when I heard the opening guitar lines to '(sic)' and 'Prosthetics'. Jay Weinberg on drums is a machine, and focusing on him at any point throughout the set leaves your mouth agape. With a setlist built around big-hitters and solid-gold anthems like 'Before I Forget', 'Duality', and 'Psychosocial', there's no shortage of opportunity for Corey to shine, and shine he does, putting on an impressive showing for a man who has spent most of his time since the late 90s absolutely ripping his vocal cords apart for this band. Slipknot end their set with the one-two punch of 'Spit It Out' (for which the "jump-the-fuck-up" is a beautiful thing to take part in) and 'Surfacing', and it has every member of the crowd reeling. For me, it's a fantastic introduction to the live show of one of the best metal bands ever, and for Slipknot, it feels like a tangibly important moment in their career.

Wish they'd played 'Eyeless', though.