Download 2020 : The Review of The Festival That Never Was

In some parallel universe I am currently taking my tent out of storage. I am pensively looking at the weather forecast and I am getting stressed out about the number of senseless crossovers there are on Clashfinder. You see somewhere in the vast multiverse Download 2020 is actually happening. Somewhere out there in the quantum world they have just released the timetable and we all, with cries of anguish, will have tried to work out how we could catch both Deftones and The Distillers. But as we all know to our immense sorrow Download 2020 is a mere what could have been. So we at ROCKFLESH towers have got out our crystal ball (we ain’t got anything else to do) and opened up the flap on our magical all seeing eye and peered through the cracks in reality to work out what we would have missed (cue curly whirly mist and that weird swirling effect they use to have for flashbacks on Scooby Doo).

The first big piece of news that to be honest is not really news is that it was a wet one. After nearly a month of tropical conditions, from the 12th to 14th of June 2020 at Castle Donington it rains every friggring day. Not horrible big storms like 2016, but still water from the sky falling on a daily basis that makes us wet and (rather) miserable, turning the ground squishy and unsittable on. The other news story from the other side is the fact that the new infrastructure stands up and stands up well. The hard surfaced village is no longer a mud infested hellhole and instead it actually is a pleasant place to spend time after the main bands have been and gone. The new campsite locations actually work. The walk times are shorter and the paths, whilst still on the muddy side, manage to be passable for the whole weekend. Yes the trudge to the main arena still feels like a midnight yomp with the SAS, but it is a shorter yomp. The transport hub also works (though the local taxi drivers still manage to remove the signage for the shuttle services).  There is a general feeling that the organisers have learnt from some of last year’s jagged edges (the bar are bigger and better staffed and therefore the queues are shorter and at times totally non-existent) and the whole thing just hangs together better. 

Band wise my spirit world hosts tell me that the big winners are Iron Maiden (predictably), Frank Carter, Gojira, Alestorm and Powerwolf. The latter two pull probably the biggest early afternoon crowds that the main stage has ever seen and the sing along of “Fucked with an Anchor” can be heard from Derby. Gojira prove that they are headliners in waiting with a remarkable show that see’s them burn off the stage in the drizzle. Whilst Frank Carter, resplendent in Armani, spends the whole set on KISS’ vanity ramp, lording it up like the superstar he was born to be. Though top of everyone’s  band of the weekend list are the juggernaut that is Maiden. The agreed wisdom of everyone on site is that the legacy of the beast show they put on on the Saturday night is even better and even more spectacular the one that the heaved around the country’s arena’s a couple of year’s back. There is more fire, more props and the whole thing is a masterclass in big stage Heavy Metal theatrics.

There are of course some misfires, the shift on Friday night between the low-fi alt metal of special guests The Deftones and the good time bubble-gum Glam of headliners KISS feels jarred and mismatched. Also the jury is out on which System of Down we got on the Sunday night. Was it the “couldn’t give a fuck one” of 2013 or the “pumped up ready to reclaim their crown prize fighters” of 2017? To be honest, opinions are mixed. Away from the main stage The Distillers, Mastodon and Baroness all rule the roast. Funeral for a Friend are emotional and emotive, with the band reduced to tears by the reception that they are afforded. The Dogtooth Stage is double its previous size, but is still packed from start to finish. Lotus Eaters, Twin Temple and Shvpes gets people talking, whilst the double header of Dying Foetus and Obituary creates pits that engulfs the whole tent.

All in all Download 2020 (in the universes where it happens is a success). Yes, it is wet and yes, some of it feels a little safe  (Killswitch Engage? Again???) but overall it feels that the festival has got its mojo back. There are less queues, better utilities and the whole thing feels fun again. But we will never know. Coz our universe is the one where it got cancelled. Our universe is the one where my rucksack, tent and festival boots will gather dust over the long summer months. Our universe is the one where we don’t get to see Maiden, Gojira or the Deftones. Our universe is the one where I will be a grumpy mump all weekend. But Hell! A man can dream? Anyone got a spare quantum tunnel….