|  DOWNLOAD
Friday 9th June 2006
by
Steve'o Weston
Blazing
sunshine, warm cider and World Cup fever are all vying for my senses'
attention as Download 2006 gets underway at Donnington's legendary hallowed
ground of heavy rock. Sunburned goths mill around looking sorry for themselves,
while pretty much everyone else sport drunken happy grins already, and
its only early afternoon on the first day.
The first band I make the effort to drag myself away from the bar for
are Gojira, the French metallers who have steadily been
building a fearsome live reputation over the course of their previous
tours to these shores. Unfortunately the tent's PA doesn’t do them
much justice but they manage to stand out from the crowd of sound-alike
bands playing this weekend by virtue of some truly brilliant drumming
and of course being French, a nation not known for its love of headbanging
and complex heavy metal.
Wandering
to the back of the mainstage crowd a little while later we catch the second
half of Strapping Young Lad's set. Devin Townsend still
looks like a reject from the Lord of the Rings cast, while his band obviously
mean every word and note of their songs, but from the back of the crowd
those songs sound one-dimensional and tuneless, suffering as they do from
a chronic lack of subtlety or change of pace. Whether they'd sound any
better down the front is debatable.
The
first truly enjoyable music of the day comes later in the afternoon with
the arrival of Coheed & Cambria on the mainstage,
who, despite being very much a cult band on these shores, manage to pull
in a considerable crowd and then entertain them with a sound that falls
somewhere between 70's progressive rock and more modern exponents of the
progressive genre such as Cave-In and Isis. Some great musicianship, a
consideration for melody (in short supply so far today) and miraculously
big hair make them the clear highlight of the day so far.
A quick trip to the bar later and its back down the front of the mainstage
for the eagerly-awaited English festival return of the Deftones.
It's been a long while since they played a show of this size over here
and fortunately they don't disappoint. Although Chino would appear to
have spent his time since the band's last visit taking on all comers in
an all-you-can-eat contest in his local pie shop, he is his usual energetic
self, roaming the stage and occasionally venturing down to the sweat-drenched
moshpit for a bit of meet and greet. At times they seem slightly unsure
of themselves but for the most part the songs they play from forthcoming
album 'Saturday Night Wrist' blend in seamlessly with older favorites
such as 'My Own Summer' and my personal highlight comes when Chino introduces
Max Cavalera onstage to run through a scorching version of Head Up.
Half an hour or so after Chino and his boys leave the stage the sky begins
to darken and the moment that I, and probably a vast percentage of the
people at Download this weekend have been waiting for approaches. Hot
favourites for the title of the finest rock band currently operating on
the planet, Tool stride calmly from the wings to a roar
that has to heard to be believed and, as is their usual method, do the
unexpected by slamming into the epic, multi-part ‘Rosetta Stoned’
from new album ‘10,000 Days’ by means of an introduction.
Dressed like a strangely camp cowboy, Maynard alternately whispers and
hollers his way through the songs peaks and troughs while his fabulous,
multi-talented band make a sound so full and huge that it almost defies
belief that it is created by just three people. They follow it up with
‘Stinkfist’ and goddamn it sounds good, people around me grinning
from ear to ear as it becomes abundantly clear just how peerlessly brilliant
this band have become. The rest of their set is just as spellbinding,
Maynards voice and the bands playing is faultless, the visuals are hypnotic
and contributive to the music without ever being intrusive and the choice
of songs (bar the disappointing exclusion of The Grudge) is nigh-on perfect,
with a stunning mid-set run through of ‘Schism’ and the closing,
breathtaking ‘Aenima’ being particular highlights. The only
complaint that can be made is that they don't play for long enough, but
hey, too much of this genius and your head would probably explode. Utterly.
Fucking. Brilliant.
|
 |
Deftones
- Saturday Night
Dosh
- Lost Take
Oneida
- Happy New Year
Christina
Aguilera - Back to
My
Device - Nervous System
Tim
Hecker - Harmonys in UV
Mogwai
- Zidane OST
Sunn/Boris
- Alter
Lamb
of God - Sacrament
Nelly
Furtado - Loose |
