Friday 30 June 2017

DOWNLOAD FRANCE: REVIEW


While I have certainly dabbled in the genre, I could hardly label myself a true 'metaler'. My skin may well be sufficiently pasty but I lack the flowing long hair of your stereotypical heavy metal fan and my beard bears closer resemblance to Henry VIII than Lemmy Kilmister. Musically, I have always been drawn to a neater, cleaner sound with tight harmonies and delicate instrumentals. As a result, my mind has been closed to vast swathes of metal music and thus I have tended to give certain festivals a wide berth. Download UK is a prime example of such and (despite the inclusion of my beloved A Day To Remember) it was once again dismissed this year. And then I saw this poster...

Honourable mention for Alter Bridge who were fantastic
When Blink 182 AND Prophets Of Rage are both playing second fiddle at a festival, it's almost an obligation to at least investigate ticket prices... and when you discover that it will only set you back 160 euros (including free camping), there really is no turning back.

Yes it did certainly have a bit of that quintessential French dodginess to it -food and shade provision was laughably shoddy- but that only added to the charm of the whole experience. Weather-wise, to use the standard British meteorological assessment, it was 'well ot', leading to the rather surreal experience of hearing the darkest, most piercing metal screams beneath soft blue sky and radiant sunshine. With so many artists headbanging their way through the weekend, it's tough to be selective but select we must.

Blink-182
Providing a summery soundtrack to the Friday sunset, the veterans of pop-punk lit up the main stage in the only way they know how: sing-along anthems, dick jokes and physics-defying Travis Barker drum solos. The short length of their songs allowed them to squeeze in the lion's share of their most iconic hits, interspersed with some lesser known B-side gems like Violence and Anthem Part 2 for those of us enthralled enough to know them. Rather than detracting from the set, the carefully selected new material complemented it excellently, the heaviest and fastest tracks (Los Angeles, Bored To Death and Cynical) chosen to satisfy the crowd of expectant metalheads. Matt Skiba brings the freshness, energy and, let's not sugar coat it, decent vocals which were unfortunately absent from Delonge's performance when I saw them three years ago. On the whole, everything was clean and refined, a superb way to kick off the festival.


Linkin Park
Although their discography can be just as prone to misses as it is to hits, Linkin Park have always shouldered a reputation for magnificent live performances. Their Download gig only served to reinforce such a reputation. The instrumentals were, as expected, on point, with added flair and extended solos (like on What I've Done) throughout, provided by Brad Delson: the calmest, most serene guitarist of all time. In amongst the chaos, the ear muffed figure amusingly perches on the amp, eyes closed, gently nodding his head to the fury of One Step Closer, Papercut and Faint etcPredominantly however, the performance was carried by the supreme vocal combination of Mike Shinoda, always anchored to either keyboard or guitar and Chester Beddington who's left free to rampage around the stage. The former's effortless hip-hop flows and harmonies work in tandem with the latter's soaring vocals and rip-roaring screams. Both sound the same, if not better than the studio recordings.


Demonstrating a classy, intimate side previously unknown to me, the nu-metal pioneers even broke up their set with a stripped back acoustic rendition of Crawling, Chester displaying a delicate (a word rarely associated with Linkin Park) power to his voice. Tragically, however, they were let down by the new pop/dance tracks from their 2017 release One More Light. To these, the crowd reacted in a dull, subdued manner as a light chorus of boos rippled across the arena. It was performed faultlessly but when you follow Numb with what sounds like the musical lovechild of Owl City and a David Guetta tribute act to 90,000 hardcore metalers, I'm not sure what else they could have expected.

System Of A Down
Easily the most highly anticipated act of the festival, Armenia's greatest export stomped, roared and, at times, even caressed their way through a Mezmerizing (a little one for the SOAD fans), 30-song performance. I use the word 'performance' because 'set' simply doesn't do the four-piece, with their traversing of genres and mind-bending light displays, much justice. System have a truly unique sound, even amongst metal bands, mostly due to the range of Serj Tankian's vocal sounds, hopping from booming roars to high pitched chanting and spoken word. What really shines through live, though, is the seamless shifts from full metal fury to delicate riffs and beautiful harmonies.

Only a little bit unhinged

Songs spanning an entire discography (Atwa being the only notable omission), even the most diehard fans were left satisfied as each track was blended into the next, retaining an unwavering intensity. Years of performing at such intensity have audibly worn Serj's vocals a little, yet he gets around it by hitting each note perfectly but without holding it for the usual length. In any case, the audience were more than willing to take over with songs like Chop Suey!, Lonely Day and B.YO.B. drawing enough noise to jiggle the moustaches of Frenchmen for miles around. Participation was so wholehearted that, at times, the 90,000 of us almost resembled a vast, hairy choir.
        I'm not sure what the record is for the most people simultaneously head-banging in one place but I'm sure this crowd came close. There must've been some sore necks the morning after.

Prophets Of Rage
Everything about this performance was sweetened by the fact that, not only was Download pretty much the first major festival date in the metal-hip-hop conglomerate's crowded summer schedule, but a pretty rare opportunity in its own right. It's not an everyday occurrence for Rage Against The Machine's instrumentalists, Cypress Hill's B-Real and Public Enemy's Chuck D to all be in the same room, let alone touring together. But Prophets Of Rage didn't need their supergroup status to really leave their mark on the festival. In a politically charged, genre-defying set which featured remixes of hip-hop classics, impossible guitar solos and a touching tribute to late bandmate Chris Cornell, every single member was a front man.


This group define unconventional. The ability to intersperse Audioslave and Rage songs (which are themselves very distinct) with both contemporary and old-school rap isn't just brave, it's musically ground-breaking. The two rappers had great chemistry, dominating the stage and playing off each other throughout, their more conventional rap flows giving the Rage covers more of a hip-hop sound to them. Tom Morello, meanwhile, gave the best lead guitarist performance that I have ever seen live, his hands dancing around the guitar neck to produce those high-pitched riffs which categorise both Rage and Audioslave. At one point he even flipped the guitar around, revealing a "Fuck Trump" sign whilst he played it with his teeth... yeah you read that right... TEETH. Sensational stuff. For a man who's just done that to then refer to us as the best audience they have played to so far is almost tear-inducing.

Watch them perform Killing In The Name Of at Download Paris here

Green Day
Immersive. If I had to sum up Green Day's show in a word it would be immersive. In spite of the array of sublime talent on offer, Billy-Joe Armstrong still takes the coveted prize of the weekend's best frontman. At no point did he let crowd noise dip below a deafening level, constantly restoring the volume with some Freddie Mercury-esque 'AAYYY-OHHHH's. Rather than encouraging cheers, he demanded them, corralling the pink, sunburnt figures before him into clapping and jumping. We were more than happy to oblige.
   
In similar fashion to their 2013 Emirates Stadium performance, they invited several people onstage to sing and play. One of whom had clearly lied about his guitar-playing credentials and thus had to go and hold a tambourine at the back whilst someone else took over. Later, a woman did the same about her vocals, but carried it off brilliantly, stomping around the stage, jumping off amps, albeit butchering the bridge of Longview simultaneously, but I'm not sure anyone even cared. She then proceeded to execute the most almighty stage dive I have ever seen, sending some poor bastards in the front rows to A&E in the process.

Vocally, Armstrong was significantly stronger than four years ago, when he had recently returned from rehab, belting out tunes like Holiday, Hitchin' A Ride and Jesus Of Suburbia with relative ease. He is proof that the best frontman doesn't need to be the best singer. The band as a whole are proof that, with the right energy, you don't necessarily need to fanny about with intricate solos, even to a bunch of metalers; three or four chords will do. It's the Green Day way.