It may be Download to the kids, but it will always be MONSTERS OF ROCK to me
It may be the time of year for the Download Music Festival but for many people, the combination of Donnington and heavy metal can only mean the Monsters of Rock! There is a link between the old and the new at this years Download though with two of the three Main Stage Headliners having enough old school charm to have avoided a barrage of piss back in the day.
The Sunday night is all about nostalgia with Def Leppard being the band to bring the festival to a close. The band may not be the multi million sellers that they were in their heyday when Steve Clarke unleashed the riffs that rocked the world. Sadly, Clarke is no longer with us but the band have ploughed on and still manage to please the fans with a mixture of old and new material. Joining Def Leppard on the Sunday evening bill is Whitesnake with lead singer David Coverdale still capable of reaching the high notes and bringing joy to the masses, just like during Whitesnake's awesome 1990 Headline performance with the peerless Steve Vai in tow. There is probably a twinge of regret in Coverdale when he sees the accolades given to former colleague Jimmy Page after he reunited with Robert Plant and John Paul Jones to bring the Led Zeppelin name back to the tip of everyone’s tongue. Sunday night will hopefully offer Coverdale another chance to have his time in the spotlight and maybe give the band a new lease of life.
Coverdale isn’t the only artist with a Donnington history who is looking to make another impression this time around. Younger fans may associate Duff MacKagan with Velvet Revolver or his new Duff MacKagan's Loaded outfit but for the majority of his fans, Duff will always be the bassist of Guns N Roses. The band were in their first flush of worldwide success when tragedy struck their Monsters of Rock set in a set which has been remembered for all the wrong reasons. Even as Duff, Slash, Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose left the stage to rapturous applause, no one in the Guns N Roses camp were to know what had unfolded.
Of course, Guns N Roses have played many gigs and tours and seemed to fall out with so many people along the way. Faith No More, another Download headliner, had a feud with the act but you can add them to a list that involves Metallica, Megadeth and another Download act Limp Bizkit. Okay, Axl Rose may not be the most stable of people which means that arguments were never too far away but the amount of Guns N Roses t-shirts on sale still indicates their endearing popularity. If the weather is good, then the lyrics of Paradise City recalling a place where the grass is green and the girls are pretty may ring true for Download but it seems as though the festival is linked with rain and mud, which seems to fit with the avalanche of volume that cascades from the stages.
No matter who floats your boat at Download, whether it is ZZ Top showing the youngsters how to rock out or the new wave of acts like Pendulum or Dragonforce indicating their influences, there is likely to be something for every lover of hard rocking music.
So this weekend, with printer and resident artist Tom being away at the Le Mans 24 Hours, myself and chief T-shirt folder-upper Jack will be at Download. Jack, being a Teenager is most looking forward to Slipknott and Marilyn Manson, while I just know that with the likes of Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Whitesnake on the bill, it will be the perfect stage for the mighty Steel Panther to raise their game to new heights and blow everyone away - prompting all rock fans to cry "Death To All But Metal" (that's "but metal", not "butt metal"
The Sunday night is all about nostalgia with Def Leppard being the band to bring the festival to a close. The band may not be the multi million sellers that they were in their heyday when Steve Clarke unleashed the riffs that rocked the world. Sadly, Clarke is no longer with us but the band have ploughed on and still manage to please the fans with a mixture of old and new material. Joining Def Leppard on the Sunday evening bill is Whitesnake with lead singer David Coverdale still capable of reaching the high notes and bringing joy to the masses, just like during Whitesnake's awesome 1990 Headline performance with the peerless Steve Vai in tow. There is probably a twinge of regret in Coverdale when he sees the accolades given to former colleague Jimmy Page after he reunited with Robert Plant and John Paul Jones to bring the Led Zeppelin name back to the tip of everyone’s tongue. Sunday night will hopefully offer Coverdale another chance to have his time in the spotlight and maybe give the band a new lease of life.
Coverdale isn’t the only artist with a Donnington history who is looking to make another impression this time around. Younger fans may associate Duff MacKagan with Velvet Revolver or his new Duff MacKagan's Loaded outfit but for the majority of his fans, Duff will always be the bassist of Guns N Roses. The band were in their first flush of worldwide success when tragedy struck their Monsters of Rock set in a set which has been remembered for all the wrong reasons. Even as Duff, Slash, Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose left the stage to rapturous applause, no one in the Guns N Roses camp were to know what had unfolded.
Of course, Guns N Roses have played many gigs and tours and seemed to fall out with so many people along the way. Faith No More, another Download headliner, had a feud with the act but you can add them to a list that involves Metallica, Megadeth and another Download act Limp Bizkit. Okay, Axl Rose may not be the most stable of people which means that arguments were never too far away but the amount of Guns N Roses t-shirts on sale still indicates their endearing popularity. If the weather is good, then the lyrics of Paradise City recalling a place where the grass is green and the girls are pretty may ring true for Download but it seems as though the festival is linked with rain and mud, which seems to fit with the avalanche of volume that cascades from the stages.
No matter who floats your boat at Download, whether it is ZZ Top showing the youngsters how to rock out or the new wave of acts like Pendulum or Dragonforce indicating their influences, there is likely to be something for every lover of hard rocking music.
So this weekend, with printer and resident artist Tom being away at the Le Mans 24 Hours, myself and chief T-shirt folder-upper Jack will be at Download. Jack, being a Teenager is most looking forward to Slipknott and Marilyn Manson, while I just know that with the likes of Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Whitesnake on the bill, it will be the perfect stage for the mighty Steel Panther to raise their game to new heights and blow everyone away - prompting all rock fans to cry "Death To All But Metal" (that's "but metal", not "butt metal"
Labels: AC/DC. Metallica, Donnington, Download Festival, Marilyn Manson, Monsters of Rock, Steel Panther, Whitesnake
posted by Sleazy Rock n' Roll at
22:30
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