I am a massive Metal fan. I was never so much into the harder thrash sound and Metallica and Megadeth are probably as hard as I like to go, but there’s always been something about the sheer energy and pace of the music that sets me off. You can talk about visceral guitars, riff about the heartbeat of the drums or even wax lyrical about the screaming vocals. As with everything musical, it’s something that you simply can’t put into words.
As you’d expect therefore, as the argument continued, Download is a festival that’s always had a special place in my heart. My first memories of the event are centred back in the days when it was the Castle Donnington Monsters of Rock one day celebration.
Although my recollection is a little shady due to the knocks my mind has taken over the years, I can still picture watching a balmy Saturday evening turn into the dead of night as I listened to Tommy Vance narrate the proceedings of 1992’s big event. The party had seen some true heroes including Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, complete with sprayed on leather trousers, but the gods of the art I wanted to hear were Iron Maiden.
And as ever, Bruce and the boys knocked it out of the park with an absolutely outstanding display of their pitch, range and energy, lacing their set with tunes from the Fear of the Dark album alongside a number of classics, putting together 22 tunes, almost 3 albums worth of music.
So when I heard that this legendary act were appearing for one UK date only on their latest world tour, I simply knew I had to go. With both me and the band not getting any younger these chances are going to run out. With this information I decided to take a chance and go with my gut to the Download festival. After all, there’s a huge amount of other bands there I also want to see.
And if you know anything about the Metal scene, then you’ll know that there’s something special about the Saturday night headliner, Black Sabbath, who arguably are the greatest influence there ever has been on the genre. Hailing from Birmingham and blending crazy chords with an industrial noise, they were the spark that started the entire fire.
Without question there will have to be a little listen to the aforementioned Megadeth and if old school Metal truly is my thing then I’d be mad to miss out on the likes of Saxon, but do you know what I am truly looking forward to? The camaraderie and atmosphere. There’s something about Metal fans and Rockers that makes us all bond together without the need for a frenetic pill based culture, where a brew is enough and a mosh always hits the spot.
I’m expecting Download to absolutely Rock it to high heaven and no matter whether it rains or shines or even snows across the whole weekend, I think I’ll be back with a ton of friendly faces and glorious new memories that will replace the old thoughts of BBC One’s Saturday night Rock show.
So bring on the burgers, rain down the beers and let me enjoy every last minute of this wild night as I embrace one more chance to seem one of the greatest bands that have ever lived outside of my own imagination. They don’t come any bigger than Iron Maiden and I shall be hanging on till the very last chord.
