Live Review: Download Festival Pilot

The weekend is over and the Download Pilot festival has come and gone. It was a weekend full of excitement, booze, adrenaline and an awful lot of mud! Rock and Metal fans rejoiced for the first time in nearly a year and a half as everyone was finally able to let loose after constant lockdowns and restriction. The event was truly special.

Rain is an inevitability when it comes to Download and this year was no exception. As many festival-goers arrived to set up, the floodgates opened and would continue for most of the Friday. Damp and muddy fans were able to get their first taste of live music via Death Blooms as they kicked the festival off with an energetic set on the second stage. Fans moshed and screamed as if COVID had never happened with sets from Malevolence and Sleep Token being extremely intense, while Holding Absence and Neck Deep had fans singing in unison for the first time in months! As the weekend went on, the excitement levels and overall vibe around the festival didn’t dwindle at all. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes ended off the first day of live music and it was an interesting performance. His highly energetic style fit the excitement levels surrounding the event as a whole and made for a decent start to the weekend.

If this festival proved anything, it’s that the UK alternative music scene is thriving! Saturday was a day to remember with some of the best performances of the weekend. Early in the day, Lotus Eater, As Everything Unfolds and Bleed From Within drew huge crowds to match their stellar performances. Later in the day, While She Sleeps took the stage and may have delivered the best show of the entire weekend. Right off the bat, the level of intensity was higher than it had been all weekend and the way the crowd reacted, you’d have thought the band were headlining the whole festival. Maybe one day they will! Finishing the day was Enter Shikari, who have an unfair amount of bangers at their disposal. Bright lights, confetti and singalongs littered the band’s powerful set.

Sunday saw the most chaotic crowds of the weekend by far. Once again, the day kicked off with heavy performances from Employed To Serve, Higher Power and Loathe that saw fans unleash the same level of energy as they did on the Friday. Fans went even more wild as the days end drew closer. People using air beds and swimming pools as boats to calm the raging seas of fans during an emphatic performance from Skindread was a particularly awesome thing to see again. Especially Jesus riding an air bed across thousands of fans. Completing the whole weekend was Bullet For My Valentine’s headline set. Unleashing their hits and their new song ‘Knives’ allowed fans to let loose one final time and by god they did! Thousands of fans moshing and screaming for one last time is something that will stick with me forever.

The festival was put together in less than 5 weeks total and at times it showed. Whether it was the comically low amount of portaloos, The tents that ended up basically within the arena or The Wildhearts just walking off halfway through their set. The festival wasn’t without its faults however, I think it’s safe to say that no one in attendance cared. Fans were back on the hallowed ground and you couldn’t look anywhere without seeing someone smiling.

Overall, the festival was an absolute blast to attend. There will never be another download like this (Hopefully) and to everyone who was able to attend, thank you for making the weekend just that much more special. Until Download 2022!