OK verdict on the weekend as a whole: pretty bloody good, short a little something extra that last years Download had but pretty outstanding all the same!
Day one: Couple of slightly bazaar opening acts in Delain and Turisas (Dutch symphonic metal and Finish battle metal respectively) "Hey you crazy English guy you're going to love our Heavy metal Accordian, for sure!"
Scandinavians are just a little bit mad....
Europe was a little bit flat but worth if for "the final countdown", Alice Cooper was pretty awesome if rather staged but the dude can still put on a performance, Marylin Manson take note please. I missed Terrorvision because they where in a side tent and it was impossible to even get near it so i went and drank some beer instead.
Day two: Pitched up early for Lacuna Coil, happily this year they sorted out Christina's vocals before the start and they rocked, i'm a big fan, so i'm slightly biased. I then stayed in the middle of the stages for the next few acts (the ammount of gushing Dio tributes was quite heartwarming) before floating back up to the mainstage for what turned out to be the best perfomance of the weekend by Papa Roach who were on fire and tore up the audience from start to finish.
They sadly where followed on the second stage by Heavy metal cello ( Apocolyptica ) who bluntly sucked and fell completely flat on their faces, complete waste of a set imo. Good charlotte where awesome and totally fit in the weekend giving a nice light set in amoungst the more rawcus Anthrax and Slayer Thrash Metal. Placebo and Motley Crue where workmanlike rather than brilliant which lead to the headliners
Rammstien: I've never seen 40,000+ Brit cheer so loudly for a german flag before but the pyrotechnical heavy metal masterclass that followed was magnificent, from the flame throwers and fireworks to the keyboardist jumping in an inflatable to crowdsurf is was an 90 minute blast, the renditiion of Du Hast being the single best live performance of a song I have ever seen.
Day 3: Sunday saw fine performances from Alice in Chains and Pendulum on teh main stage and moments of magic from The Cult (She sells Sanctuary's opening bars gaining the best reaction of the weekend) and Iggy Pop (who pulled 10 people from teh crowd to dance along to a couple of songs before the headline act.
Iron Maiden: Heavy metals royalty showed exactly why they are considered one of teh best live acts in the world, my only coomplaint is they played far too much recent stuff and not enough classics, No Run to the hills, no Can I play with madness, no Aces high. but still a great set, of the really big bands only Def Leppard have really justified the hype for me before this.
All in all a great weekend,
Sorry Df had I actually read the thread after I posted it I would have got you a t-shirt.
This post was brought to you by the ghost of Gbaji and the Letter B.