Download Festival 2016

It's been a while since Download Festival but I wanted to write a little bit about my experience as a first timer. I've been wanting to go for years, so when I saw the lineup for this year on Sunday the 12th of June, I decided to get day tickets for me and my partner to go and have a feel of the atmosphere.

First of all, the weather was awful! I felt terrible for those that were there the whole weekend. The ground was completely sodden, everywhere we walked was sloshy mud. I think it looks about the same at Glastonbury this weekend, why oh why would you do this rain?

Ponchos and wellies were essential, although I saw someone walking through the crowd while we were watching Breaking Benjamin wearing flip-flops! I got these ponchos before we went and I'm so glad I did! They were really big and a lot more hard wearing than the paper thin ones we were planning to pick up from the pound shop.

The first thing we saw at Download was actually some live wrestling as NXT had their own tent and events going on throughout the festival. Dave is more of a fan of the wrestling than me, although I did enjoy myself.
We got a really great spot close to the ring. I laughed a lot and found the wrestling crowd to be pretty funny with their chanting, most of which involved swearing so I won't repeat it here.. Let's just say the referee is something that rhymes with 'banker'.
David Draiman (lead singer of Disturbed) also showed up to watch some wrestling, which was pretty cool, I got to see the back of his head quite close, haha!

The first band we saw properly were Breaking Benjamin, who were one of the main reasons I wanted to go. I've pretty much had their new album on repeat since it came out.. They've never toured in the UK before so when I heard that they were coming to Download on the radio in the months leading up to the festival I did a stupid happy dance (thankfully alone at home so no one could see it).
I can honestly say they didn't disappoint one bit. They were probably in my mind one of the best bands I've ever seen live. Their sound was brilliant, the crowd and atmosphere felt like nothing else. I could see others singing along to this band I've loved for such a long time and felt butterflies in my stomach, I couldn't stop smiling and singing. Benjamin Burnley (the lead singer) kept saying how great it was to be there and you could hear a sincerity in his voice that told you he was having as much of a brilliant time as you were. 'Blow Me Away' was my stand out moment from the set.

We then ran over to the main stage to watch Disturbed. The other band I've been desperate to see for years. I was massively excited last year when they released their newest album Immortalized after a haitus and thought, that means there's a tour on the cards!

Since it was the main stage there were loads of people! I loved seeing 'Ten Thousand Fists' in the aiiirr! My favourite moment was seeing the lead singer from Breaking Benjamin coming to sing Killing in the Name with Disturbed, and everyone singing along because Rage always get a crowd going! I could hear Dave singing loudly next to me, and it made me smile a lot.

Other bands we caught were Jane's Addiction, a little bit of Nightwish and Iron Maiden. I really loved Iron Maiden's stage setup, the visuals were gorgeous, as was the sound, those guys can really rock.

Overall it was an epic first experience for me at Download and I'd definitely go back again if the lineup was right. Thanks for going with me Dave!