Sheffield’s Def Leppard Create Hysteria At Download Festival

It hardly gets a look in on mainstream media, radio seems indifferent to it and streaming platforms have been slow to adhere to it, but every year 100,000 rock fans gather together at Donington Park for the Download Festival.

5 years ago you would never have had a Mindfulness Programme at a festival such as this but by addressing mental health issues fans had Morning Meditation and Healing Sound Baths on offer this year.

If that wasn’t enough to satisfy you as always there was a real mixture of bands to see. Whitesnake might be veterans at Download – they played what was the forerunner to the festival – the Monsters of Rock festival – 29 years ago well before many of this years festival goers were born. Lead singer David Coverdale originally from Saltburn can still cut it live. When you have rock classics in your back catalogue such as Is This Love and Here I Go Again it makes it look so easy.

Slash last played Download a year ago headlining with Guns ‘N’ Roses – this year he was back with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators. They even drop in Night train – a Guns ‘N’ Roses track but it is on their own tracks such as Call Of The Wild where they excelled.

Def Leppard took the decision to play in its entirety their 1987 classic album Hysteria for their headline slot on Friday night. The Sheffield band were worthy headliners – it showed how an album released 32 years ago still sounds good today. The songs from that album were the benchmark that many bands still look to today. Women, Rocket and Pour Some Sugar On Me thrilled a capacity audience.

Fittingly there was a tribute to the band’s guitarist Steve Clark who died in 1991 – Clark was the guitarist and main songwriter in the band who wrote a lions share of the songs on the Hysteria album.

For the encore it was back to 1981 with Let It Go from the High ‘n’ Dry album before more classics such as Lets Get Rocked, Rock of Ages and Photograph – the track that sealed their rock superstar status in America. It was a stellar performance from Sheffield’s finest.

The rain held off just about on Saturday for Trivium’s set – the Florida sunshine might have been in short supply but the band delivered a tight set with Beyond Oblivion and Sever The Hand.

On the Zippo stage Three Days Grace were a delight to discover. The band know how to entice an audience. I Hate Everything About You and Riot had the crowd singing so loud it probably could be heard on the main stage. A worthy discovery.

Stone Temple Pilots brought their blues infused rock to the fore on a polished performance that come with years of gigging – Wicked Garden was a highlight of a concise set.

The anticipation that greeted Slipknot’s headline slot on Saturday was rewarded with an energetic full on set. The masked rockers from America delighted with tracks such as Get This and Before I Forget. With an image that most fans can copy – there were a lot at Download in boiler suits and masks – the band never let anyone down.

The weather might not have been the best but the bands on offer more than ever made up for it – tickets are already on sale for next years festival – pity you cant book the weather!

https://downloadfestival.co.uk/