Fox Reviews Rock

Saturday.

Up and ready, we made our way to download for day 2; A day of discovery!

We headed to the bus stop in Castle Donington to save our feet a little bit. It didn’t take too long, although it was a busy bus. We got dropped off where we had been picked up the night before at the transport hub. Half an hour trek once again; we were not blessed with the weather today. We were wet through before we even reached the arena, although we wore our waterproofs!

We got in and had another wander around the arena, this time in search of something hot and delicious! We settled on the Japanese Fried chicken near the Opus stage. There was no queue, so we got our food quickly. The rain started coming down heavily again, so we found shelter in an almost empty Dogtooth stage tent. We ate our food and warmed up a little before trying to decide who we wanted to go see next.

That’s when ALT BLK ERA came on stage, we were unsure if we wanted to stay however when Nyrobi and Chaya came jumping on stage screaming their first song, (we unfortunately couldn’t find the name of this song but if anyone knows please let us know in the comments!) was enough to keep us there! Never hearing of the band before, we were pleasantly surprised and stayed for the whole set. They played 6 songs in total, with our favorite of the show being the final song ‘I’m Normally Like This’

It seemed a few people had the same idea as us and used the tent as a refuge from the storm, but as the set progressed, the crowd began to liven up and during the final song, there was a mosh pit. It was great to see a local band making such an impression, especially so early on in the day.

We instantly added them to our Spotify playlists and were pleased to find a new song released a week after Download called ‘My Drummer’s Girlfriend’. We really enjoyed this new song and are looking forward to hearing what else the band will do in the future, and we are eager to listen to their new vinyl ‘Rave Immortal’ in January.

The Hunna

The rain was thankfully letting up as ALT BLK ERA finished, so we ventured outside again. Still not knowing who we wanted to see, we stumbled upon The Hunna on the Apex stage.

We only managed to catch the end of the set, arriving at the beginning of ‘I Don’t Like You.. Okay’ with Kelsy Karter, and stayed for the end of the set. Another band we hadn’t heard before but were pleasantly surprised about. Although Fox wrote in his review that he was disappointed they didn’t sing their biggest songs ‘She’s Casual’ and ‘Bonfire’, we thought they made a great first impression, especially with ‘Trash’, and will continue to follow them.

With the weather cheering up and the sun making an appearance, we decided to go and look at the shops, buying some patches from The Splatter House.

We then returned to the Apex stage to catch the end of Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes’ set. We had heard a few of their songs before, but didn’t really enjoy them. Surprisingly, we thought they were so much better live and actually enjoyed the songs that didn’t make an impression on us previously. Two of the songs we especially enjoyed were ‘My Town’ and ‘Crowbar,’ which are now added to our playlists.

We then headed over to the Avalanche stage to watch Rory. We found her to be incredibly relatable and inspiring with her music and as a person. Rory started her music career late and was turned down by many record labels because of her age, but that didn’t stop her – she created her own, and we are glad she didn’t give up! Her enthusiasm for playing at Download was visible in her performance.

We enjoyed every song from Rory’s setlist, but with a special shout out to ‘Help Your Friends Get Sober’ and ‘Baby Vendetta’. Rory’s final song was her new song ‘Blossom’, which was probably our favorite but was cut short due to the whole festival having a power cut because of the heavy rain and storm! We look forward to seeing her live again, hopefully not too far in the future.

With the storms, we decided not to leave the tent and managed to get ourselves to the barrier for NOAHFINNCE! Probably our favorite smaller performance of the day, despite not knowing he existed! Noah gave a fun, energetic performance, speaking about his experience of growing up online and being diagnosed with ADHD and autism. With a heavy pop-punk style and opinionated lyrics, we were hooked.

Songs such as ‘Scumbag’ aimed at JK Rowling, and ‘Growing Up On the Internet’ were the highlights of NOAHFINNCE’s set, truly highlighting who he is as a person. Eight songs were not enough for us, so we got tickets for his current tour and will be seeing him again in November.

It was a hard decision on who to see next, Enter Shikari or Silversein, both bands were a huge part of Rex’s formative years and developing their love for emo and post-hardcore genres. The decision was made a lot easier by looking out of the tent and at the downpour outside, Silverstein it was!

Jumping straight into ‘Bankrupt’ by Silverstein sounded amazing; the energy was unmatched, and we especially loved the whole ‘dad vibes’ outfit choices! The Canadian band paid homage to Billy Talent, who were headlining the Avalanche Stage later on in the day, just before performing a cover of ‘One Step Closer’ by Linkin Park, and absolutely smashing it! Finally ending their set with ‘Smile In Your Sleep,’ where the crowd went wild with mosh pits and people singing the song back to them!

Full of adrenaline, we made our way back to the Apex stage to watch The Offspring. We have seen them twice previously, once in Birmingham and once at the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas, and as always, they did not disappoint! They are one of St. Jimmy’s favorite bands (he even has a tattoo of their logo).

The Offspring started their set with ‘Come Out And Play’, shortly followed by ‘All I Want’ that always gets the crowd going, as well as a beach ball release during ‘Why Don’t You Get A Job’. The crowd was jumping and singing their hearts out. As always, there were a few jokes and plenty of crowd interaction from The Offspring. They really know how to please a crowd and get the party going.

During the set they played several of their biggest hits such as ‘Pretty Fly’ and ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’, as well as their latest song ‘A Million Miles Away’, and ‘Self Esteem’ for the encore.

With a large gap between The Offspring and Fall Out Boy, we headed back to the Avalanche stage to watch part of the Billy Talent set. We managed to catch ‘Fallen Leaves’, ‘Red Flag’, and ‘Surrender’ from outside the tent as it was very busy by the time we got there!

Luckily, the rain had stopped and the energy of the band was so good that it carried on as far back as we were! We were glad we got to catch Billy Talent as we were not sure we would be able to make it with the mud making getting between stages a lot harder!

Back to the Apex stage we went, Fall Out Boy here we come!

Over the last couple of years, we have seen Fall Out Boy twice: once at the triple headlining tour Hella Mega in Dublin with Green Day and Weezer, and then again in Manchester. But we can confidently say that these were the best performances we have seen from Fall Out Boy, and possibly from any other band (Alice Cooper has competition!).

The incredible set design and the flawless set list took us through 8 albums in chronological order, beginning with Patrick waking up in a hospital bed singing a solo before racing into ‘Chicago Is So Two Years Ago’ and ‘Grand Theft Autumn’ from their first album Take This To Your Grave.

As we moved through the hits from each album, the set changed to represent the album covers. From classic albums ‘Under the Cork Tree’ and ‘Infinity on High’ all the way through to the more recent ‘So Much (for) Stardust’, the sets included Pete Wentz floating in the air tied to balloons, Franklin the winged sheep, and flying tarot cards, with plenty of pyrotechnics in the usual Fall Out Boy style.

The finale consisted of ‘XO’, ‘Centuries’, ‘Saturday’, and ‘So Much (for) Stardust’, an absolutely fantastic ending to a long day, giving us the energy to walk back to our accommodation and finish the day on 35,000 very muddy steps!

St. Jimmy & Rex 🖤☠️

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