Fox Reviews Rock

We weren’t planning on going to this year’s Download Festival, but when we saw how cheap they were on re-selling sites a couple of days before the festival, it was rude not to and saved £180.

We got ourselves to the arena and noticed that it was a lot busier than the previous year, we reckon this was mostly down to the weather as it was the complete opposite to the downpour we endured last year, as we had clear skies and a scorching sun. It was nice that we could actually see grass rather than the thick slippy mud of last year.

We tried to get hold of Mr Fox but the internet connection was non existent so trying to get a hold of each other was impossible, on the bright side we managed to catch a bit of Rise Against on the main stage, where we got to hear one of our favourite songs ‘Savior’.

The first band we planned to see was Jimmy Eat World as we have never seen them before so we got a good spot to watch them. They opened up with ‘Pain’ & ‘Just Tonight…’ but the crowd really got going when they played their hit ‘Sweetness’. The rest of the 14 song set was a bit flat but picked up again with their last two songs ‘Bleed American’ & the massive ‘In the Middle’.

Overall We were a bit disappointed as they seemed a bit boring live and it felt a bit flat except when they played their hits, it was epic when they did play ‘In the Middle’ which is a song we always wanted to hear played live.

During the break on the main stage we wandered around the festival  and got some food and drink before Weezer. This is the third time we’ve seen them and they were a lot better than the last time, when they went on tour with Smashing Pumpkins.

They opened their set with ‘Hash Pipe’ and ‘My Name Is Jonas’ which was awesome and the crowd loved it!

As the sun rays continued, Rivers (Lead Singer & Guitarist) jokingly asked if we have this weather all the time in England, we don’t think he could even believe the nice weather we were having.

Weezer rocked out with ‘Undone – The Sweater Song’, ‘Island In The Sun’ and our favourite ‘Pork and Beans’

Unfortunately we had to miss the end of Weezer to get to the avalanche stage and get into the tent for McFly, good job we did as it filled up very quickly. Similar to Busted the previous year, Mcfly burst onto the stage sounding more heavier for the download vibe, which was fun to see, they were shouting and swearing and even started to play Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name of’, they had a lot of  fun and so did the crowd.

They performed ‘Where Did All the Guitars Go?’ and ‘Star Girl’ but we soon left as the temperature in the tent was getting ridiculously hot, so we walked back to the main stage and waited for the main headline for the night Green Day!

This is the 4th time seeing them in as many years after previously watching them in Dublin, Las Vegas and Arnhem, so we decided to stay further back rather than struggling to get closer.

As the sun was setting Green Day started with their usual intro where Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ plays before The Ramones ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ where Green Days Mascot ‘Drunk Bunny’ runs around and dances on stage before the band comes out rocking to the iconic ‘American Idiot’ to get the punk rock party started.

Green day performed an outstanding 21 set list full of hits from the last 4 decades, including ‘Holiday’, ‘Basket Case’ and ‘Minority’, they also did a couple of different songs as per usual like ‘Revolution Radio’ and an old song ‘J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)’ which was really nice.

Something magical happened when they performed ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, a reminder that we had a scorching hot summers day, Billie Joe (Vocalist & Guitarist) made it rain when he sang the lyrics “Here comes the rain again” which really was surreal to watch. You can find videos online of this happening.

Green Day finished the set with the usual ‘Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)’ finishing the first day of Download perfectly.

St. Jimmy and Rex 🖤☠️

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