LINKIN PARK AT DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL 2014 (My First Festival Experience)

Last weekend I was rocking and screaming my heart out at what so far was the greatest music experience of my life (though Owl City was amazing too a couple years back but that's another story) but on the Saturday that's just passed, I was at my first festival and here's my story!

For the last 3 months, I was planning to go to my first Festival which was a Rock/ Indie and Metal festival up north near Leicester and Derby called "Download Festival" which was being held at Donington Park. During around February I found on Facebook on Kerrang's facebook page that Linkin Park one of my favorite bands ever were performing this year and they were playing their entire first album Hybrid Theory, how could I miss that opportunity. I patiently waited until around May when finally the Saturday day-time tickets were available and I made sure all of my friends knew, especially my mate Lewis who got me into Linkin Park and many many other artists in the last 5 years.

So on the day, me and Lewis headed for Donington Park thanks to a lift to and back from his dad. By around 2.00pm, we finally made it and got ready for one hell of an day. He was keen on seeing Bowling For Soup (I know, weird name right?) who were performing at 3.00pm so we got in the crowd after I purchased a Download Festival Poster T-Shirt and a Linkin Park T-shirt too. I really enjoyed myself especially the humor the band emitted between the songs and their music was really fun too (luckily I knew some lyrics to 3 of their songs so I didn't feel like a total novice). They played classics such as "1985", "Girl All The Bad Guys Want" and even a song from a TV series I watched a long time ago called "Today's Is Gonna Be A Great Day" from the Phineas & Ferb TV series (I obviously knew all the lyrics to that one!) There were even a couple people dressed as Sesame Street characters like Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Elmo... random but funny! And in the second part for "Girl All The Bad Guys Want" the band were handed a big inflatable penis for them to sign... yeah.
Setlist is here.

Bowling For Soup - (Opening) Almost

  Bowling For Soup - Girl All The Bad Guys Want (Part 1)

Bowling For Soup - Girl All The Bad Guys Want (Part 2)

Bowling For Soup - 1985

Left to right: Alex, Caroline, Lewis, Jenny, Me, Kyle and his Dad

Next on our list was searching for Lewis's friends, Kyle (and his dad), Jenny, Caroline and Alex who were there too.  So because the area was HUGE, I could see, hear and feel the bass rumbling the ground and making my heart bounce a little even from up the hill and back near the entrance, it felt so weird and I sorta felt the bass was exagerated as even at a distance I couldn't quite hear the lyrcis to other bands so clearly and I think that ruined the performances a little. I was worried that I wasn't gonna have enough battery charge so I thought I could try out at one of these Battery Recharge stands that only charged £5 for a recharge, until they admitted it was a £20 deposit... no thanks!

As the day went on, we were all wondering around the area while listening to the other bands on the main stage like Killswitch Engage and later Bring Me The Horizon who are both hard core metal bands that even I began to head bang to and get a taste into their music, the others I wasn't so keen on. Later around 18.30pm, we all decided to look for food and found a Prezzo's Pizza place and ate as Bring Me The Horizon performed because next it was Fall Out Boy (another band everyone knew but me).
And being the good brother I am, I phoned up my sister and asked her if she wanted a shirt at the festival. So she queried the bands there and after I mentioned Fall Out Boy, she asked about the clothing and she chose a hat. And I bought myself a Download 2014 Line-Up shirt and a Linkin Park - The Hunting Party T-shirt too.

When Fall Out Boy came on, I was feeling a little down that this was the 2nd band I was seeing live and didn't really have a clue who they were or know the lyrics to any of their songs. But then I remembered what my parents told me before going that people come to festivals to listen and learn about new/ old bands and to widen their music taste, so that deffinitely helped and made me feel better. However, I did know and recognise a few songs such as "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arm's Race", "Beat It (Michael Jackson Cover) and the 2 songs I heard a lot on the radio last year "Young Volcanoes" and "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up) but didn't know it was by them, so I was singing along to those songs and wasn't clueless after all. They were brilliant and sounded just like they do on radio, which is always the best reassurance when seeing a live band/ singer because then you know that they didn't edit their voices as much as you thought back in the studio when creating their music. Setlist is here.

 Fall Out Boy - (Opening) The Phoenix

Fall Out Boy - This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race

Fall Out Boy - Young Volcanoes

Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up)

And then... the time was upon us! At 21.10pm, people were already shoving and pushing through and I was stuck next to the England supporters who were even taking their shirts off, so I was next to hench topless men... yeah! I lost Lewis and Jenny as I was pushed forward and got a little closer to the stage and got a good view and was able to record a lot of the songs. But anway, they finally came on and put on an amazing introduction montage before beginning with the all time classic "Papercut" and then followed through the whole Hybrid Theory album, they played several tracks from their other albums too which kept the crowd and me going and it was good that the show didn't end so quickly. When it did, it was a shame for the excitement to be over but it was absolutely amazing and I was so proud of myself for bucking up the courage to come here, I coped being on my own and let myself go in the moment and just have an amazing time no matter what. At around 22.50pm, as everyone was heading home or to the campsites, most of the crowd were heading to the other main stage to go and watch the England vs Italy World Cup game. Me and Lewis headed for home and travelled back listening to the game on the radio. We ended up getting back to Horsham at 2.30 in the morning. After staying at Lewis's I drove home, ready to share Father's Day with Dad and the family. Setlist is here.

Linkin Park - (Opening) Papercut

Linkin Park - Points Of Authority

 Linkin Park - By Myself

 

Linkin Park - In The End

There were lots of mosh pits which I even slided into on 2 songs and I actually survived (well obviously because I'm here and re-telling the story) but it was interesting and I didn't get as hurt as I thought I would. The crowd was very loud and we all sung our hearts out and screamed at the top of our lungs to every song so honestly I hardly heard the band at all but it was fun to partake in (I hope next time I hear the actual band preferably). I have never been so hot, sweaty and squeezed in my life because throughout the first 3 songs the crowd was swaying and shoving around so some of my videos were shaken up (I even dropped the phone once and picked it up in a couple seconds and got helped back up by good people, thank god). It was sensational to see Linkin Park perform some of my favorite tracks like "Points Of Authority", "In The End", "A Place For My Head" and then they mixed it up after finishing the whole first album. They gave it 110% and they sounded just like their LIVE album "Live in Texas" from back in 2003. My only disappointment was that they didn't play more stuff from their second album Meteora and most of all the song "No More Sorrow" which I always dreamed would be like this from their performance at the iTunes Festival back in 2011.

Linkin Park - A Place For My Head

Linkin Park - Given Up

 Linkin Park - Lost In The Echo

Linkin Park - New Divide (First time played LIVE) from Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

 Here's the last song "Bleed It Out" (a real crowd pleaser and sing a-long) which I failed to record but
found this online on 8th June 2015 whilst going through some LIVE performances on YouTube.

Another interesting and slightly awkward thing that happened was that just as me and the others were heading down the hill ready to mingle with the crowd, I ended up grabbing Caroline's jumper to make sure I didn't lose the others. Unexpectedly it turned into holding hands thanks to her grabbing mine as we slipped into the crowd and navigated for like a minute. When we found a good spot, I said thank you (like a gentlemen) and thought it was best to admit to her that was the first time I've ever held a girl's hand. She replied with "Aww that's so sweet" and gave me a hug. Oh yeah another thing, as we were heading to Donington Park on the Saturday morning, we ended up passing this tank on the actual dual-carriage way! A friend who knows a lot about weaponry and stuff said that it was a "M1A2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

This is one of those memories I will treasure forever and always remember with pride and of course show the footage to my friends. So what's next on my "To-do list? Well I'm still working out my Skydive birthday present and will get round to booking it once we find a good location and if the weather plays fair too. And me, Lewis and Kurt are seeing EMINEM on 11th July so that'll be another awesome concert in a ground-breaking atmosphere. After that, Kurt and I are heading for London Film & Comic-Con to meet Stan Lee. And let's not forget the comedy legend and one of my personal favorites Lee Evans Monsters Live in September. So life's going great for me, I'm really living life this year it seems.

But this Saturday was a huge stepping stone in my life. That was £82.50 well spent (On the ticket I meant!) No doubt about it.