Download 2022 Review of Day 2 Saturday 11 June

Dirty Honey kicked off the Opus stage on Saturday. Although I have never seen them live (this is their first UK show) I have been impressed by their singles which I have been playing. Their sound is like the Southern Rock 80s stuff like the Black Crowes with a definite influence from the 70s although they are from California and the vocals have a definite edge that comes directly from the Sunset Strip days. There is a hippy streak a la Conny Bloom to them too harking back to Haight Ashbury days of Frisco. They have good crowd engagement skills coming out to the barrier and have an easy manner chatting with the crowd between songs. They definitely deserve their place at Download.

The Raven Age, next up on the opus stage are also melodic, but have a more post 90s image and attitude with the vocals having a nod to Muse. Interestingly this is combined with markedly Dio-esque guitars, so there are plenty of big meaty riffs and fast paced guitar solos that could be straight out of the 80s.

This Damn Crowes are insanely popular and their down to earth Welsh straightforward rockin has wide appeal for the Download crowd. Although they are regulars on the festival circuit it’s one of the bigger gigs they have done and vocalist Shane Greenall mentions the extra mileage he’s doing on the Apex stage to do his usually running all over the place performance. Not content with that he runs around the pit. He’s another person with excellent crowd skills, always managing to bond with his audience. They are a reliable crowd pleaser.

Monster Truck are American style Southern tinged hard rock. Also capable of getting heavier, there’s a definite Skynyrd influence in what they do. Again they are a good choice for about half way up the bill.

Black Label Society are a force unto themselves and Zakk looks genuinely inspired to be playing Download in a kind of implacable warrior like way. The sound at Download has really been excellent and I can hear all the lyrics in a way in which I could not in smaller venues when they played London. His doom laden siren like voice is so distinctive you would know who it was whatever he sang. His reverence for the guitar and metal and penchant for standing on a platform higher than the stage and constantly raising the guitar to the sun like a Stone Age high priest adds a spiritual air to what they do, a sense that there is more to this than just a bunch of guys and guitars on a stage. It adds to the mystique of the band and the words ‘Rock God’ easily trip off the tongue, although there is also an element of man against an indifferent universe about it. The presence of a pile of skulls and the crucifix on his microphone and the Viking runes on his guitar also add to a sense of the tragic hero. Whatever it is, it is, and he is, epic. While there is an obvious difference in the way he looks now to how he used to look, a subject he has joked about in a self deprecating way in interviews, he has lost none of the skill and we get all of the finger tapping, fast solos, playin behind the head including a duet with his other guitarist and massive riffs. They finish with their biggest songs ‘Suicide Messiah’ and ‘Stillborn’. There’s tons of testosterone on stage, chest beating and banging the heart to show love for the crowd.

Shinedown are a bit of a contrast with their urbane slick modern Californian approach. Maybe its thrown into high relief because they follow the he-men show from Black Label Society, but they come across as good goody and their use of liberal tapes is not really up my alley.

I cross over to the Opus stage to catch the end of Megadeth and ‘Peace Sells But Who’s buying?’ I am not a big thrash fan, but I am very happy to see such an icon as Mustaine on stage doing his stuff. Even if its not really my thing, I still found it fascinating. It seems that so did most of Download, as they pulled a really massive crowd which spills way beyond the space allocated to the audience in front of the second stage making the mass of people huge, wide and biblical in proportions.

Absolutely right up my street are Iron Maiden on the main stage and they have gone all out on the set starting with a mammoth Japanese Street scene with Eddie dressed as an amazingly tall Classical Japanese warrior to accompany three songs from the new album ‘Senjutsu’.

Bruce Dickinson looks like he has lost a ton of weight and he is making the most of it in shiny black skintight trousers and his hair in a Japanese up-do which I think these days is called a man bun. Whatever, he is looking fit and jumps around like a man half his age. Not only that following his throat cancer his voice seems back to full strength so this is a double win. He actually put extra effort into soundcheck which could be heard after gates opened and set the schedule back by half an hour for most of the day, although it is back on track by the time Maiden start. Bruce is singing like an opera singer so it was definitely worth it, the guitar solos are top notch having lost none of their power and Maiden sound magnificent.

There’s a huge stained glass window church like set for ‘Revelations’. Bruce takes the opportunity to say after three years of shit we are all brothers in this field as they launch into ‘Blood Brothers’ no mention of sisters and even the person being burned at the stake in Maiden’s fantasy world is male, but although there’s a huge female contingent of fans in the crowd no one is taking the point and although I notice it, I don’t care. They are such a massively blokey band there’s absolutely no point in expecting them to be anything else and fakes they are not.

‘Flight of Icarus’ is cue for an enormous inflatable man with wings who almost comically takes a nose dive at the end. ‘Fear Of The Dark’ is cue for another costume change with a long nosed mask and a child catcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reference) creepy character in a top hat and medieval style lamp.

My excitement starts to mount as they play my favourite Maiden tracks ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ and ‘Number of The Best’ and I am proud to say I sang every word very very loudly. I grew up on Iron Maiden when I was a teenager and so to hear tracks like ‘Iron Maiden’ while Maiden on still top of their game musicianwise and vocally is indeed a major treat.

For an encore Steve Harris plays an acoustic bass for ‘The Clansman’ which is a bit of a novelty for me to see. I was very happy to hear ‘Run To the Hills’ which they don’t always play and I remember when it was in the charts!! They finish off with ‘Aces High’ with Bruce in goggles and an enormous warplane hovering above the stage.

Not only were Maiden back to their very best musically they pushed out the boat with the set and costumes. With them all looking happy and healthy it really was a triumph! The whole TotalRock team got together and we must have looked a very merry bunch with big smiles on our faces and singing out our hearts. Not bad for a bunch of hard bitten rock journos. Maiden made us all feel young again and we will never forget the show.

Dawn Osborne

 

Photo Credits: Dirty Honey and Megadeth:David Dillon; Shinedown, Bruce Dickinson jumping, Adrian Smith and Eddie and Steve Harris: James Bridle; Those Damn Crowes, Black Label Society and The Raven Age: Matt Eachus; Download Dog and Monster Truck:Sam McMahon