Download Festival 2017 - Day Two Review

REMEMBER that big ball of fire I mentioned was in the sky yesterday? Well it is still there and brought with it some real heat to the festival.

After a champion's breakfast of two Cornish pasties and a can of lager, I was out in front of the main stage well in time to see HACKTIVIST open at 11am. Not an easy slot but there was a decent crowd and great energy from the band.

A Day To Remember - Picture by Ben Gibson

CREEPER were up next and were a band I was keen to see - and were excellent. They may not have been around for a long time, but they have a stage presence of old pros - not bad considering the size of the stage.

And next up were some old pros as SIKTH, who turned in another great performance. Not a bad way to start the day at all.

I also enjoyed THE ONE HUNDRED, a band I first saw at Sonisphere a few years back and continue to have great power and aggression in their music. OF MICE AND MEN too were great, if a lot more polished that those Brit upstarts I mentioned before. 

I drifted again for a bit, taking in some PIERCE THE VEIL and KNUCKLE PUCK but not enough to review. I did very much enjoy the set from CROWN THE EMPIRE, however, over on The Avalanche Stage before getting a bit of AFI and then COHEED & CAMBRIA.

Then came another of my favourites and a band that will surely one day be headlining this festival - A DAY TO REMEMBER. Their set was packed with great songs from All I Want and I'm Made Of Wax... as openers, Naivety and Paranoia in the middle and All Signs Point to Lauderdale and then The Downfall of Us All to close. Brilliant stuff.

Biffy Clyro - Picture by Matt Eachus

There was a lot of debate about Saturday's headliners BIFFY CLYRO. They were decried as a pop band by the hardcore and dismissed as some sort of novelty act that didn't belong at Download at all, let alone as headliner. And while ROB ZOMBIE's crowd as the second stage headliner was probably swelled as a result, those who stayed got a treat.

While Biffy do have the odd slower song in their repertoire, they know how to write brilliant rock songs. And it was a performance with energy, movement, enthusiasm, passion and a show - exactly what was missing from SOAD the previous night. They finished and treated the crown to an awesome firework display. A cracking end to the great day.