Tyla and the quireboys were both simply brilliant on the jäger stage this year (along with gun)
Been humming their songs all week now along with steel panther and Metallica.

Great post Phil - really interesting to hear what it was like behind the scenes.

Very informative read Phil, thanks for that and for your efforts over the weekend

Agreed, a very interesting read.
 
On the other hand, I can't say I found the amount of rain surprising... But maybe that's just because I'm used to Scottish weather!

Well done to them all.

Excellent read, and a timely reminder of how hard people are working behind the scenes as everyone (including me, of course!) is coming back and posting their various whinge lists.

Glad you've found this interesting, I was fascinated by the scale of things.
 
One thing I've just remembered is John grumbling at one point about how the cost of straw bales had gone up from £10 a bale on Tuesday to £60 a bale on Friday!

HullHellHalifax

Glad you've found this interesting, I was fascinated by the scale of things.

One thing I've just remembered is John grumbling at one point about how the cost of straw bales had gone up from £10 a bale on Tuesday to £60 a bale on Friday!

That is a big jump. We get bales for £7 for our animals

HullHellHalifax

Glad you've found this interesting, I was fascinated by the scale of things.

One thing I've just remembered is John grumbling at one point about how the cost of straw bales had gone up from £10 a bale on Tuesday to £60 a bale on Friday!

so now he knows how we feel about water in hot weather and wellies in rain?  ;)

Cazzie
so now he knows how we feel about water in hot weather and wellies in rain?  ;)

Haha!

Very good read. It was clear that there were some major issues that caused the delay on Friday and waiitng in the wind and rain for almost two hours wasn't much fun! But the organisers obviously worked really hard to make the festival a success and the fact that the arena improved immensely as the weekend progressed is a tribute to their efforts!

Cheers for all the efforts on getting the event on. The arena conditions were pretty much perfect by the sunday. 
Just out of interest, what would have happened if Friday had been canceled? we were discussing this when we heard that the arena opening had been delayed. Would we have all got partial re-funds?
 

poison_superstar

Cazzie
so now he knows how we feel about water in hot weather and wellies in rain?  ;)

Haha!

 
Yeah, but in both cases any price is a good price when the alternative is a ruined festival.

2006Kean

HullHellHalifax

Glad you've found this interesting, I was fascinated by the scale of things.

One thing I've just remembered is John grumbling at one point about how the cost of straw bales had gone up from £10 a bale on Tuesday to £60 a bale on Friday!

That is a big jump. We get bales for £7 for our animals

Exactly - the buck never just stops at LN - 3rd parties are also on the make at everyones expense.

thankyou eternally for all the work you put in, and everyone else for that matter. It was still an incredible weekend despite the weather. Great read

great read hhh. nice 2 meet u at the bbbq n have a quick chat. it must of been a real challenge backstage but rewarding.thanks for the bbbq and your hard work. see u next yr

Danger Man

Very good read. It was clear that there were some major issues that caused the delay on Friday and waiitng in the wind and rain for almost two hours wasn't much fun! But the organisers obviously worked really hard to make the festival a success and the fact that the arena improved immensely as the weekend progressed is a tribute to their efforts!

I saw John Probyn later that day and he was saying one of the funniest things he saw was the gates opening and security all saying ... do not run - take it easy to the stage ( totally expecting everyone to make a dash for the barriers ) and you all ran to the Toilets !

Great to hear information from the other side of the stage.
My wife and I did a house swap with my sister this year, she lives in Donington.  So she came and did her Aunty things for the kids and we crashed in her house and came to Download (fair swap I think). 
 
We only had Guest Weekend passes, so on Friday morning we arrived fairly early.  We somehow got a coffee in the Guest Area and then found ourselves  wandering around the main arena with only a few catering staff and security.  We had a quick walk around to get our bearings and then decided to wait at the main stage for a good spot.  As time went on we kept hearing from security that they were not going to open until they had cleared up and made safe some of the main pathways and area in the arena.  Then the hay started being spread to try and soak up some of the water and mud.
 
They then proceeded to barrier off the whole right hand side of the main stage with us and another couple.  Fear Factory crew got their gear set up and then they began letting in people to the arena, but only on the left hand side of the main stage.  It felt so weird, but I'll never forget Burton C Bell's face when he came out, began singing looked into the crowd and saw 4 people in front of him.  He quickly turned and saw the rest of the crowd on the other side and then for the next 3 songs ignored the 4 of us (not intentionally). 
 
Anyway Saturday we managed to get hold of a couple of Snakepit Passes for Trivium from security.  We then found out they were also doing it for Steel Panther, so found a couple of guys and asked if they like Trivium.  They said they did so we gave them to them and waited for the Steel Panther ones.  Security came out and we got the passes! 
 
After waiting for what felt like 2 hours we were finally ushered into the Snakepit, OMG how close is the stage!  Steel Panther came on and were amazing, and then when they bought out Corey Taylor......!! :-)
 
When we were leaving the Snakepit for some reason I felt so good I grabbed the wifes hand and instead of going back into the main arena I showed the security my wristband and nervously walked backstage.  Kate, my wife was constantly in my ear saying "where are we going, what are you doing?", but we just kept on walking.  We eventually stood backstage and looked around to take it all in.  It was quite hectic but nobody questioned us being there.  We had a wander and a chat with a few crew and then sat around waiting to see if we could spot any 'celebs'.  We eventually saw Corey Taylor, Chris Jericho, Steel Panther, half of Black Veil Brides, Jack Black, Kyle Gass and a few others but can't remember.  We then casually went back into the arena and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.
 
Sunday was a delayed entrance again, but when we got in we headed straight for the main stage.  We did try to get into the press area  but were refused this time (and rightly so).  My wife is a huge Megadeth fan so eventually we managed to get backstage with 'lucky' timing.  It was really hot on Sunday so we sat on a couple of hay bales at the back of the stage and looked to see who was around.  Eventually after a lot of waiting the guys from Megadeth came out we grabbed a couple of photos and then ran out front to watch the show.
 
This year has been one of the best ever Download Festivals for us.  We came in 2004, 2005, and 2006 going VIP/Guest on the last two times and met quite a few bands, but never backstage.  Don't be fooled by my story though we missed quite a lot being backstage and although it was exciting, at the same time it was very boring just waiting.  I would love to work backstage next year though if anyone has any info on who to contact about this please.
 
Hope you liked my recollection of the weekend.

Jezebel

Danger Man

Very good read. It was clear that there were some major issues that caused the delay on Friday and waiitng in the wind and rain for almost two hours wasn't much fun! But the organisers obviously worked really hard to make the festival a success and the fact that the arena improved immensely as the weekend progressed is a tribute to their efforts!

I saw John Probyn later that day and he was saying one of the funniest things he saw was the gates opening and security all saying ... do not run - take it easy to the stage ( totally expecting everyone to make a dash for the barriers ) and you all ran to the Toilets !

 
Well, what did you expect after we'd been stuck in the queue for two to three hours?
 
The smart cookies went straight for the ones by the fourth stage though.

That is hillarious - you sneaky ****s.. I stumbled into the Artist bar on Sat...
I had snagged a press pass and was wandering along the path behind the stages with Lilith trying to find the press entry point - we could not find it then Rach ( Lilith ) oh there is a hole in the fence - it was not a hole but two fences separated with a walk way type of thing ..... we popped out in the middle of the toilet block in the Artist bar...  we were acutally trying to get to the Steel Panther press conference. We bumped into one of the marketing managers at LN who helps with the fan forums and he shock his head at us and escorted us to the press conference... I was telling HHH about this the other day and that hole in the fence is were they load in the bands and riders on the buses to transport them up to the other stages..
 
Thank god it was not Friday as we were dressed as Twiddle Dee and Dumb !