Ozzy rocks Download stage
THIS year’s Download Festival had some of the biggest performers ever - and thousands upon thousands of fans were treated to a feast of rock in glorious sunshine.
The festival based at Donington Park is now in its 18th year here and fans of all ages descended on the venue for three days of music, food, drink and laughter, as this is by far one of the friendliest, most relaxing festivals in the UK, from the visitors to the down-to-earth staff working on site.
A huge line-up of bands were brought together to perform on the various stages, with Friday featuring such names as Tesseract, Bad Religion, Hell is for Heroes and You Me At Six, with Boston Manor kicking things off on the main stage.
Highlights of Friday included DragonForce who entertained the crowd with their power metal songs, while British modern metal institution Bullet For My Valentine lit up the staged before headliners Avenged Sevenfold tore it up with some raucous rock.
Saturday saw lots more big names
take to the stage, with Asking Alexandria giving a memorable performance, Aussie rock titans Parkway Drive were impressive, and Canadian juggernaut Monster Truck rocked the crowd with a couple of classics, plus a sneak peek at a few tracks from the new album True Rockers due out in September.
Another great performance came from American Southern bluesy rockers Whiskey Myers who smashed out some tracks and set the stage alive.
Highlight in the day was English hard rock band Thunder. Formed in 1989, the group performed a fantastic set with lead singer Danny Bowes getting the crowd going and interacting with them, having a bit a fun which the fans loved, while also powering out some amazing vocals.
Black Stone Cherry followed up with an impressive set, then it was time for Saturday’s headliners, the reunited Guns N’ Roses, to perform a three-hour set with Axl Rose joined on stage by guitar legend Slash to perform a mixture of their hits including the anthems Sweet Child O’ Mine, Paradise City and even covers including Live And Let Die.
Die-hard Guns N’ Roses fans - of which there were many there - left the arena satisfied after seeing their idols back together.
The final day again had something for everyone, with performances from acts such as All Them Witches, The Hives, No Hot Ashes, Hatebreed and Black Veil Brides.
Shinedown, performing fresh from a world tour, were a standout act with their massive rifts and huge anthems, again showing how getting the crowd involved lifts the performance and got the Download crowd jumping to the music.
Marilyn Manson, fresh off the release of critically acclaimed new album Heaven Upside Down, gave
an energised performance to a heaving crowd, before musical icon Ozzy Osbourne touched down on the stage to bring the festival to its finale.
And he sure did bring it - powering out his hits in his first ever Download headline solo appearance, Ozzy rocked the crowd with an impressive set that proved that maybe this may not be his final tour after all.... #NoMoreTours 2.
And with plenty else to entertain visitors, from NXT Live wrestling, Sindrome, Air Guitar World Championships, Lords of Lightning Area 51, comedy acts... the list goes on and on, Download shows it is up there as one of the leading festivals in the UK.
Rock on, Download 2019!