For Female First, the second day at Download Festival consisted of six more bands, and a few hours spent trying to get more interviews for you all. Whilst not all of these could be fitted in, we should have some nice surprises over the next two weeks.
-Our day kicked off with Escape The Fate, who put on a strong, but slightly underwhelming, show on the Main Stage.
By no means bad, the set just wasn't at all memorable or noteworthy.
It was about what can be expected from one of the earlier bands on the bill on such a large stage, but this was still a bit disappointing.
-Skindred fared much better, with front-man Benji Webbe holding the Donington crowd in the palm of his hand.
He was the consumate entertainer, and made several claims for the fans to continue to support live music and buy records.
This showed that Skindred can excel on a large stage, and are one of the most exciting live acts in the country.
(Check out our interview with Skindred, and keep checking back for a full review of the set)
We took a break to get interviews, and managed to talk to The King Blues guitarist and co-founder Jamie Jazz.
-Back in the arena, Bowling For Soup put on a solid acoustic set that was hurt by some bad planning from the otherwise amazing organisers.
In fairness, it was probably out of their control. However, the acoustic set took place in an outdoor stage that was clearly meant for small crowds.
The one that assembled for this show rivalled that of the Pepsi Max Stage at times. The further back the crowd got, the more the sounds of Skunk Anansie drowned out Bowling For Soup.
Jarett announced that it was the biggest audience they'd ever had for an acoustic show, and those in attendance responded well with mass singalongs of favourites like '1985' and 'Girl All The Bad Guys Want'.
(Check out our interview with Bowling For Soup, and our full review of both their sets)
-Before The King Blues took to the stage over at the Pepsi Max tent, we were lucky enough to see a handful of songs from Avenged Sevenfold.
The stage itself was fantastic visually, and the band's performance complemented that well.
Avenged Sevenfold are a band that clearly belong on such a huge stage, and it can't be long until they return to Download as a headline band.
Although the opening section of the set (the bit we caught) was rooted in the band's last two albums, the tracks were performed well and made for an exciting start to the show.
-We soon departed for the Pepsi Max Stage to see The King Blues prove, once again, why they are one of the most vital and relevant bands in the country.
An odd fit for Download Festival, the band's hybrid of punk, folk, reggae, ska and hip-hop went down surprisingly well.
It was a fairly predictable set-list, but it usually has to be for a band at a festival.
No-one here seemed to mind the hits, as The King Blues went through a set-list that ranged from early hit 'Mr. Music Man' to 'The Future's Not What It Used To Be', taken from the band's latest album.
(Check out our interview with The King Blues, and keep checking back for a full review of the set)
-The day was rounded off with arguably the most anticipated set of the weekend. After five years away, System of A Down's return ranged from incredible to slightly disappointing.
It was a wonderful 27-song set that spanned the band's career, with a mass singalong of 'Chop Suey' proving a higlight.
The songs were played well, but there wasn't much interaction between them, giving the feel of a band going through the motions (albeit very well).
The atmosphere was enough to make this feel like a very special show, and if anyone was disappointed, they certainly didn't show it.
(Keep checking back for a full review of the set)
Coming Soon
Keep checking back for these pieces, plus more to come from the rest of the weekend.
Interviews with The Darkness, The Hype Theory, Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows and Skindred.
Full reviews of The Darkness, Thin Lizzy and Anti-Flag.
Interviews with The King Blues and Bowling For Soup.
Full reviews of Bowling For Soup, Skindred, The King Blues and System of A Down.
Interviews with ACODA, Starseed, Buckcherry and Silverstein.
Full reviews of The Gaslight Anthem, Silverstien, and Frank Turner.
Female First - Alistair McGeorge
Tagged in Avenged Sevenfold Download Festival