For the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to photograph some of the UK’s biggest music festivals and probably my favourite is the Download Festival at Donington Park which sees the best rock, metal, hardcore and punk bands play across four stages over three days.
This year saw some of the most legendary bands ever grace the main stage while plenty of great new bands could be found rocking the smaller stages. The weather was glorious all weekend and, although I had to miss the Saturday due to a booked wedding, I got to shoot a ton of cool bands, including some bands I grew up listening to when I was at school.
After choosing my favourite images from the weekend I still had over 500 photos so here are just a small selection from Friday and Sunday at the festival….
Faith No More
Korn
The return of Limp Bizkit
Bring Me The Horizon
The infamous Dio t-shirt with shockingly bad rogue apostrophe!
Ex Guns n Roses/Velvet Revolver bassist, Duff McKagen
A quick backstage shot of Montreal band Voivod. I saw them in London 23 years ago when I was at school!
Killswitch Engage
Parkway Drive
A Day To Remember
Motley Crue refused to allow any photographers in the pit in front of the stage. Maybe Vince Neil is worried we might photograph his beer gut! I tried to grab a picture from the crowd but it wasn’t easy..
And my favourite band of the weekend – the mighty Meshuggah
Sunday started early with Trigger The Bloodshed. It’s a weird experience watching brutal death metal bands on a Sunday morning in blazing sunshine!
Then I grabbed the guys from Suicide Silence backstage for a couple of portraits before they went onstage.
Sunday on the mainstage was all about classic rock and I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed Journey.
And what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the sun than watching ZZ Top!?
If you haven’t heard about Steel Panther yet.. you will! Not to be taken seriously whatsoever they can be described as a mix of Spinal Tap, 80s glam rock and Zoolander. They put a smile on everyone’s face and were introduced on stage by Jackass star Bam Margera.
The front row for Steel Panther…
Back on the main stage the classics kept coming thanks to Whitesnake.
The younger fans were all over at stage 2 though to see Papa Roach and Trivium.
The weekend wound up with rock megastars Def Leppard.
I had a great weekend. I met up with good friends, saw some fantastic bands (and some awful ones), got a tan and came home with plenty of great photos. Can’t wait for Download 2010…
5 Responses
Nice work Mr G! would have been nice to join you there…..loving the FNM shots
Awesome pictures Steve – really enjoyed looking through them as unfortunately I couldnt attend download this year but you have captured the array of bands there amazingly….as always!
Exceptional images Steve.
A M A Z I N G !
Love them, you’re a true pro 🙂 x
Fantastic!
Your images are always stunning – these are amazing! Awesome lighting! Rosie