DOWNLOAD 2005 REVIEW - BY LAUREN

HI Just a brief review this year as I went on holiday straight after the festival so everything is a bit blurred now sorry!

Megadeth - supposedly their last UK gig, so i expected a blinder- unfortunley was left feeling disappointed - daylight and a large open field doesn't work to their advantage. a big band left looking small and dare i say it 'boring' with a set that didn't interest me to stay to the end. And this is from a once 'huge' megadeth fan (who i must add also met the band many moons ago! and dave mustaine kissed my lil finger!) - 5/10

My Chemical Romance - all i can say is that i got dragged their kicking and screaming! McFly attempting to be rock! - 0/10

Lamb of God- WOW WOW WOW- is all i can say on these american metallers - the vocals lived up to the powerful level as set on the records. blown away and so was they, as all they could do was keep on thanking the large crowd that had gathered to view their set - hopefully no-one will get shot in this band - but this is my years damageplan (see 2004 review)- one to watch - will hopefully be back next year and on the main stage. - 9/10

Anthrax - back together, the original line up return to donnington after 18 yrs - and they promised that they will return next year! lets hope that they r true to their word - a brilliant set! - 8/10

Velvet Revolver - My personal show stoppers of the weekend. an amazing show that just blew all the other acts out of the water. slash and duff worked the sides of the stage and the crowd into their usual frenzy, whilst scott Weiland added another point towards his aim of being the best front man ever - he already is!!! they played the same 2 GnR hits that they did when i saw these guys in cardiff (Easy and Mr Brownstone) as well as a heart skipping rendition of stone temple pilots hit=sex type thing - where scott walked through the crowd and onto the sound stage in the centre, twisting his body and singing into his megaphone (definatly his trademark now!) - 10/10

Black Sabbath - Ozzy and Co were in top form, and fully appreciated by the huge crowd, which consisted of a very varied bunch! ozzy seemed to be humbled by the turn out and kept on thanking his fans. he sang the classics with great energy, including warpigs and of course paranoid, not usually associated with a man with his huge chemical intake! - 8/10

Henry Rollins alternative sunday service- and alternative it was! god this man is full of hate and especially for George Bush! but underneath all the anger lies an intelligent, emotional and caring man, who gave the crowd a lot of food for thought! excellent - 9/10

Slipknot - the clown was missing but the normal stage show spectacular that is Slipknot was definatly not. with their spinning drum kits, masks and pyrotechnics the show is a amazing play with eyes as well as ears! - 7/10

System of a Down - they started their set with the 1st 3 songs off the new album- at one point i thought it was all they were gonna play, it wasn't and they bashed out all their hits in strange and unusual ways. not one song sounded exactly like the album as they had a microphone that they used to add 'electro 80's pop' sound to all the songs. they sung them in opera style, slower and faster than normal - amazing but hard to keep up with at points - 8.5/10

Other stuff - an amazing weekend made better by the fact i had a VIP pass! it enabled me to use a backstage hospitality area,where i got to lounge on silk cushions next to the likes of Jack Osbourne, Anthrax, Napalm Death, Nick Olivetti (ex queens of the stone age), phil jupitus, lamb of god. as well as midget aliens, some cool bikes and cars, the download dog, the kerrang radio trailer which was live on air, big snakes and a masseuse.. i'd recommend anyone who is thinkin of going next year to fork out the extra and go VIP - its well worth it! - 11/10

Till next year ........

Lauren