It's late afternoon and on the main stage Five Finger Death Punch are delivering a hard-edged cover of Bad Company, originally by the band by the same name.
To merely imitate would be none to smart, what with Paul Rodgers having one of rock music's most recognisable voices.
They metal it up sufficiently to make it their own though, and the significant crowd watching them at work is lapping it up.
It might be a Friday afternoon, but it feels like a Saturday with this lot who clearly packed some of their Vegas hometown vibes for this show: "The last time we played here they told us they wouldn't allow us back....here we are!" says frontman Ivan Moody before Jekyll and Hide, lifted from the Got Your Six opus, is introduced. It's a great rallying cry to the thousands who are here with purpose.
So far, all is swell then. Oh, and it's dry underfoot. It isn't supposed to be like this. But we are pleased it is.
"This is the biggest fucking festival on earth, thank you for coming!" they say, sharing the between song pleasantries, but our welly boots are made for walking, and that's what they are doing – because at the other end of the field, the Zippo Encore stage is pulsating to Baroness.
This lot are as awesome as they are assured. Shock Me is a moment of bliss, in a set filled with them.
“'I needed a surprise' they sing,” but there is no surprise for the taking from this skilful quartet, who are everything we want in a band.
There is no nonsense, only a band confident in their own skin. This show is their first on British soil with new guitarist Gina Gleason, now operating in the space recently amicably vacated by Pete Adams.
It's an easy fit, and while fans know the change, if you'd just stumbled onto Baroness on the way back from collecting a pint, you'd be enchanted, and would never suspect the appointment is a new one.
It's the first afternoon of a three day festival and already these guys are up on the top tier. They'll be joined by others, but they'll not be toppled.
This morning Prime Minister Theresa May's election went decicedly pear-shaped for her, and the UK woke to a hung parliament.
And Prophets of Rage now have even more of a bounce in their uniformed springy step.
"Make the UK rage again," they encourage, and with the power of music as their ammo, they begin to shoot Download with perfect slices of smart as fuck rock rap.
This clever confusion of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave's Tim Commerford, Tom Morello and Brad Wilk working with Public Enemy's Chuck D and DJ Lord, and Cypress Hill's B-Real is just perfect.
And so is the setlist, which is a hot spin though their own bands' material – Prophets of Rage, Testify, Take The Power Back, Guerilla Radio, Bombtrack, Fight the Power...
Songs with substance and songs that made you think.
It was a musical revolution of sorts the first time around and decades on, the tracks from the respective artists still sound every bit as inspiring and essential. Perhaps, looking at the current stare of affairs, some of those songs have more relevance today than the first time around.
But what of the men bringing the goods? Commerford is locked in to his bass, serious looking, sensational sounding.
To his left Morello is contorting his face, busting plenty of moves, slamming down guitar licks and making sure we can read the messages on his instrument – Fuck Trump is pretty clear.
Together Commerford and Morello have given music some of their best moments in recent years, and there's a blaze in their bellies that is still being stoked.
Poignancy follows when Prophets of Rage play an instrumental version of the Audioslave number Like A Stone in memory of Chris Cornell, whose death last month still defies belief.
The music world lost one of its best vocalists that day, but these guys lost a musical collaborator and a friend.
Introducing the song Morello calls it a song 'for a fallen comrade, a sweet person and good friend.'
The haunting unity of the audience filling in Chris' vocals is today's most sobering moment.
The pace lifts again with the still raging Know Your Enemy and Bullet in the Head before the 'new joint' from Prophets makes its UK debut; Unfuck The World is just what the people want.
“Dangerous times call for dangerous songs, and this is a dangerous songs,” the band say, climaxing with Killing in the Name Of.
It's a faultless, potent performance that has bristled through to the last beat.
It's a headline show delivered ealy is what it is.
Friday headliners System of a Down have the unenviable task of following.
But hey, SOAD can hold their own. There are perhaps a few little odd choice in the flow of the set list, but still Prison Song, Violent Pornography, Aerials, Mr Jack and Psycho are all on the money when we tip our attentions their way.
But we can't stay too long, for in a tent far, far away, San Franciscan thrash pioneers Exodus are headlining the Dogtooth Stage.
Making the hike just in time, we are rewarded for our troubles with Blacklist and Strike of the Beast upon arrival.
Sandwiched in between those back-end set hard-hitters is The Toxic Waltz, a track we've waited for years to hear in the live - it ewas released at the tail end of the 1980's and we're just getting the live spin now. Who says good things don't come to those who wait?!
Waltz it up, the pit is it, indeed. A little music bucket list box has been ticked hearing this in the live, and Exodus bring day one of Download to a decidedly thrash-tastic conclusion for us.
And there's much more to come...
Pics: Al Hunter @imAl_73
