Eighty-thousands rock fans made the annual pilgrimage to Donington Park over the weekend, for the annual Download Festival.
It was decidedly international too, with bands from 18 countries on the bill, and Download can give itself a pat on the back for being the greenest of festivals too.
But what about the music? Here's some weekend highlights...
FRIDAY
“Today is the first time I've ever worn white shoes on stage,” says Clutch's ever-animated frontman Neil Fallon.
“Forward planning is not my strong suit!
The Maryland-quartet are regular DL visitors, and it's a pleasure to see them back on the main stage.
How To Shake Hands, lifted from 2018's Book of Bad Decisions is a blast, and weighty enough to make us forget the on-site misery; beneath our feet, the mud is slowly sucking us further down.
The combination of Clutch and a little blue sky breaking through is a winning combination.
On stage, the smoke machine is working overtime as the band reach into Hot Bottom Feeder, “A tribute to the glories of fried food,” they announce.
The set today is solid, and packs a punch, but maybe not so much as their last time in front of the Download crowd.
We try to speed over to the Zippo Stage to catch Deadland Ritual at play, but if you've ever tried skipping through sludge and trash while thousands of people are heading in the opposite direction, you'll know that's easier said than done.
We arrive at the arse-end of what might well have been one of the best shows of the day.
Deadland Ritual has more than its fair share of talent in the ranks, and Geezer Butler, Matt Sorum, Steve Stevens and Franky Perez seem dedicated to their new cause.
We stumble stage front just before they pull the curtain down on their penultimate track, but they go out with a bang, covering War Pigs.
A weekend high, right there.
It was pretty stupid programming to have Deadland Ritual on one stage, and David Coverdale's Whitesnake on the other, but Coverdale's clan united an audience more than any other we saw today.
It's a hit-filled show, and by 'eck have Whitesnake got the tunes; Bad Boys, Slide It In and Love Ain't a Stranger air before we get the obligatory guitar solos, drummer Tommy Aldridge will get his turn in spotlight later with a hard-hitting drum solo.
“Here's a song for ya!” David says, and we are wowed with Is This Love, then Give Me All Your Love Tonight, and Here I Go Again.
It's like one big rock-karaoke session as the audience joins with David on every word.
Vocally, Coverdale can't muster those high vocal notes like he once did, but it's still a cracking show.
Slash, featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators gave fans a feast for the ears – and with a hailstorm midway through their set, it was a needed boost to the already sodden faithful.
You're A Lie, Anastasia, and a cover of the GnR classic NightTrain slot nicely into the set.
When it comes to big slabs of tasty current rock n roll, few can cut classy tracks like this ensemble.
The pairing of Myles' instantly recognisable, boom rock vocals and Slash's fret-ace is genuinely exciting, and today they are smoking, and none moreso than when they wrap up with World On Fire.
Rob Zombie is glorious: As daylight fades, Zombie (looking like a character straight from one of his big screen horror movies) leads his army of followers through a sexy set; More Human Than Human, Get High, Helter Skelter, Thunderkiss '65, Blitzkrieg Bop and Dragula.
“We travel all around the world and you guys are always the muddiest,” he says, “Why is that?”
We think the same thing as we begin the trudge to the main stage, where Def Leppard promise plenty as they play 80s album Hysteria in its entirety.
Unfortunately, they leave us feeling rather flat, and the mood doesn't lift when we traipse back to the motor at the end of the night; and discover that it is stuck fast in mud. We'd probably still be there now, were it not for a lovely recovery vehicle driver (not there for us), who helps us out of a tight spot, and gets us on our way.
SATURDAY
We're back, albeit slightly the worse for wear on Saturday, and stage front at The Zippo Encore stage for Stone Temple Pilots.
'New' frontman Jeff Gutt has formidable shoes to fill following on from Scott Weiland and Chester Bennington, of course, but when the band locks down for Dead and Bloated, it could be the best we've ever heard them. Yep, really.
While the brothers DeLeo take care of business on bass and guitar, Gutt prowls the stage and looks right at home. He's a snug fit. And to think; he was on the US version of The X Factor!
Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart and Sex Type Thing are magnificent, and the band even brings a rainbow with them. Very thoughtful.
Over at the Dogtooth Tent, Carcass are late on stage, and the tent is rammed – and probably eight deep outside too. Buried Dreams is an early success.
Slipknot's return has been much anticipated, but tonight their headlining performance feels like the band are going through the motions. Set-wise, despite the ferocity, it feels a bit too ploddy. Nice new masks though!
Highlights? The expected Before I Forget, The Heretic Anthem and Psychosocial.
Fine enough, but not the head-smashing success that we've seen them deliver on Download soil before now.
SUNDAY
Day three, and the sun god even puts in the briefest of appearances at Download, and the rain holds off. Just as we were starting to enjoy the squelch, the mud splatters, the eternal damp feeling and the euphoria you have when you navigate the field and arrive at your favourite vegan stall. Damn, we miss the rain...
Anthrax are reliable; Every time they play, they come out and smash it.
They hit the stage with a Cowboys From Hell intro, giving a nod to absent friends, and then keep us on our toes with thrash metal overload; Caught In A Mosh, Got The Time, It's A Madhouse, I am The Law, In The End and Anti-Social. Iit's a peach of a set from the stalwarts who have been doing it longer than most, and better than most.
Frontman Joey Belladonna still sounds as fresh today as he did when the band first started annoying parents in the eighties, and when he's not shouting and screaming, he's still sporting a great big smile, which is infectious. Bloody grand.
While Anthrax go all out to rouse their audience, on the main stage, The Smashing Pumpkins get to work with no fuss. If you want live-wire energy and screaming, you'd have been wise to sit this one out.
But the Pumpkins bring smart playability to the fore, and it's nice to be able to soak in their musicality.
Knights of Malta is beautiful, 'We're gonna make this happen, we're gonna fly forever, we're gonna ride that rainbow,' says Billy Corgan, with some beautiful backing vocals.
It's not the biggest audience for main stage's second biggest band of the day, but it is one of the best performances of the weekend, and nearly 25 years since Bullet with Butterfly Wings became a thing, it still hits the spot.
“This being Donington, we wanna do something we've never done before,” Billy says, “Do you deserve it?”
The crowd roars its approval as Myrkur's Amalie Braun joins them for a cover of Sabbath's Snowblind. Nice work.
But today's Download is the end of an era; Slayer's last ever UK show, and the fans are out in force to say their farewells to one of metal's finest who dig deep for an hour and a half of relentless ferocity that is in a league of its own.
We've never seen The Zippo Encore Stage so busy.
It seems unreal to think that we'll never again hear Mandatory Suicide, Seasons in the Abyss or South of Heaven live.
Dead Skin Mask and Angel of Death are the final two numbers in a show that is great and sad in equal measure.
As the band down instruments for the last time on British soil, frontman Tom Araya makes a slow journey from one side of the stage to the other, thanking those who have stood by his band through the decades.
It's genuinely emotional, and as the audience breaks into a chant of 'Thank you, Slayer,' we feel quite deflated. We have just seen the curtain come down on the end of a truly glorious era.
It had to be something spectacular to keep us away from the long-awaited return of Tool, and Slayer were it, (pitting the return of Tool against the farewell of Slayer was a bad move) but as soon as they depart we head to the main stage to catch the tail end of Los Angeles' masters of music.
We are rewarded by Tolerance from their Undertow album.
Addressing the crowd, frontman James Maynard Keenan asked if anyone is under the age of 27.
“When this song was written you weren't even a sperm” he says, as the band breaks into A Part of Me.
It was for our briefest of meetings, but their return (rounded off by Stinkfist) was undeniably triumphant.
Despite weather more evil than any satanic-metal band you care to mention, Download emerged victorious.
So, same time, next year? Tickets are on sale now here
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