DAY ONE:
The last time the quartet were on Donington turf, they whipped the Zippo Encore Stage into a frenzy and a half, and Clutch are back at Download today – except this time, they have main stage billing.
There is no commotion, no pizzazz and no need to bring out the party tricks.
The Maryland dwellers have all the armoury necessary to win the crowd over in their material, and during a 45 minute set they kick some serious butt.
Heck, we even spy Priest's Rob Halford copping an ear-load of their productivity.
"Let's put some gravy on these biscuits," Neil Fallon says, as the quartet break out Crucial Velocity before a rabid audience.
Cyborg Betty keeps things moving, while the title track from 2013's Earth Rocker opus is the perfect passionate, hard edged number to sate devotees and entrance newcomers alike.
This set is fast, total and musically suss, with Fallon delivering a monstrous, possessed edge.
If Clutch are feeling the pressure of filling the main stage, they aren't showing it, although they do show off a glimpse of new wares - checking in live with a shot from the forthcoming album, Psychic Warfare, set for a September release.
The Wolfman Kindly Requests sees the band again revisit Earth Rocker before stepping back to the tail end of the 90's for the Jam Room delivery, One Eye Dollar.
But all too soon, they are gone.
It's early in the day, and into the Download weekend, but Clutch have just set the bar way high. They've been doing that for the past two decades and the pied pipers of all things groove, boogie and great are still the ones to follow.
[gallery link="file" ids="11563,11566,11580,11568,11567,11570,11569,11565,11581,11571,11564"]A champion bit of programming by the Download plotters means that a short post-Clutch meander to the Zippo Encore stage rewards you with another reason to smile, in Corrosion of Conformity, back following a recent brace of shows on these shores, and as magnificent today as they were when they were on this hallowed turf 20 years ago.
“Woody left our backdrop at home...we're Corrosion of Conformity,” PK informs, although this is an audience of hardcore followers back for a necessary COC fix.
They are rewarded with a cracking setlist, picking off favourite after another – Broken Man, Albatross, Who's Got The Fire, Clean My Wounds, with a nice break down bonus, and King of the Rotten. It's solid riff-laden rocking of premier standard.
The recent tour that brought them to these shores saw them reunited proper with Pepper Keenan for the first time in close to a decade, and today they just sound so damn good.
Brilliantly bass strong, thanks to locked in fret feeler Mike Dean, and with all round taut musicianship, Corrosion - like their one time touring partners Clutch before them – are simply knock-out, and they sign off with the expected signature number, if you will, Vote With A Bullet.
Rain fills the void they've left, and fills it admirably; the sky is grey and this annual parade is seeing the start of a terrific soaking. It's a tradition these days, and so a sea of rock t-shirts is covered by plastic macs. We know the drill by now.
There is no let up during Thunder's set, but if any band can weather a storm and keep their audience on side, it's these stalwart Londoners.
They are pros at penning craftily hooky rock numbers that unite people, and ace at working them in the live. Over the years we've seen them in the intimate confines of a 400 capacity club, and surveying a sea of 60,000 heads – one such date saw them warm-up for ZZ Top.
And they executed both beautifully. They do the same today.
Not that this is a set of 'nostalgia' mind you, and they offer a couple of newbies.
“We've brought the weather with us,” Danny Bowes, the man with the voice, quips.
“I'd ask you to raise your hands but the water might drip up your sleeve,” he says.
Stage-front, everyone is feeling rather more than damp, but we stick with it, tunes like River of Pain, Love Walked In (still one of the best hard rock ballads out there), and of course, Dirty Love maximising the party feel.
It's a good soaking of sounds mixed in with a good soaking. Literally.
On the Main Stage, Judas Priest are mid-way through a set of classics – Breaking the Law is a metal standard, after all.
Rob Halford has got his chopper out too. Careful, folks. His gleaming two-wheeler is on stage, before Hell Bent For Leather takes over.
Slipknot will own this stage later, when the heavens rain down on the parade once more.
“Welcome to Downpour,” Corey Taylor says, re-branding the bash.
It's a typical Slipknot event, and therefore all the expected hits and tricks are racked up – Psychosocial and Wait and Bleed sound decent at the all-suited, all-masked bash, but while their deovted maggots wriggle rhythmically, TMK's maggots begin the great trek home.
We'll be back tomorrow though, come rain or shine. We know which it'll be.
Pics: Al Hunter
