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On June 10 & 11, 2006, Stephanie (aka "Porn Chick") and I flew over to England and Ireland for the Download Festival. This is just some of what happened.
Donington Park, Derbshire England (Day 1) After meeting up with Kat (from the MetClub local chapter, UK Torn), Stephanie and I headed over to Donington Park. This was the easy part of the day. I got the chance to talk to people from all over the world and people in different chapters. Signing the massive flag that was being passed around, and reading what others had written was hilarious. We all had to contend with the huge crowd, heat, the low flying planes that were landing into East Midlands Airport, and the mini pizza box bonfires that popped up during Metallica's set.
The crowd at Donington was insane. U.S. crowds are tame compared to what I waded through. I had no problem with boredom while waiting for the show to start. I could turn to my right and watch the World Cup match on the big screen. Or I could just look up and see flying bottles. The flying bottles started at the top of the giant hill that surrounded the stage area. It was just a few at first. All the poor folks at the bottom of the hill were getting bombed with water bottles. Within a few minutes the people at the bottom began throwing them back up the hill. By the time Metallica went on stage there were thousands of bottles in the air. Some were empty and some weren't. They were filled with something, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't water.
If you want to take a look for yourself, you can see it on YouTube. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the album's release, Metallica played Master of Puppets played in its entirety. Instead of coming straight to the stage, there was a five minute introduction video that was played. It went into the history of the making of the album. They mixed in clips and photos from 1986 as they spoke about the album. It was pretty powerful. Hearing "Orion" as a whole and live was and still is beyond words.
 No drumstick for Joie...yet! (Picture courtesy of Metallica.com)
Set List
Download Festival, RDS Dublin, Ireland (Day 2) The next morning we all met up at Birmingham International for the flight over to Dublin. It was here that we all started talking about shows. When the conversation turned to picks and drumsticks I said, "Well it seems the only thing I don't have is a drumstick." All conversation stopped. I said, "You all can't have a stick!" Every last one of them nodded in affirmation. It was then vowed at that moment, by all, that I would walk away with a stick. I was told to make a sign and yell until my vocal chords exploded. Well things didn't go as planned. In our rush to get off the bus at RDS, the signs were left behind and replaced by great spots on the rail.
Dublin was the better of the two shows. Even though the setlist pretty much stayed the same, the band sounded better that evening. Everything seemed to flow better, except for one moment in the show. James was playing at the far end of the stage. He starts to run back to his mic to sing the next verse and he slips. He manages not to fall and they finish the song. James turns to the crowd and says, "It's ok to laugh now." There were two good seconds of silence and then, Boom! Everybody's laughing. After Kirk starts giving him a hard time about it, laughing himself James adds, "That's what I get for spitting on the stage." I usually don't laugh when things like that happen, but that was pretty damn funny.
June 11th also happened to be Cali's birthday (James' daughter). She came out on stage with her dad and the crowd sang happy birthday to her. You have to admire an eight year old that can stand in front of thousands of people without breaking a sweat. They closed the show with "Whiskey in the Jar." You can't go to Ireland without hearing "Whiskey in the Jar." C'mon, it's just not done! It was kind of cool because the crowd was as loud as the band during the song.
I want to back track to just after I get inside the gates and on the rail. It's right then, that I remember the signs. And realize that some person on the bus is wondering who Lars is and why pornchick loves him. So I take off my white Old Navy jacket and start asking around for a Sharpie. The guy standing next to me informs me that the one he used for his flag back at the hotel. I start yelling at the grips who are working on the stage. To my amazement one of them stops and looks at me. Woo Hoo! I yell up to him, "Do you have a sharpie I can use?"
He yells back, "What's a Sharpie?" I was shocked! I had to recover before he walked away so I yelled, "Do you have a magic marker I could use?" He smiled at me and went and found one and threw it down to me. I wrote what I need and tossed it back up to him. By the end of the show I had almost forgotten the jacket. I hold it up, all the time thinking to myself, "This is stupid!" Lars stopped, nodded his head and tossed me the stick. For the rest of the night I was asked, "Did it work?" All I did was nod and smile.
Set List
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