Download Festival 2018 Review

"The Devil's Bleeding Crown" absolutely shook Donnington to the core as apart of another standout set on the main stage from Volbeat. The Download veterans didn't put a foot wrong in this set and even brought out Napalm Death's Barney Greenway for his guest vocal spot on Evelyn.

Jonathan Graham

Guitar Interactive at Download Festival 2018
The finest acts in hard rock and metal descended to the hallowed grounds of Donington Park, Leicester across the weekend for the 16th annual Download Festival. As well as the 100,000 fans in attendance, the Guitar Interactive team were once again on site to capture all the action and backstage interviews from across the weekend's amazing live event.

For a record 16 years, the Download festival has been enticing fans the world over to Donington Park and this year was no exception with once again an absolutely stellar line-up that included headliners, Avenged Sevenfold, the Prince Of Darkness himself Ozzy Osbourne, and making their triumphant return to the festival (with the addition of Slash and Duff McKagen), Guns N' Roses.

Of course, a great festival is far from just it's main stage headline acts, and Download 2018 delivered hard in that regard with Friday's stacked lineup including You Me At Six, who delivered a stunning second stage headline performance to a packed out crowd.  Opening their set with "Room To Breathe", the Surrey quintet held the crowd in the palm of their hands with tracks off 'Night People', 'Cavalier Youth', and their new single "Fast Forward," with fans belting out every last word.

Dragonforce provided a strong showing despite a set plagued with sound issues. The metal veterans which include frontman Marc Hudson and virtuoso guitarist Herman Li sure know how to work a crowd, and the mass sing-a-long during "Through the Fire and Flames" was truly a thing to behold for those lucky enough to be in attendance.

"The Devil's Bleeding Crown" absolutely shook Donnington to the core as apart of another standout set on the main stage from Volbeat. The Download veterans didn't put a foot wrong in this set and even brought out Napalm Death's Barney Greenway for his guest vocal spot on Evelyn.

Bullet For My Valentine proved once again just what they are capable of producing, as they roared through rock-club anthems "Tears Don't Fall," "Scream Aim Fire" and new hit "Letting You Go" from their new release Gravity.' Bullet finished their set with a bombastic "Waking the Demon" with Matt Tuck shouting to fans, "Who knows, we might be headlining this place in 2-3 years' time!