The Download 2018 is already only live replays to watch online… At JustFocus, we will turn the page by writing a small topo of the lives, to remember the good memories! Then when we have immortalized everything, we will prepare for the programming of the 2019 edition!
Below, a few lines about the groups that JustFocus went to see. The running order was tight, some choices were more complicated to make than the wishes on ParcourSup. Messugah, (programmed at the same time as Marylin Manson): My heart is yours.
Day 1: Friday, June 15
Billy Talent
The Canadian punk rock band inaugurated the Main Stage for this edition of Download 2018. As expected, it was a beautiful reunion since Green Day, which had closed the 2017 edition with great pomp, after more than 3 hours of show and a rain of confetti tricolors.
Billy Talent is like joie de vivre in small cans that give energy, except that on June 15, we paid for it by big bursts of sound from the big stage, and it did a lot of good!
An "inauguration" worthy of the name, for a concert that recharges the batteries to the maximum, even after 40 minutes of pogo…
Eluveitie
After their new album was released last August (we salute Evocation II – Pantheon), the whole tribe of Dana (Inis Mona please!) did us the honor of going on stage. The line-up of the metal band with Celtic influences has changed recently, but the spirit of Eluveitie remains unshakeable. Despite a less than optimal sound, the concert was the equivalent of a big slap: it is always impressive to see live a flutist put down his instrument and make his vocal cords rumble into a microphone in front of a black field of people.
Thy Art is Murder
The deathcore band of the day is a bit like the second breakfast: a moment not to be missed. The vocalist, Chris McMahon, dressed all in black and hooded, looks like a Grim Reaper while the drums and bass lines hammer the soul. A beautiful performance, comparable to a bubble of air, in the Empire of punk rock that is the Downlaod festival.
Alestorm
The metal pirates were eagerly awaited. The slam record during the festival was probably broken during this concert. Accompanied by a giant yellow plastic duck, the musicians chained their titles chanted by the public. Alestorm launched "le roweur", a frequent activity during folk metal concerts. "The Beer Storm" went on the Download, and it was good.
Ghost
Can we build a cathedral for a show? Ghost said yes. The "satanic mass" of the masked band took place in its decorum, with great reinforcement of imposing columns, balustrades and fake stained glass windows. The configuration of the band has changed (JustFocus talks about it on the occasion of the release of the album Prequelle), but the atmosphere remains undoubtedly the same! A show that takes to the guts, whether you like Ghost's music or not.
Ozzy Osbourne
This was the first and last appearance of the great Ozzy on the main stage of the air base. The former leader of the legendary Black Sabbath is in the middle of a farewell tour.Accompanied by very talented musicians, the great Ozzy appeared in a black tracksuit stitched with purple rhinestones. In front of a huge cross in screens, he gave himself to the crowd, and chained his greatest hits. The field was full of people, and shone under Ozzy's purple rhinestones, for one of his last times.
Day 2: Saturday, June 16
Tagada Jones
At 4:20 pm, the small tent of the Wardbird stage was already full. There was no moment of respite, the pogos did not stop. With a lot of reinforcements of "La La LA!", the punks broke their voices, electrified by a crazy energy coming from the scene, and of course, classics that are becoming the songs of the Tagada. The song Friday the 13th, a tribute to the victims of the Bataclan, saw the crowd go even wilder. It was about moving for yourself, and then for those who could no longer do it, because punk is about always being free, and being one when you have to.
Hollywood Undead
Choosing has never been too much of a Kids' cam. Of the underground rap and rock scenes, we can very well build only one: and Hollywood Undead will be the kings.
The Californian rap rock group made a strong impression. Between two plastic palm trees (to avoid a change of scenery) the kids arrived on stage, wearing golden masks. They turned the field around. One of the best moments of the festival.
The Offspring
The Kids aren't alright, You gonna go far Kid, A pretty Fly (for a white guy)… The garage or punk rock band is by far one of those who have released the best hits. The guitar riffs are just beginning, that a desire to dance and hop everywhere already takes us. We don't know if it's witchcraft, but what we know for sure is that The Offsprings gave a pretty concert (for punk rockers).
Marilyn Manson
The pale emperor arrived on stage, a black line drawn on his white profile. Soft, elegant, dark. The crowd did not move too much, perhaps it was too absorbed by the character standing in front of it. Mr. Manson didn't sing many songs from his last album Heaven Upside Down (and that's a shame, because he's really good), and played on his classics: Sweet Dreams, Beautiful People…
Day 3: Sunday, June 17
Royal Republic
Brilliant (they wore golden suits) the Swedish gentlemen ignited the audience, in a great burst of joie de vivre and good music. A royal show. (We didn't say Billy Talent was full of talent, so this one, we have the right to do it).
Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes
Did you want a show? You were surely not disappointed. The man to whom we owe the biggest circle pit at Hellfest, did not do in lace. Frank Carter didn't just throw himself into the crowd. He sang, standing on a slammer. We tell you, rock'n'roll is not dead, as long as the tattooed redhead has not exhausted his imagination.
Mass Hysteria
The audience was present long before the show began, waiting patiently in front of the large flag inscribed in black capital letters on a white background: MASS HYSTERIA. The French Nu Metal band created a beautiful chemistry with its audience at the Bretigny air base.
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters was probably the best live of the Download. Programmed at the last hour, on the big stage, the merry rock band provoked emotions that climbed to the stars. Singer Dave Grohl, former drummer of the grunge band Nirvana, left the time of a song the microphone to his drummer (whom he replaced), Taylor Hawkins, to the air of surfer. He performed Under Pressure, by David Bowie and Queen alongside a surprise guest.
The magnificent Luke Spiller, singer of The Struts, with the complexion of Snow White and ash hair, burst on stage, and we can say that he has something of a Freddy Mercury or a David Bowie, by his singularity and his amazing voice with high more than controlled.
This concert was an incredible moment of sharing.
Tonight, the sky of the Download was the district of the Foo Fighters. And then ours too, a little.
Dave Grohl and his guitar
Day 4: Monday, June 18
Baroness
The American sludge band delivered a powerful show and a beautiful aesthetic, causing emotions between appeasement and heartbreak. Of its original line-up, Baroness has only the very talented and multi-talented John Baizley, who even takes care of the artwork of the group.
The Pink Slips
The Pink Slips is the huge crush (candy pink) of the day! On stage, a platinum blonde lady, in a pink tracksuit patched with white stars, and musicians in costumes cut out of tapestries. One of them, Trent Peltz, behind the keyboard as an additional stylistic contrast.
The lady, GRAVE, does not just give voice (because she has some, and not only a little). She may have been an acrobat. In any case, it crawls to the ground, twists, as underground bands did at the time. To make demons fall in love with it. We can say it: The Pink Briefs is pure grunge resurrected with a big lipstick cut with a cutter.
GRAVE, with her Courtney Love look, had lipstick up to her chin, but she didn't care. The bestial rage of his singing, and the strong visual identity of this group that borders on burlesque, were much more important. We would like more groups like that.
For the genealogical anecdote, her name is Grace McKagan, and is none other than… The daughter of Duff McKagan, the bassist of Guns N' Roses! Big day for the family, no less than 3 hours later, it was Duff's bass riffs that pulsed the blood of festival-goers!
Greta Von Fleet
Compared to Led Zepplin, the Michigan hard rock band was a great discovery. Old-fashioned, without being old-fashioned, the band has a lot of old school, and it's nice to see that the proliferation of the metal scene that is constantly renewed, does not bury the old heroes of the electric scratch. A case to follow, this Greta.
Guns N' Roses
For this last night, the Main Stage welcomed monsters from the scene, once again. Once dubbed the " most dangerous band in the world", Guns N' Roses delivered a very professional live, sprinkled with fireworks. "Look at this beautiful sunset," Axl said, before night resumes on the pink sun's rays dying on the horizon.
The crowd chanted Slash's name before he even appeared. The guy in the top hat has also had the spotlight, during many solos. You have to dress 3h30 of show, and this company was successful, between solos, adulated classics and covers. The magnificent interpretation of Black Hole Sun, by Soundgarden was also a moving moment under the black sky without sun of the Bretigny air base.
What would a festival be without its festival-goers? The Download was beastly, and the festival-goers, "wild"… Thank you!
