After the first day of the Download Festival Paris ended in style with IRON MAIDEN, GHOST and TREMONTI, Saturday planned to be very interesting too. The weather was expected to change as well as the genre of the bands of this day: with MASS HYSTERIA who came to rub shoulders with APOCALYPTICA and AMON AMARTH in KORN, festival-goers were going to have something to entertain themselves! After an evening far too unrestful, everyone re-invested the site, ready to break their necks.
SHINEDOWN
It is under a capricious weather that the four members of SHINEDOWN, land. Coming straight from Jacksonville (Florida, USA), they started this 2ndday. SHINEDOWN is a Hard-Rock that has been full of ears for 15 years with 5 albums on the counter, including the latest, "Threat to Survival", released last September.
On stage we are not disappointed, we find a performance in the image of the music: energetic, catchy and Rock! With an impressive presence of singer Brent Smith on stage, an energy that did not fail to reverberate on the public and a varied setlist at the level of their albums. We will applaud the show!
APOCALYPTICA
As soon as the performance of SHINEDOWN ends, we see the cellists of APOCALYPTICA arrive on Mainstage 1, just next door. Accompanied by their drummer, the 3 musicians start playing "Reign of Fear" from the last album "Shadowmaker" followed by a cover of the classic "Refuse/Resist" by SEPULTURA. Then comes "I'm Not Jesus" from their 6th album and that's when Franky Pérez, the singer of the group makes his entrance on stage. Franky Pérez is the new kid of this Finnish Neo-classical Metal band, giving (finally) a vocal identity to the band since "Shadowmaker", released in April 2015.
They perform here a superb performance divided between the covers of great bands like SEPULTURA or METALLICA and the compositions of the last albums. In short, we are witnessing a remarkable performance of APOCALYPTICA with musicians moving from one end of the stage to the other despite their atypical instruments! An effective singer and powerful music excellently carried by cellos under distortion that make you vibrate.
MASS HYSTERIA
Unfortunately no time to linger on "Hall of the Mountain King", the last of APOCALYPTICA, because we have to run to see MASS HYSTERIA on the other side of the festival. But once arrived, no question of catching your breath, it's "Chiens de la casse" the big slap of the last album that begins! The French band offers us a unique and devastating alliance between Neo-Metal, Thrash and Industrial, all in compositions in French, too little common in Metal!
The singer, Moustapha "Mouss" Kelai, does not hesitate to play with the public, leading them into a wild collective atmosphere: Pogos, Walls of Death and crazy Circles Pit – the group even enters the pit for a song! -. The French chose to perform part of their latest album "Matière Noire" while playing the classics of "Contradiction" (their 2ndopus, the one that made them known to the general public). A supercharged show, committed lyrics and aggressive instrumentation. Hat!
BABY METAL
BABY METAL is the Japanese band that expanded the Metal family by inventing "Kawaii-Metal" a few years ago: a mix of Japanese Pop and Metal. These two genres, we find them particularly in the voice for one and in the instrumentation for the other. On stage, you can see the influence of Japanese culture with a very choreographed show and very J-pop voices. Conversely, the instrumental playing mixes Metal: Thrash, Death and Industrial styles. All this, with "Dark-whimsical" accoutrements. In the end, we find a live Metal atmosphere (on stage and in the pit) that delighted the Metalheads who came out of curiosity and undoubtedly intrigued the most skeptical. A dynamic show, simple but effective instrumentation played by musicians at the height of the festival. And finally, a show closer to Metal than we expected, even if it is the riffs and rhythms are very classic and heard (special mention to the 6-string bass that we did not expect to see on stage: it always surprises).
KORN
To finish this 2nd day, the Download welcomed a giant of Neo-Metal: Korn. The Californian band is still present on the international scene after more than 14 years of experience and 11 studio albums to the counter! The band getting a little too close to the Dubstep , a few years ago, is about to release a new album. Founding guitarist Brian "Head" Welch called it "the heaviest the public has heard from KORN in a long time". So the band had a reputation to play.
It is starting with "Right Now", one of their title tracks from their 6thalbum, that the group announced the color. The rest of the selist also set the tone for the classics with half of the songs from "Korn", "Issues", and "Take a Look in the Mirror". The group was nervous as usual, enough to shout a good "ARE YOUR REAAAADY" with Jonathan Davis on the cult "Blind". We will obviously appreciate the cover of "Another Brick in the Wall" by PINK FLOYD before the encore, perfect symbiosis between the music of the legendary Progressive Rock band and KORN.
And we end up at Bar Metal…
To finish this 2nd day of Download which will have seen mild weather and performing bands, we went to the Metal Bar of the campsite. Great initiative! More Metal you die! Sequences of classics throughout the night like METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN, BON JOVI, TRUST, BLACK SABBATH, AC/DC, SLAYER, etc.; all in a completely crazy atmosphere! One of the only bars where you can both Slamer, Pogoter and Circles Pit in a frank camaraderie inspired by the pits of the festival!
