Festival Reviews

The Ramblin Man Facebook page may have its fair share of moaners and complainers, and it always will, but no one can complain that this year they brought probably their most diverse line up ever, there was something for just about everyone, and they even found it in them to book amazing weather for the most part! The Friday kicks off ...

Returning for its seventh year running promising some of the best UK punk acts on the scene, Wonkfest offers a great day of music, food and drunken revelry for all.  Not just a music festival, Wonkfest is also a community event embracing the true ethos of punk. This year the festival supported Hesita Crisis Support, a charity supporting those affected by ...

If ever there was a festival that the phrase ‘For us, by us’ could fit, UK Techfest would be it. It now calls Newark Showground home after the idea first came about in 2011 in order to give the bands of technical and progressive metal a platform to share, both the up and coming and the established artists of the ...

Dokkum is a magic place, where you don’t need to close your eyes to travel many centuries ago, elegant style, typical Netherlanders landscapes from chaotic Amsterdam to this pacific town, perfect if you are interested in really good beers; and the metal festival is the best excuse to visit it, a tiny festival, with 300 volunteers giving all they have ...

Through the years we’ve seen a lot of great bands headlining at international festivals, every new season there are less bands able to properly head the next editions without repeating or having to lower the level and hire secondary bands. Just a few chosen can reach Hall of Fame status, and they show several reasons for this… with Kiss, we ...

So here we are the ‘middle’ day of DL19: For some the best day, the show-stealer. Yet, for some, this is a stepping stone to the grand finale. Last night we came for Def Leppard, but the real headliner was Mud (apologies for that awful joke). Tonight, SlipKnot close the festival, yet there’s still a Puddle Of Mudd (again, sorry). ...

As you may have read from our previous instalment. It was kind of muddy, but don’t believe the news reports that everyone left before the festival began: I can honestly say this was one of the busiest Downloads in memory. So here it is, the first ‘proper’ day of the festival.  Looking at the line-up this seems to be the ...

Downloaders don’t do things by halves, and this year just proves it as a huge number of campers are already settled into the mud at the iconic Castle Donington site. As you probably know, the rain has been relentless but maybe not as bad as the infamous ‘drownload’ of 2016. There is mud, yes, but guess what: this is a ...

Day One: The hottest weekend of the year began under a blazing sun and the brightest sky. After we’d collected our wrist-candy from The Underworld, we hotfooted to the primary performance venue, the 1500 capacity Electric Ballroom, to catch festival openers: the Kent arena-rockers-in-waiting Collateral. And, indeed, they were every bit as “Big Shot” as we expected and a perfect ...

Reading now is not the Reading of the past. It’s no secret that rock fans have voiced their disapproval outload throughout the course of the last decade over the festival’s gradual integration into mainstream territory. In 2018, the feeling that rock and heavier acts are being swept to one side is understandable, though to be honest the situation isn’t as ...