Photo: Thanira Rates
The third and final day of Download Festival 2015 drew to a close last night, with performances from the likes of The Darkness, Enter Shikari, Billy Idol, Motley Crüe, Slash, Kiss and many more (Sunday 14 June 2015).
After a long weekend of unpredictable weather, the sky decided to open up once again for an outburst of rain during The Darkness' set on The Maverick Stage. Whether it was the rain or their popularity we don't know, but the band managed to pull one of the biggest crowds to the tent we'd seen all weekend, with many fans having to watch from the outside in the pouring rain. Justin Hawkins could be seen clad in a tight sparkly silver three-piece suit, as he entered out from the back of the crowd and was transported onstage to the rest of the band, as they played hit new single 'Barbarian'. In the past The Darkness would have played comfortably to arena sized venues, but in the interest of re-building their fanbase they looked just as elated performing 'Love Is Only A Feeling' and 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' to a sample of that number.
Slash
Later into the evening the promise of such a consistently strong main stage lineup meant that fans of old school rock n roll were pretty much set up for the day. Legendary guitarist Slash was first to set the standards high, with his companion Miles Kennedy singing their newer hits and also covering a handful of Guns N Roses tracks such as 'Paradise City' and 'Sweet Child O Mine'. Donnington was also unified in elation as the band pleased the crowd by playing 'Slither', a dirty rock song taken from Slash's former band Velvet Revolver.
Appearing onstage for the last time at Download Festival and as part of their farewell tour, Motley Crue's lead singer, Vince Neil, said: "We've been around for 35 years, so this shouldn't be seen as a goodbye, but more of a celebration". The band were also joined by two scantily clad female dancers during hits like 'Wild Side' and 'Girls Girls Girls'. A particular surprise came when the Crüe decided to cover 'Anarchy In The U.K.' by The Sex Pistols, as a respectful tribute to their British fans and also explaining how punk music had shaped their sound during the 80's. As the band's first ever UK festival and now also their last, emotions were running high during their stage bows to the audience, before unexpectedly retuning for a final encore of 'Home Sweet Home'.
KISS
It would take something pretty special to top headline acts from the likes of Slipknot and Muse, but the third and final act of the weekend promised they would do everything they could to ensure Sunday 14 June was a night to remember.
Opening with 'Detroit Rock City', the Brooklyn New York hailing rockers appeared onstage in full Kiss makeup and sparkly costume. Having been around since 1973 the band have perfected every move they make, with the whole stage timed to precision to enhance their performance. Most tracks end with either a firework or flaming pyro and at times it's hard to know where to look, as everything is a wonderfully crafted spectacle.
Towards the end of the set Paul Stanley even attaches himself to a harness in order to be zip wired out into the middle of the crowd, as the band continue to play through 'Love Gun' and 'Black Diamond'.
Kiss are wonderfully entertaining throughout and end their set with flaming Catherine Wheels, bursts of confetti and streamers and multiple elaborate fireworks. If Download Festival was waiting for a show, then they certainly got what they were looking for in tenfold.
