Road to Download 2017

The number one thing on my bucket list is to experience Download Festival before I turn 50…that gives me 6 years to plan right?

But there are a few things that have to align and so my goal right now is Download 2017.

Why 2017 specifically? Two reasons:

1. Budget! I need to save as I have to travel from South Africa to the UK and flights aren’t cheap! Then there’s accommodation and spending money and tickets for the festival itself…not to mention the fluctuating exchange rate.

2. There’s this little rumour that my favorite band Alter Bridge may headline that year…or at least make an appearance. I wold love to see Myles Kennedy, Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall and Scott Philips live. The original instrumental core of Creed along with Myles Kennedy’s guitar and vocals is epic.

In the meantime I’m putting together a list of my wishlist lineup and hope to see as many of them as possible. So besides Alter Bridge, these are a few of the bands I’d like to see at Download in 2017…

Avenged Sevenfold 

Love or hate them, these guys brought back the excitement in metal that I’ve been missing since the days of Appetite era Guns ‘n Roses. Each album has a different sound from their early beginning metalcore days to the more classic hard rock sounds of Hail to the King. Whichever genre they try, they mange to redefine it.

Five Finger Death Punch

Ivan can sing the dictionary and I’d be happy. And then there’s Jason Hook’s hair And Jeremy Spencer’s Nikki Sixx inspired make-up. The aggressive sounds and Ivan’s moody lyrics are perfect for the Heavy Metal set.

Stone Sour

The band fronted by Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor. The more blues inspired melodic version of Slipknot in my opinion. With Corey’s self depreciating humour and cocky arrogance they are pure rock stars…move over Kanye!

Killswitch Engage

Their Metalcore mix of thrash, screaming and clean lyrics instantly drew me in the first time I heard them and then they hit me with those lyrics

In Flames

I never thought I’d be a death metal girl but this band changed my mind

Nothing More

Jonny…the man is a legendary frontman in the making. Incredible vocals and instrumentals that changed the sound of metal in 2014

Gojira

The French metal band that all the other metal bands are listening to.

Parkway Drive

From Australia, Parkway Drive have slowly been making a name for themselves

Breaking Benjamin

They’ve been out of the spotlight for a few years and there’s a complete line-up change with only Benjamin remaining but still the music speaks for itself

Mastodon

Metal at it’s finest with these guys.

Seether

They’re South African. I’m South African. I’ve been wanting to see them live since Saron Gas days…

Shinedown

Newly on my radar, these guys made me wonder why I hadn’t heard them before. Their mix of southern blues rock and metal is one of my favourite sounds and Brent Smith’s vocals are the cherry on top.

Volbeat

This Danish metal band mix rock ‘n roll, metal and rockabilly for an inspired new sound.

Wovenwar

Out of the ashes of As I Lay Dying comes Wovenwar. The remaining members of As I Lay Dying regrouped without Tim Lambesis and together with new Oh, Sleeper vocalist Shane Blay moved away from the death metal sound and embraced a more hard rock, melodic metalcore sound.

The Winery Dogs

Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theatre) and Ritchie Kotzen (Poison / Mr. Big) formed a band and surprised everyone with how great they are.

The Hollywood Vampires

Yes that’s Johnny Depp, Duff McKagan (G’nR, Kings of Chaos, Velvet Revolver), Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), Joe Perry (Aerosmith) and Alice Cooper on one stage…Alice Cooper used to be the president of the The Hollywood Vampires, a celebrity drinking club of ’70s rockstars that used to gather in a London club called the Rainbow Bar and Grill. Membership was given to those who could out drink the other members. Fellow members included John Lennon, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, John Belushi and Marc Bolan.

Three Days Grace

Matt Walst replaces Adam Gontier on the new album Human and it’s a killer. A little heavier and more aggressive than previous releases it got me liking these guys. A lot.

Bullet For My Valentine

A few years ago there was an incident in South Africa involving a disabled athlete, a gun, a bathroom door, his girlfriend and a suspected intruder on Valentines Day and that led me to remember the name of this band. Since then I’ve grown to like them a lot especially the new album Venom.

Bring Me The Horizon

Oli Sykes fronts this British Alternative Metal / Metalcore band that is bringing metal to the mainstream. Some old rockers don’t like the new invasion of sound and think it’s not metal enough, but in my day (yes I’m that old) we used to support all types of metal because we were metal heads and any metal was better than radio pop.

This video has a rather long (funny) intro but stick with it because when the music kicks in it rocks.

So that’s it, some of the bands I’d like to see in 2017.

I have left some noticeable ones of this list and that’s because I want to see Alter Bridge and if they play these guys probably won’t.

Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators

For obvious reasons if Alter Bridge headlines then Myles won’t be available to play with Slash…unless we have Slash headline one night and Alter Bridge another???

Tremonti

The Mark Tremonti fronted solo project is another must see live if Alter Bridge don’t play…but hey they could take the other headline spot???

So ultimately my hope for Download 2017 would be:

Friday Headliners: Tremonti

Saturday Headliners: Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators.

Sunday Headliners: Alter Bridge

Now make it happen Download Festival 2017!!!