Download Festival, 9 Jun 2023

[rionka]

EDIT: Evanescence will play at 9 Jun 2023. Source


Download Festival's 20th Anniversary is taking place at Donington Park, Leicester, UK.
There's no exact timetable which day will Evanescence play yet (but it looks it will be Friday 9 Jun 2023).
There are 6 stages, I believe Ev will play at the Opus one. 

Promo text at the official website: 
downloadfestival.co.uk/artists-a-z/evanescence/

[AlessEv]

Ev's website where it lists the tour dates lists Download as Friday 9th. I'm hoping that's correct but I want to see more info and the full lineup first.

[rionka]

Here is a lineup poster for the 4 festival days.
There's no set time yet on the website yet, just TBA.

[StormsxSaints]

Evanescence and Brutus on the same day??

I'm really surprised that Epica, Asking Alexandria, Motionless in White, and Three Days Grace are as low as they are

[AlessEv]

May 11, 2023 6:44:43 GMT -5 rionka said:

Here is a lineup poster for the 4 festival days.
There's no set time yet on the website yet, just TBA.

The stages each band are on are announced, just waiting for the timings. Ev, WT and Epica all on the 2nd stage, I'm sooo excited! I believe Ev are the most likely to headline the 2nd stage.
If I'm able to with timings I'm also interested in As December Falls (also female fronted), Pendulum and Elvana (in Elvis costumes playing Nirvana songs).

[silentday01]

Looks like Evanescence come on at 20:05 and play until 21:15, so 70 minutes. Not bad for a festival.

[Diegoville]

I can only dream of Amy inviting Sharon and Simone for some duets either all three of them of separate and then for Ollie to invite Amy to sing their collab lmao 😩

[rionka]

Updated: more pictures ^^


Diegoville hey, you predicted it, Amy and Ollie did two songs together! 

Evanescence played at the second stage (Opus) but many people felt it wasn't right and they belong to the main stage - there was a massive crowd waiting for them (source), but there were no support around and people didn't feel safe (source)(source). Some couldn't even hear Ev properly so they left. But according to those who did, Ev did a bloody great show.

Amy was later invited as a surprise guest to sing two songs with BMTH at the main stage:
"One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death" (official collab) and "Nihilist Blue" (the song with copyright claim of Never Go Back, source), which is pretty cool way how to handle it in the end! Unfortunately there was no livestream (source).

Timetable: 



First videos:

BMTH ft. Amy Lee - Nihilist Blue
One Day the Only Butterflies.../ Nihilist Blue LIVE
tour ending by davidfiveone


Setlist: 
www.setlist.fm/setlist/evanescence/2023/donington-park-castle-donington-england-5ba683e4.html



🎫 Download Festival 2023 Photo Dump

Photos by: 

Seane Middleton, jamesbridlephoto, DownloadFest, Lindsay Smith, JamieGiberti, Super Benji, EddNL, ttmccord, Dannibooxo, bobbinsleak, RarkPhoenix, LeweyBee, TheSindemon, Abbi Draper-Scott, Amy's Stories, valentin sengileyev, vicky hungerford, musicscramble, cyjnt, tai2007_a, Robert Tallant, Dan Monk, Nick Edwards, Tony Dunne, John Hayhurst, bmthofficial, Carla Mundy, Nat Wood,  Andy Shaw, Jason Sheldon

---

Reviews:


Had the honour of photographing my favourite band for the past 19 years @evanescenceofficial at @downloadfest last weekend. Amy’s voice has been like a best friend to me and helped me through a lot of dark times- she was one of the first people who showed me that you can turn pain into art and I really do have her to thank for inspiring me to start photography. I always said if there was one person I wanted to photograph it would be her- so thank you Amy Lee - this is a huge achievement ticked off!

http://instagram.com/p/CtcHhGvoQ36

Bring Me The Horizon then left the stage, replaced by a hooded figure. Fresh from her own closing set at the festival’s second stage, Evanescence’s Amy Lee then took off her hood to massive cheers as she sang the opening part of epic ‘Survival Horror’ cut ‘One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Death’.
The Sheffield metal veterans then returned to the stage to join Lee for the glitching ‘Nihilist Blues’, sung on record by Grimes, as lasers filled the stage. “Make some fucking noise,” demanded Sykes at the end of the track before asking, “My god, what are we doing here?”
www.nme.com/news/music/bring-me-the-horizon-setlist-photos-footage-download-festival-nova-twins-review-nex-gen-3453752


Despite the singer’s abundance of confidence, this wasn’t about ego though, and the obvious joy of having guests Nova Twins for 1×1 and Amy Lee for One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death and Nilhist Blues shone with respect and appreciation.
www.metaltalk.net/download-festival-2023-the-majesty-of-bring-me-the-horizon-headlining-performance.php


Amy Lee looks surprisingly relaxed for a woman playing to perhaps the biggest second stage crowd Download has ever seen. Where Within Temptation seemed to ride on melodramatic high emotion, Amy's Arkansas heroes Evanescence take their first show on the hallowed turf since 2007, and an impromptu 20th anniversary celebration for Fallen, in stride – despite an Opus squeeze that sees the agoraphobic, infirm and parents of small children retreating to more open ground. "Have you had a good day?" she grins, rhetorically, amidst it all. "Well, bring on the night…" It's fair enough. Hits like Going Under, Call Me When You're Sober and Lithium are good enough to own nights like this, even when they don't come overloaded with stage-straddling swagger and voice-cracking raw emotion. But with Ms Lee and her bandmates clearly well up for it tonight, those and the even-bigger likes of Wasted On You and My Immortal prove utterly irresistible. And by the time inevitable uber-hit Bring Me To Life sends the place into delirium, it's genuinely hard to fathom why this isn't all going down in the bigger space next door. Still, proof that Evanescence remain as awesome as they've ever been.
www.kerrang.com/the-big-review-download-festival-metallica-bring-me-the-horizon-slipknot-2023?next


It’s possible that the Opus stage has never seen a crowd as big as the one that greeted Evanescence as thousands filled the space from the stage to the very back and far out of the sides.
Amy Lee and Company embraced the challenge, though, their wide-screen rock that perfectly blends Symphonic and Gothic elements made for sweeping vistas. With debut Fallen reaching its 20th anniversary this year, the career-spanning set highlighted just how consistently strong their material has been, and the set was a cherry-picked selection of the highlights. There remains a visceral thrill to the bludgeoning Going Under, its sawing riff still as sinister, and newer songs like Wasted On You are dramatic stormers. At their best, few bands can touch them, and when Lee sits at the piano to start singing My Immortal, the noise is deafening, the band joining in for its heavy switch perfectly. Most of all, Evanescence know how to write anthems and Use My Voice, and the inevitable Bring Me To Life sound magnificent. You get the feeling that, if they wanted to, they could knock the world off its axis. Simply magnificent.
www.metaltalk.net/download-festival-2023-evanescence-a-magnificent-set-full-of-anthems.php

[Rarkphoenix]

So as many of you will be aware. I was there! I was there for the entire festival, which was a longer one with more bands as it was the 20th anniversary of Download festival (previously called Monsters of Rock but on the same site). It's the spiritual home of rock music in the UK so it goes without saying that the moment Ev confirmed, I had to be there.

It was the first time they'd played live at Download since the infamous show on the main stage as lead support for Iron Maiden in 2007 - if any of you remember the "yeah, there's a grand piano on stage, what are you going to do about it?" speech... yeah that one. So I think the decision to have them headline the smaller Opus Stage (2nd stage) on the Friday may have had something to do with the fact that they hadn't played at Download in over 15 years and the previous performance, thanks to their perhaps unsuitable slot before one of, if not the most influential legacy metal band was a mixed bag with a somewhat hostile reaction from the crowd.

They also tactically had Ev being supported by Worlds Collide partners Within Temptation, symphonic metallers Epica and UK metalcore/scenecore band Asking Alexandria. It made sense and I feel like the thinking, as in previous years of Download Festival since the bottling of both Ev and My Chemical Romance in 2007 was to separate the heavier, more metallic bands from the more rocky or 'emo' bands. That said, Bring Me The Horizon were headlining the main stage and they come from the same scene that spawned Asking Alexandria, the only difference is that BMTH have enjoyed a lot more commercial success since and diversified their style a lot.

I made a point of getting into the fray early as there weren't many bands on the mainstage or smaller stages I was as invested in and my main focus on that Friday was supporting Ev. I spent the entire day at the Opus Stage and got pretty close for Smash Into Pieces (a band I hadn't heard of before but who were quite entertaining and had a cool sci-fi style to them), slowly edging forwards to fill gaps each time the fans of the respective bands left.

Next were Elvana and didn't know what to expect. Elvis Presley mixed with Nirvana shouldn't work as well as it does by the way and I can now tick off being in a circle pit for "A Little Less Conversation, A little more action" ... words I didn't think I'd ever have a reason to utter. They were a LOT of fun and a perfect warm-up.

Next Epica who put on a typically great performance (their keyboardist always looks like he's having the time of his life with his custom rotating/sliding stand and I love it XD ). I loved the snakes with the pyro, too.

Next were Asking Alexandria. I've never personally been a fan and my legs were aching by this point, but I knew with how popular the Worlds Collide tour was that if I didn't stay close to the front, I'd very quickly lose my spot as soon as WT went on. I also figured a lot of "elder emo" types would be hanging around to catch as many female fronted gothy/scenecore bands as they could, so I edged forwards again and used the repeated calls to jump as an excuse to step up on toes in time to the music to loosen my leg muscles a little. It wasn't my kind of music at all, put they performed well and everyone around me was having fun and singing along so I reckon they put on a good performance.

I'm going to put my hands up and admit I did a little bit of stereotyping at this point to get even closer. Before AA had finished, I'd clocked those in the crowd who looked like they were more than likely diehard AA fans/former scene kids and edged forward as soon as they flocked to the mainstage to get up front to see BMTH. It worked and I was in a really good spot stage right for Within Temptation. WT had a few issues with their LED screen that they were using for background visuals, but this was working fine by the end of the set. I got to hear a few new songs I hadn't heard by them and was interested and impressed by the more groove-driven 'djenty' style of the guitars. One thing I've always admired about WT is they've never shied away from changing their sound, despite being a symphonic rock/metal legacy band by this point. Every release sounds fresh.

Finally it was time for Ev to take the stage. The stage setup for these festivals was very impressive and the entire stage was full of an intricate lighting rig with a giant light-up RGB Ev logo at the back. Interestingly for this show, they'd chosen not to have amps on stage. For those not in the know, most larger live bands actually don't run through the speaker cabinets you see on stage nowadays, it's usually D.I.d from the amplifiers/pedals, so the speaker cabinets are purely for show and often the amps you see too (with the sound coming from amps/pedals backstage). It made for a clean setup with the focus entirely on the band and atmospheric lighting. I liked it a lot. It was one of the best performances I've seen by them so far and the focus on medleys showcasing a lot of their older songs made it flow really well and made them feel more like the established legacy band they now are. Any casual fan listening will have heard at least a snippet of songs they probably hadn't heard in 20 years and the pace of it flowing one song into another made the entire performance a rollercoaster of emotions with no real respite. That the band managed to keep the energy up for the hour or so they were playing without any real break is a testament to just how good Ev really are. It was a tough set on Amy's voice too and other than maybe a slight crack during Better Without You (that was probably not even noticeable for someone who wasn't listening out for it and very familiar with what it sounds like when Amy's reaching her limit) she was flawless throughout and even did something I've noticed her doing lately where she actually has a second wind before the end of the set and sounds even better by the time My Immortal and Bring Me To Life come round.

No collab on Bring Me To Life, but I don't think there were many male vocalists around on the day who would have been suitable anyway. It didn't matter, us blokes in the audience had it covered and I noticed a couple of girls were getting in on the "save meeees" too

I met up with AlessEv immediately after the performance, we had some snacks, caught up on some great memories and chatted for a while as the crowds dispersed. As we were walking to the exit, I got distracted my the new Ev tour shirt for the European festivals in one of the many Download Fest official merch stalls. Good job I did, as while I was queueing and Aless was waiting for me, we heard a familiar voice from the main (Apex) stage alongside Oli Sykes. It was Amy singing along to the collab and immediately going straight into Nihilist Blues in front of maybe 70-80,000 people. Luckily I had a pretty good view of the monitors on the main stage from the queue itself so didn't have to move and it felt like the perfect end to the day.

It felt like the end of a chapter. After the 2007 Download performance feeling like a loose end and a bad experience for Ev at UK rock festivals, and the legal drama between BMTH and Ev with Nihilist Blues. Seeing Amy smile at Will in a "we came back after all this time and this time we smashed it" knowing look on stage whilst they played the performance of a lifetime in front of a crowd that I now realise couldn't have been more packed and actually was over capacity (being off socials and at the very front of the crowd I had no idea how badly Download had underestimated the draw) and then seeing Amy and BMTH go full circle with Amy singing Nihilst Blues - the very song that brought them together in such awkward circumstances in front of one of Download's biggest ever crowds felt good.

I'm on cloud nine right now (pun fully intended )

[rionka]

Rarkphoenix that's a beautiful review and great tips how to survive too... sounds crazy and amazing. Amy sounds freakng perfect on videos, wow. Thank you for this text! it feels like i'm a little bit there too

---

💜💙💚

[princeofpersia]

Jun 12, 2023 11:35:10 GMT -5 Rarkphoenix said:

So as many of you will be aware. I was there! I was there for the entire festival, which was a longer one with more bands as it was the 20th anniversary of Download festival (previously called Monsters of Rock but on the same site). It's the spiritual home of rock music in the UK so it goes without saying that the moment Ev confirmed, I had to be there.

It was the first time they'd played live at Download since the infamous show on the main stage as lead support for Iron Maiden in 2007 - if any of you remember the "yeah, there's a grand piano on stage, what are you going to do about it?" speech... yeah that one. So I think the decision to have them headline the smaller Opus Stage (2nd stage) on the Friday may have had something to do with the fact that they hadn't played at Download in over 15 years and the previous performance, thanks to their perhaps unsuitable slot before one of, if not the most influential legacy metal band was a mixed bag with a somewhat hostile reaction from the crowd.

They also tactically had Ev being supported by Worlds Collide partners Within Temptation, symphonic metallers Epica and UK metalcore/scenecore band Asking Alexandria. It made sense and I feel like the thinking, as in previous years of Download Festival since the bottling of both Ev and My Chemical Romance in 2007 was to separate the heavier, more metallic bands from the more rocky or 'emo' bands. That said, Bring Me The Horizon were headlining the main stage and they come from the same scene that spawned Asking Alexandria, the only difference is that BMTH have enjoyed a lot more commercial success since and diversified their style a lot.

I made a point of getting into the fray early as there weren't many bands on the mainstage or smaller stages I was as invested in and my main focus on that Friday was supporting Ev. I spent the entire day at the Opus Stage and got pretty close for Smash Into Pieces (a band I hadn't heard of before but who were quite entertaining and had a cool sci-fi style to them), slowly edging forwards to fill gaps each time the fans of the respective bands left.

Next were Elvana and didn't know what to expect. Elvis Presley mixed with Nirvana shouldn't work as well as it does by the way and I can now tick off being in a circle pit for "A Little Less Conversation, A little more action" ... words I didn't think I'd ever have a reason to utter. They were a LOT of fun and a perfect warm-up.

Next Epica who put on a typically great performance (their keyboardist always looks like he's having the time of his life with his custom rotating/sliding stand and I love it XD ). I loved the snakes with the pyro, too.

Next were Asking Alexandria. I've never personally been a fan and my legs were aching by this point, but I knew with how popular the Worlds Collide tour was that if I didn't stay close to the front, I'd very quickly lose my spot as soon as WT went on. I also figured a lot of "elder emo" types would be hanging around to catch as many female fronted gothy/scenecore bands as they could, so I edged forwards again and used the repeated calls to jump as an excuse to step up on toes in time to the music to loosen my leg muscles a little. It wasn't my kind of music at all, put they performed well and everyone around me was having fun and singing along so I reckon they put on a good performance.

I'm going to put my hands up and admit I did a little bit of stereotyping at this point to get even closer. Before AA had finished, I'd clocked those in the crowd who looked like they were more than likely diehard AA fans/former scene kids and edged forward as soon as they flocked to the mainstage to get up front to see BMTH. It worked and I was in a really good spot stage right for Within Temptation. WT had a few issues with their LED screen that they were using for background visuals, but this was working fine by the end of the set. I got to hear a few new songs I hadn't heard by them and was interested and impressed by the more groove-driven 'djenty' style of the guitars. One thing I've always admired about WT is they've never shied away from changing their sound, despite being a symphonic rock/metal legacy band by this point. Every release sounds fresh.

Finally it was time for Ev to take the stage. The stage setup for these festivals was very impressive and the entire stage was full of an intricate lighting rig with a giant light-up RGB Ev logo at the back. Interestingly for this show, they'd chosen not to have amps on stage. For those not in the know, most larger live bands actually don't run through the speaker cabinets you see on stage nowadays, it's usually D.I.d from the amplifiers/pedals, so the speaker cabinets are purely for show and often the amps you see too (with the sound coming from amps/pedals backstage). It made for a clean setup with the focus entirely on the band and atmospheric lighting. I liked it a lot. It was one of the best performances I've seen by them so far and the focus on medleys showcasing a lot of their older songs made it flow really well and made them feel more like the established legacy band they now are. Any casual fan listening will have heard at least a snippet of songs they probably hadn't heard in 20 years and the pace of it flowing one song into another made the entire performance a rollercoaster of emotions with no real respite. That the band managed to keep the energy up for the hour or so they were playing without any real break is a testament to just how good Ev really are. It was a tough set on Amy's voice too and other than maybe a slight crack during Better Without You (that was probably not even noticeable for someone who wasn't listening out for it and very familiar with what it sounds like when Amy's reaching her limit) she was flawless throughout and even did something I've noticed her doing lately where she actually has a second wind before the end of the set and sounds even better by the time My Immortal and Bring Me To Life come round.

No collab on Bring Me To Life, but I don't think there were many male vocalists around on the day who would have been suitable anyway. It didn't matter, us blokes in the audience had it covered and I noticed a couple of girls were getting in on the "save meeees" too

I met up with AlessEv immediately after the performance, we had some snacks, caught up on some great memories and chatted for a while as the crowds dispersed. As we were walking to the exit, I got distracted my the new Ev tour shirt for the European festivals in one of the many Download Fest official merch stalls. Good job I did, as while I was queueing and Aless was waiting for me, we heard a familiar voice from the main (Apex) stage alongside Oli Sykes. It was Amy singing along to the collab and immediately going straight into Nihilist Blues in front of maybe 70-80,000 people. Luckily I had a pretty good view of the monitors on the main stage from the queue itself so didn't have to move and it felt like the perfect end to the day.

It felt like the end of a chapter. After the 2007 Download performance feeling like a loose end and a bad experience for Ev at UK rock festivals, and the legal drama between BMTH and Ev with Nihilist Blues. Seeing Amy smile at Will in a "we came back after all this time and this time we smashed it" knowing look on stage whilst they played the performance of a lifetime in front of a crowd that I now realise couldn't have been more packed and actually was over capacity (being off socials and at the very front of the crowd I had no idea how badly Download had underestimated the draw) and then seeing Amy and BMTH go full circle with Amy singing Nihilst Blues - the very song that brought them together in such awkward circumstances in front of one of Download's biggest ever crowds felt good.

I'm on cloud nine right now (pun fully intended )

Thank you so much for sharing your experience in details!

So glad you two met and enjoyed the shows!  \m/

[Rarkphoenix]

Watching this is taking me back to that little field in Donington and all the emotions all over again. Those lights, and the knowing smiles of everyone who this band's music's touched <3 This band is special

[AlessEv]

It was an incredible day, I was doing the 1 day only so I was mostly on the 2nd stage all day. The first band playing was called The Warning, 3 sisters in the band and they were absolutely awesome! Been listening since I got home quite a bit. Smash Into Pieces were pretty decent. I missed Elvana because I wanted to see As December Falls in one of the tents, they are female fronted and sound a bit like Paramore, really good band! Shame I missed Elvana cause it sounded really fun.

Absolutely ecstatic seeing 3 of my top 5 favourite bands. 40 min for Epica felt very short but at least WT and Ev got a reasonable amount of time each. Still not enough in my opinion but only a slight complaint.
Don't really have much to add about the performances that hasn't already been said, it was all amazing and one of the best days of my life. Amy sounded so strong it's insane! I did see Ev twice in November and she didn't sound quite as strong then, I know both her and Sharon were struggling due to illness at different times. It just made the show at Download even more amazing though. This is the 10th time I've seen them and I keep being blown away.
The setlist has been amazing and I love the medleys for being able to have songs that I haven't seen live before or that aren't included often. Lose Control, Everybody's Fool and CLOUD NINE yes!!!
I was really hoping for some kind of collab between Amy, Sharon and Simone so it was a little bit disappointing there wasn't anything. I was also wondering if WT and Asking Alexandria were going to do their song together but nothing there either.

It was the day where summer started really heating up here, it was full on intense sun and heat, there was a decent breeze but that was also meaning constant dust everywhere.
Apparently David from Disturbed got ill after the dust and they had to cancel some performances! As well as lots of people that went to the festival apparently getting sick from it. I think I came out relatively well, was tired but not too bad.

As soon as it got dark it became absolutely freezing, glad I ended up with 2 hoodies! We were at the merch stand when we heard Amy in the distance with BMTH. We were pretty far away but no mistaking it.

Also when Amy said that the show was nearly over, there were some boos, and she shouted 'yeah, boo! Complain about it for next year!'. So hopefully not too long to wait!

Rarkphoenix can't escape me every time Ev or Lacuna Coil are in the UK!

[rionka]

Jul 8, 2023 13:59:14 GMT -5 AlessEv said:

 she shouted 'yeah, boo! Complain about it for next year!'. So hopefully not too long to wait!

Thank you for your review, Aless, it was probably a very hard day but worth it! 💙

Damn, these words make me less scared that I won't see them for a long time.

I still am scared a bit because i simply couldn't travel out of my state this year at all, but I promise that when the time comes I will finally get that damn VIP (i never did cause im poor and it was ALWAYS crazy enough for the entire year for me to even get to the ev show! lol), bring them something i love to sign for me, make them a little gift with some of my drawings (evanescence drawing printed necklace! oh!)... and tell them they're fricking awesome in case they didn't know.
I was never able to do such a huge expense not even during the Synthesis Tour (which was awesome and expensive by default) and especially when it was unsure if you can even meet the band during the c-word regulations... i felt a bit sad about it. on the other hand, i couldn't say a damn sentence in english back then, and this band always motivated me to learn the most.
if there's a next time, i will be prepared.