From Donington To Download

  From Donington to Download

  The History of Rock at Donington Park

  By

  Ian Carroll

  It has been an amazing journey producing this book, from cloudy Plymouth to rainy Holland to bright and sunny Donington Park, there has not been a dull moment in the last 9 years of writing this book, a book of blood, sweat & beers, many many beers……

  After writing the Official Book of the Reading Festival it was time to make a start on the book of my other ‘favourite’ festival Donington Monsters of Rock - and as it is now – Download, the greatest rock festival the world has ever seen.

  This book features over 300 interviews from major mega stars to small bands, to artists who are sadly no longer with us – included is an interview with the legend that was (and still is) Ronnie James Dio, who phoned me at home a week before he cancelled his last UK tour due to cancer, this is possibly one of his last interviews that he completed.

  This book was a nightmare to produce, with publishers picking it up and dropping it due to the ‘current book climate’ and Live Nation being messed around by them as much as I was – though without the help of Andy, John & Stuart, I would not be where I am with this book today. I would also like to thank the journalist who sent me a couple interviews and the legendary Bailey Brothers who I did a few interviews with from when they were the DJ’s, hosting the main stage and spinning discs between bands, great guys and still going!

  Finally, thanks to all the ‘festival attendees’ who were interviewed for experiences over the years, they were great additions to the book.

  So, the book is finally out as a Kindle published book which is the way forward for new releases, though I don’t rule out a printed copy in the future if another suitable publisher comes along.

  Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Donington Park

  Dedicated to Raine Carroll,

  a wife, a partner & a best friend!

  And Nathan, the rockingest teenager on the block!!!

  Introduction

  If in deed it was true that Robert Johnson ‘sold his soul to the Devil’ in order to master the guitar and perform the most amazing blues music, then something similar must have occurred in Leicestershire in 1980 and every year since at the site of the Donington racetrack.

  Selling their souls to the Devil in exchange for a weekend of Rock & Metal; thousands of similarly minded fans make the annual pilgrimage to Donington, for a weekend of every style of rock music available.

  Donington has become the Mecca for ‘metal heads’ the world over, with people attending from as far afield as Australia for their annual fix of all that is best in the world of rock music.

  From the initial Monsters Of Rock in the shadow of the Dunlop tyre to Download Festivals magnificent ‘on form’ show in 2009, nothing it appears can stop the metal beast from tearing up the countryside and laying waste to the ears of the thousands of punters in attendance.

  With classic performances over the years from rocks giants such as AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Metallica and Kiss to the ‘new school’ of rock in the form of bands like Slipknot, Linkin Park, System of a Down and My Chemical Romance, the festival grows in stature and cult status each year.

  The hallowed grounds of Donington Park are where most bands want to play and where most fans want to see them play. It’s now developed into more than just a festival; it’s an event, a gathering of similar minded people with a need to belong. A ‘rock & metal brotherhood’ where a feeling of ‘family’ and camaraderie is second to none. From the close knit community of the Official Download forums to the ‘feel good factor’ in the campsites, Download is now the place to be as a ‘musical rite of passage’ for thousands of people all over the world and with the increase in capacity, this extended family of rock is extending just that little bit more each year.

  My first attendance at Donington was for Monsters Of Rock in 1983. I was there to see Whitesnake the most, with a dash of Twisted Sister and a sprinkling of Dio; with the rest of the line-up working well as an aperitif.

  Living in Plymouth I had to travel over night each year, leaving Devon by coach at around midnight and eventually arriving at Donington at round 6am. It was usually cold, foggy and a place with nothing to do but drink, until the gates opened at around lunchtime. So after six hours or so of solid drinking, peeing in the woods and getting bored, it was down to the front of the ‘bowl shaped’ arena for a day of rocking out.

  Every year that I attended Monsters Of Rock there were many ‘stand out’ moments; Motley Crue’s first appearance in ‘84, Magnum’s extremely British opening slot in ‘85, Metallica’s debut also in ‘85, Cinderella playing in torrential rain in ‘87, Guns N’ Roses over popular set in ‘88, Metallica’s first headline slot in ‘95 and Kiss in full make up at the last Monsters Of Rock in ’96; all classic sets and greatly appreciated by the fans, who heaved a great sigh when MOR died in ’96, only to be re-born as Download Festival in 2003.

  Download Festival has carried on the tradition that Monsters Of Rock had already established; amazing bands, fantastic times and best line-ups ever for a rock festival. Who could forget Metallica’s secret set in ’03 and their returning the following year without Lars and still pulling it off, Billy Idol returning to the UK to headline the 2nd stage in ’05, Metallica playing ‘Master Of Puppets’ in its entirety in ’06, Iron Maiden proving they were still the best British metal band in ’07, Kiss proving they were still a massive festival band (with all the trimmings) in ’08, the debut of the reformed Faith No More in ’09 and the mighty return of Def Leppard 23 years since the last appearance to headline the final scorching day in ’09. Again all amazing performances and thousands of other also; from the fourth to the mainstage the variety and choice of who to see and who not to see has never been better, but lets not mention the ‘clashes’.

  If you speak to any rock & metal bands in the world and ask ‘which festival do you want to play at’ their answer will always be the same, ‘Donington’; ask the question to any rock fan ‘which festival is the best one every year’ and you get the same immediate reply ‘Donington’ (or Download depending on your age).

  The festival has steadily developed into a weekend that now lasts nearly a full year. The Forums are teaming with peoples memories of that years festival from the day after it’s all over up to about September. From September to January the forums are chock full of speculation about the following year’s line-up and from January to June there is mass hysteria about the confirmed artists, about who’s playing, who’s not playing and those dreaded ‘clashes’, where a classic band that someone wants to watch on the mainstage clashes with a Norwegian Black Metal band that they want to watch on the 3rd stage, this frustration of course all gets directed at Andy Copping, because it’s his fault. As we all must know, the booking of bands, on the scale that the festival has now reached, must be a real headache for Andy and of course there are going to be some clashes; but that’s festivals for you and no one should be to blame.

  With the increase in metal and rock festivals in Europe, such as Wacken Open Air, Hellfest, Sweden Rock, Graspop and of course now the European versions of Sonisphere, Download has still continued to flourish, building on it’s success year after year and is still the dominant festival of its kind.

  Over the next 25 chapters you will get a feel for the festival (if you have never been before), will be able to reminisce (if you have been to the festivals over the years) and you will get a full insight into the festival from not only the bands point of view, but also the fans and the organisers perspectives.

  So, welcome to the Official Book of the Donington & Download Festivals and in the words of the Bailey Brothers:

  ‘Rock Not Pop
Metalheads!!!’

  (Ian Carroll Author)

  Forward by Mr Lars Ulrich, all the way from Brazil to my kitchen

  “It’s THE hallowed ground.

  Over the 30 years, some of the best ‘metal moments’ have happened there; starting off with Rainbow and up through the AC/DC’s and the Maiden’s and the Whitesnake’s and everybody else.

  You could probably parallel the history of Donington to the history of rock.

  Who’s hot, who’s was in, who was out, who moved up, who fell from grace; there’s certainly a correlation between writing the history of Donington to writing the history of hard rock and metal.

  To have been present six and a half times, it’s certainly awesome to be part of the history of something that I am extremely proud of and I really, really sincerely hope that Metallica will come back and play it again.”

  Lars Ulrich (Metallica – Drums)

  1980

  Rainbow,

  Judas Priest, Scorpions, April Wine, Saxon, Riot, Touch, Neal Kaye

  August 16th 1980, a date that should be firmly noted in all diaries as a day of rock music celebrations; the day that the ‘rock’ was firmly embedded at Donington.

  Prior to the inaugural festival in 1980, the only place that you could see rock & metal bands in the open, in the summer, was at Reading Festival. Though in the late ‘70’s, Reading had strayed away slightly from rock music and had been covering New Romantic bands and up and coming new indie/punk bands such as the Police, Patti Smith and the Jam; the launch of a new music festival for ‘out and out’ rock fans was just was the doctor ordered.

  Situated ‘slap bang’ in the middle of England, Donington Park racetrack seemed like the ideal location for a festival, equidistant to all travelling rock fans.

  Organised by promoter Paul Loasby and Maurice Jones of MCP, they had the task of putting on what would become the longest running rock & metal festival in the UK.

  The first years line-up was a ‘who’s who’ of rock giants, from Germany’s finest Scorpions to Birmingham’s ‘Metal Gods’ Judas Priest to the magnificent headliners Rainbow, who still featured two members of Deep Purple and were quite the draw on the day. This show was to be the last Rainbow performance for both Graham Bonnet and Cozy Powell; Bonnet left to pursue a solo career and then joining the Michael Schenker Group, Cozy Powell leaving to become drummer for Bonnet’s solo project, then MSG and finally a full time member of Whitesnake, where he would return to Donington in 1983, again in a headline slot.

  Added to this line up were Riot and Touch from New York and April Wine from Canada.

  Touch had the honour bestowed on them of being the first ever band to play at the MOR Festival and the first band to play at Donington and certainly not the last!

  Saxon were also on the bill, as part of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal). This was their first appearance and it had such an affect on them that they even wrote a song dedicated to their experience of the festival, ‘And the Bands Played On’; this would not be their last performance at the festival.

  One of the most bizarre moments of the festival was when a member of Touch, the opening act swallowed a bee onstage.

  The Rainbow performance, or part of it, was broadcast by the BBC late at night, to the joy of rock fans everywhere

  With an approximate attendance of 35,000 the festival, with a bargain ticket price of £7.50, was deemed a success, which paved the way for all future Monsters Of Rock festivals.

  “I remember it being the best show that I had ever been on because, for one reason all my family were there and it was the first time they had ever seen the band play live. My Mum and Dad weren’t really ‘hard rock’ fans, but they saw the show and they were just blown away.

  It was a special treat for me and it was a very sad day at the same time because Cozy left and I was about to leave the same day too, but when he did leave it changed the whole atmosphere of the band, so later on I actually left myself. It was a great day and I will never forget it, ever.

  I didn’t think it was particularly one of the best shows we played musically, but there was something about it. The might have been a few rough edges here and there from everybody, but the crowd was fantastic and it went very well. I remember it being a very long day.

  I remember walking around in the afternoon a little bit, but we didn’t really hang around the place very much at all.

  We didn’t get out of that place until about six the next morning, because there were so many people walking on the road, going wherever they were going.

  We got back to the hotel in Leicester and said goodbye to Cozy until he got into his car and drove away.”

  Graham Bonnet (Rainbow – Vocals)

  “Playing at the Monsters of Rock Festival in Donington after Reading was vastly different for us - being that PRIEST in 1980 were no longer rookies - if anything we were the front runners of metal in the UK!!

  That’s why Donington being all out rock and metal was the ultimate gig at the time for us!! It was the one we just had to play.

  I can remember feeling immensely proud to be up there banging my head with thousands of metal heads in sync with us!! Donington attracted the cream of metal bands from all over the world. And I am sure I can speak for all of the bands and all of the fans when I say that there should be a Donington every single weekend!!”

  K.K. Downing (Judas Priest – Guitar)

  “I do remember it was a special moment for us in time. I remember it was great to play with the Scorpions and Saxon and Rainbow as well. It was just a great festival line-up and I have very fond memories of it.”

  What does stick in my mind was that we had some serious pyrotechnics to let off and for some reason we weren’t allowed to, I don’t know why it was. They were serious fireworks and they were in 3 foot tubes and we had to set them off were car batteries. As we didn’t set them off, we shared them out between us.

  We saved them until bonfire night and dished them out and we all had an incredible firework display. I remember I lived in a little village in Staffordshire; I let mine off and the police arrived within 10 minutes because they thought someone had let bombs off and it was pretty spectacular and the loudest noise I’d ever heard.”

  Glenn Tipton (Judas Priest – Guitar)

  "Thinking about Donington, it was not only an amazing bill, in 1980 there were bands like Judas Priest, Rainbow, etc., it was also a very memorable moment, with five Germans racing (on their way to the stage) round the legendary Donington Speedway in the wrong direction. Can you imagine the expression on the face of our driver / Tour manager Bob Adcock (Liverpool) facing a bunch of motorbikes coming at high speed towards us around the corner. Well, the Scorpions survived.”

  Scorpions

  “I forget exactly the year we were there but it was in the early '80's. 1982 I think. The day we were there was sunny and dry. The first dry day of Donington that year. The grounds were soaked. Soft, sticky mud everywhere backstage and out front.

  The backstage crew had put straw down on the ground to try and soak up the moisture but with the grass turning to mud, the straw just added to the problem and footwear was caked with straw and mud to the point of making

  everyone's feet look huge!

  We were all issued rubber boots or Wellingtons as I think the British call them.

  I brought mine home to Canada and used them for many years. Must be the Scot in me.

  The dressing rooms were quite some distance from the stage and we were driven there by kamikaze young drivers.

  The road to the stage was dirt and rather bumpy and those mad shuttle pilots choose to go as fast as possible.

  We almost threw our driver out and drove ourselves. It was that bad!

  Rainbow was the headliner that day. I wasn't a fan as much as I am today. It was Cosy Powell's last show with them.

  I wish I had stayed to watch him and Ritchie Blackmore. I know I missed something special.

  Everyone backstage and out front was
in dressed in black except us. At that time we were wearing red and white and all our Marshall amps were red with white grill cloth. Did we stick out in an embarrassing way? Yes! We played our songs to a very wet crowd of mud men. Not all, but enough to remember it that way.

  Our big hit at the time in the USA and Canada was a love ballad called "Just Between You and Me". To me that worked in North America but not that day. It was a Heavy Metal crowd and we looked like a damn pop band. I remember feeling a tad out of place playing that tune.

  We had some heavy songs that rocked like "Crash and Burn" "Before the Dawn", "Sign of the Gypsy Queen', but in England we were billed as a Heavy Metal band compared to the USA and Canada where we were known as a Hard Rock Band. England took their metal seriously!

  It might have been me feeling out of our element that day or it might have been it was just Rainbow's day, but I never really came away with good memories of our performance at Donington.

  If it came to do it again, I would in a flash, but without the red and white which was gone the next year anyway.

  I'm glad I was part of Donington’s long history.”

  Brian Greenway (April Wine – Guitar/Vocals)

  “The first time was fantastic. Obviously it was the first major metal festival in England, maybe Europe actually, but definitely in Britain.

  We were one of the rising stars then of the ‘80’s metal scene and they asked us to play it. We’d had a very big album released previously, ‘Wheels Of Steel’, so it was great walking onstage in front of 60,000 people that all knew the songs; that was a new thing for us, we’d never experienced that before.