Download Festival, Donnington 2010
AC/DC and Them Crooked Vultures at Donnington for the Download Festival. I’d never have paired these two in the same event, but they were each unbelievably awesome, and for very different reasons.
Angus Young is better than anyone alive (and most of them dead) at holding 100,000 metalheads in awe than I would have thought possible. AC/DC are so fucking tight, it makes you redefine all one’s scales for measuring commitment and musical skill. And their riffs are up there with Led Zeppelin’s – that’s right, I said it – as the defining moments of the electric guitar.
Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, John Paul Jones & Alain Johannes are simply the coolest men with whom I’ve ever been in an arena. I have man crushes on them all. They love playing, they love playing together, and (it seems) they love playing for me, because every time I see them they break out new stuff better than I’ve ever heard before. They defined the festival, and they are my only trusted template for being male.
AC/DC closing the night with “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)” was not only inspired timing for the evening, but also (I thought) a generous tribute to the bands which would follow and the rockers who would camp out to hear them for the next 2 days. I got all misty eyed, and cherished the opportunity to see these 2 great bands with Diana, my love.
Here’s a video I did for Them Crooked Vultures
2,932 views on flickr.
Related posts:
