This was the scene at the Download Festival yesterday, just before Megadeth took the stage. I can’t say they did much for me …

As I anticipated in yesterday’s post, Turbowolf went down a storm on one of the smaller stages, generating a great atmosphere as the band tore through their back catalogue and played a couple of new songs, one for the first time in public.

I love these marquee spaces at festivals. They are as close as such events get to recreating the atmosphere of smaller gigs, and this is where you really want to be …

 

 

One other highlight of the day for me was the set by a band called The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. Taking their name from graffiti said to have been left by Jack the Ripper, this group of self-declared Steampunk Rockers had the distinction of being sued by the ever-humourless EMI for naming their first (2010) album “Now That’s What I Call Steampunk, Volume 1”.

The band promptly renamed the album, The Steampunk Album That Cannot Be Named for Legal Reasons – and bless them for that. They clearly have a way with album titles, naming their second (2012) album This May Be The Reason Why The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing Cannot Be Killed By Conventional Weapons, and their third (2015) Not Your Typical Victorians.

I’d love to say that their music is as good as their sense of humour, but on a day of this …

 

 

… the humour was just about enough.

Next stop for me is Glastonbury, which starts in the middle of next week. That’s when around 175,000 of us descend on a set of fields in Somerset roughly the size of a small town. This is much – much – more than a music event. If you have time, and don’t know much about the festival, this potted history is rather good.

Glastonbury’s main Pyramid stage is a thing of great beauty, especially at night …

 

 

… or at sunset …

 

 

… and has seen some legendary performances over the years.

Here is last year’s headline set from the wonderful Florence and the Machine. That was another rainy day, we were soaked and freezing cold, but by the time she came on the setting sun was out and life was beautiful again.