This day was the hottest of all days, there was no breeze and next to no shade so it felt like we were all slowly cooking. I saw so many people suffering from heat stroke and there was people round them trying to help them. People were sitting anywhere they could that was shaded including in front of food vans, I just wish there had been more places that were shaded for people to just sit in out of the sun.
We got to the gates just before they opened and as soon as I got through, I was off to the second stage. There was no way I wasn't going to have front row for Blind Channel lol. Fran said she has never seen me move so quickly lol.
We found my friends Luna and Carman and we camped out in the front row. It was so hot that while we were waiting, Fran decided to go and find some shade instead of seeing Blind Channel but she did get to see Bloodywood instead so she still got to see a great band. Blind Channel As usually, my amazing Finnish lads were absolutely brilliant. They came out singing their newest song at the time, Happy Doomsday, which had been released a few weeks before the festival. Hearing the new song live was amazing!
Seeing them at a festival definetly has a different feel to a gig, I was further away from the stage for starters hahaha. There was a lot more people, it was great getting to see so many people coming to see them and everyone having a brilliant time. I loved every minute and felt like I was taking everything in as much as possible as I didn't have another gig booked to see them at all as I was waiting for dates.
We went in search of Fran but couldn't find her and it was hotter than the deepest, hottest corners of hell so we went into one of the marketplace bars that had a tent to sit in the shade. Fran found us and said she wanted to go home, the heat was getting too much for her, if there had been more shade then it would have been better for everyone. There was no wind either, at least a bit of wind would have cooled us down a little.
We chilled out in the bar for a little while as none of us had another band to watch for a while. We saw a few people being brought in with heat stroke and helped by everyone around them. One young girl got brought in near us so we helped as much as could. I think it's brilliant that everyone was helping each other, no one asked for help, people just stepped up and did their bit. Love it! We went out to the walled walk through that runs from the day ticket entrance to the main stage, the walls provided a little bit of shade and there was less foot traffic so we laid down on the grass and had a little nap.
I Prevail I'd seen these guys in March so it was nice to see them again on a much larger scale. They put on a brilliant show and everyone was really getting into them. they did their version of System Of A Down's Chop Suey which sounded awesome.
This is when things started to turn for the worst. I was feeling light heated, sick and really tired. Luna and Carmen went to watch a band so I found some shade to lay down in and kept passing out. I felt like I just closed by eyes but whenever I opened my eyes again and looked at my phone for the time, I'd find out that I had actually been asleep for a while. That's when I decided that I should head home before I pass out and don't wake up again until the end of the night. As much as it pained me to not get to see Slipknot, I knew that if I had stayed, I would have passed out in a corner and missed them anyway.
I messages Luna and Carmen to let them know, rand Sean to come get me and then started walking out to the main road.
Download 2023 was an awesome festival with some of the most amazing bands. It's definitely changed since the first one in 2003, it has grown massivly and that's all down to the hard work of the organisers and their teams, and the fantastic fans, both new and die-hard fans that return year after year. I can't wait to see what they do next.
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