Download 2013.

My resounding memory of this particular Download (before the music) is of the Thursday afternoon.  About half four the heavens OPENED. It wasn’t just rain though, (I can deal with rain and God knows we’d had to deal with rain at the previous Download) it was a huge storm complete with thunder and lightning. I ended up curled up in my sleeping bag which was inside a binbag because my tent was leaking and I was absolutely petrified. The magazine I‘d been reading when the storm hit had completely disintegrated, my phone was dead, and I had nothing to do other than lie there and be scared. It SUCKED.

FVK played on the Friday I think, headlining the Red Bull stage I’d seen them play on further down the bill a year before. The fact they were headlining meant they clashed with Slipknot, but luckily I’d seen Slipknot play Download in 2009 so I can’t honestly say I was all that pissed about the clash.

EDIT: I've had to come back to this point to add in the fact that I was absolutely WASTED most of this day. Maz wasn't staying for the full weekend, she only had a day ticket, and by the time I met up with her at about midday I was already off my face. The most bizarre thing about this is the fact that I had no idea why, because at the time I didn't think I'd even had any alcohol. As I sobered up I eventually realised that when I'd woken up at about 8 that morning I'd necked an entire bottle of energy drink (visible in the above photo) to try and help me get through the day. The issue with this was that I had two of those bottles, one of them was full of energy drink and the other was 3/4 vodka, 1/4 energy drink.
And so ends the mystery of how I got wasted at 8am without being aware of consuming any alcohol.

 The lads came on stage to The Circle of Life which was one of the most bizarre things I think I’ve ever seen, and was made even more odd by the fact that Beveridge was wearing a lion mask that covered his whole head. I’ve wondered for a really long time quite why they did that, but for some reason I’ve never asked.

…That’s all I really remember about their set other than the fact that they played Batten Down the Hatches cos I really liked that song and it was only about the second or third time they’d played it, I think. After the set the boys disappeared and I somehow met up with Kiera (I don’t really remember how?) and as she, Maz and I went to leave to walk back to the tents (well Maz wasn’t camping but you know) I saw Pill walking the other side of a fence and legged it back to hug him. I ran up to him and hugged him from behind and he looked confused for a split second before he realised it was me and hugged me back. He then put his arm around me and announced “Come on, we’re going to watch Slipknot.” By this time Kiera and Maz had caught up and so along with Jammers from Fort Hope and Ben from TDLW we went and stood and watched the last few Slipknot songs. It was a good time.
We didn’t see any of the other guys that night which was a shame, especially for Maz who was only there for the day, but I guess they must have gone off somewhere to get wasted. Who can blame them.

As soon as Paige (who was part of the camp I was in, along with Louise and Annabel) and I got in on the Saturday we went to see who was in the signing tent, cos we’d guessed the lads were going to do a signing. We were right.
About an hour before FVK were due in the signing tent we went to go and queue so that we knew we’d definitely meet them (you know cos we’d never met them before). We ended up being the first people in the queue which was really handy cos it was chucking it down and I couldn’t wait to get somewhere slightly warmer and slightly drier. I think it eased off just before we went in but because we’d been stood in the rain for so long we were both still soaked. When we were finally let into the tent the first person I saw was Will South, who I made come over and give me a hug so I made him as damp as I was. I don’t think he was impressed but you know. If I’m suffering I don’t like to suffer alone.
Kemp was the first one sat at the table in the tent, and as soon as I walked over to him I moaned that I’d had to queue to meet him. I don’t think he actually really cared and I’m pretty sure he just laughed. He picked a card to sign for me (I didn’t even  really want anything signed, I felt weird asking them to sign things) and wrote “SHUT UP MEG” on it. Fuck you Kemp. Fuck you.
Drew was next and he was mean to me but I don’t remember in what way. The only reason I even remember that he was mean is because in response I blinded him by shoving my camera in his face and taking a photo. I think he might have laughed at ‘Shut Up Meg’ but I might be wrong.

was… Pill. He had an open can of beer in front of him so I stole a few mouthfuls of that until he noticed and shouted “HEY!” at me and I thought I’d better stop.
Shane was next to Pill, and he drew a little man in the stamp section of the postcard they were signing for me which was really cute. I asked him if I could have the full can of beer that was sat on the table in front of him and he looked really sad and said “…But that’s my beer…” so I put it back down. I really wish I’d stolen it.
For some reason Beveridge was stood on the end instead of sitting down behind the table. I don’t know why he thought he’d stand up instead of sitting down, there was a desk and a seat for him but he clearly didn’t fancy that. I don’t think I said anything of note to Beveridge other than complaining that I was really wet from having to wait in the rain…

When we came out of the signing we went to wait at the main stage to wait for Maiden cos there was very little else to do that day. I can’t remember who was on the stage at the time but at one point when we were moving through the crowd Paige and I bumped into Steve from TDLW, who although I hadn’t seen him for a really long time greeted me like an old friend, which was really nice of him. While we were chatting to Steve, Sam Sara (also TDLW) wandered past and I yelled his name. Steve threw himself at him and I was really confused until he explained that they’d lost Sam literally like an entire day before and they’d had no idea where he’d been until literally just then. If you know Sam Sara then you know how fucking amazingly Sam this and if you don’t know Sam then this probably sounds really far-fetched but please believe me when I say that if this could happen to anyone it’d be him. There’s a photo somewhere Ben (again, TDLW) took at Takedown where Sam is asleep under the hand-drier in the men’s toilets.
I genuinely don’t know how Sam has made it this far in life but I’m very glad he has cos he’s one of the most amusing people I have ever met.

I think we happened to bump into Kiera when we were waiting for Maiden cos I know she ended up with us and I don’t remember calling her or anything. Anyway Kiera & Liana ended up with us and one of them (I think it was Liana) spotted Shane and Drew. Standing watching Iron Maiden with most of FVK will go down in history as one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. It was so sweet that they were so willing to have me stood there being mildly irritating and screaming all the lyrics at a stage I couldn’t even see cos the people in front of me were too tall.
When Maiden finished we all hugged and went our separate ways and that ended up being the last time I saw them at Download that year. Pill had promised that we’d watch Rammstein together but that never happened, but it didn’t really matter cos to be fair I’d had the honour of watching the other two headliners with them which I really wasn’t expecting so you know.

That was a lovely bonus.

Until next time, 

Meg Mercury xoxo