Down Live At Hellfest
Friday June The 19th
Jul 14, 2009 Tim Bolitho-Jones
It’s ten to nine in the evening on the first day of Hellfest. The day has been long and the sun has been punishing. Many people have already had to leave clutching bloody noses, sore necks and a myriad other mosh pit injuries. Others have had to give up due to heat exhaustion and still more have just got drunk far too early and are struggling to stand.
They are the unlucky ones. Within an hour, Hellfest will have seen arguably the best performance of the weekend and they will have missed it. Guitar riffs will come blasting through the humid evening air and a tattooed behemoth of a singer will guide several thousand people through a set filled with modern classics. It’s ten to nine on the first day of Hellfest and Down are due onstage.
Down: Live In France
“We are Down, from New Orleans Louisiana,” Phil Anselmo tells us in that unmistakeable drawl and as far as introductions go, it’s a good one. It’d have to be too, for on the adjacent second stage, WASP are still playing despite having been due to leave five minutes earlier. There’s a moment of unease where the two bands overlap and for a brief second, the friendly Hellfest atmosphere threatens to get ugly, but it’s quickly forgotten as those good ole’ Southern boys unleash The Eyes Of The South.
After that, Blackie Lawless and co get the hint pretty quickly and Down become the sole focus for the gathered masses. The Seed is an early triumph and enough voices cry out the chorus for the Jedi to feel it. Lifer follows along with several dozen crowd surfers, but just when security begin to struggle the band deliver a bruising rendition of The Path that sends the entire place berserk.
Phil Anselmo Buries France In Smoke
If things have been impressive thus far though, the close of the set is astonishing. Stone The Crow as per usual goes down a storm but it pales in comparison to the raw power that consumes the arena when Bury Me In Smoke hovers into view with all the jaw dropping intensity of an alien invasion.
Expanded in length to just under ten minutes and with part of Nothing In Return added to the middle, this one song is a testament to all that makes Down such an invigorating heavy metal band. That slow, methodical guitar riff, that rumbling combination of bass and drums and that anthemic chorus all combine into a fitting climax to an excellent performance. Just when it looks like they might be taking things a bit too seriously though, Anselmo reminds everyone that he’s still a fan at heart with a light hearted solo rendition of Stairway to Heaven. The South might be taking a long time to rise again, but she still delivers the goods when it comes to metal bands.
Phil Anselmo
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