Thousands of keen rockers arrive for the head banging fest they have been waiting for…Download 2007.

Wearing band t-shirts, music lovers of all ages surrounded the stages in the scorching heat, waiting to see some of the best acts around. 

The weekend kicked off on Friday with a not-so-familiar line-up. ‘ANG’? ‘Ill Nino’? However, Korn gave a well awaited performance in the Dimebag Darrell stage that was so furious fans were clambering on top of each other outside the tent as well as inside it.

Of course there were moans and groans about My Chemical Romance taking over their possible headlining spot on the main stage. The emo-tastic band was intitially booed and bottled by Downloader’s but was handled surprisingly well by lead singer Gerard Way.

It didn’t take the band long to get the audience livened up with the overplayed I’m Not Okay, but their slower number Cancer from their most recent album …Black Parade wasn’t as greatly appreciated. The fans disappointment was further enhanced when Gerard decided to rant on about violence and war.

He made himself and the entire performance look so ridiculous, that they wrapped up at least 20 minutes earlier than scheduled.

Evanescence were another band who weren’t warmly welcomed and the crowds put-downs got so nasty that Amy Lee decided to fight them off herself announcing that the band “deserve to be here”. After her little ‘we are great’ speech, they finished off with songs from their first album.

Saturday’s biggest disappointment was 30 Seconds To Mars. Yes, they have produced a good album and put an alternative twist on emo, but they’re not much cop live!

It was clear that fame had gone straight to lead singer and previous actor Jared Leto’s head, holding the mic out to the fans as if they knew every word of every song, causing an embarrassing silence to fill the entire surrounding area.

His voice was far from professional, as was the general sound of the performance. Looking around you could tell people would rather be eating a Pot Noodle back at the tent than watching them.

Aiden, Machine Head and Megadeth all played exceptionally, but there were two acts that made the people of Download stand up and applaud.

Bowling for Soup (and two giant inflatable sheep) were welcomed onto the stage so honourably you would have thought Ozzy Osbourne had arrived.

Everyone from hardcore fans to curious 20 year olds watched with awe as one of the most successful pop-punk bands belted out their well-known tunes. After thirteen years of performing, Bowling for Soup had no trouble making the crowd laugh with their cheesy American one-liners.

Marilyn Manson gave an astonishing performance as usual, but not as good as I remember at Leeds Festival 2005. Of course the metalheads went wild when the make-up clad star sang the classics Fight Song and Beautiful People.

Manson’s fellow band members (male and female) were unsurprisingly dressed OTT with PVC, high heels and lipstick. The mosh-pits were immense, but nowhere near as extreme as when Killswitch Engage took to the stage…

And who could forget the band that made Download ’07 so memorable… Sundays’ headliner Linkin Park. The lights went out and the noise was electric as crowds surged forward as Chester Bennington and his crew entered the stage.

The most anticipated band of the weekend played tracks from their new album with great acceptance from fans, but it was the masterpieces such as Papercut and One Step Closer from the album Hybrid Theory that really got the crowd frantic.

Chester Bennington impressed the crowd with an ultra slow version of Pushing Me Away and soon after it was time to say goodbye to Download, the place where England can boast of it’s rocking talent!