2003.06.01 – Download Festival, Donington, England

Date: 1st June 2003
Event: Download Festival
Venue: Donington Park
City: Donington
Country: England

Tracklist:
1. Asteroids
2. Piggy
3. Aim 4
4. Laughs
5. Kamikaze
6. Prescription
7. Femme Fatale
8. Razor
9. NNNN (No Name No Number)

Extra info:
The first Download Festival was held on the 31st of May and 1 June 2003. The headliners were originally Iron Maiden and Limp Bizkit, although Limp Bizkit pulled out and were replaced by Audioslave. Metallica attempted to step in as headliners, but were unable due to already being headliners at that year’s Reading and Leeds Festivals. Instead, they played an unannounced “secret slot” in the afternoon on the second stage, with no sound check and after playing an exclusive club show in London the night before. Chevelle were scheduled to play the Scuzz stage on Sunday, but pulled out at the last minute. Instruction, playing their second set of the festival, stepped in as replacements.

Maindstage lineup (in order of playing):
Audioslave
Zwan
Flint
Apocalyptica
Less Than Jake
Disturbed
Stone Sour
Evanescence
Mudvayne
Spineshank
The Darkness
One Minuite Silence
Raging Speedhorn
Instruction

Review by Matthew Rees:
Apocalyptica? Metallica songs with Chellos? Mmmmmm, sounds like trouble. It is a hazy afternoon at the world famous Doningtion Park and we are waiting for Flint to fill the stage, but we are watching these leather trousered fruit cakes play Metallica! The stage set is simple, a pink “Flint” sign behind the two drum sets along with some basic stage lights. Once Apocalyptica leave the stage there is only a short time until Keith, Jim, Kieran and the fellas run onto the stage. Straight into the set they go, but where is the sound?? The background music between bands is still playing, with only Flints amps making the music. It takes a good minute for this to be sorted, but it doesn’t slow them down at all!
Once into the set though we witness a very luke warm reception, being a huge prodigy fan and having seen the reaction they get, i am gutted. There is a small circle pit next to me but beside that i am free to snap away with my camera. Standing still whilst watching Keith?? I thought i was dreaming. The crowd give shallow applause for each song, “Asteroids” is the first familiar number but only to the 2000 people who have it, and im sure theres not many in this crowd. It isnt until “Razor” that we notice as bit of crowd movement as the lyrics are familiar (Babys’ got a Temper). The double drum set up is not just for show like with Alec Empire for example, hit-hats are exchanged with ride-cymbals for great effect. Jim Davies is an untold legend in my book, second to only Tom Morello for live playing, pitchshifter were great because of this man, a true legend! The set lasted slightly longer than the advertised 30 mins but still was noticeably less than the other bands on the main stage that day.
This was just the wrong place at the wrong time, too many left over Iron Maiden fans with sleaveless leather jackets not willing to listen to any “new music”, bring Flint to Reading and lets get this party started!
Keith says nothing between songs and leaves the stage with a mouthed “thank-you”, a frosty reception, but does the man care? I very much doubt that!

Review by Marc Neale:
The weather had just started to cool down which was good because it had been red hot all day! Less Than Jake were on before Flint and I decided to move in as close as possible because my friend is a big than, and I wanted a head start for when Flint came on. Anyway, Less Than Jake finished their set, the LTJ kiddies walked away and I pushed forward and managed to get to the front. The stage was getting set for Flint, including neon lighting at the back and of course the two drum kits. Then 3 chairs got set up and some band called Apocalyptica came on. There was lots of boo-ing in the crowd because Flints set was already about 10 minutes late. Apocalyptica played because Metallica took their spot on the Scuzz stage. They got lots of bottles thrown at them but they stayed on stage and by the end they managed to get peoples approval mainly because they played a cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman. Most people thought that they were an introduction to Flint or something, expecting Keith to come on stage at any moment. Oh yeah, Apocalyptica play metal music using chellos 🙂
About 20 mintues later they leave the stage having finished their set. Another 5 mintues pass, then Flint start to appear on stage. Everyone cheered. The drums kicked in suddenly then Keith came running on stage. It was a shame because they started playing so quickly after coming on stage that the organisers didn’t have time to turn the “inbetween music” (if that is what it’s called” off. That didn’t bother them though because they just played on regardless. Once the other music stopped and Flint had control of all the stage speakers everyone released just how raw this music was. I couldn’t see much of the crowd from where I was stood, but there was no pushing or anything. It was as if everyone was just stunned at what was going on. That soon changed though as the crowd surfers started arriving at the front. Mobile phones on the floor from what people had dropped and just general mayham. I’m not sure of the songs they played because I’d not heard any of their material before the gig. However, they did the play song with the Baby’s Got A Temper Lyrics. Not sure about the rest of the crowd, but it amazed me, just because I knew the lyrics but the actual music is different to Prodigy’s in every way.
Keith was his typical self, jumping, skipping and doing just about anything except standing still. Intimidating Jimmy on guitar several times also coming up to the crowd a few times. He never came into the crowd though, he always stayed on stage. Tony and Kieron the two drummers were cool to watch as they both were giving 110% through out the whole set. The bass drums were cool too 🙂 Anyway their set lasted for 30 minutes which was at least 10 – 15 minutes shorter than all the other bands on that weekend. At first I thought this might be because they didn’t have much material, but thinking back it was because from track 1 to the end Flint never stopped playing at all. There were always short drum solos between songs before erupting into full raw songs again. Again I don’t know what the songs were they played, but once the final song was over, they all left the stage as quickly as they came on. Jimmy left his guitar wailing meaning some guy had to run across stage to unplug it which was pretty funny. All in all a cool gig and I’d definitely watch them again.

Review from www.virtualfestivals.com (excerpt):
Flint are trading on past glories to reach these heights on the bill, and it shows. Despite fronting the groundbreaking and genre shattering The Prodigy, the role of Keef in the band is cruelly exposed here. Looking like a cross between a Punch & Judy character and Eddy Izzard, it’s punk rock of the most pantomime proportions. Obviously the skirt makes for an easy comparison, but Keith Flint now actually runs like Eddie too. Too slow to be industrial, yet not with enough thump to be metal, it falls into the arse crack between the two; being a sorely average thrash band with remarkably little charisma.
Whereas bands such as Rammstein or Ministry manage to combine industrial and metal to devastating effect, Flint just manage to do both no justice. Although full of his customary manic energy, Keith’s vocals seem to have more impact when used in moderation, only occasionally succeeding on tracks such as ‘Kamikaze Baby’. Even a cover of ‘Baby’s Got A Temper’ (easily the piss-poorest Prodigy single around), seemed insipid and lacklustre. Keith should definitely devote more of his energy to rousing Liam Howlett from his slumbers.

Review from www.metaluk.com by Chris C (excerpt):
After Metallica’s rousing performance, it was time to stick with the main stage for the night, as the Scuzz stage was now ready to be infiltrated by dozens of samey punk bands. The metaluk.com crew waited patiently for Flint to arrive on stage. Yes, the dancing yobbo who fronts The Prodigy now has a rock band, and you’ll be happy to hear that they were infuriatingly shite, with not a single tune really appealing to anyone in particular. Zwan, fronted by that bald bloke who used to be in that band that wrote about nasty things, only made matters worse. Even Paz Lenchantin’s ample buttocks couldn’t save the group from being utterly dull. Oddly, the beautiful, mild weather that had graced us with its presence all day quickly turned into freezing rain as soon as Zwan hit the stage. I ran off to buy ponchos, and to hide in the Scuzz tent until the rain stopped.

Poster: