The supporting acts, I thought, were brilliant for their role- warming the crowd up for the band that comes on next. Swedish metallers, Avatar, who replaced Device (as their lead singer, David Draiman, was looking after his newly born child) were good, especially for a band most of the crowd hadn't heard of, producing songs of a Rob Zombie/Rammstein-esque fashion.
Then they came. Jumping straight into 'Under And Over It', the ear-deafening chant of 'Death Punch' from the crowd let you know how warm the welcome was for arguably the hottest band going at this moment- Five Finger Death Punch. The first example of crowd participation was evident here, and how could it not be? Ivan Moody's charisma could get even the most antisocial person crowd-surfing or singing at the top of their lungs. This continued throughout their set, even through the first half of 'Far From Home', where the soft, melodic side to 5FDP didn't stop fans from lifting up their lighters, phones and singing along enthusiastically. Utter brilliance from a band who could easily have headlined the evening.
Getting straight to the point, the headliners got off to an explosive start, literally. The opening to 'Shepherd Of Fire' had pyrotechnics and explosives set to erupt in-sync with the music, immediately setting a theatrical theme to the show, which would remain throughout.
Although it may be argued that the Californian quintet didn't play their 'greatest hits', they astounded all regardless. Primarily focusing on songs from their new album (as it was the 'Hail To The King' tour) they didn't refrain from skipping back through the eras, treating the crowd to songs from Nightmare, concluding the show with songs from Waking The Fallen.
The newly-crowned Download 2014 headliners are bigger, better and more unstoppable than they've ever been before. As Matt Shadows said, they're carrying the torch for heavy metal, and it's hard to see an end to their reign in sight.
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