We embarked on our journey in my trusty VW Polo and hit KFC at the services on the way down. Last year started with blazing sun, excited gatherers and our lack of sun lotion. Download Festival is usually known for it's rain and submerged camps, thus the nickname 'Drownload' but oh boy were we shook. It was BOILING!

A festival routine as it seems, is to instantly go and watch Five Finger Death Punch as they're always on pretty early on the main stages of both Leeds and Download. They are superb and put in 100% effort every time. I absolutely adore Ivan, so I think I'm a tad bit biased. He's like the Dad we all wished we had.

After that we headed to the Merch stand. Download has 3 stands so it's always easy to go and lineup to get your favourite band merchandise OR Download Merch. They have a wonderful selection. This time I went for a Download Dog plush. Oh boy, he's adorable.



I also wanted to get my photograph in front of the giant Download Dog Head Statue, but unfortunately it was VERY popular amongst everyone and I'm too awkward to butt in front of people watching their fave band play. Maybe next year eh?

The most amazing part of chilling out on the grass is watching the planes go past ahead. They're so low it feels like you can almost touch them. This is due to the airport being literally next to the Fest itself. We sat on the grass and watched Cypress Hill from a distance. They played 'Insane in the membrane' and it was amazing! SUCH A BOP AMIRITE?

Ohmygosh, the festival food is just THE BEST. We had wood fire Pizza and Hot Chocolates. Ya gotta treat yo'self when you're out in a field all day, right? Seriously, all diets went out of the window that day.

Then it was time for SOAD. I wanted to get to the front so bad but I'm legit too small and would get crushed. So we stood to the side with a family of around 5. The parents were in their 40's and they were drunk, it was the funniest thing. Their kids were NOT impressed at their dancing. I also witnessed someone pee into a bottle, drop it, and a passer by pick it up and hand it to the original owner thinking it was a drink they accidentally dropped... oh gosh, the memories... my poor eyes!

We sung our hearts out to SOAD and danced like morons, but that's what festivals are for. To say it was 10pm and a field in Donington, it was surprisingly warm. I honestly enjoyed that day so much. The parking and access to and from the car parks were great and we were out in less than 10 minutes. They'd completely re-arranged Download, and it worked! The layout was amazing compared to the previous years.

See Download Day 1 for the vlog of our Friday

We started off Saturday donning beautiful bright Bandannas, it's the only time it's really acceptable to wear them. I was super excited for Saturday because this was the day we got to watch NXT, and new wrestling fans we were READY. Creeper were the first band we saw that day, truly fantastic band. They gathered up quite a crowd, and everyone seemed to be a dedicated fan as they knew every lyric! Props to Creeper for having such a cool fan base.

Off we popped to the Impericon tent. Impericon are a clothing site that sells Alt clothing and also band merchandise. We were hoping to find some inspiration for future looks, although we do tend to buy everything online, but it doesn't hurt to look! The merch tents at Download are some of the best, especially for kooky hats, shirts, you name it!

Next band to see on the list were Alestorm. A funky Pirate themed Band which unfortunately, don't dress up as Pirates. In my dreams! They were super fun to watch live. We've been wanting to see them for a long time and find ourselves giggling every time we sing their lyrics. I honestly recommend watching some of their music videos, you're in for a wild time!

Then to see NXT Live. We'd never watched wrestling live so it was great to see some moves in person. We didn't know any of the stars that were there that day but it didn't stop us enjoying what they had to offer. The tent had seating surrounding it, and also giant screens in case you couldn't get too close which were perfect for us as we didn't get to snag a seat.

We got more food after NXT because watching wrestling is tiring right? Then we headed to Knuckle Puck and Crown The Empire. Both are such good bands, I recommend checking out Evergreen by Knuckle Puck as it's currently one of my favorite songs!

The press area at Download is an incredible place. We got up and close with the infamous Download Dog! He's so cute? I mean, he's a giant Red Dog.. Is that cute? Also in the press area is free water and toilets.. TOILETS THAT AREN'T GROSS. It's truly a luxury.

A Day To Remember and Biffy Clyro were next on the list. We've seen both bands so knew what to expect.. EPICNESS. Then, Rob Zombie! I saw Rob Zombie at the previous Downloads but Kyle hadn't seen him before, he was sure in for a treat. Rob was amazing, he had Anime on his screens and sung like a Trooper.

The end of the day came, we got back into our hotel and realised, we should of brought the sun tan lotion. Our faces were red like giant Lobsters, uh oh.

See Download Day 2 for the vlog of our Saturday

We started Sunday quite late as there wasn't much on during the morning that we wanted to see. We headed for breakfast. We also started missing our pets and Dante a lot so wanted to go home and be re-united with our babies (I know, we're weak!) We saw Blood Youth on the Dog Tooth Stage, who were insane. Kyle also ended up with a giant hand print slapped over his back from his mission of destruction in the pit. I'd never seen Blood Youth live before, but had actively listened to them throughout the year and I was extremely happy with their performance. They're also local to us and live in Yorkshire! How cool?

After watching them, we decided to sit down for a while and catch our breathe. I then won £5 in a bag of Walkers Cheese & Onion, that was a lucky, sunny day!

The next and FINAL band of the day were Fizzy Blood. Once again, they're local to us, based in my very own home city of Leeds. These were mind blowing. A band on the smaller size that gave out such a HUGE show. I sung every lyric of their songs and got as far to the front as I possibly could. Their bassist is also hilarious (the faces he pulls are just the best).

Unfortunately, these were all the bands we saw, not many I know, but hey! We enjoyed it, and that's what festival spirit is all about. Having a good time and listening to good music.

See Download Day 3 for the vlog of our Sunday