Download Festival

Last night I sat with Joe watching Slipknot play at the Download Festival.

Unlike Sam, our next door neighbour who had tickets and was present whilst the masked ones burned and churned, Joe and I sat in the yellow room watching and listening to it all via the festival's webcast.

What this approach lacked in atmosphere it made up for in comfort. Whilst Joe would've undoubtedly have preferred to have been in the thick of the crowd, this way of watching the band was some consolation.

This afternoon, Joe is in the office on the sofa listening to the webcast on headphones via the laptop. I'm dipping in and out of the coverage as far as I'm able. At varying points, Joe gives out an excited yelp or even throws the horns a couple of times as some act he likes hits the spot.

Every now and then he asks me to take a look at a particular band and fills me in on some obscure detail about the song or the group. Somewhat worryingly, when he does this he reminds me of me!

Since I've been playing a lot of Dream Theater lately, I ask if he's going to watch the band. He shakes his head citing them as being "too old fashioned."

I know I sound incredibly old fashioned myself when I say this but the wonders of technology never fail to amaze me.