Download 2019: My first time at Download ever and very cool to be there with Vega. As they hadn’t played there either the brief was simple, see what happens and get the shot!

It was a long day, lots of travelling and some trepidation when we got there because of the previous days rain and well publicised mud baths. But the sun shines on the righteous and the shine it did. None of us knew what to expect when we arrived, it was likely that we would be kept away from the main acts, perhaps even not in the same postcode as them as it’s such a vast place with very tight security zones. How wrong we were - full access, all day, meals included! It was surreal to share a backstage cafe with Matt Sorum of Guns & Roses/Deadland Ritual/The Cult and great to say hi again to Steve Stevens who was in the same queue for coffee as I was! Hell, we even got on the same shuttle bus as Geezer Butler…

I made a conscious decision not to run around everywhere with my camera that day. For one, it just wasn’t cool pointing a DSLR at the artists backstage. They didn’t know me and trust has to be built. Secondly, I wanted to be present. To be backstage at Download was a huge privilege and I wanted to savour every moment and I’m so glad I did just that.

The band on immediately before Vega were an industrial/alternative band called SKYND. I shot these to get warmed up and in the zone prior to Vega and I’m so glad I did, what a visual feast they were! I admit that a band using triggered samples to songs solely about the escapades of serial killers probably wouldn’t have attracted me to a gig anytime soon but you live and learn, they were great! Scary, enigmatic, smart and exciting - band members named only Mother and Father and both masked and seriously creepy - and this was a daytime show!

This looked interesting and the best was yet to come…

How can you follow that? Vega did and did it superbly. The Dogtooth Stage clearly proved to be a melting pot of styles with each act. While capturing the behind-the-scenes shots of them setting up it was clear that there was some uncertainty about modern rock following industrial metal but Download and its crowd are more than diverse, they are positively welcoming. Vega, it would turn out, had nothing to fear.

Getting back to the brief, I asked if the band wanted a crowd shot at the end of their set. “ I dunno” said Nick, “depends how we go down.” Well, after just one song it was clear to me that a crowd shot from the drum riser was definitely going to happen and I clearly didn’t need to wait for any signal from the singer to take my mark.

This final shot says it all. Vega played against some of the best bands in the world that day and packed out their stage. The sun was shining, Whitesnake were playing on the Main Stage, Opeth just next door yet Vega pulled in a packed audience to their indoor stage with no room to spare.

Look out for their new album coming in 2020, the photoshoot for it is booked and I’m ready to tour again when they are (perhaps this time I won’t break my knee…but that’s another story)!

Vega with a few thousand of their closest friends.