Who else could provide the climax for Download 2007 better than kings of metal Iron Maiden? These guys can show us all how it's done, how to put on a huge fucking performance. You want long-haired guitarists with their foot on the monitor and rocking out? You want a showman bouncing around the set and having the crowd hang on his every word? You want ghoulish looking backdrops and smoke and lights and the whole shebang? Give Bruce and co. a call.

A few songs in, Bruce Dickinson asks the crowd if they’ve been drinking much and not paying attention to the “nanny-state” telling them how to. Hmm, odd political outburst aside, he then gets on to some good old rock bitching. I’m not sure, but it certainly included the words “egg-throwing”, “wankers” and “Sharon Osbourne”. Get him.

The band proceeded to play a crowd-pleasing set, including costume changes and various backdrops of Eddie as his current incarnation as a World War II soldier. ’Fear of the Dark’ saw the obligatory Bruce to crowd refrain and ’Run To The Hills’ was being sung along to right to the back of the crowd.

And then there was the Tank. So, it rose up out of the darkness from the back of the stage and turned to the crowd. Eddie appeared from the top and stared out at us with those crazy eyes. You don’t get that with Pigeon Detectives.

They played:

'Different World'
'These Colours Don’t Run'
'Brighter Than a Thousand Suns'
'Wrath Child'
'The Trooper'
'Children Of The Damned'
'The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg'
'For the Greater Good Of God'
'Number Of The Beast'
'Fear Of The Dark'
'Run To The Hills'
'Iron Maiden'
'Two Minutes To Midnight'
'The Evil That Men Do'
'Hallowed Be Thy Name'

Oh, Amy Lee, the hiring and firing first lady of opera metal. We do worry about you. First off, because you appear to be singing in a foreign language. Was it Latin? Was it Elvish? Many of the songs seemed to merge in to one big sweeping theatrical blur. Secondly, the announcement that "Thanks you guys, you're all we live for" is putting her life on the line somewhat. She spent much of the performance defending her and her band's right to be playing at Download, as the threat and rumour of getting a bottling was in the air. You can watch Amy's thoughts on the whole bottling issue over on the main Download Blog.

Amy's defensive mood continued with making excuses for the grand piano. I guess the grand piano isn't much of a rock instrument is it? You can't air piano can you?

Best Song: 'Call Me When You're Sober'
Best Moment: The tirade!

A lot of people really really like Killswitch Engage. So in the late afternoon sunshine at Download the kids are going crazy for them. Why wouldn't they? Killswitch have crazy dirty riffage giving the dictionary definition of squealing harmonics and brain-boggling drumfills. That and Howard Jones can really fucking wail. He asks if anyone is thirsty and the kids in the pit let him know they are. "Well perhaps you should buy some water... Just saying". Chuggarific metal and health tips. What more can we ask?

Best song: 'Bid Farewell'
Best moment: The sun finally emerging from the clouds

Stone Sour, the side-project of Slipknot's Corey Taylor, are probably most well known for their mega hit 'Bother' from the Spiderman soundtrack. Unless I zoned out into a heavy metal induced coma momentarily, said song was noticably absent from their set. If that is all you know about this band, you might be led to believe all their songs follow a similiar balled Nickelback-style theme. Not so. Step closer to the speakers mother-fucker, because in actual fact Stone Sour play hard as nails melodic rock. Added to which, Corey Taylor is probably the rock star with the most sense of humour there has been all day. "Everyone go heeeeey!", he says and the crowd obliges. "Everyone go wooooo!" he says going slightly higher, again the crowd comply. "Everyone go oooooooo!" he cries in falsetto, and - you guessed it - the crowd follow suit. Corey's response? "You guys a bunch of fucking dorks!"

Best song: 'Reborn'
Best moment: A ginger calling us all dorks.

For those of you who missed church this morning, we can make up for it by worshipping at the alter of Lamb of God. These lot play righteous epic metal with lyrics awash with biblical imagery. Lamb of God's main man Randy Blythe declares that "Metal is back and metal is here to stay" and encourages the crowd to raise their hands in a devil horn salute to all the hard working guys and gals who make everything here at Download run so smoothly, dedicating 'Walk With Me In Hell'. His wife gets the biggest shout out, however, as he dedicates 'Now You've Got Something' to her describing it has their "happy emo singalong". Bless.

Best song: 'Redneck'
Best moment: A sea of devil horns

As I'm approaching the stage, I can hear the noise of something resembling a whale. Oh no, it's Mastodon who are FUCKING IMMENSE. No messing around here, this band makes a noise that never ever relents. They are definitely at the artier end of the metal market, with more in common with the likes of Tool than any of the younger metal bands with a tendency to rap and whine about their parents. Oh yes, this is music for guys with bellies and big bushy beards who take no crap. And did you know Mastodon means 'nipple teeth'? Every day is a school day, even at Download!

Best song:Colony of Birchman
Best moment: The NOISE