You have read the ‘listener’ version, now see what the ’station’ thought!

Friday saw stellar performances from the likes of Tyketto, Killswitch Engage, Bullet for My Valentine, Coheed and Cambria, plus Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. Backstage in the press area, we were treated to rubber-wearing wrestlers, ice cold refreshments and some welcome shade from the sun. However, despite best efforts from TV, radio and newspaper journalists, not one of us could persuade Them Crooked Vultures to venture out into the media pen before they hit the main stage that evening. Their performance more than made up for it, even though there were grumblings in the crowd that this was too obscure to be a ‘festival’ band. Not surprisingly, Josh Homme, John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl were unfazed, played as fast and tight as ever and looked as though they were having the time of their lives.

Looming in the shadows all day had been the Friday headliners’ specially built set, directly next to the main Maurice Jones stage. Having them side by side looked mighty strange, but the crowd obediently (albeit it somewhat bizarrely) shuffled to the left in anticipation of the mighty AC/DC. It mattered little once the band (literally) came crashing onstage. With a similar set to the ‘Black Ice’ tour including the gargantuan train wreck at the start, Donington shook once more to the rhythm of Angus Young’s powerhouse riffs. A truly memorable rock moment, ACDC back on the hallowed turf where they have always belonged.

Saturday brought heavier sounds to the fore with the likes of Deftones and Megadeth but classic rockers Y&T were also on form, as were Skin, Michael Monroe and Enuff Z’Nuff. Bruce Dickinson’s son Austin opened the Ronnie James Dio stage with his band Rise to Remain and showed a lunchtime crowd that a chip off the old block was no bad thing. A spine-chillingly awesome set from Rage Against the Machine set the standard for Sunday ’s headliners, Aerosmith. In the real world the two couldn’t be more different but at Donington, the broad church of rock is more apparent than ever.

After a backstage post-gig-party with much dancing on tables to the likes of Guns n’ Roses, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen, Sunday’s hangover was soon eased off with the glorious sunshine and even better musical prospects. Saxon kicked it all off at lunchtime and the rather bizarre memory of interviewing Slash backstage to the strains of ‘Wheels of Steel’ will probably stay with me forever.

The sun was still beating down when Slash took to the stage with vocalist Myles Kennedy. A truly great set, with a mix of GnR, Velvet Revolver and Slash solo stuff, Kennedy managed to win over the festival crowd in record time. Lemmy guested on vocals to perform his track from Slash’s album but it was Slash and Kennedy’s rendition of ‘Paradise City’ that got the biggest crowd roar of the day.

A welcome return for Cinderella meant that they just about dodged the rain but soon after, the heavens opened and any thoughts of dry festival were well and truly squelched. Airbourne’s frontman terrified even the hardest rocker by clambering to the top of the rigging, guitar-in-hand. True to form, Lemmy didn’t care about the rain either and Motorhead carried regardless as did Billy Idol. If the crowd had any hopes of the downpour easing up for the next band, Stone Temple Pilots, they couldn’t have been more wrong. Fortunately for them, frontman Scott Weiland took it as some sort of challenge and upped his ante for a set which did everything to confirm that STP are firmly back in the game.

By the time Aerosmith were due, the rain had eased but the resulting mudbath put paid to any thoughts of Steven Tyler serenading the sunset. Fortunately, it didn’t matter. Resplendent in gold sequins and leather, the Toxic Twins were back and hell, did they let Donington know it. Tearing into ‘Love In An Elevator’ as an opener, any evidence of last year’s alleged spat between Perry and Tyler was gone. The pair shared the mic and the licks just the way they always did. A glorious end to a massive 30th birthday for Donington.

* Original piece appears on www.planetrock.com