It’s turned out to be quite a splendid week for Machine Head fans. A warm-up gig under the old cover name Ten Ton Hammer has just gone down in London (maybe the internet has robbed secret gigs of a little mystique these days) all in preparation for Machine Head’s long awaited return to Donington. After a controversy filled Sonisphere show back in 2009, the Oakland metallers are back where they really belong this weekend. YES, at the side of an old run-down race track in the Midlands otherwise known as the Download Festival.

Download is in its 10^th year now and Machine Head have bagged their highest ever slot on the bill. Friday night, 3rd slot on the line-up is a well-deserved place for the band and will be many Festival goers highlight of the whole weekend. Machine Head have always enjoyed an electric reception at Download. I’ve seen them very time they’ve been there and I’m as excited to see them now as I’ve ever been.

A lot of fans wanted to see the band headline Download this year and there was a sizeable campaign to try and get this sorted. In the end a 3^rd place slot was handed to the band but you can bet that Machine head will get the biggest reception of the day on the main stage.

Of course all this hope of a headline set has now been rewarded. Not at Download as first hoped for but just down the road at Bloodstock Festival. Machine Head have just been confirmed as the Saturday headliners at the festival, their debut headline festival slot in the UK. What’s more as it’s the band’s 20th Anniversary they will be playing a ‘Burn My Eyes’ set and giving fans the chance to pick which songs are included!

This has prompted my house to go into a bit of a Machine Head appreciation week (my wife seems strangely unmoved by proceedings so it’s just me and a few cans of beer really) and I’m counting down the hours until I can put my wellingtons on and step on the sacred Donington ground this weekend. Then I can do it all again at Catton Hall in ‘Sunny August’ *crosses fingers.

This duo of shows is really the icing on the cake for a band that has battled hard to get back to the top of their game after years in the wilderness in the middle of their career. The band now has a back catalogue stronger than half the past Download headliners and enough crazy fans to greet them every time they step onstage. Hopefully this is the first step to legendary status for Robb Flynn and Machine Head!

Two festival spots for Machine Head this year then?

Cheers!

Rob W