User:Hevs/sandbox

The Boardie Takeover began in 2009 and was the creation of Phil Hull and Carrie Simpson, who were at that time, admins on the Download Forums. The team were advised there was a 5 hour slot free in the Doghouse Stage, located in the Village on the Thursday night of Download Festival, and were asked to find a community activity to fill the time up in order to entertain campers attending and camping at the festival. Phil and Carrie came up with the idea of using the stage to showcase the talents of the "boardies" (people who frequent the forums) and set about asking for people to volunteer. Live Nation provided the stage, backline and lighting as well as sound engineers and of course, the audience.

2009

The first year saw Carrie and Phil reach out to the Boardies to ask if anyone had any particular talents they would bring to the stage. They had a good response and the Thursday night saw. Four bands, three DJ's: Cyst, Dave KC and Gabber Fox, solo singers Hevs and TonsO'Fun, a stand-up and a burlesque dancer – all members of the Download Festival Forums. The bands playing were Scumface (returning after a successful appearance at the Boardie BBQ in 2007), Orestea, Echovirus and headliners, Silent Descent.

2010

The Boardie Takeover ran for the second year in a row on Thursday 10 June. It featured the return of Silent Descent, and brought bands Fallen Fate, Jacknife Holiday and Cyster Scalpel, as well as singers, DJs and a burlesque dancer.

2011

The third year of the Boardie Takeover saw a little more attention from bands on the rock/metal circuit who recognised this as an opportunity to play Download Festival. With their years of experience working in the business, bands started approaching Carrie and Phil from outside the forums to ask for an opportunity to play. As they team were limited to how many bands they could source from the forums, they invited some bands to play. This years acts consisted of only 4 bands instead of a mix of acts. The bands were given longer set times this year and 2011 also saw the opportunity for a photographer and review team to be put together from the forums with their work being published on the main Download Festival website. The photographer for this year was Hevs (a member of the forums who had previously performed in 2009) and Milly Youngman who reviewed the entire set