Download Festival has produced plenty of unforgettable moments over the years, but one festival-goer managed to become part of internet folklore for a reason nobody had on their Donington bingo card โ after being caught having sex on the festival Ferris wheel.
Download Festival.
Home of enormous riffs, ridiculous campsite stories, questionable nutritional choices and, apparently, the occasional very adult ride on the big wheel.
A festival-goer named Innes Miller, a 33-year-old civil engineering student from Nottinghamshire, discovered that footage of his particularly memorable trip around Downloadโs Ferris wheel had gone viral in perhaps the most awkward way imaginable:
His boss phoned him.
According to Miller, he knew absolutely nothing about the clip spreading around the internet until that conversation.
Imagine answering the phone expecting:
โCan you cover Monday?โ
And instead hearing:
โYouโre all over the internet.โ
Lovely.
๐ก What Happens At Download Apparently Does Not Stay At Download
Miller had been spending three days with friends at Download Festival near Castle Donington when the incident happened.
During the Saturday of the festival, he met a woman and the pair eventually ended up aboard the siteโs Ferris wheel.
And, wellโฆ
They didnโt spend the entire ride admiring the view.
The incident reportedly happened during the daytime, meaning plenty of festival-goers below were able to see considerably more than the usual panoramic view of Donington Park.
Phones inevitably came out.
The footage spread.
And before long, one manโs festival weekend had become everybody elseโs social-media entertainment.
This is why we keep telling you:
There is no privacy on a festival Ferris wheel.
It is literally suspended in the sky.
๐ฑ Then The Internet Did Its Thing
Once footage appeared online, things moved quickly.
Because naturally they did.
Festival clips have an extraordinary ability to travel.
Somebody falls into the mud?
Viral.
Somebody crowd-surfs dressed as a giant banana?
Viral.
Somebody attempts something extremely intimate several metres above one of Britainโs biggest rock festivals?
Oh mate.
You are absolutely finished.
The footage racked up attention across social media, accompanied by the mixture of disbelief, jokes and โonly at Downloadโ commentary youโd probably expect.
Meanwhile, Miller was apparently going about his life unaware that half the internet had already seen the story.
Until the boss called.
๐ โYouโre All Over The Internetโ
There are sentences you want to hear from your employer.
โYouโre getting a pay rise.โ
Excellent.
โTake Friday off.โ
Beautiful.
โYouโre all over the internet.โ
That one requires context.
Quickly.
Miller has since spoken publicly about the incident and appeared fairly relaxed about becoming one of Download Festivalโs more unexpected viral characters.
Which, to be fair, is probably the only way you can handle something like this.
Once thousands of strangers have already seen it, hiding behind the sofa isnโt going to achieve much.
๐ท And Then Came The Fine
The viral encounter reportedly resulted in an ยฃ80 fine.
Naturally, the internet immediately noticed the comedy potential.
Comments joking that ยฃ80 was โcheap for two ridesโ were never going to be far behind.
Weโre not endorsing that line.
We are merely acknowledging that Britain remains constitutionally incapable of seeing a bizarre news story without immediately turning it into a pub joke.
Itโs one of our few remaining national industries.
๐ค Download Festival Produces Stories You Simply Donโt Get Elsewhere
Anyone whoโs spent a full weekend at Download will know the festival exists in its own little universe.
For several days, normal rules seem to disappear.
You eat chips for breakfast.
You willingly spend ยฃ8 on something described loosely as coffee.
You walk approximately seventeen miles because somebody said:
โItโs only five minutes to the other stage.โ
You witness somebody dressed as Jesus crowdsurfing during Slayer.
And by Sunday evening, everybody smells like wet denim and poor decisions.
But even by Download standards?
This story is impressive.
๐ช The Ferris Wheel Is Usually One Of The Calmer Attractions
The big wheel has become a familiar feature at major festivals.
It gives punters a chance to escape the chaos for a few minutes, take in the view and admire the enormous scale of the festival site from above.
Lovely.
Peaceful.
Almost romantic.
Apparently too romantic, in this particular case.
Anyone boarding it from now on is inevitably going to hear somebody in the queue make that joke.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Well done, lads.
Youโve changed the Download Ferris wheel forever.
๐ธ Festival Life In The Smartphone Era
There is another lesson buried underneath all the comedy.
At a modern festival, practically everything happens on camera.
Thousands of people are carrying smartphones.
People film bands.
They film campsites.
They film queues.
They film strangers falling over.
And if something spectacularly unusual happens somewhere extremely visible?
Someone will record it.
Probably several people.
So perhaps the traditional phrase:
โWhat happens at Download stays at Downloadโ
needs updating.
Maybe:
โWhat happens at Download will be on Facebook before youโve reached the next stage.โ
More accurate.
๐ธ From Metallica To Ferris Wheel Infamy
Download Festival has produced some monumental moments over the years.
Legendary headline performances.
Historic reunions.
Bands playing through storms.
Massive pits.
Surprise appearances.
And now we can apparently add:
โBloke discovers his Ferris wheel escapade went viral because his boss rang him.โ
Rock history comes in many forms.
Not all of them involve guitars.
๐บ Imagine Explaining This One Back At Work
This might be the funniest part.
Because once your employer knows, the story is never truly going away.
Monday morning.
Kitchen.
Someone making tea.
Awkward silence.
Then eventually:
โSoโฆ
Good weekend?โ
Absolutely devastating.
And you just know somebody in that workplace has already renamed the WhatsApp group.
There is no recovery from this.
๐ค THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
Download Festival has always been about creating memories.
Some people remember seeing their favourite band.
Some remember meeting lifelong friends.
Some remember their first proper mosh pit.
And one bloke will forever remember being told by his boss that the entire internet had seen what he got up to on the Ferris wheel.
Beautiful.
The story has everything.
Download.
A big wheel.
Social-media chaos.
An ยฃ80 fine.
And an unbelievably awkward phone call from work.
Would we recommend trying to recreate it?
Absolutely bloody not.
There are thousands of phones on that festival site.
And gravity isnโt your only problem.
Still, congratulations to Download Festival for once again proving that the entertainment doesnโt necessarily stop when you leave the arena.
See you at Donington. Weโll be taking the stairs. ๐ก๐ฅ๐ค
