Download Festival
Genre	Heavy metal, rock, punk rock, alternative rock
Dates	May / June (2003), June (2004 – present)
Location(s)	Near Donington Park, Derbyshire, England, UK
Years active	2003 – present
Website	www.downloadfestival.co.uk

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2020 Poster; Stages; Main Stage. Second Stage. The Avalanche Stage hosted by Kerrang! Split the cost of your Download 2020 ticket with our Instalment Plan Posted:11 09 2019. Download Festival is a mammoth five day rock event. Jun 16, 2019 Download Festival UK 2019 Book tickets. Jun 14 - Jun 16 2019. Leicestershire, England (Donington Park) £220.00 (GA) Official Website. Download Festival is a British rock festival.

Download Festival is a British rock festival, held annually at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England, since 2003, in Paris, France since 2016 and Parramatta Park, Sydney since 2019 & Flemington Racecourse Melbourne Australia since 2018. It is the most popular British summer rock and heavy metal festival and has hosted some of the genre's biggest names, including Saxon, Black Sabbath, Slipknot, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Korn, Soundgarden, Motörhead, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Kiss, Judas Priest, Status Quo, Mötley Crüe, Journey, ZZ Top, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Faith No More and Guns N' Roses. The 2015 festival featured massive technological surveillance by police in conjunction with festival organisers Live Nation UK. RFID wristbands and facial recognition technology were used to compare visual scans of attendees against a European criminal database.^[1]

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History[edit]

The Download Festival was conceived as a follow up to the Monsters of Rock festivals which had been held at the Donington Park circuit between 1980 and 1996. The first Download Festival was created by Stuart Galbraith, Tom Pyke and Andy Copping in 2003 in the same location.^[2]^[3]^[4] Rather than run as a single day event Download was initially a two-day event, expanding to three days in 2005.

The name Download was chosen for the festival for two reasons. Downloading was a dirty word in the music industry at the time, due to file sharing, and rock is seen as a rebellious genre of music. Also Download was to be a Monsters of Rock for the 21st century and the internet would provide connectivity with its audience.

The 2003 festival tickets had a code on them, which would allow festival goers to download tracks from bands which had played. Although this idea has been dropped in subsequent years, the festival organisers have nurtured an online community through the Download Festival Forums. Initially a sounding board for the fans (and critics) of the festival, the boards have become an integral part of the festival organisation with regular contributions from Festival Director John Probyn and Promoter Andy Copping. The forums also provide face to face feedback through the Fan Forum meetings (started in 2006) and organise the Boardie BBQ (2006 on) and the Boardie Takeover night (2009), football tournaments and a pub quiz for the R.I.P. campers who arrive on a Wednesday night.

When Download began, it took place on the Donington Park circuit infield as had Monsters of Rock. However in 2008 developments for Formula One meant that the infield was no longer suitable as a festival site. 2008 saw a move to the 'Sunday Markets' site to the west of the circuit. Although adequate, numbers were limited and the location of the campsite meant that getting from tents to the arena was quite a hike. 2009 saw the arena move to a much more suitable location to the south of the circuit and has remained there every year since.Security for the festival has constantly been undertaken by professional crowd management specialists Showsec, although the campsite area has had various contractors throughout.

Since 2009 there has been on-site radio broadcasting from Rock Radio on 87.7FM. This RSL broadcast has aired music from festival bands, interviews and news to the festival site and the surrounding area, with the signal reaching as far as Nottingham.

The Download Dog[edit]

The Download Dog is the official mascot of the Download Festival,^[5] and appears on a wide range of material related to the festival, such as tickets, stage banners and merchandise.

2003[edit]

The first Download was held on 31 May – 1 June 2003. The original headliners were Iron Maiden and Limp Bizkit, although the latter pulled out and were replaced by Audioslave. Metallica attempted to step in as headliners, but were unable to do so, owing to headlining that year's Reading and Leeds Festivals. Instead, having performed an exclusive club show in London the night before, they played an unannounced 'secret slot' in the afternoon on the second stage, with no soundcheck. 'Sunday belonged to Metallica,' wrote Mick Middles in Classic Rock. 'At 3.15 the band were fired into the heart of the festival. Before me, a nonplussed, earplugged infant was held aloft. Somehow it seemed historical. Debuting selections from St. Anger, Metallica swept into a 90-minute frenzy so irresistible that even the Hells Angels were seen clapping in wholehearted appreciation at the end. The coup was complete.'^[6]

Chevelle were scheduled to play the Scuzz stage on Sunday but pulled out at the last minute. Instruction, playing their second set of the festival, stepped in as the replacements.

Main Stage	Scuzz Stage
Saturday 31 May
Iron Maiden Marilyn Manson Deftones Ministry InMe Murderdolls Amen Funeral for a Friend Stampin' Ground Shadows Fall Murder One	A Reel Big Fish Taproot Sepultura Reef HIM SOiL The Hellacopters SikTh 3 Colours Red From Autumn to Ashes QueenAdreena Violent Delight Arch Enemy Chimaira

Main Stage	Scuzz Stage
Sunday 1 June
Audioslave Zwan Flint Apocalyptica Less Than Jake Disturbed Stone Sour Evanescence Mudvayne Spineshank The Darkness One Minute Silence Raging Speedhorn Instruction	NOFX Boysetsfire The Bouncing Souls Strung Out Thrice Spunge T.S.O.L. The Real McKenzies Metallica The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster Brand New Instruction Beatsteaks Randy Fabulous Disaster

2004[edit]

The 2004 edition of the festival was held on 5–6 June. Another stage was added to the festival, bringing the total to three. Seventy-two bands played over the two days. The 2004 event was also notable for several last minute hitches. First, SOiL got lost on the way to Donington and missed their main stage appearance on Saturday (they later joined Drowning Pool on stage to perform Drowning Pool's 'Bodies' and their own song 'Halo'). Static-X missed their slot due to a bus breakdown. On Sunday, Slayer arrived on time, but their equipment did not, leading to a slot change from the middle of the afternoon on the main stage to a later slot (and longer set) on the second stage. Slayer were replaced on the main stage by Damageplan, who were scheduled to play the second stage. Their setlist ended with a rendition of Damageplan founders Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell's most recognisable song from Pantera, 'Walk.'

The biggest news came from the headl

Download Festival Lineup