Download Festival

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

Download Festival is a British rock festival, held annually at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England, since 2003. It is the most popular British summer rock and heavy metal festival and has hosted some of the genres' biggest names, including Saxon, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Kiss, Judas Priest, Status Quo, Motley Crue, Journey, ZZ Top, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, and Guns N' Roses. The 2015 festival featured massive technological surveillance by police in conjunction with festival organizers Live Nation UK. RFID wristbands and facial recognition technology was used to compare visual scans of attendees against a European criminal database.^[1]

History

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 organizers 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 organization 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 festival move to a much more suitable location to the south of the circuit. 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

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

The first Download Festival was held on 31 May – 1 June 2003. The headliners were originally Iron Maiden and Limp Bizkit, although Limp Bizkit pulled out and were replaced by Audioslave. Metallica attempted to step in as headliners, but were unable due to already being headliners at that year's Reading and Leeds Festivals. Instead, they played an unannounced "secret slot" in the afternoon on the second stage, with no sound check and after playing an exclusive club show in London the night before. 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.

Saturday 31 May
Main Stage	Scuzz Stage
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

Sunday 1 June
Main Stage	Scuzz Stage
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

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 headliners Metallica, when Lars Ulrich was rushed to hospital.^[6] Taking to the stage an hour and a half late, James Hetfield explained the situation with Ulrich and the show then began with Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo playing on "Battery" and "The Four Horsemen." Slipknot's Joey Jordison played the rest of the set apart from Fade to Black which was played by Metallica's drum technician, Flemming Larsen.

The full line-up included:

Saturday 5 June
Main Stage	Snickers "Game On" Stage	Barfly Stage
Linkin Park Sum 41 Iggy and The Stooges The Hives The Distillers Cradle of Filth Monster Magnet Opeth The Dillinger Escape Plan	Pennywise Electric Six Wildboyz Arch Enemy Biffy Clyro Idiot Pilot Million Dead Instruction 36 Crazyfists Akercocke Viking Skull Powder The Bled	Peaches International Noise Conspiracy Ikara Colt thisGirl Roxy Saint The Glitterati Surferosa Burst Lowfive Yourcodenameis:Milo Bullet for My Valentine The Holiday Plan Hiding Place Fireapple Red

Sunday 6 June
Main Stage	Snickers "Game On" Stage	Barfly Stage
Metallica Korn Slipknot Machine Head Damageplan Soulfly Ill Niño Turbonegro Breed 77	HIM Bowling for Soup Taking Back Sunday Slayer Life of Agony Brides of Destruction Drowning Pool Hatebreed Hoobastank Trapt Silvertide Ricky Warwick Terra Diablo	Suicide Girls Young Heart Attack Span The Sounds Dirty Americans Recover Amplifier Do Me Bad Things Danko Jones The Black Dahlia Murder Mooney Suzuki Gonga Despised Icon Hurricane Party Planet of Women

Scotland

In June 2004 a two-day Download Festival was held on Glasgow Green, several days before the Donington event. This had a limited line up with only nine bands performing over a two-day period. The bands which did play included the headliners, Metallica and Linkin Park. Download Scotland also saw an appearance from the Welsh rock band Lostprophets who did not perform at Donington.

Acts which also appeared over the two days at Download Scotland were Korn, Slipknot, Iggy and The Stooges, Machine Head, The Distillers and HIM.

The running order went as follows:

Wednesday 2 June	Thursday 3 June
Metallica Slipknot Korn HIM	Linkin Park Lostprophets Iggy and The Stooges The Distillers Machine Head

2005

Download 2005 was held again at Donington Park, on 10–12 June 2005. This festival was different from previous years as the Saturday was officially dubbed Ozzfest 2005, as well as an "Indie day" on the first day of the festival.

Billy Idol performed on the Snickers stage on the Friday night, his first UK gig after a lengthy hiatus, performing songs such as White Wedding, Rebel Yell and a cover version of Van Halen's anthem, Jump.

Feeder's frontman Grant Nicholas was so relieved the band had won the crowd over (there were concerns that they would be received badly by the traditional attendee to the festival), he decided to smash his green Fender Jazzmaster guitar after "Descend" was performed. He later said that he regretted it, but also said he kept the neck and the tremeloes, and might use what was left to make a new guitar. In a July 2010 interview with Kerrang!, it was suggested to Nicholas that he destroyed the guitar as he was frustrated at trying to win the crowd over, as their music was different from the Download demographic, but claimed himself in reply to this that he "Wanted to do the most rock and roll thing after eventually winning over the crowd". In the same interview, Nicholas said that they were "guinea pigs" at the festival as part of the organisers experiment to make it an alternative festival, but said it was a moment of the band's career he is still proud of.

Lemmy also took to the stage, with former MC5 members, and Gilby Clarke, to perform Back in the USA.

Initially, Bert McCracken of The Used and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance were asked to perform their cover of Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie, but the former friends refused the offer to perform the cover as they had recently fallen out.

The official line-up included:

Friday 10 June[7]
Main Stage	Snickers Stage	Napster Stage	Snickers Bowl Stage
Feeder Garbage Dinosaur Jr Megadeth Biffy Clyro The Others JJ72 Idiot Pilot Wednesday 13 Queen Adreena	Billy Idol The Used My Chemical Romance InMe The Bled Apocalyptica Underøath Lordi Fozzy Flogging Molly	Napalm Death Raging Speedhorn Paradise Lost A Change of Pace Hurricane Party Tokyo Dragons Colour of Fire Slunt Just a Word Crashdiet Planet of Women	Tat Ellis The Mascara Story

Saturday 11 June[7]
Main Stage	Snickers Stage	Napster Stage	Snickers Bowl Stage
Black Sabbath Velvet Revolver HIM Anthrax Alter Bridge Bowling for Soup A The Mad Capsule Markets The Dwarves Trivium	In Flames Chimaira Lamb of God Bullet for My Valentine Meshuggah Unearth Every Time I Die Open Hand American Head Charge The Hurt Process Hondo Maclean Three Children Of Fortune	Helmet The Lucky Nine Breed 77 The Explosion Towers of London Johnny Truant The Ga Ga's The Answer Panic Cell Crucified Barbara Diamond Nights Quit Your Dayjob City on Fire S.A. Sanctuary	Reuben Days Of Worth Fastlane

Sunday 12 June[7]
Main Stage	Snickers Stage	Napster Stage	Snickers Bowl Stage
System of a Down Slipknot Slayer Nightwish Killswitch Engage Papa Roach Mudvayne Society 1 DV8	Motörhead DKT/MC5 Funeral for a Friend[8] Lacuna Coil Mastodon Shadows Fall Helmet Caliban As I Lay Dying Gizmachi Send More Paramedics The Mascara Story	Therapy? Team Sleep Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster The Dresden Dolls The Glitterati The Saints Engerica 3 Inches of Blood Still Remains No Hope in New Jersey Acidtone Henry Rollins	Electric Eel Shock The Suffrajets Johnny Panic

2006

The 2006 Download Festival was held at Donington Park, England on 9–11 June. The headlining acts (Tool, Metallica and Guns N' Roses) have sales of approximately 200–250 million albums between them, more than the entire line up of 2006's V Festival.

2006 was the first time the festival was mirrored in the Republic of Ireland, as Download Festival Ireland. 2006 was also by far the warmest year download has ever had.

During the festival Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis was rushed to hospital.^[9] Similar to 2004's Metallica set, Munky, Fieldy and David Silveria arrived and explained to the fans why Davis could not make it and played with guest vocalists Corey Taylor from Slipknot, Dez Fafara from DevilDriver, Jesse Hasek from 10 Years, Benji Webbe from Skindred, M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold, and Matt Heafy from Trivium. Lyrics from the song "Blind" were displayed on the screen for Matt Heafy. Metallica played the album Master of Puppets in its entirety in honour of its twentieth anniversary. Guns N' Roses also performed material from the long forthcoming Chinese Democracy album.

Main Stage The main stage was situated in the centre of the arena with crowd control moving around it, and was the largest of all three stages, the safety barriers used at this stage were in a T shape so as to avoid crowd crush in the middle. The stage was open-air and named in honour of the 25th anniversary of Kerrang! magazine. Down played an unannounced set on Saturday (With the laminates showing ??? in their time slot); opening up the Main Stage.^[10]

Snickers Stage The Snickers Stage was situated in a tent, behind the main stage and was the second largest stage at the festival. Access to the stage was via a one-way system which attempted to spread people around the site, rather than all attempting to push through a rather small space.

Soilwork were scheduled to play on Sunday, but were replaced by DevilDriver (playing their second set of the festival).^[11]

Gibson/Myspace Stage The Myspace stage was the smallest of the three and under a smaller tent. It was positioned across from the front of the main stage.

Friday 9 June[12]
Main Stage	Snickers Stage	Gibson/Myspace Stage	Snickers Bowl Stage
Tool Deftones Coheed and Cambria Soulfly Strapping Young Lad Soil Wicked Wisdom Amplifier	The All-American Rejects Atreyu InMe Clutch Fishbone Dredg Bleeding Through Gojira Throwdown Suns of the Tundra	Ginger & The Sonic Circus Backyard Babies Cathedral Engerica Bullets & Octane My Awesome Compilation Animal Alpha The Audition Art of Dying Enter Shikari Kitty Hudson	Gay for Johnny Depp Keiko SinTuition

Saturday 10 June[12]
Main Stage	Snickers Stage	Gibson/Myspace Stage	Snickers Bowl Stage
Metallica Korn Trivium Avenged Sevenfold Stone Sour Alice in Chains Arch Enemy Bloodsimple Satyricon Down	Alter Bridge Opeth Within Temptation Secret Machines Billy Talent Henry Rollins DevilDriver SikTh Johnny Truant Khoma	Killing Joke Reuben Mondo Generator Louie This Is Menace 10 Years Flyleaf Manic It Dies Today Living Things Exit Ten Colon Open Bracket Stonegard My Alamo	Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly getAmped The Hedrons

Sunday 11 June[12]
Main Stage	Snickers Stage	Gibson/Myspace Stage	Snickers Bowl Stage
Guns N' Roses Funeral for a Friend Bullet for My Valentine Cradle of Filth Lacuna Coil In Flames 36 Crazyfists DragonForce Hatebreed Breed 77	The Prodigy Alexisonfire Eighteen Visions Hundred Reasons Aiden Fightstar From First to Last DevilDriver Zebrahead God Forbid	Sick of it All Lordi Skindred Moneen Darkest Hour Blindside Mendeed Bring Me the Horizon Zico Chain Voodoo Six Lauren Harris Winterville Streetlight Youth I-Def-I	Viking Skull Betty Curse Evergrey

Controversy

During the Sunday headline set of Guns N' Roses, bottles were thrown at the band. This caused problems after the band's lead singer, Axl Rose, slipped on the wet surface and a bottle hit bassist Tommy Stinson. Stinson threw his bass, hitting one of the cameramen, and left the stage. He returned after the song and apologised, but warned the crowd that if this activity continued, he would leave for good. There were some disturbances but they eventually died down, and later in the set Rose commented "I'm actually having quite a good time now! I couldn't have said that an hour ago!"^[13]

On the final night, fires were started by some festival goers and police were called, arresting twelve people.^[14] At around 4 am, the fire brigade arrived to put out a large fire at the gold campsite. A number of people had taken the railings that had been used to separate the campsite area from the path and used them to barricade the road to prevent the fire engines from reaching the main fire. At this point a number of police assembled in riot gear stormed the campsite. The festival director, John Probyn, posted a message on the official website stating that "About 150 people spoiled the end of what had been a great weekend for over 75,000 of us."^[15]

2007

The 2007 Download Festival took place on 8–10 June 2007.^[16]

The three bands that headlined the 2007 festival were My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park and Iron Maiden. Korn's Jonathan Davis stated that the reason for the band returning this year was because of his absence due to illness last year. He stated on the official Download Festival website, "I am so looking forward to coming to the Download Festival this year. I was heartbroken to pull out last time. So this time I am very happy to be coming back and we promise to rock the place! I will definitely make-up for missing the last one. You can expect an amazing Korn show!"^[17]

Download 2007 was Dimmu Borgir's first ever festival appearance in England. Hardcore Superstar pulled out of their slot on the Tuborg stage on the Sunday because their tour bus broke down in Germany. Download 2007 featured an Indian band Parikrama. They became the first band from India to make it to Donington.

Download 2007 also featured the first band to officially perform on the Thursday of the festival. Scumface played on the Tuborg Stage during the boardie barbecue.^[18]

Lamb of God's DVD Walk With Me in Hell features the band's full performance at the festival.^[19]

Friday 8 June[20]
Main Stage	Dimebag Darrell Stage	Tuborg Stage
My Chemical Romance Velvet Revolver Wolfmother DragonForce Megadeth Hinder Buckcherry Zico Chain	Korn Enter Shikari Paramore Porcupine Tree Saosin From Autumn to Ashes Turbonegro Ill Niño ANJ	Suicidal Tendencies Hayseed Dixie Yourcodenameis:Milo Job for a Cowboy The Hedrons Sanctity I Was a Cub Scout The Scare Neurosonic This Et Al Cynic Fortune Drive Drive-by Argument

Saturday 9 June[20]
Main Stage	Dimebag Darrell Stage	Tuborg Stage
Linkin Park Marilyn Manson Slayer Machine Head Bowling for Soup Thirty Seconds to Mars Aiden Shadows Fall Hellyeah Turisas	Mötley Crüe Satellite Party Biffy Clyro My Vitriol My Dying Bride Gallows Anathema As I Lay Dying Bring Me the Horizon Bloodsimple Elliot Minor Cat the Dog S.A. Sanctuary	Head Automatica Necro The Answer Silverstein Lez Zeppelin Architects Priestess Panic Cell Beyond All Reason My Alamo Damone Army of Freshmen Malpractice

Sunday 10 June[20]
Main Stage	Dimebag Darrell Stage	Tuborg Stage
Iron Maiden Evanescence Killswitch Engage Stone Sour Lamb of God Mastodon Papa Roach Chimaira Reuben Parikrama	Billy Talent Dream Theater Dimmu Borgir Within Temptation Napalm Death Paradise Lost Orange Goblin DevilDriver Unearth Cancer Bats After Forever Eyelash	Reel Big Fish Fastway Cult of Luna Lauren Harris Fair to Midland Kids in Glass Houses Between the Trees Flood of Red Lights. Action! Still Remains In This Moment The Ghost of a Thousand LostAlone

2008

The 2008 Download festival took place on 13–15 June. The 2008 festival had a significantly different layout to that of the previous years in that the festival arena area was situated in land to the west of the race track instead of the traditional venue of the race track infield area. Notable amongst numerous changes is that the second stage became larger and moved from a marquee to an open-air format, located on a tarmac car park.^[21] Chris Cornell was originally scheduled to play the festival, but he cancelled his European tour so he could focus on a new album. Twin Method, and Finger Eleven were announced to play but were removed from the official websites lineup. On the Friday of the festival, Kid Rock was meant to appear between Seether and Disturbed on the Main Stage but pulled out at the last minute. At first it was announced that this was due to illness.^[22] Rock later claimed he left the festival grounds after becoming dissatisfied with the amenities.^[23] But, the following year, Download's booker theorized that it had been due to a broken heart.^[24] Rock's no-show allowed two bands following him on the bill, Disturbed and Judas Priest, to have longer sets.

The 2008 Boardie BBQ took place on the Gibson stage on Thursday 12 June and included a performance by Forever Never.^[25]

Friday 13 June
Main Stage	Tuborg Stage	Gibson Stage
KISS Judas Priest Motörhead Disturbed Seether Beat Union Black Tide	Simple Plan Rise Against Rival Schools The Subways The Fall of Troy Comeback Kid The Black Dahlia Murder Stone Gods Zebrahead	The Dillinger Escape Plan Kill Hannah Slaves to Gravity High on Fire In Case of Fire Blackhole Hostile Firewind Caimbo Rolo Tomassi Lovvers

Saturday 14 June
Main Stage	Tuborg Stage	Gibson Stage
The Offspring Incubus Bullet for My Valentine Biffy Clyro Alter Bridge Madina Lake 36 Crazyfists Job for a Cowboy Skindred Sign	HIM Ash Pendulum Ace Frehley Amon Amarth Bleeding Through Throwdown A Day to Remember The Devil Wears Prada Alesana Annotations of an Autopsy Malefice	Testament Saxon Johnny Truant Fighting With Wire Brigade Army of Freshmen The Haze Big Linda The Last Supper Trigger the Bloodshed Mexicolas Go:Audio Rise to Remain Verra Cruz

Sunday 15 June
Main Stage	Tuborg Stage	Gibson Stage
Lostprophets Jimmy Eat World Coheed and Cambria In Flames Within Temptation Apocalyptica Black Stone Cherry Fightstar From First to Last Glamour of the Kill	Cavalera Conspiracy Children of Bodom The Wildhearts Elliot Minor Kids in Glass Houses Chiodos Airbourne Rose Tattoo Lethal Bizzle Municipal Waste Animal Alpha Cry for Silence	Jonathan Davis and the SFA Valient Thorr Haunts August Burns Red Voodoo Six Between the Buried and Me Ted Maul Canterbury Exit Ten The Galvatrons Sons of Albion Devil Sold His Soul Invasion

^[26]

2009

The 2009 Download Festival took place on 12–14 June at Donington Park with an estimated attendance of 120,000 over 3 days. The arena had once again changed location, this time to an open field area south of the race track which was more suitable and less of a walk from the camping areas than last year.

The headliners were Faith No More (Friday), Slipknot (Saturday) and Def Leppard (Sunday).^[27] A notable feature was that Sunday had a strong classic rock theme on the main stage which attracted many Monsters of Rock festival goers. Other notable performers included Limp Bizkit, who were playing in the UK with their original line-up for the first time since 2001, Trivium returning for their third appearance and first head lining spot, Anvil, the band featured in the 2008 film Anvil! The Story of Anvil, and Steel Panther, who were making their first appearance in the UK on the Tuborg Stage. A fourth stage, the "Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage", also made an appearance at this year's festival. This stage was also present at other UK festivals, such as T in the Park in Balado, Scotland, and the Underage Festival in Victoria Park, London.

The 2009 Boardie BBQ took place in the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage on Thursday 11 June. This year the band was Attica Rage.

The Thursday night of the 2009 festival also saw the Boardie Takeover night. 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 – performed to a full house in the End Tent. These bands were Scumface (returning after a successful appearance at the Boardie BBQ in 2007), Orestea, Echovirus and headliners, Silent Descent.^[28]

On Monday 18 May the festival confirmed on its official website that Camping tickets had completely sold out.^[29]

On 19 May, it was revealed in an interview with Andy Copping on Music Channel Scuzz that there would be secret sets. It was later revealed the bands would be Enter Shikari and Thunder.^[30]

On Wednesday 3 June, one week before the campsite opened, Download released a further 2,500 camping tickets. These limited tickets sold out within 24 hours of being released.

The winners of the "Red Bull Bedroom Jam Competition" was Gravesend-based band After the Ordeal. This set was a 'virtual gig', with the band playing live from their bedroom and this footage being streamed live onto the Main Stage at Download Festival, between Pendulum and Marilyn Manson.

The winners of the "Tuborg Battle of the bands" was Leeds punk band Acid Drop and they opened the Tuborg stage on Saturday 13 June.

The Ghost of a Thousand were scheduled to headline the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage on Saturday but the band cancelled. The Blackout stepped in to play their slot, thus giving them two slots on the festival's bill.

Slipknot's performance is available in their new DVD (sic)nesses. It was released on 28 September 2010 and served as a tribute to their late bassist Paul Gray. It was also Slipknot's last performance in the UK before his death.

Friday 14 June
Main Stage	Second Stage	Tuborg Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage
Faith No More Korn Limp Bizkit Killswitch Engage Billy Talent Staind The Blackout Hollywood Undead	Mötley Crüe Opeth Lacuna Coil Bring Me the Horizon Dir En Grey Parkway Drive A Day to Remember In This Moment Steadlür	Meshuggah Duff McKagan's Loaded Backyard Babies Voivod Enter Shikari Middle Class Rut Lauren Harris Sylosis Bleed from Within Hunting the Minotaur Sleepercurve	Blackhole New Device DissolvedIn Linchpin Don Broco The Outcry Collective White Man Kamikaze Young Guns Tripswitch The Instigators

Saturday 15 June
Main Stage	Second Stage	Tuborg Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage
Slipknot Marilyn Manson Pendulum DragonForce Down Hatebreed DevilDriver Five Finger Death Punch Ripper Owens	The Prodigy Chris Cornell You Me at Six The Answer Static-X Fightstar In Case of Fire Hardcore Superstar Symphony Cult The Crave	Anvil Architects Thunder Lawnmower Deth Man Raze General Fiasco Billy Boy on Poison Loverman S.A. Sanctuary Facecage Black Spiders No Americana Acid Drop	The Blackout This City People in Planes My Passion The Auteur None the Less 13 Riots Forever Never Serpico The Computers Japanese Voyeurs Auger Bane

Sunday 16 June
Main Stage	Second Stage	Tuborg Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage
Def Leppard Whitesnake ZZ Top Dream Theater Journey Black Stone Cherry Skin Tesla Stone Gods	Trivium Papa Roach Buckcherry Clutch Shinedown Volbeat Karma to Burn Sevendust God Forbid Suicide Silence Trigger the Bloodshed Sacred Mother Tongue	Go:Audio Therapy? The 69 Eyes Sabbat Steel Panther Dear Superstar Hexes Hostile esOterica Pulled Apart by Horses Turbowolf Violent Soho Brides	We Are the Ocean Flood of Red Exit Avenue First Strike Twin Atlantic Attack! Attack! Logan Fei Comodo Jettblack Million $ Reload Raucous Jays Fall from Grace

2010

The Download Festival was confirmed to return to Donington on the weekend 11–13 June 2010, the campsites opening on 9 June. On 25 January, nine bands were announced at the official Download website, including AC/DC as one of the main stage headliners.^[31] On 15 February Rage Against the Machine and Aerosmith were confirmed as the other two main stage headliners, as well as 5 more bands confirmed a few hours later.^[32]

Saxon performed their 'Wheels of Steel' album in its entirety to commemorate its 30th anniversary. Download 2010 was also the 30th anniversary of rock festivals at Donington Park, since the first one – which Saxon performed at – in 1980.

It was announced on 16 May that the second stage would be renamed "The Ronnie James Dio Stage" in tribute to the singer who died of stomach cancer on the same day.^[33] It was also announced that the main stage would be called The Maurice Jones Stage after the co-founder of Monsters of Rock who also died the previous year.

28 May saw 15 more bands added, as well as the official announcement of the Jägermeister-sponsored fifth stage, which would host acoustic acts including bands already performing usual sets at the festival.^[34] Sum 41, who were initially announced, then cancelled their appearance due to drummer Steve Jocz being involved in an accident.^[35] On 30 May 2010 it was announced that Wolfmother had to cancel their set due to illness and they were replaced by Killswitch Engage.^[36]

Aside from Ronnie James Dio, the year was also sadly memorable for other deaths. Y&T performed the Pepsi Max Stage to a jam-packed audience, marking the band's long-anticipated return to Donington since performing at Monsters of Rock, Castle Donington in 1984. Download 2010 would be bassist Phil Kennemore's last show in the UK, as he died from lung cancer six months later. Killing For Company drummer Stuart Cable, previously of Stereophonics, died the week of the festival at which the band were scheduled to play.

Ratt were scheduled to play on Sunday, but cancelled due to illness of lead vocalist Stephen Pearcy. On 9 June, FM were announced as Ratt's replacement.

The Boardie Takeover ran for the second year in a row on Thursday 10 June.^[37] It featured the bands Silent Descent, Fallen Fate, Jacknife Holiday and Cyster Scalpel, as well as singers, DJs and a burlesque dancer.

AC/DC played their set on an exclusive stage positioned next to the Maurice Jones stage, allowing the band to bring their full stadium show to the festival. As announced on 28 May. This marked the first time a headlining band had brought their own stage to Donington. All of the other headlining bands on the other stages had finished their sets before AC/DC began their performance. The AC/DC stage was used only for the actual band, the runway at the front was taken down the next day and the stage remained empty and unused for the rest of the festival once their headlining set was over.

Friday 11 June
AC/DC Stage	Maurice Jones Main Stage	Ronnie James Dio Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
AC/DC	Them Crooked Vultures Killswitch Engage 36 Crazyfists Unearth	Bullet for My Valentine Coheed and Cambria A Day to Remember Anathema Trigger the Bloodshed	Job for a Cowboy As I Lay Dying Tyketto Lawnmower Deth Sweethead Year Long Disaster	Devil Sold His Soul Funeral Party Heights Never Means Maybe Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders Imicus The Humour	Skin Jettblack Sondura Starseed Danny Vaughn

Saturday 12 June
Maurice Jones Main Stage	Ronnie James Dio Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Rage Against the Machine Deftones Megadeth Lamb of God Five Finger Death Punch Flyleaf Atreyu Hellyeah Taking Dawn	Thirty Seconds to Mars HIM The Blackout Volbeat We Are the Fallen Cancer Bats My Passion Rolo Tomassi Sonic Syndicate Rise to Remain	Michael Monroe Skin Y&T Senser Enuff Z'nuff Halestorm Rock Sugar Genitorturers Reckless Love Sybreed Holy Grail Killing for Company Godsized	Breed 77 Glamour of the Kill Kadawatha This Is Divine Stand Up Guy No Mean City The Dead Lay Waiting The Plight Urban Voodoo Machine Revoker	Reckless Love Panic Cell The Humour The More I See Dommin Everything Burns The Blackout

Sunday 13 June
Maurice Jones Main Stage	Ronnie James Dio Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Aerosmith Stone Temple Pilots Motörhead Billy Idol Slash Cinderella Saxon FM Dommin	Stone Sour Airbourne Steel Panther Porcupine Tree The Dillinger Escape Plan The Damned Things Napalm Death Switchfoot August Burns Red Nonpoint 3 Inches of Blood White Wizzard	Suicidal Tendencies Zebrahead Young Guns Die Apokalyptischen Reiter Whitechapel The Jim Jones Revue esOterica Your Demise Crime in Stereo TAB the Band The Morning After S.A. Sanctuary No Americana Ben Poole	Panic Cell Max Raptor T-34 Starseed Hearts Under Fire You And What Army Sacred Betrayal Enemo-J The Virginmarys Straight Lines Tiger Please	Ginger Wildheart Nonpoint Enuff Z'nuff DJ Clash (Scott Rowley and Alexander Milas) The Dirty Feel Ricky Warwick Taking Dawn

2011

The Download Festival was confirmed to return to Donington on the 10, 11, and 12 June 2011. Linkin Park and System of a Down were the two main stage headliners officially announced, with Saturday subheadliners Avenged Sevenfold and Sunday second stage headliner Rob Zombie announced a short while later.

On 22 February, Def Leppard were announced as Friday's main stage headliner,^[38] with Twisted Sister, Down, Duff McKagan's Loaded and Trash Talk also added to the line-up.

15 March saw The Darkness unveiled as the widely-speculated Friday subheadliner, with Funeral for a Friend, Plain White T's, Framing Hanley and Hyro Da Hero also added. In April, the Red Bull Bedroom Jam stage and Jägermeister Acoustic stage's acts were revealed.

Wayne Static was scheduled to open up the main stage on the Sunday, but he pulled out a month prior. Masters of Reality were scheduled to perform but pulled out on 30 March and Karma to Burn were to play the second stage on Sunday but were replaced by Hyro Da Hero, thus giving him three sets over the course of the festival; the most in Download history.

Steward 0836 was manning the main stage at the festival, when he caught the attention of fans waiting for Sunday's bands to appear. Some friendly interaction led to cheers from the audience, then one of the giant stage-screens showed him making the "devil horns" gesture, which was applauded by tens of thousands of rock fans. The official Download Festival website even featured him as an artist on their site.^[39][40][41]

Friday 10 June
Main Stage	Second Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Def Leppard The Darkness Alter Bridge Thin Lizzy Black Stone Cherry Duff McKagan's Loaded Puddle of Mudd CKY	Pendulum Korn Bring Me the Horizon Children of Bodom The Damned Things Anti-Flag Young Guns Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows Evaline	Danzig Times of Grace FM Hyro Da Hero Asking Alexandria Lower Than Atlantis Japanese Voyeurs Royal Republic Betraeus Sweet Savage	Modestep Envy of the State OAF The Hype Theory Don Broco Page 44 Hill Valley High Makethisrelate Kellermensch	Skindred The Last Republic The Dirty Youth Million $ Reload Obsessive Compulsive The Verses

Saturday 11 June
Main Stage	Second Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
System of a Down Avenged Sevenfold Skunk Anansie Down Hollywood Undead Skindred Escape the Fate All That Remains The Devil Wears Prada	Alice Cooper Twisted Sister Cheap Trick Mr. Big Dio Disciples Clutch Dan Reed Rock Sugar The BossHoss Rise to Remain Chthonic Sacred Mother Tongue	Funeral for a Friend The King Blues Sevendust Evile Trash Talk Your Demise letlive. VersaEmerge Ghost Straight Line Stitch TRC Houston The Rods	Dangerous! Kill 21 The Dangerous Summer Dear Superstar Heights Blitz Kids Welcome Wednesday The Ocean Between Us The Morning After Dripback Fighting Wolves	Bowling for Soup Dan Reed Sons of Icarus Royal Republic Maiden uniteD Never Means Maybe Skin Intraverse

Sunday 12 June
Main Stage	Second Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Linkin Park Bullet for My Valentine Disturbed The Gaslight Anthem The Pretty Reckless Bowling for Soup Madina Lake Biohazard Suicide Silence	Rob Zombie The Cult Black Veil Brides Buckcherry Turisas Gwar Kvelertak Hyro Da Hero Malefice Yashin Collapse	Frank Turner Plain White T's Silverstein Framing Hanley Deaf Havana T-34 Starseed My Darkest Days Sworn Amongst Hell Trucker Diablo Knock Out Kaine Jameson Raid	H.E.A.T. Baptized in Blood The Dead Lay Waiting Illuminatus ACODA You and What Army Floods Autumn In Disguise October File Belligerence Skeletal Damage	Dave McPherson Red, White and Blues Hyro Da Hero The Morning After Slaves to Gravity Heaven's Basement Voodoo Johnson Raven Vandelle

2012

On 12 July 2011 it was confirmed via Twitter, and the Download official website that the festival would be staged in 2012 between 8–10 June. Limited early-bird tickets were put on sale on 15 July. It was announced on 10 November via BBC Radio 1 that Metallica would headline the main stage on the Saturday and also that they would be playing their self titled album in its entirety.^[42] The next day Black Sabbath were announced to headline the main stage on Sunday 10 June, closing the festival.^[43] On 18 November, The Prodigy was announced as the headliner for Friday 8 June.^[44]

On 12 April 2012, Download Festival announced on their website, official Facebook page and official Twitter page that the main stage will be named after Jim Marshall who died a week earlier.

Due to the wet and windy conditions on the site, there was a delay in opening the arena on the Friday, resulting in the cancellation/postponement of certain performers.

American heavy metal band Machine Head reportedly broke the festival record for the most circle pits happening during one song, with a reported 29 pits happening at once.^[45]

Comedian Bob Slayer, who is a regular on the comedy stage at Download, broke his neck doing a wheelie bin crowd surf stunt whilst entertaining at the festival.^[46]

The line-up won an award in the 2012 UK Festival Awards, and festival director John Probyn won a "Lifetime achievement award".^[47]

Friday 8 June
The Jim Marshall Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Redbull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
The Prodigy Chase & Status Machine Head Billy Talent NOFX Fear Factory	Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators Nightwish Opeth Little Angels Terrorvision The Quireboys Red, White and Blues	The Devin Townsend Project AxeWound Soil While She Sleeps The Defiled Lawnmower Deth Hounds Absolute Power Silent Descent Impaled Existence	Cancer Bats Gallows The Safety Fire Voodoo Six Marmozets Upon a Burning Body Dive Bella Dive Reachback Dead Harts The Jellycats Broken	Yashin Skindred Breed 77 Million Dollar Reload Neonfly With One Last Breath

Saturday 9 June
The Jim Marshall Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Redbull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Metallica Biffy Clyro Tenacious D Steel Panther Trivium Black Veil Brides Saxon As I Lay Dying	You Me at Six Killswitch Engage Skindred Kids in Glass Houses Theory of a Deadman Four Year Strong Lower Than Atlantis Turbonegro Ginger Wildheart Halestorm Fozzy Page 44	The Mission The Union Corey Taylor Sylosis My Passion The Treatment Anti-Nowhere League Gun The Yo-Yos Turbowolf Don Broco Avosetta No Americana	Cockney Rejects Fearless Vampire Killers LostAlone Mallory Knox Butcher Babies ACODA Never Means Maybe I Divide Golden Tanks 4Arm Freebase Royal Cartel	Tyla The Quireboys Toby Jepson Heaven's Basement Red, White & Blues Soil Gun Six Hour Sundown

Sunday 10 June
The Jim Marshall Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Redbull Bedroom Jam Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Black Sabbath Soundgarden Megadeth Lamb of God Black Label Society Anthrax Kyuss Lives! DevilDriver Stellar Revival	Rise Against Dropkick Murphys Refused Shinedown Ugly Kid Joe Sebastian Bach Rival Sons August Burns Red We Are the Ocean Black Spiders Kobra and the Lotus	Periphery Ghost Firewind Emmure La Dispute The JCQ Shadows Fall Edguy Reckless Love Heaven's Basement Feed the Rhino Skarlett Riot	William Control Hawk Eyes The Dirty Youth The Minutes With One Last Breath Kopek You and What Army Strangle Kojak Adelaide Mechanical Smile PitchBlack Kamchatka	Saint Jude Fearless Vampire Killers Furyon Mordecai Daken Voodoo Johnson Sanguine White Powder Gold

Cancellations

Five Finger Death Punch were scheduled to perform on Sunday on the Main Stage between DevilDriver and Kyuss Lives! but on 5 April they pulled out due to "logistic difficulties". Anthrax, who were initially set to play on the Zippo Encore Stage, were brought up to the main stage (later dubbed the Jim Marshall stage) due to Five Finger Death Punch's cancellation.

T. Mills was scheduled to perform on Saturday on the Red Bull stage but pulled out in May and also Porter Robinson, who was also set to play on the same stage on the Friday pulled out due to the recording of a new album. He was replaced by Voodoo Six.

Problems

Due to the wet and windy weather, Download did not open its Arena gates on Friday 8 June until 14:00 whilst laying down straw in the Arena and removing potentially dangerous signs and banners which could prove hazardous in high winds, meaning some of the bands were shifted around. Cancer Bats were moved from second opening band on the Jim Marshall Stage to a headline slot on The Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage, with Rise to Remain and Six Hour Sundown missing out on a slot entirely. Fear Factory were also given an additional 10 minutes of performance time due Cancer Bats being relocated to a different stage and Rise to Remain being cancelled. Europe were scheduled to play the Zippo Encore stage on Friday before Little Angels, but it was announced at the last minute that they will not be able to perform due to traffic and transportation issues. Much criticism was aimed at the organisers for not preparing better as the poor weather occurred before the festival goers arrived. Also the conditions in the camping and arena meant that many fans who required disabled access were left stuck in the mud requiring help from their fellow fans to reach their destination, or even the toilets, often with little to no help from organisers.^[48]

2013

The tenth annual Download festival was confirmed for 14–16 June 2013. Early bird tickets went on sale 15 June 2012, where a newly implemented deposit scheme was introduced; which allowed customers to pay for their ticket(s) over three payments rather than one. Iron Maiden were announced as the Saturday headliner on 20 September 2012 to commemorate 25 Years since first appearing and headlining Monsters of Rock in 1988 on Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour .^[49] Rammstein let slip on the same day that they will be headlining Download on the Sunday,^[50] which was confirmed by the festival organisers the following morning. Seven days later it was confirmed via Andy Copping (festival promoter) that Slipknot would be the Friday headliner.^[51] From 5 November, bands started to be announced sporadically via Facebook, Scuzz TV, BBC Radio 1, Kerrang! Magazine and the personal Twitter account of Andy Copping.

Goldsboro were due to be playing at the festival, but on 19 February they confirmed they would not be able to perform. After the Burial were scheduled to perform on the Red Bull Studios stage, but pulled out on 17 May in order to focus on their new album.

On 28 May, Skin and Red, White & Blues cancelled their appearances at the festival. Both acts were to perform twice over the weekend, on the Zippo Encore and Jägermeister Acoustic stages. On 3 June, Andy Copping confirmed that Buckcherry would be pulling out of the festival and that they would be replaced by Black Star Riders.

Friday 14 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Studios Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Slipknot Bullet for My Valentine Korn Down Papa Roach Asking Alexandria Architects Rise to Remain	Black Stone Cherry Gogol Bordello 3 Doors Down Volbeat Europe DragonForce Uriah Heep Dir En Grey Monster Truck	HIM Converge Motionless in White Turisas In This Moment The Sword Hang the Bastard Patent Pending Palm Reader Emperor Chung	Fearless Vampire Killers FIDLAR The Algorithm Zico Chain Blood Command Verses Page 44 Zoax Semperfi Akord Free Fall Hammer of the Gods	We Are the Ocean Walking Papers Hear Kitty Kitty Toseland Rob Lynch Avosetta

Saturday 15 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Studios Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Iron Maiden Queens of the Stone Age Motörhead Alice in Chains Mastodon Black Star Riders Young Guns UFO	Enter Shikari Jimmy Eat World Thunder Lit Karnivool Katatonia Escape the Fate Hardcore Superstar Heaven's Basement I Divide	The Hives Kvelertak Chthonic Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats Bury Tomorrow Heart of a Coward Empress AD Walking Papers Nekrogoblikon earthtone9 Crowns Hill Valley High Broken	Last Witness Rat Attack Lonely the Brave Voodoo Six Press to Meco Searching Alaska Wounds Sky Valley Mistress Silent Screams Black Moth Astroid Boys Idiom Wild Lies Cytota	Devin Townsend Acoustic TV Buffalo Summer Crowns Straight Lines Fahran The Killing Floor The Afterparty

Sunday 16 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Studios Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Rammstein Thirty Seconds to Mars The Gaslight Anthem Stone Sour Parkway Drive Five Finger Death Punch Coal Chamber Cancer Bats Sacred Mother Tongue	Limp Bizkit A Day to Remember Airbourne Ghost Rival Sons Amon Amarth Masters of Reality Graveyard The Ghost Inside Hellyeah Blitz Kids	Satyricon Modestep P.O.D Newsted Red Fang Vision of Disorder Bleed from Within Hacktivist Brutality Will Prevail Little Caesar Krokodil States of Panic Bovine	Sonic Boom Six Glamour of the Kill I Am I Falling with Style Surrender the Coast The Howling Forever Can Wait Radkey Buffalo Summer Huntress Black Dogs Mordecai The First Naked Flame	Heaven's Basement Pig Iron Crash Mansion New Killer Shoes I Am I Night By Night The Graveltones Arthemis

2014

The twelfth annual festival was held 13–15 June 2014. Earlybird tickets went on sale 21 June 2013. Between 4–6 November, all three main stage headliners were confirmed, along with all the sub-headliners. Linkin Park performed their debut album, Hybrid Theory album in its entirety.

Reactions to Avenged Sevenfold being announced as headliners were very mixed. After a Facebook user suggested that Dying Fetus headline the festival instead, a social media trend titled #WhyNotDyingFetus was started as a joke. However, this actually led to the band being booked to play, although not in a headline slot, and they were officially confirmed on 6 November.

To commemorate its twenty year anniversary, The Offspring performed their third studio album, Smash, in its entirety. Also, their appearance marked the first time in Download history that a previous main stage headliner returned to play a lower slot.

Andy Copping confirmed via Twitter that there would be a Secret Set on the Pepsi Max Stage on the Sunday, performing in the time slot in between Crazy Town and Memphis May Fire. This transpired to be Black Stone Cherry.

On 23 May, the Main stage was renamed the Stephen Sutton stage after Stephen Sutton who died on 14 May.

The Boardie Takeover returned on Thursday 12 June and featured four bands and 2 DJs. The bands playing the Takeover are: Last Edition, Scumface, Dumbjaw & Incinery.

Joe Bonamassa was originally booked to play on the Zippo Encore Stage Saturday before Status Quo but he was moved to the Sunday Main Stage due to a double booking. Trivium were initially confirmed to be headlining the Red Bull Studios Live stage on the Sunday, but following a generally negative response from fans due to the size and limited capacity of the tent, the band was moved to Zippo Encore Stage headliner.

In Flames were scheduled to sub-headline the Zippo Encore stage on Sunday, but they were quietly removed from the line-up poster on 26 February. It was later revealed that they had cancelled all of their Summer shows to finish recording their new album. On 22 March the latest announcement was leaked by Classic Rock Magazine. Shortly after the leak, Defeater, who were scheduled to play on the Pepsi Max Stage Sunday, were confirmed to have pulled out due to their lead singer, Derek Archambault, suffering an injury and having to undergo hip replacement surgery. Danger Danger were originally confirmed, but pulled out on 7 April, claiming that bookings had been erroneously made for various dates. September Mourning were confirmed for the Pepsi Max Stage on the Friday but were removed from the lineup on 2 May (as they wished to focus on getting their sophomore album completed), they were replaced by I Am Fire. Cage the Gods also pulled out on 2 May. King 810 pulled out the day before they were due to play because their lead vocalist and bassist were arrested. Upon a Burning Body were scheduled to appear on the Pepsi Max stage on Saturday, but were forced to pull out because singer Danny Leal was taken seriously ill with an inner ear infection that meant doctors would not clear him to fly to the UK.

The unknown band 'Iceman Thesis' were subtly added to the lineup poster in the buildup to the event. They were scheduled to perform for five minutes on both the Pepsi Max and Red Bull Studios Live Stage on the Saturday at the same time. The band performed both sets as scheduled with all ten (two bands of five) member's identities hidden using balaclavas. They performed one song known as 'Return to Harmony' before leaving the stages.

Friday 13 June
The Stephen Sutton Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Studios Live Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Avenged Sevenfold Rob Zombie Within Temptation Black Label Society Skindred Powerman 5000 Crossfaith Miss May I	The Offspring Bad Religion Flogging Molly Rival Sons The Temperance Movement The Answer Drenge Tesla Tax the Heat	Opeth Anathema Letlive. Royal Blood Quicksand The Amity Affliction Radkey Turbowolf I Am Fire No Hot Ashes	Dan Reed Network Tyketto Battlecross Baby Godzilla Huntress Lyger Drones Page 44 They Say Fall Bloody Hammers Bad Touch Goldray	Jamie Lenman The Answer Danny Vaughn New City Kings The Mercy House Mia Klose Brother & Bones

Saturday 14 June
The Stephen Sutton Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Studios Live Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Linkin Park Fall Out Boy Bring Me the Horizon Killswitch Engage Bowling for Soup While She Sleeps Bury Tomorrow Fozzy Dying Fetus	Status Quo Twisted Sister The Wildhearts Monster Magnet Orange Goblin Skid Row Twenty One Pilots The BossHoss Chevelle The Dirty Youth Press to Meco	Behemoth American Head Charge The Black Dahlia Murder Vamps Blessthefall Arcane Roots Lonely the Brave Marmozets Lawnmower Deth Zoax Collibus Iceman Thesis	SikTh The Howling Malevolence Martyr Defiled New Politics Nothing More Skyharbor coldrain Chasing Cadence Sinners Highway Colt 45 Breathe in the Silence Cytota Iceman Thesis	Ginger Wildheart Bowling for Soup Anathema Toby Jepson Dave McPherson Richards/Crane Ducking Punches Enemo-J

Sunday 15 June
The Stephen Sutton Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	Pepsi Max Stage	Red Bull Studios Live Stage	Jägermeister Acoustic Stage
Aerosmith Alter Bridge Steel Panther Volbeat Joe Bonamassa Richie Sambora Buckcherry Winger Red Dragon Cartel	Trivium The Pretty Reckless Seether Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals Sabaton Sepultura Emmure We Came as Romans Skillet Kill Devil Hill Avatar	The Dillinger Escape Plan The Used Suicide Silence Against Me! Memphis May Fire Black Stone Cherry Crazy Town The Treatment Feed the Rhino Thy Art Is Murder The Graveltones The Charm, The Fury Viza	Zebrahead Monuments Polar Heart in Hand Reignwolf Adelphia The Magnus Puto Create to Inspire Kid Karate Chinese Missy Life on Standby Arthemis Dead City Streets	Nick Oliveri Jon Gomm Oxygen Thief Milk Teeth VerseChorusVerse Fizzy Blood Stormbringer

2015

The 2015 edition of the festival took place on 12–14 June. The top three acts on the main stage and the second stage headliner for each day were announced over 18, 19 and 20 November. Bad weather on Friday night and Saturday left the Arena, Village and campsites extremely muddy. Many tents were abandoned over night due to flooding and leaks.

On 22 March 2015, the Download Dog made an appearance at a Progress Wrestling show in London. The Dog invited the entire roster to do a show at Download 2015 but excluded the current Progress Champion Jimmy Havoc. Havoc attacked the Dog at the show. It was confirmed that Progress would do a show at Download after previously in 2014 doing three shows at the Sonisphere Festival.^[52]

Following on from The Offspring's second stage appearance in 2014, Faith No More's subheadlining position marks the second time a previous main stage headliner have returned to play in a lower slot. Mötley Crüe's performance was their last ever UK festival appearance.

Several bands who pulled out of the 2014's festival returned to play in 2015, these bands include In Flames, Defeater, Upon a Burning Body & September Mourning.

The Sword were due to play on the Maverick Stage on Friday, but were removed from the line-up poster in March, later being confirmed to have pulled out. King 810 were due to play the Maverick Stage on Sunday, but pulled out on 15 May due to undisclosed reasons, just as they had done before in 2014. On 22 May, Ghost Town, who were confirmed to play on Jake's stage on Saturday, pulled out due to undisclosed reasons; they were replaced by Dub War. Antemasque were due to play on the Zippo Encore Stage on Friday, but pulled out in May, The Cadillac Three were moved up from Jake's Stage to replace them.

After many weeks of discussion surrounding the identities of two secret bands playing over the weekend, Young Guns and The Darkness were confirmed on 8 June. Babymetal also joined DragonForce on stage to perform their song "Gimme Chocolate!!".^[53]

The Jägermeister Acoustic Stage will no longer be present at the festival, due to Jägermeister pulling out as a sponsor, however, bands will still perform acoustic sets, on the brand new Dog's Bed Stage. Hands Like Houses were scheduled to perform there on Friday, but the show was cancelled.

Returning for its 7th year, the Boardie Takeover took place on the Thursday night in the Doghouse Tent located within the festivals Village area. This year's bands were selected by the Takeover team.

Friday 12 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Maverick Stage	Jake's Stage	Dog's Bed Stage
Slipknot Judas Priest Five Finger Death Punch Clutch Lacuna Coil At the Gates Hellyeah All That Remains	Black Stone Cherry Thunder Corrosion of Conformity Modestep The Cadillac Three Blues Pills Fearless Vampire Killers Rival State	Fightstar DragonForce Sylosis Beartooth Defeater Gnarwolves Krokodil Counterparts	A Young Guns Bombus The One Hundred Decade American Fangs Allusondrugs Blood Youth The Raven Age Wild Lies God Damn E of E	Hands Like Houses Beasts Rival State

Saturday 13 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Maverick Stage	Jake's Stage	Dog's Bed Stage
Muse Faith No More A Day to Remember Rise Against Parkway Drive Hollywood Undead Mallory Knox Funeral for a Friend Heart of a Coward	Marilyn Manson Black Veil Brides Black Star Riders Motionless in White Carcass Testament Ace Frehley Apocalyptica Malefice Geyser The Lounge Kittens	Andrew W.K. Body Count Every Time I Die Crown the Empire Northlane Upon a Burning Body Stray from the Path Hands Like Houses Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! In Hearts Wake	Hey! Hello! The Pink Slips Dolomite Minor Insomnium Purson Dub War The Struts Roam Creeper Crobot Emp!re New Years Day Love Zombies Iconic Eye	Tim Vantol Von Hertzen Brothers Crobot

Sunday 14 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Maverick Stage	Jake's Stage	Dog's Bed Stage
KISS Mötley Crüe Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators Billy Idol Blackberry Smoke Tremonti Cavalera Conspiracy 36 Crazyfists Pop Evil	Enter Shikari Lamb of God In Flames L7 Eagles of Death Metal Godsmack We Are Harlot Backyard Babies Von Hertzen Brothers H.E.A.T The Dead Daisies	Yellowcard The Ghost Inside Madball Three Days Grace The Darkness Code Orange Evil Scarecrow September Mourning Like a Storm	Suicidal Tendencies FIDLAR Chelsea Grin Butcher Babies Aaron Keylock Man with a Mission The Qemists René LaVice Trash Boat LTNT Hyena Colour of Noise Beasts Sirens in the Delta	Like a Storm Broken Chords Fearless Vampire Killers

Police surveillance and marketing profile collection

At the 2015 festival, the police and the festival organizers engaged in massive technological surveillance of those who attended the festival. RFID wristband and facial recognition technology were used, installed by the Leicestershire Police without notifying the public prior to the event, and compared visual scans of the festival attendees against a European criminal database. RFID wristbands were the only way to make purchases or travel across the festival grounds' zones. Information about purchases were stored and sold to other marketers. Muse frontman Matt Bellamy commented on the surveillance during the band's performance of "Uprising", in which he said "Fuck Leicestershire police for scanning your faces!"^[1]

2016

The 14th annual Download Festival was held on 10–12 June 2016. All three headliners were confirmed between 19–21 October 2015 and it was confirmed that Bruce Dickinson was due to fly his Ed Force One 747-400 Jumbo Jet across Download to get to the festival. However, this didn't happen, and in fact Ed Force One flew into East Midlands airport from the opposite direction. Motörhead were due to play the Main Stage on the Friday of the festival; however, due to the death of lead singer Lemmy Kilmister on 28 December 2015, the band would no longer be playing, as confirmed by drummer Mikkey Dee.^[54] On 7 February 2016, 36 more bands were added to the bill, as well as the announcement that the Main Stage would be renamed "The Lemmy Stage" in memory of Kilmister, instead of having a band replace Motörhead, it was confirmed that there would be a tribute to Lemmy, which was confirmed at the fan forum to be a 20 minute video.

Heavy rain caused the venue to flood, with some campsites suffering worse than others. By Saturday, The Village area was mainly mud with a bit of straw laid down near the entrance to the Blue Campsite. This led to great difficulty trying to get to the main arena, as one had to walk through thick mud most of the way.^[55] Architects was scheduled to play on the Encore stage on June 11 but had dropped all of their European festival tours due to a family emergency and were replaced by Against the Current.^[56]

Both Moses and Ghost were also forced to pull out of their scheduled sets on Friday and Sunday respectively due to illness on both counts.

Friday 10 June
The Lemmy Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Maverick Stage	The Dogtooth Stage
Rammstein Korn Killswitch Engage Babymetal Alien Ant Farm Royal Republic	All Time Low Twin Atlantic Glassjaw The Amity Affliction Skillet Graveyard As Lions RavenEye	Gutterdämmerung The Wildhearts Kadavar Fort Hope HECK Zoax Puppy Hill Valley High	Raging Speedhorn InMe Savage Messiah Skinny Lister From Ashes to New Counting Days Havok Strange Bones The Amorettes Weirds In Search of Sun

Saturday 11 June
The Lemmy Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Maverick Stage	The Dogtooth Stage
Black Sabbath Deftones Megadeth Rival Sons Sixx:A.M. Atreyu Beartooth Avatar	NOFX Skindred Against the Current Juliette & The Licks Bury Tomorrow Tesseract Scorpion Child The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing Inglorious Santa Cruz	Pennywise Neck Deep Anti-Flag Escape the Fate Lawnmower Deth Danko Jones Turbowolf Black Peaks SHVPES	Municipal Waste The Shrine Cane Hill Slaves Dead! Milk Teeth Wage War Palisades Reigning Days Wearing Scars Scattering Ashes

Sunday 12 June
The Lemmy Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Maverick Stage	The Dogtooth Stage
Iron Maiden Nightwish Disturbed Shinedown Halestorm The Temperance Movement Amon Amarth Monster Truck	Jane's Addiction Billy Talent Don Broco Breaking Benjamin One Ok Rock Periphery Delain Grand Magus Whiskey Myers Buck & Evans	Saxon Gojira Electric Wizard Tremonti Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes Attila The Dirty Youth The Raven Age Wild Lies	Napalm Death Ho99o9 Good Tiger Ashestoangels Black Foxxes The Kenneths Muncie Girls The King Is Blind Witchsorrow Vukovi The Franklys

As confirmed by The Mirror WWE NXT will also be appearing at this years event, although where Progress Wrestling was after the bands in the campsite, WWE NXT will be in the main arena, with a special stage constructed.

France

In addition to the annual UK edition of Download Festival, it was also announced that in 2016 there would also be a Download held at the Longchamp Racecourse (French: Hippodrome de Longchamp) in Paris on the same weekend as the UK Festival. The lineup will be similar to the UK Festival, but not identical. Iron Maiden were announced as the Friday headliner on 19 October 2015, part of their The Book Of Souls Tour. Rammstein were announced as Sunday headliners on 21 October 2015.

Stage 1
Friday 10 June	Saturday 11 June	Sunday 12 June
Iron Maiden Deftones Gojira We Came as Romans	Korn Biffy Clyro Babymetal Saxon Apocalyptica	Rammstein Volbeat Sabaton Trivium Skillet

Stage 2
Friday 10 June	Saturday 11 June	Sunday 12 June
Ghost Anthrax Avatar Beartooth	Jane's Addiction Amon Amarth One Ok Rock Mass Hysteria	Megadeth Rival Sons Children of Bodom Lofofora

Stage 3
Friday 10 June	Saturday 11 June	Sunday 12 June
Tremonti BlackRain The Raven Age Wild Lies	Twin Atlantic The Struts The Inspector Cluzo Arcane Roots Shinedown	Skindred Last Train New Years Day Strange Bones The Shrine

2017

The 15th anniversary event is scheduled to take place 9th - 11th June 2017. From 3rd November, 2016, band announcements began, including the headline acts in System of a Down, Biffy Clyro and Aerosmith.

Friday 9 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Avalanche Stage	The Dogtooth Stage
System of a Down Prophets of Rage Five Finger Death Punch Mastodon Motionless in White	Sum 41 Good Charlotte	Sleeping with Sirens

Saturday 10 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Avalanche Stage	The Dogtooth Stage
Biffy Clyro AFI Pierce the Veil Of Mice & Men	Rob Zombie Coheed and Cambria	Simple Plan

Sunday 11 June
Main Stage	Zippo Encore Stage	The Avalanche Stage	The Dogtooth Stage
Aerosmith Alter Bridge Airbourne Fozzy	Slayer Clutch Opeth

Unconfirmed Day
Zippo Encore Stage	The Avalanche Stage	The Dogtooth Stage
Ministry DevilDriver WAKRAT Red Fang The Dead Daisies	Four Year Strong The Story So Far Basement Issues Every Time I Die Crown the Empire Knuckle Puck Astroid Boys The One Hundred Greywind	Exodus Lost Society God Damn

France

Returning for it's second year, Download Festival France takes place just south of Paris the same weekend as the Donington event. So far five bands have been announced including headliners System Of A Down, Linkin Park, and Green Day the lineup reads as follows:

Friday 9 June
Main Stage
Linkin Park Blink 182 Skinny Puppy Pierce the Veil Dagoba

Saturday 10 June
Main Stage
System Of A Down Five Finger Death Punch Slayer Alter Bridge DevilDriver Lonely the Brave

Sunday 11 June
Main Stage
Green Day Prophets of Rage Rancid Mastodon Suicidal Tendencies Converge Architects Carpenter Gross Kontrust WAKRAT

See also

• List of historic rock festivals
• List of historic heavy metal festivals

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Download Festival.

• Official website

Coordinates: 52°49′47.3″N 1°22′46.4″W / 52.829806°N 1.379556°W / 52.829806; -1.379556