OVER 100,000 FANS CELEBRATE DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY & ITS BIGGEST YEAR EVER + 2024 DATES ANNOUNCED

Donington Park, over 100,000 fans celebrate Download Festival’s four-day 20th Anniversary celebration for its biggest year ever.

This weekend’s Download Festival 20th anniversary welcomed a record breaking 100,000 attendees to the hallowed grounds of Donington Park becoming its most successful year ever. The fastest selling Download in its 20-year history, 2023’s edition showcased world-class rock and metal across four days and six stages from all over the world.

The atmosphere was electric as fans once again lived up to their reputation of what is widely regarded as the UK’s friendliest audience, celebrating inclusivity, self-expression, and a lot of headbanging. With artists from Metallica to Alter Bridge to Halestorm, plus live podcasts, exclusive DJ sets, comeback sets and a whole village dedicated to the fan experience (District X), this was not a weekend to miss.

The first ever Thursday headline slot saw Metallica dominate the Apex Stage with their legendary showmanship and guitar prowess. Sheffield genre-bending rockers Bring Me The Horizon owned the stage on Friday night, delivering a masterclass in thrilling a crowd with their unique and Download-exclusive production, bringing out a host of special guests including Amy Lee from Evanescence and alt-rock duo Nova Twins. Metallica followed up their Thursday night set with a spellbinding performance on Saturday evening, cementing their place in history as one of the greatest metal bands on the planet. On Sunday, Slipknot closed the Apex stage with a spectacular display of energy and power. Across the Apex, Opus, Dogtooth and Avalanche stages, festivalgoers were spoilt for choice as the sun shone over the greatest long weekend.

With an unbelievable line-up, featuring the likes of Halestorm, Skindred, Evanescence, Pendulum, Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro)’s new project Empire State Bastard, The Blackout’s reunion, Creeper, Coheed and Cambria, Ice Nine Kills (who stabbed the Download Dog to death), Ghost, Parkway Drive, Electric Callboy, and supporting young British talent like Nova Twins, Kid Bookie, Kid Kapichi and many more, there really were too many musical highlights to mention.

Brand new for 2023, the Download Megastore sold a huge range of Download merch onsite, commemorating the 20th anniversary and the event broke the U.K. record for most festival merchandise sales of all time. Elsewhere, the Mini Moshers campsite saw its maiden voyage, giving the younger generation of metal fans the opportunity to embrace the legendary festival in comfort.

To pay tribute to the diversity of the Download crowd, the Humans of Download live photography docuseries launched, sharing the diversity of Download attendees, with their eclectic outfits and costumes being celebrated on all social channels and sites across the festival. Danny North, the creative director collaborating with Download on the project, shared: “This location and the beautiful people that inhabit this space fills my soul. I wanted to create a photo series that holds a mirror up to the people that make this festival what it is.”

In 2024, Download Festival will return to Donington from Friday 14 June – Sunday 16 June. Limited Early Bird tickets are on sale at 12 noon Monday 12 June from www.downloadfestival.co.uk.

Comments

SOULFLY/CAVALERA CONSPIRACY Guitarist Marc Rizzo, Set To Release Rotation March 30th Via Combat Records

SOULFLY/CAVALERA CONSPIRACY guitarist Marc Rizzo has set the release date for his new LP ROTATION, in stores March 30th via Combat Records/EMP LABEL GROUP/AMPED in North America, and COMBAT/SPV in Europe. ROTATION is the 4th solo release for Rizzo, following 2004’s COLOSSAL MYOPIA, 2006’s THE ULTIMATE DEVOTION (both released by legendary shred label SHRAPNEL), and the independently released 2010 LP LEGIONNAIRE. Produced by Chris “Zeuss” Harris (Hatebreed, Soulfly, Rob Zombie, Chimaira), and featuring cover art by Melody Myers (Escape The Fate), ROTATION is a blistering showcase of Rizzo’s pummeling eclectic diversity, showcased on album tracks including “Spectral Intensities”, “Thrash Boogie”, and title track “Rotation”, combining Rizzo’s penchant for pummeling, low-end riffs, with thrash-intensive leads and heavy Latin flavor. Check out an album teaser featuring “Spectral Intensities” below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4pU91aaGeY Originally a member of New Jersey lat

CHELSEA Announce First Batch Of ‘Mission Impossible’ Tour Dates

Punk legends CHELSEA have announced the first set of dates on their ’Mission Impossible‘ tour, starting at the Undercover Festival in Margate on April 14, 2018. 14/04/2018 UK- Margate, Undercover Festival 20/04/2018 UK- Coventry, Arches 21/04/2018 UK- Preston, Continental 16/06/2018 D-Stuttgart, Goldmarks 17/06/2018 CH-Bern, Rössli 18/06/2018 I-Torino, Blah Blah 19/06/2018 I-Bologna, Freakout Club 20/06/2018 I-Milano, Ligera 22/06/2018 CZ-Písek, Podčarou 23/06/2018 CZ-Ostrava, MC Barák 24/06/2018 SK-Kosice, Collosseum 25/06/2018 PL-Warsaw, Poglos 26/06/2018 PL-Wroclaw, D.K. Luksus 27/06/2018 CZ-Teplice, Knak Club 28/06/2018 D-Dresden, Chemiefabrik 29/06/2018 D-Berlin, Cassiopeia 30/06/2018 D-Düsseldorf, The Tube 13/07/2018 UK- Brighton, Prince Albert 14/07/2018 UK- London, Underworld The bands long awaited and highly anticipated new album ’Mission Impossible‘ was released on Westworld Recordings in October 2017. Undercover Festival takes place at Dreamland, Margate on Apri

Back On Earth Release NEW EP & Music Video

Back on Earth hit the scene again with melancholic yet lyrically edge cutting "Brand New Day", title track of the brand new EP, featuring Richmond based Telltale, who's had previous support from Pop Punk's Not Dead on Spotify. With "Brand New Day", Back On Earth are going to cut it straight after a few years writing music and are set to gain fans all over the world. The track, which is a follow up to "Heroes" and "Somebody Else", is set to anticipate the new EP which was released on November 20th. Check out the video below: Tracklist 1 - Brand New Day feat. Telltale 2 - Back Home 3 - Until Tonight 4 - Somebody Else 5 - Heroes 6 - Until Tonight (Acoustic) https://www.facebook.com/wearebackonearth https://wearebackonearth.com/

DEVILDRIVER Reveals Part One of New “Outlaws ‘Til The End” Interview Series

Globally renowned, chart-topping band DEVILDRIVER recently announced the upcoming release of their highly-anticipated full-length album of outlaw country-gone-metal anthems, Outlaws 'Til The End. The monstrous collection of savage metal interpretations will be released via Napalm Records on July 6, 2018, and pre-orders are available now in multiple formats via http://smarturl.it/OutlawsTilTheEnd-NPR with more format options coming soon. This week, DEVILDRIVER is pleased to reveal the first of several segments of a new interview commentary series supporting the release of Outlaws 'Til The End. The first segment, titled "Intro to Outlaw Country", features members of DEVILDRIVER as well as album guests Randy Blythe of Lamb of God, Lee Ving of Fear, Hank3, Wednesday 13, Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory and Brock Lindow of 36 Crazyfists discussing their personal introductions to the outlaw country genre and how it has influenced them as musicians. In the video, Faf

SMALL TOWN TITANS' Viral Bluesy, Hard Rock "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" Topping 2020 Christmas Playlists

York, PA heavy rock band Small Town Titans' incredible rendition of the classic "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" is fast becoming a Christmas standard! Showcasing the trio's bluesy, heavy influence and front-man Phil Freeman's phenomenal range, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” went viral in a matter of days in November, 2018, leading to charting on various Billboard charts including Holiday Digital Song Sales, Rock Digital Song Sales, Emerging Artists, while reaching #5 on the Next Big Sound chart. The song also reached #2 on the iTunes Rock charts, only being surpassed by Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. So, if you're ready to throw off 2020 and get into the Christmas spirit, add this exceptional cover to your playlist! "Our cover of this classic is a gift that keeps on giving for us and we're grateful for an era where songs are easily available to be covered. It's all thanks to Ben's (guitar player) insistence on making more content and our m

SETTLE YOUR SCORES' New LP 'Retrofit' Out Now via Mutant League Records + The New Video "Broken Heart Scenario"

Cincinnati, OH pop-punks Settle Your Scores have released their new album "Retrofit" via Mutant League Records. The band is also debuting a nostalgic new video for the track "Broken Heart Scenario." Vocalist Christian Fisher says, "The Broken Heart Scenario video is living proof that it was never a phase. We wanted to capture the visual elements of 2005 emo music videos accurately, but with a humorous twist. This video is a salute to all the elder-emos out there. Stay true, and lay your eyeliner on thick." Check out the video for "Broken Heart Scenario" below: Stream/Buy 'Retrofit' Here: https://orcd.co/retrofit "Retrofit" vinyl includes a limited 12" vinyl pressing + multiple apparel designs which each reference tracks from the album. Vinyl Pressing info: Blue Splatter: 150 Blue Marble: 350 'Retrofit' reunites the five-piece with producer Nick Ingram at Capital House Studio (Hawthorne Heights), who previously

Mad About Rock

Search This Blog