The UK’s biggest rock and metal festival kicks off on Friday 14th June this year and will see over 90,000 people converge on Castle Donington for three days of non-stop riffs. This year’s festival is headlined by three legends of the genre: Def Leppard on the Friday playing their legendary Hysteria album in full, Slipknot on the Saturday, and prog legends Tool closing the festival on the Sunday night of what is sure to be a fiery weekend. Much speculation has accompanied the announcement of Tool’s headline set about whether we will finally see some hint of the new album that has been in the works for 13 years – especially after they debuted two new songs at Florida’s Welcome To Rockville festival recently. Slipknot are also likely to be debuting new music during their headline set, after the release of All Out Life at the tail end of last year a new album looks imminent, whilst Def Leppard’s set will be more of a greatest hits performance, but will no doubt be as exciting as ever from the veteran rockers.
Elsewhere on the bill are exciting acts, old and new alike, with a special mention going to Slayer playing their last ever UK show headlining the Zippo Encore Stage on the Sunday night, making seeing off the thrash metal legends surely an essential part of every metal fan’s weekend. Download icons Skindred will also be appearing on Zippo Encore over the weekend, and will be sure to put on their usual unmissable live set, capped off by their now legendary Newport Helicopter, while elsewhere on the bill Mongolian metal band The Hu will be performing overseas for the first time on the Dogtooth stage on the Saturday night. Critically acclaimed British metal-ers Conjurer will be making their first appearance at Download on the Dogtooth stage on Friday, whilst the legendary Rob Zombie headlines Zippo Encore with his unmissable live show.
Kerrang Radio’s Avalanche Stage is the place to be for new music, including Japanese wolf-headed band Man With A Mission, British newcomers Hot Milk who are also supporting Foo Fighters this summer and a whole heap of pop-punk bands on the Saturday, including Trash Boat supporting their new album Crown Shyness, Eastbourne’s Roam, Philadelphia’s The Wonder Years, topped off with a headline set by supergroup Simple Creatures – comprised of Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth. Sunday is equally as unmissable on the Avalanche Stage, with Allusinlove, Black Peaks, The Amity Affliction and THE FEVER 333 all appearing throughout the day before Enter Shikari bring their arena live show to the Download Tent, which is sure to be complete mayhem and totally unmissable considering this band have played Alexandra Palace twice in the last three years.
Across the entire line-up there is something for every rock and metal fan and as usual Download is sure to be the highlight of the summer, even if the weather doesn’t always hold up!
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