Download Festival

The Download Festival is a two day rock/metal/punk festival held at the spiritual home of rock music in England - Donington Park - home between 1980 and 1996 of the Monsters Of Rock Festival, and venue for 2002's Ozzfest.

History

2003

The first Download Festival was held in 2003. The headliners were originally Iron Maiden and Limp Bizkit although Limp Bizkit pulled out and were replaced by second on the bill band Audioslave. Metallica attempted to step in as headliners, but were unable due to already being headliners at that years Reading and Leeds Festivals. Instead, they played an unannounced "secret slot" in the afternoon on the second stage.

2004

The 2004 Festival was headlined by Metallica and Linkin Park and the number of stages was upped to three, playing host to 72 bands over the two days. The 2004 event also featured Iggy Pop and The Stooges and was noticable for several last minute hitches. Firstly Soil got lost on the way and missed their mainstage appearance on the Saturday (though they joined Drowning Pool on the second day for Drowning Pool's "Bodies" and their own song "Halo".). Static-X missed their slot due to a bus breakdown. The Sunday was no better - Slayer arrived on time, but their equipment didn't, 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. The biggest news came from the headliners Metallica however, when Lars Ulrich was rushed to hospital. Taking to the stage an hour and a half late, James Hetfield explained the situation with Lars and the show began with Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Slipknot's Joey Jordison taking over.