THEDOWNLOADFESTIVALBy David Murphy
If you’re looking for a hard rocking alternative to the Oxegen’sand Electric Picnic’s of this world, how about heading over tothe true spiritual home of rock, Donington Park, for a threeday festival of true Rock N’ Roll. Download returns for an eighthyear, held over the weekend of Friday 11th to Sunday 13thJune 2010. The Download Festival, this year has a capacity of111,000 (making it the second largest festival in the UK), willreturn to Donington Park once again, away from the originalfestival site, of the racetrack.2010 marks the 30th anniversary of Donington Park’s heritagewith rock. From the infamous and legendary “Monsters ofRock” festival, which began in 1980; to more recently theepic Download Festival – the site has played host to someof the world’s greatest rock performances of all time. Manybands still to this day consider playing at Donington Park astheir ‘defining career moment’. It’s also the 30th anniversaryof arguably AC/DC’s ‘defining career moment’, their definiterelease - Back In Black, the Download crowd can surely expectto be treated with some classic cuts from the album.MANYBANDS STILLTO THIS DAYCONSIDERPLAYING ATDONINGTONPARK ASTHEIR‘DEFININGCAREERMOMENT’.Download follows on from the proud legacy of itspredecessor, the Monsters of Rock, which ran from 1980to 1996. Throughout the festival’s illustrious history, therewere many highlights. AC/DC’s arrival as a mega name byheadlining in 1981. ZZ Top flying the famous ‘Eliminator’ carover the masses in ‘85. The emotional return of drummerRick Allen when Def Leppard played in 1986 – his first UKshow after losing an arm. The enormous gathering for IronMaiden in 1988, at the same festival that really kick-startedthe momentum which was to make Guns n’ Roses the biggestband in the world.They weren’t the only big bands to grace the originalDonington festival, Rainbow, Judas Priest, Scorpions,Whitesnake, Meat Loaf, Van Halen, Twisted Sister, Saxon, OzzyOsbourne, Def Leppard, Motorhead & Kiss among others, haverocked the masses over the years.After a gap of seven years - Monsters of Rock was reborn, asthe Download Festival. The Download festival has been goingfrom strength to strength over the years, with the 2009 festivalbeing a particular record breaker, with a record 128 bands onthe bill across four stages, and a sold-out crowd of 85,000 inattendance every day, over the three days.A veritable who’s who of rock have played the festival sinceits inception in 2003, including Kiss, Black Sabbath, MotleyCrue, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Tool, Marilyn Manson, VelvetRevolver & Faith No More, and it’s fair to say this year’s line-updoesn’t disappoint.It could be argued that this year’s three headliners arethe strongest in the festivals history, with the mighty AC/DCheadlining the main stage on the Friday night, followed byRage against the Machine Saturday night and the legendaryAmerican hard rockers Aerosmith wrapping up the festivalon Sunday night. Just seeing Rock icons like the ‘toxic twins’of Aerosmith Tyler & Perry, along with the Young brothers &Brian Johnson of AC/DC live, is worth the admission fee alone.Not to mention the famed and incendiary live act, that is Rageagainst the Machine.The support acts are equally strong and include, rocks latestsuper-group Them Crooked Vultures featuring Dave Grohl, JoshHomme and a certain John-Paul Jones. A recently reformed,Stone Temple Pilots, Aussie retro rockers Wolfmother, alongwith Deftones, and seasoned rockers Motorhead, Billy Idoland metal maestros Megadeth.The second stage line-up isn’t too shabby either, with Bulletfor my Valentine headlining Friday night, 30 Seconds to MarsSaturday night, and Stone Sour Sunday night. Other secondstage highlights include Coheed & Cambria, HIM, Airbourneand L.A. mock rockers Steel Panther, so it seems they’ll be noshortage of adrenaline fuelled rock n’ roll on both stages.<strong>Music</strong> won’t be the only entertainment on offer withbars running until 2am (Friday to Sunday) they’ll also be anafter-hours campsite Entertainment Zone, which has a café,beer stall, funfair rides, various shops, and a cinema. Variousmarkets on site will include clothes, jewellery, massages,piercing & tattoos, souvenirs and merchandise.So if you long for something a little heavier and louder, thanyour average festival, join your fellow rockers and worship atthe Mecca this June.Entertainment43
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