First DOWNLOAD 2019 Announcement!

DOWNLOADERS! It’s time, your first announcement is here and we’re hyped to reveal that your #DL2019 headliners are Def Leppard, Slipknot and ToolPlus, SEVENTEEN of the most awesome bands in the world including Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, Whitesnakeand Rob Zombie are also coming to rock Donington Park to its metal core on 14th-16th June 2019.

Classic rock powerhouse Def Leppard are making a spectacular return to headline the Main Stage on Friday at Download and we cannot wait.

In what will be their ONLY UK appearance of 2019, the Sheffield legends will be playing their seminal album ‘Hysteria’ in full and more.

Def Leppard front man Joe Elliott has said: “We are delighted to be going back to headline Download in 2019! The festival has a very special place in our hearts and it’s such a great place to play. We will be playing Hysteria in full – yes, in full! – plus a load more of the hits, and we are going to put on a very special show for our UK fans. Can’t wait to see you all there!”

The forerunners of the new wave British heavy metal movement, Def Leppard have sold over 100 million records. Donington is going to be the ONLY place in the UK this year where you can watch them rip through a full-throttle stadium-sized show and scream along to classics like ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’, ‘Love Bites’, ‘Rock Of Ages’ and countless more.

So, get set to rock like an ‘Animal’ as it’s going to be unforgettable Main Stage headline set for the Download family.

Meet your next headliners, the mighty masked metallers Slipknot! One of the most defining acts of the last two decades, the sheer power of Slipknot’s live sets have gone down in Download legend.

With a back catalogue of rock club classics – ‘Duality’, ‘Spit It Out’, ‘Before I Forget’ and ‘Psychosocial’ – Iowa’s sickest sons are going to bring the mosh for their Saturday headline set.

An appearance thirteen years in the making, we are totally psyched to announce that Tool will be making their grand return to headline Sunday at Download.

The Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum, prog-metal titans are set to take you on a grandiose career spanning journey of classic albums ‘Undertow’, ‘Lateralus’, and ‘10,000 Days’.

If those legendary headliners weren’t enough we’ve got SEVENTEEN more bands to announce today.

After slaying the Main Stage with Guns N’ Roses at #DL2018, living guitar god Slash couldn’t stay away and is riffing his way back to Donington for #DL2019 with Alter Bridge frontman for Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators.

Fresh from releasing their phenomenal third album ‘Living The Dream’, Slash and Myles Kennedy and The Conspirator’s set is going to have you wailing to signature slick solos and out of this world rock anthems.

“Here I go again on my own, Goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known!” is going to ring out loud and proud over Donington Park as Whitesnake are coming to Download 2019.

Whitesnake front man David Coverdale said: “Once again, we’ve been honoured to be invited to participate in the legendary DOWNLOAD 2019…Can’t Wait To See You All & Kick Arse Together!!!…So Ready 2 Rock!!!”

If metal is your lifeblood, get ready for a large transfusion as Rob Zombie is once again going to turn Download into his own twisted carnival with a set bursting with stomp-laden classics and new tracks.

Plus, Trivium will be taking Donington by the horns to turn your stomachs with their roaring metal, Swedish death metallers Amon Amarth are going to pack a deadly punch with their Viking inspired cinematic metal and Carcass will remind you why they’re the gore-grind forefathers.

Still want more? Dutch outfit Delain, led by the world-class frontwoman Charlotte Wessels, will be a must-see for all of you symphonic metal fans. Whilst, in a Download first Die Antwoord will be getting you bouncing hard to their Zef style hip-hop.

And, punk rock covers supergroup Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, featuring members of NOFX, Foo Fighters, Lagwagon, Swingin’ Utters, are going to have you and your mates gasping for breath shouting along to their rapid-fire covers.

If you’re looking for a one way ticket to prog paradise, Sweden’s Opeth are going to deliver a set filled with classics and tracks from their 2016 acclaimed album, ‘Sorceress’.

New-school thrashers Power Trip are going to make their Download debut and get you headbanging to tracks from their sophomore album, ‘Nightmare Logic’.

And, Californian ska-punk heroes Reel Big Fish will get Donington bouncing to some solid rocksteady riffs.

Download Festival favourites Skindred are going to shake the Donington hills with their ragga metal. The unmatched energy and exuberance of frontman Benji Webbe is sure to see the return of the Newport Helicopter originating at Download 2011.

Hotly-tipped sci-fi, conceptual rockers Starset also join the line up with an ambitious, gigantic rock set that is destined for the stadiums in the future. And, Tesla will serve up classic hard rock anthems in mammoth portions for you to sink your teeth into.

Ready to give us a surefire singalong are Queensland metalcore veterans The Amity Affliction with syrupy hooks, melodic metalcore and ferocious breakdowns.

And, finally open your arms wide to welcome back post-hardcore pioneers Underoath as the trailblazers make their first appearance back at the festival since 2005.

Bowling for Soup, Bad Religion and more for Download Festival 2014

The Summer Festival Guide 2014 is excited to reveal the next additions to the Download Festival lineup including Bowling for Soup, Black Label Society, Opeth, Bad Religion and more!Bowling for Soup

Leading the armada are pop-punk legends Bowling for Soup, who have chosen to celebrate their 20th birthday at Donington, wisely putting faith in Europe’s biggest Rock Festival to bring the party.

Lead singer Jaret Reddick said: We are really stoked to be coming back to Download this year…first and foremost, our little band turns 20 this June, so what better way to celebrate! Music, beer and Portaloos! Also, it's a great opportunity to show our amazing UK fans that, although we don't have plans to tour any time soon, they will still get to see our pretty faces once in a while. Can. Not. Wait!

Celebratory Birthday circle pit, anyone…?

Elsewhere on site, two of this year’s most massively anticipated spring album releases will be followed with huge live performances; Black Label Society, led by notorious shredder Zakk Wylde, and Swedish prog-metal mad scientists Opeth will both bring never-before-seen sets to Download 2014, making the crowds at Donington amongst the first to experience the new material in the flesh.

Bad Religion @ Download Festival

Forming the L.A. regiment of today’s new Download battalion are Celtic-punk seven piece Flogging Molly and Download Festival virgins Bad Religion – making their Donington debut 35 years after they first started their melodic punk crusade against tyranny and hypocrisy.

Lead singer Greg Graffin was keen to acknowledge the UK, and in particular Donington’s place in music history: Our UK fans are among the most dedicated and appreciative audiences the world over. We consider every trip to the UK a special treat, and the tradition of Donington will make this appearance all the more special. Bad Religion is steeped in tradition, so we greatly look forward to it!

Also joining them will be PHA and the Illegals, the latest project from Pantera and Down Frontman, Phil Anselmo.

Powerman 5000 are another act who will receive their Download Festival baptism in 2014, with lead frontman Spider One joining big bro Rob Zombie at the coalface of Donington’s grizzly industrial underworld.

There will be less pond-crossing and more M1-gridlock-negotiating for the return of home grown Metalcore 5-piece Bury Tomorrow this June, in a set that will feature the likes of massive new single, Watcher and more great tracks yet to be revealed from impending album Runes, which lands on May 26th.

Vocalist Dani Winter-Bates commented: We're absolutely stoked to be invited back to play Download Festival. It was one of the staple points of last year for Bury Tomorrow! So we can't wait to get back to Donington and smash it!

The BossHoss, who have been purging pop songs of their innocence and churning out badass Country Trash Punk Rock for the past decade will also appear at Download 2014. Sascha Vollmer aka Hoss Power from The BossHoss said: We had a blast playing at Download in 2011 and the energy there totally blew our minds! We can always rely on a kick-ass party at our UK shows, so we're more than ready to come back and have another good old riot with you crazy bunch of rock and roll maniacs!

More? Ok, well listen up – today’s announcement also confirms another handful of awesome appearances from classic North American metal caballeros Skid Row, Tesla and Danger Danger as well as Jill Janus’ thrash-influenced Huntress, filthy blues-rockers The Graveltones and newcomers Anti-Mortem.

Huntress-in-chief, Jill Janus said: Huntress is honoured to play Download Festival again! We had a killer show last year, and will bring the fury to UK music fanatics once more. 
Spread it, shred it, behead it!

Larado Romano of Anti-Mortem said of the announcement: Anti-Mortem is extremely excited and beyond ready to play Download this year, it will be the biggest festival we've played to date and our first as a group in the U.K. Watch out UK, we'll be kicking ass Oklahoma style and our rage is American made!

On his latest recruits, Download promoter Andy Copping said: This is shaping up to be the most diverse Download yet – a real tableau of the past, present and future of rock and metal. You can see that in our headliners; Aerosmith, Linkin Park andAvenged Sevenfold, and in today’s announcement where we combine such renowned acts as Bowling for Soup and Opeth withnewer acts like Bury Tomorrow.