We are going Thursday too. Was plenty of room at lime kiln and hitchen hill on Thursday this year so I'm not worried. Nothing happens on the Wednesday anyway really so be more fresh when the festival proper starts
Download 2.0 is a bit of a misnomer. People talk about it like they’re fully focused on young hands when two of the headliners this year have been around for 30+ years. Download is still booking bands like BFMV, The Darkness and Steel Panther in massive slots so it hasn’t changed totally.
They will also pull in the punters because they’re a proven ticker seller. I saw a lot of BMTH merchandise at the festival this year (I’m not just saying that). A fair chunk of that was on Blink day but there was plenty outside of that day, showing how there are BMTH fans at the festival for the weekend.
They’re the biggest metal band this country has produced since Iron Maiden and they’ve only been around in the 2000s. They’re very popular (as evidenced by their massive sell out tours).