Def Leppard confirmed

[luckysalt]

Copping is becoming a liability, he just doesn't seem to be able to close a deal.

In that video interview with Kerrang the other month, he said he had already confirmed a headliner for next year, then last week he said its looking quite good that he might have got the first headliner booked for next year soon.

So he's lying, he hasn't got it confirmed and it seems to be this way all the time gets people signed they pull out, or signs them to a verbal deal, and things change, like exclusive deals, thats why this year he hasn't been shouting off about exclusives, I bet SOAD aren't an exclusive, its just cus they haven't plans to do any extra UK dates.

Bestival got The Cure on a European exclusive, way in advance. Theres no excuse for Download, the acts are there, Def Leppard is such an unispired booking, its just LAZY as hell

[Spengs Muck]

i think the one booked for next year is van halen.

i keep hearing that they wanted them this year but the album taking so long they couldnt/wouldnt play so def leppard got subbed in at the last minute.

so i expect van halen to be the first headliner for next year.

[dr kill]

I think Matticus speaks the most sense out of anyone on here. I mean really.....who did you expect??? How many people can he book that fit the criteria year after year? It could be a lot lot worse than a good old sing along to Def Leppard......

[dan666]

I think Matticus speaks the most sense out of anyone on here. I mean really.....who did you expect??? How many people can he book that fit the criteria year after year? It could be a lot lot worse than a good old sing along to Def Leppard......

[t8yman]

I think Matticus speaks the most sense out of anyone on here. I mean really.....who did you expect??? How many people can he book that fit the criteria year after year? It could be a lot lot worse than a good old sing along to Def Leppard......

[tommyramone666]

This is fantastic news!

It now means they wont be at Sweden Rock festival!

Whoops, sorry guys

[roflhoff]

Very poor headliner

Sub headliner needs to be awesome!

[Nickg76]

Has that ever been done before? a headliner coming back SO soon!

[Dan R]

Has that ever been done before? a headliner coming back SO soon!

[luckysalt]

Andy has just posted this on the official forums

''I am on a train and the signal is not working that well...I'm not scared...I book Download to the best of my ability and with what is available...if you don't like it, there is nothing I can do about that. I'm built of stern stuff, I can take criticism but some of the comments, as ever, are ill-informed, wrong, unfair and downright rude! Download is a festival of numerous stages and numerous bands and an awesome atmosphere. That never changes year on year. Some bands you like, some bands you don't...I have always tried to mix it up. I have had to put up with many posts saying that I have abandoned the classic day/stage...clearly I have not. Some of the suggestions I have heard year on year have been laughable but I just crack on. I personally thought the three headliners that were delivered in 2010, were the three best festival headliners ever....my opinion. However, I got roasted because, as like all bands, they are not to everyone's tastes...I take it all on the chin and carry on. If people honestly think that Def Leppard has ruined the festival, then I am flabbergasted. You wanted a classic rock headliner...you got one. If you don't like them...go watch Pendulum or Danzig....there's something for everyone. No one forces anyone to a) watch a specific band at any one time, as there are always other choices and remember last year not one band was prepared to go up against AC/DC. If you didn't want to watch AC/DC, you could go grab a drink, get some food, get an early night...in fact you could do whatever you wanted...it's your festival, no one is forcing you to do anything. Download's atmosphere will never change...Donington has something no other festival has...I don't know what it is but it's there and it's great...regardless of who is playing. You should just come and enjoy yourselves...Korn, Alice Cooper, System Of A Down, Alter Bridge, Rob Zombie, Pendulum, Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Down...what a mix. Maybe expectation levels are too high because you expect so much & rightly so but for God's sake before you condemn the festival & me...look at what you get as whole. Download is Download is Download, always was, always will be. Andy (Maverick) ''

[rivalschools.price]

Andy has just posted this on the official forums

''I am on a train and the signal is not working that well...I'm not scared...I book Download to the best of my ability and with what is available...if you don't like it, there is nothing I can do about that. I'm built of stern stuff, I can take criticism but some of the comments, as ever, are ill-informed, wrong, unfair and downright rude! Download is a festival of numerous stages and numerous bands and an awesome atmosphere. That never changes year on year. Some bands you like, some bands you don't...I have always tried to mix it up. I have had to put up with many posts saying that I have abandoned the classic day/stage...clearly I have not. Some of the suggestions I have heard year on year have been laughable but I just crack on. I personally thought the three headliners that were delivered in 2010, were the three best festival headliners ever....my opinion. However, I got roasted because, as like all bands, they are not to everyone's tastes...I take it all on the chin and carry on. If people honestly think that Def Leppard has ruined the festival, then I am flabbergasted. You wanted a classic rock headliner...you got one. If you don't like them...go watch Pendulum or Danzig....there's something for everyone. No one forces anyone to a) watch a specific band at any one time, as there are always other choices and remember last year not one band was prepared to go up against AC/DC. If you didn't want to watch AC/DC, you could go grab a drink, get some food, get an early night...in fact you could do whatever you wanted...it's your festival, no one is forcing you to do anything. Download's atmosphere will never change...Donington has something no other festival has...I don't know what it is but it's there and it's great...regardless of who is playing. You should just come and enjoy yourselves...Korn, Alice Cooper, System Of A Down, Alter Bridge, Rob Zombie, Pendulum, Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Down...what a mix. Maybe expectation levels are too high because you expect so much & rightly so but for God's sake before you condemn the festival & me...look at what you get as whole. Download is Download is Download, always was, always will be. Andy (Maverick) ''

[dr kill]

Andy has just posted this on the official forums

''I am on a train and the signal is not working that well...I'm not scared...I book Download to the best of my ability and with what is available...if you don't like it, there is nothing I can do about that. I'm built of stern stuff, I can take criticism but some of the comments, as ever, are ill-informed, wrong, unfair and downright rude! Download is a festival of numerous stages and numerous bands and an awesome atmosphere. That never changes year on year. Some bands you like, some bands you don't...I have always tried to mix it up. I have had to put up with many posts saying that I have abandoned the classic day/stage...clearly I have not. Some of the suggestions I have heard year on year have been laughable but I just crack on. I personally thought the three headliners that were delivered in 2010, were the three best festival headliners ever....my opinion. However, I got roasted because, as like all bands, they are not to everyone's tastes...I take it all on the chin and carry on. If people honestly think that Def Leppard has ruined the festival, then I am flabbergasted. You wanted a classic rock headliner...you got one. If you don't like them...go watch Pendulum or Danzig....there's something for everyone. No one forces anyone to a) watch a specific band at any one time, as there are always other choices and remember last year not one band was prepared to go up against AC/DC. If you didn't want to watch AC/DC, you could go grab a drink, get some food, get an early night...in fact you could do whatever you wanted...it's your festival, no one is forcing you to do anything. Download's atmosphere will never change...Donington has something no other festival has...I don't know what it is but it's there and it's great...regardless of who is playing. You should just come and enjoy yourselves...Korn, Alice Cooper, System Of A Down, Alter Bridge, Rob Zombie, Pendulum, Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Down...what a mix. Maybe expectation levels are too high because you expect so much & rightly so but for God's sake before you condemn the festival & me...look at what you get as whole. Download is Download is Download, always was, always will be. Andy (Maverick) ''

[kipper64]

Maybe if he just let the bands do the talking he wouldn't get such flakk?

I'm sorry but yet again he's spent months and months hyping the festival up more than any other organiser, also taking petty swipes at the competition...firstly at Sonisphere for booking Slipknot refering to them as copycat little brother...he then goes on to book Linkin Park who played Soni in 09. THEN he makes digs at the BIG4, saying MEtallica play too often in the UK which isn't that true, and that the big4 aren;t a big deal - they are. And then it turns out he wanted Metallica to play all along but he couldn't get them for Sonisphere getting them again (it's on his twitter). Which is complete hypocrisy. So I don't feel sorry for him, if he just let the announcements speak for themselves like other festivals then he wouldn't get such a backlash when he rebooks headliners despite claiming they'd all be new bands this year. Overall the bill isn't terrible, but it's just a bit uninspired for the most part which is why it doesn't live up to the hype.

I'm glad I chose NovaRock over Download

[kaosmark2]

Disappointing booking, he shouldn't have hyped everything up. Still, makes it an easy call for me.... Saturday day ticket, as I'm SURE they won't be selling out weekend tickets now.

[lharris92]

some good points here- i agree that last years 3 headliners were the best of any festival ever and i agree that no-one makes you watch any particular band at any particular time.also some great bands further down the bill,korn,down,clutch,etc,never get overplayed.

trouble is that he doesn't address the main complaint from most fans which is that def leppard played the year before last and they wern't that strong a headliner then.

i think people were expecting big things from the remaining headliner,not helped by some (unconfirmed) reports that korn didnt want to go up against them(i doubt korn would be too worried about going up against leppard,ha ha)

i feel sorry for him if someone has dropped out at the last minute and def leppard were the only available replacement at short notice(although i suppose most would have preferred he delayed the announcement for a few weeks and found an alternative)but if this is the case then there is nothing he can do about it.

i hope for his sake the sub-headliner isnt the darkness tho,as he has started to use up all his excuses.

[kaosmark2]

according to twitter he had Metallica lined up but they pulled the plug so they could do the big 4 at Soni

[kipper64]

They don't it's just that their EU booking agent, Mr John Jackson - also the agent for many big acts like Maiden, Slipknot etc... - cofounded sonisphere, so Soni has the leg up on Download when it comes to those bands generally. Metallica almost did Download, but then the possibility for more big4 shows came about so they opted to do a big4 thing at Soni instead. Simple.

[t8yman]

Andy has just posted this on the official forums

''I am on a train and the signal is not working that well...I'm not scared...I book Download to the best of my ability and with what is available...if you don't like it, there is nothing I can do about that. I'm built of stern stuff, I can take criticism but some of the comments, as ever, are ill-informed, wrong, unfair and downright rude! Download is a festival of numerous stages and numerous bands and an awesome atmosphere. That never changes year on year. Some bands you like, some bands you don't...I have always tried to mix it up. I have had to put up with many posts saying that I have abandoned the classic day/stage...clearly I have not. Some of the suggestions I have heard year on year have been laughable but I just crack on. I personally thought the three headliners that were delivered in 2010, were the three best festival headliners ever....my opinion. However, I got roasted because, as like all bands, they are not to everyone's tastes...I take it all on the chin and carry on. If people honestly think that Def Leppard has ruined the festival, then I am flabbergasted. You wanted a classic rock headliner...you got one. If you don't like them...go watch Pendulum or Danzig....there's something for everyone. No one forces anyone to a) watch a specific band at any one time, as there are always other choices and remember last year not one band was prepared to go up against AC/DC. If you didn't want to watch AC/DC, you could go grab a drink, get some food, get an early night...in fact you could do whatever you wanted...it's your festival, no one is forcing you to do anything. Download's atmosphere will never change...Donington has something no other festival has...I don't know what it is but it's there and it's great...regardless of who is playing. You should just come and enjoy yourselves...Korn, Alice Cooper, System Of A Down, Alter Bridge, Rob Zombie, Pendulum, Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Down...what a mix. Maybe expectation levels are too high because you expect so much & rightly so but for God's sake before you condemn the festival & me...look at what you get as whole. Download is Download is Download, always was, always will be. Andy (Maverick) ''

[gibbydanzig]

I actualy feel a little sorry for the stick you lot are firing at A-C

I recon he had 'Van Halen' in the bag but Van Halen being the new Guns n Roses have decided to pull out because they are so far behind on the new music.

Ye i suppose it is a bit of a panic to re-book Def Leppard but by this time of the year most festivals have their headliners sorted out and loads of them are exclusives to festivals ?

At least its not The Darkness or My Chemical Romance headlining that would have been poor.

oh and for f**k sake it was never going to be Led Zepplin that's just mad.

Also it's only the Headline act for one night im sure people will have a choice for Friday

I still think the undercard for the weekend is looking better than sonisphere

A few decent names tonight and smiles will come back to a few faces.

[r0w]

^^nah i dont reckon Van Halen pulled out on him, i think Van halen are the band he's already booked for 2012. But he must of got an awful lota snubs to book Def leppard again. Very poor booking. But tbh Sonisphere looks pretty poor also, so the headliners arnt really about this year. So no Download for me this year. 1 okay headliner in SOAD and 2 poor ones so Nova Rock it is!

[t8yman]

there are plenty of names that could have headlined other than DL, so I aint gonna shed no tears for the man who calls himself "maverick" - oh the irony, the opposite of a maverick booking.

zombie could have more than filled that slot. even a7x, bfmv.

dare I say it, even the darkness wouldnt have been as embarrassing as booking DL for the 2nd time in 3 years.

[radstocker]

I think it's a bit unfair for ppl to be calling AC a liar and such. Apart from online tweets and posts, no one knows what goes on behind the scenes.

He probably had Van Halen in the bag (after years of trying) and excitedly posted about an amazing never before booked headliner but if they've pulled out he's left looking like a pleb after having to panic buy what was available. (btw Def Leppard will be more expensive than they were last time and certainly not a 'cheap' option).

He could have had the headliners wrapped up late last year and they may have been brand new bookings (Van Halen, Manowar, The Darkness)but shit happens and ppl/bands/agents let you down and cancel and before you know it you're having to book repeat headliners.

[RichieParf]

Andy has just posted this on the official forums

''I am on a train and the signal is not working that well...I'm not scared...I book Download to the best of my ability and with what is available...if you don't like it, there is nothing I can do about that. I'm built of stern stuff, I can take criticism but some of the comments, as ever, are ill-informed, wrong, unfair and downright rude! Download is a festival of numerous stages and numerous bands and an awesome atmosphere. That never changes year on year. Some bands you like, some bands you don't...I have always tried to mix it up. I have had to put up with many posts saying that I have abandoned the classic day/stage...clearly I have not. Some of the suggestions I have heard year on year have been laughable but I just crack on. I personally thought the three headliners that were delivered in 2010, were the three best festival headliners ever....my opinion. However, I got roasted because, as like all bands, they are not to everyone's tastes...I take it all on the chin and carry on. If people honestly think that Def Leppard has ruined the festival, then I am flabbergasted. You wanted a classic rock headliner...you got one. If you don't like them...go watch Pendulum or Danzig....there's something for everyone. No one forces anyone to a) watch a specific band at any one time, as there are always other choices and remember last year not one band was prepared to go up against AC/DC. If you didn't want to watch AC/DC, you could go grab a drink, get some food, get an early night...in fact you could do whatever you wanted...it's your festival, no one is forcing you to do anything. Download's atmosphere will never change...Donington has something no other festival has...I don't know what it is but it's there and it's great...regardless of who is playing. You should just come and enjoy yourselves...Korn, Alice Cooper, System Of A Down, Alter Bridge, Rob Zombie, Pendulum, Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Down...what a mix. Maybe expectation levels are too high because you expect so much & rightly so but for God's sake before you condemn the festival & me...look at what you get as whole. Download is Download is Download, always was, always will be. Andy (Maverick) ''

[biffoire]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh wait, ha ha ha ha!! Def Leppard! Ha ha ha!!

Out of all the piss poor headliners DL have booked this has to be the worst!!

[Spengs Muck]

someone asked him about what he thiought of the facebook comments on twitter and he said 'do you nmean face friend 'friends' hmmm'

i felt like saying, we're not your f**king friends we're your paying customers.