Download 2023

[jump]

5 minutes ago, Spiral_Low said:

I for one would be happy to see 2 Metallica sets. They have so many songs to fit in anyway and like it's been mentioned it's better than the normal Thursday. If anything it's BMTH who absolutely need a band up against them on second. They are actively hated by a good chunk of the Download crowd. 

In terms of AC/DC who knows, but I doubt they will be at any European festivals next year. 

Slipknot announced on social media that their US dates later this year will be their last US ones 'for awhile' as they go and tour worldwide. If you look at their European tour this year it misses alot of the big festivals, apart from Wacken*, so they seem to be a favourite for Download, Hellfest, Copenhell etc next year.

*Which would make total sense if they are gonna do Rock AM/IM. 

Yeah, Downloaders hate younger bands. I still find it mental that they consider Slipknot a younger band. lol

I disagree, 'tellica need a band against them the most as their set will be fucking rammned otherwise. Chucking someone else on to split the crowd is just sensible.

'tellica were at Hellfest this year. I can see them playing again next year but they wouldn't be the first band I would think of for their headliners.

[willgooneday]

23 minutes ago, jump said:

Yeah, Downloaders hate younger bands. I still find it mental that they consider Slipknot a younger band. lol

I disagree, 'tellica need a band against them the most as their set will be fucking rammned otherwise. Chucking someone else on to split the crowd is just sensible.

'tellica were at Hellfest this year. I can see them playing again next year but they wouldn't be the first band I would think of for their headliners.

 

Both bands need something against them. BMTH because the Metallica crowd are going to be bored as fuck by them - put Judas Priest on the second stage or something and you'll make everyone's life a lot easier and Metallica because while they have an amazingly deep back catalogue there's an element who won't want to see two nights of them - Frank Carter / Enter Shikari / Parkway Drive or Yungblud (he's done collabs with BMTH so would suit their base and is great live) (although I'd rather they had the balls to give them a sub slot on main now - there 2018 second stage headline set was one or the best things I've ever seen at a festival/gig) or the like on 2nd stage headliner 

[jump]

14 minutes ago, willgooneday said:

 

Metallica because while they have an amazingly deep back catalogue 

Deep is a stretch, half of their albums are shit fodder and every time I mention I actually liked Hardwire I get told off for being wrong. 😜

[Spiral_Low]

2 hours ago, jump said:

Yeah, Downloaders hate younger bands. I still find it mental that they consider Slipknot a younger band. lol

I disagree, 'tellica need a band against them the most as their set will be fucking rammned otherwise. Chucking someone else on to split the crowd is just sensible.

'tellica were at Hellfest this year. I can see them playing again next year but they wouldn't be the first band I would think of for their headliners.

Plenty of Downloaders into 'younger bands' - just look at the love for Spiritbox - it's that BMTH have always been divisive since their beginning. This isn't just a Download thing, it's the entire UK metal scene that's split on them. 

I'm not saying Metallica shouldn't have anyone against them, I'm just saying BMTH need it more. I think every headliner should have someone against them tbh. 

[jump]

9 minutes ago, Spiral_Low said:

Plenty of Downloaders into 'younger bands' - just look at the love for Spiritbox - it's that BMTH have always been divisive since their beginning. This isn't just a Download thing, it's the entire UK metal scene that's split on them. 

I'm not saying Metallica shouldn't have anyone against them, I'm just saying BMTH need it more. I think every headliner should have someone against them tbh. 

Saxon is the typical Download band, Spiritbox were shoved onto a smaller stage so not to disturb the double denim dinosaurs. 😜 

[BenG92]

Surprised Greta Van Fleet aren't a regular booking at this point, a new band that can actually keep the fossils entertained. Feels like their entire dedicated fanbase is just people who comment "now THIS is real music like what I used to listen to!" on Youtube videos.

[jump]

5 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Surprised Greta Van Fleet aren't a regular booking at this point, a new band that can actually keep the fossils entertained. Feels like their entire dedicated fanbase is just people who comment "now THIS is real music like what I used to listen to!" on Youtube videos.

I tried to get tixs for their Ally Pally show at the weekend but it sold out and people were picking them up too quick on Twickets. They will sell out Wembley or maybe even The O2 next. I'm not a massive fan but they are someone I want to check out and since they aren't popping up at any fests in this country it looks like it will have to be at their own show.

It's been said before but Download juts doesn't like new bands. One of the hottest bands in rock for the last few and they were booked once not even on the main stage. The fest needs a rebulbing phase like what happened to Glasto and R&L otherwise it will end up like its predecessor Monsters Of Rock and it will be their own fault.

[willgooneday]

4 minutes ago, jump said:

I tried to get tixs for their Ally Pally show at the weekend but it sold out and people were picking them up too quick on Twickets. They will sell out Wembley or maybe even The O2 next. I'm not a massive fan but they are someone I want to check out and since they aren't popping up at any fests in this country it looks like it will have to be at their own show.

It's been said before but Download juts doesn't like new bands. One of the hottest bands in rock for the last few and they were booked once not even on the main stage. The fest needs a rebulbing phase like what happened to Glasto and R&L otherwise it will end up like its predecessor Monsters Of Rock and it will be their own fault.

It's a difficult balancing act though. The last thing anybody who attends Download wants is it to merge into R+L or Glasto - the lineups have been shite for years and one of Downloads greatest selling points is that it's held onto rock unashamedly. What it needs to do is start doing what Reading and Leeds and Glasto did in the early 2000s and being the event that makes a band big. If the Thursday becomes permanent it would be ideal for it - a headline slot that you can book a slightly smaller band for and if they smash it you've got a ready made headliner of the future - if not no big deal.

Bands like Architects, FFDP, Parkway Drive, Machine Head, Enter Shikari, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Disturbed, Black Stone Cherry,  Korn, who would be head spinning choices on a main night but would headline a smaller day quite nicely with no competition on other stages. Make it their biggest shop window of their careers and I'm sure most bands would nail it. 

[BenG92]

5 minutes ago, jump said:

I tried to get tixs for their Ally Pally show at the weekend but it sold out and people were picking them up too quick on Twickets. They will sell out Wembley or maybe even The O2 next. I'm not a massive fan but they are someone I want to check out and since they aren't popping up at any fests in this country it looks like it will have to be at their own show.

It's been said before but Download juts doesn't like new bands. One of the hottest bands in rock for the last few and they were booked once not even on the main stage. The fest needs a rebulbing phase like what happened to Glasto and R&L otherwise it will end up like its predecessor Monsters Of Rock and it will be their own fault.

Seeing them open for Metallica this week in Belgium, curious as I've got what I call a like/dislike relationship with them - they're good for what they are and they have catchy tunes, but blimey are they just doing Zeppelin. Mrs loves them though ever since I started playing them.

Royal Blood feel like another that should be in by now, again maybe a hot take but they're safe enough that the older crowd can appreciate them. They're not exactly grindcore. But as you say DL has an issue and has had it for long enough that even talking about it feels repetitive at this point 😅

[BenG92]

1 minute ago, willgooneday said:

The last thing anybody who attends Download wants is it to merge into R+L or Glasto - the lineups have been shite for years

I absolutely do want it to merge into what R+L was not long ago though. You only need to go as far back as 2019 for Foo Fighters / ADTR / Frank Carter / Distillers, which makes DL22's second stage headliners of Distillers replaced by Frank look a bit silly.

What I'm saying is Download needs to pick up the slack R+L are leaving behind and have a broader rock day for bands like Foos, QOTSA, Paramore, Blink, stuff that we wish we were still getting at R+L. 

[willgooneday]

3 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

I absolutely do want it to merge into what R+L was not long ago though. You only need to go as far back as 2019 for Foo Fighters / ADTR / Frank Carter / Distillers, which makes DL22's second stage headliners of Distillers replaced by Frank look a bit silly.

What I'm saying is Download needs to pick up the slack R+L are leaving behind and have a broader rock day for bands like Foos, QOTSA, Paramore, Blink, stuff that we wish we were still getting at R+L. 

But were also highly unlike to want Post Malone, the 1975 or Twenty One Pilots at Download. Honestly think ADTR could headline Friday at Download now and should be the next act given the leap alongside Korn. It seems apparent that Andy can't book acts like Green Day / Foo Fighters or surely they'd have happened at some point  in the past 20 years? 

I mean we often forget it took 10 years for Slipknot to be elevated to headliners and they were a massive band. 

 

If it's going to expand it's genre horizons I'd rather we just embraced the dinosaur rock full throttle and booked The Eagles / Santana / Deep Purple / Status Quo / Roger Waters / Judas Priest or McCartney in a headline slot - although I doubt they'd take whatever the headline slot payment is for the slot for Download as a fee - 

[BenG92]

1 minute ago, willgooneday said:

But were also highly unlike to want Post Malone, the 1975 or Twenty One Pilots at Download. Honestly think ADTR could headline Friday at Download now and should be the next act given the leap alongside Korn. It seems apparent that Andy can't book acts like Green Day / Foo Fighters or surely they'd have happened at some point  in the past 20 years? 

I mean we often forget it took 10 years for Slipknot to be elevated to headliners and they were a massive band. 

If it's going to expand it's genre horizons I'd rather we just embraced the dinosaur rock full throttle and booked The Eagles / Santana / Deep Purple / Status Quo / Roger Waters / Judas Priest or McCartney in a headline slot - although I doubt they'd take whatever the headline slot payment is for the slot for Download as a fee - 

Indeed, but you can take some of those great L+R days and bang them into Download. L+R 2014's QOTSA / Paramore / Shikari / Jimmy Eat World / Deaf Havana / Crossfaith / Hacktivist wouldn't look out of place at all at a modern Download although hopefully they'd sack off the bottom for newer bands. Stick a legacy act on one day and a heavy metal one on the other and you're sorted. 

Please less dinosaurs though, that's only going to make the problem worse. "We've got 2 new headliners!" and then they retire the next year along with the other dinosaurs that weren't booked, and Download has no bands again. 

[jump]

53 minutes ago, willgooneday said:

It's a difficult balancing act though. The last thing anybody who attends Download wants is it to merge into R+L or Glasto - the lineups have been shite for years and one of Downloads greatest selling points is that it's held onto rock unashamedly. What it needs to do is start doing what Reading and Leeds and Glasto did in the early 2000s and being the event that makes a band big. If the Thursday becomes permanent it would be ideal for it - a headline slot that you can book a slightly smaller band for and if they smash it you've got a ready made headliner of the future - if not no big deal.

Bands like Architects, FFDP, Parkway Drive, Machine Head, Enter Shikari, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Disturbed, Black Stone Cherry,  Korn, who would be head spinning choices on a main night but would headline a smaller day quite nicely with no competition on other stages. Make it their biggest shop window of their careers and I'm sure most bands would nail it. 

Booking new metal/hard rock band doesn't make Download suddenly Glasto or R&L for fuck sake! It's that type of shit thinking from the regulars has what lead to the doubling down to appease the double denim dinosaurs and kills off the more adventurous booking so you're stuck with the old shit like Def Leppard, Status Quos and Saxon in rotation and the handful of bands that rised through the line ups like Killswitch and Skindred. With the boomers who are into WASP and Journey going less and less every year and the younger rawk fans are put off by not having the rock they know being a major presence or even the regulars who are just sick of seeing the same old bollocks on the line up every year the festival is slipping and has been for awhile. 

Go back 10-20 years and Download was managing to book new acts and old acts alot better. They gave Limp Bizkit a shot at headlining on their first festival as a statement of intent, take off the rose tinted glasses and remember when Download booked Slipknot to headline they were called angry kids music who aren't even big enough to sub reading etc. Whilst everyone may not be happy with Greta Van Fleet they are add for more value to the line up both now and for the future that alot of other bands can't, even if it somehow now makes Download Reading festival.

Edited June 27, 2022 by jump

[jump]

18 minutes ago, willgooneday said:

But were also highly unlike to want Post Malone, the 1975 or Twenty One Pilots at Download. Honestly think ADTR could headline Friday at Download now and should be the next act given the leap alongside Korn. It seems apparent that Andy can't book acts like Green Day / Foo Fighters or surely they'd have happened at some point  in the past 20 years? 

I mean we often forget it took 10 years for Slipknot to be elevated to headliners and they were a massive band. 

 

If it's going to expand it's genre horizons I'd rather we just embraced the dinosaur rock full throttle and booked The Eagles / Santana / Deep Purple / Status Quo / Roger Waters / Judas Priest or McCartney in a headline slot - although I doubt they'd take whatever the headline slot payment is for the slot for Download as a fee - 

If Download starts booking Status Quo and Santana to headline then it fucking deserves to die! 

In it's place will come a new rock festival just like how Download replaced Monsters Of Rock.

[willgooneday]

27 minutes ago, jump said:

If Download starts booking Status Quo and Santana to headline then it fucking deserves to die! 

In it's place will come a new rock festival just like how Download replaced Monsters Of Rock.

Why there big bands that are popular with the older crowd that makes up most of Download's audience and would have headline MoR comfortably. 

[BenG92]

7 minutes ago, willgooneday said:

Why there big bands that are popular with the older crowd that makes up most of Download's audience and would have headline MoR comfortably. 

Both are 2nd stage headliners and that's being nice about it. 

I'd actually be ok with either heading 2nd as long as the main stage head is someone fresh. Put Quo opposite BMTH and quarantine the fossils, why not. 

[jump]

3 minutes ago, willgooneday said:

Why there big bands that are popular with the older crowd that makes up most of Download's audience and would have headline MoR comfortably. 

LOL! Do the Download regulars really hate new music that much they want Status Quo to headline? 

Monsters Of Rock died off 30 years as it wasn't relevant enough then let alone today. It's fine if Download wants to be downgraded to a smaller festival but it's meant to be the pinnacle of the UK hard rock/metal scene not a country fair for your Granddad on life support to be wheeled out to by a nurse for an afternoon out. If you go to a metal night club the band shirts people are wearing are not Santana and the music that is being played is not Black Magic Woman. Just go to Ramblin Man if you are that desperate to avoid new rock. 

[beetchez]

There will always be 'old' headliners. "Hello~ Donington!" bands as me and my friend call them, with an overly exaggerated English accent. And I'm completely fine if every year we get one to appease the older crowd.

But, there needs to be a new 'wildcard' headliner as well. Take 2014 as an example. Friday had A7X as the wildcard "will they go down well?" headliner, Saturday had the established Linkin Park, and Sunday had the legacy Aerosmith. Avenged proved themselves and were back in 2018 as an established headliner.

If say, the wildcard headliner is Twenty One Pilots or Paramore, and they get a shit reception... Then hey, they won't be booked in the near future (aside Biffy). But at least they were given the opportunity while the other days have Rammstein and AC/DC for example.

[jump]

4 minutes ago, beetchez said:

There will always be 'old' headliners. "Hello~ Donington!" bands as me and my friend call them, with an overly exaggerated English accent. And I'm completely fine if every year we get one to appease the older crowd.

But, there needs to be a new 'wildcard' headliner as well. Take 2014 as an example. Friday had A7X as the wildcard "will they go down well?" headliner, Saturday had the established Linkin Park, and Sunday had the legacy Aerosmith. Avenged proved themselves and were back in 2018 as an established headliner.

If say, the wildcard headliner is Twenty One Pilots or Paramore, and they get a shit reception... Then hey, they won't be booked in the near future (aside Biffy). But at least they were given the opportunity while the other days have Rammstein and AC/DC for example.

They don’t even need wildcats headliners in my opinion. They just need to start booking new bands on the main stage and not just the tents so by the time they get big enough to headline or take a major slot on the line up the old timers aren’t confused by this new fangled music.

Bring Me who are the biggest British metal act for the last few years have played the main stage once whilst the old Status Quo fans are only just recovering from discovering nu-metal is a thing. They need to be introduced to these new bands (who have been around 20th years) slowly to avoid panic! 😜 

[willgooneday]

Thursday - 

 

Main - Metallica / Lamb of God / Parkway Drive / Deaf Havana / Mudvayne 

 

Other - Neck Deep / Alkaline Trio 

 

Friday -

 

Main - Bring Me the Horizon / Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes / Yungblud / Black Stone Cherry / Dinosaur Jr / Power Trip

 

Other - Status Quo / Thunder

 

Saturday -

 

Main - Metallica / Megadeth / Anthrax / Testament / Suicidal Tendencies

 

Other - Enter Shikari / The Offspring 

 

Sunday -

 

Main - Slipknot / Ghost / Papa Roach / Drowning Pool / Staind

Other - Judas Priest / Quiet Riot

 

[Andre91]

1 minute ago, willgooneday said:

Thursday - 

 

Main - Metallica / Lamb of God / Parkway Drive / Deaf Havana / Mudvayne 

 

Other - Neck Deep / Alkaline Trio 

 

Friday -

 

Main - Bring Me the Horizon / Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes / Yungblud / Black Stone Cherry / Dinosaur Jr / Power Trip

 

Other - Status Quo / Thunder

 

Saturday -

 

Main - Metallica / Megadeth / Anthrax / Testament / Suicidal Tendencies

 

Other - Enter Shikari / The Offspring 

 

Sunday -

 

Main - Slipknot / Ghost / Papa Roach / Drowning Pool / Staind

Other - Judas Priest / Quiet Riot

 

Many of your placings are all over the place.

[willgooneday]

1 minute ago, Andre91 said:

Many of your placings are all over the place.

I've focused on how the bands complement each other rather than giving them slots based on their size. 

[willgooneday]

 Seen as we seem to know the headliners - these guys could be a fun opener on the Sunday afternoon. Complete naff, but would be better than booking Lawnmower Deth again.

 

 

[Spiral_Low]

2 hours ago, willgooneday said:

Why there big bands that are popular with the older crowd that makes up most of Download's audience and would have headline MoR comfortably. 

With respect can we stop saying the older crowd makes up most of Download? The main demographic is probably my generation (I'm 37). Probably 25-45 has the biggest representation there. I know we aren't kids anymore but come on haha. Yeah there are a chunk of over 50's but there are loads of 18-21 too, it's a mixed bag! 

[Alex Winstone]

Muse?