Maybe it's time for a Download rival

[gabrielomachado]

thinking about a festival in the style of Rock Am Ring who could appeal to old R&L (2003-2015) crowd and a Download crowd. let's imagine a festival like that with bands that are around next year

Friday

Mainstage East: QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE / Placebo / IDLES / Gary Clark Jr.

Mainstage West: BRING ME THE HORIZON / Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes / Mudvayne / While She Sleeps

____

Saturday

Mainstage East: AVENGED SEVENFOLD / Five Finger Death Punch / Megadeth / Ministry

Mainstage West: TWENTY ONE PILOTS / Pendulum / Rise Against / Refused

___

Sunday

Mainstage East: METALLICA / Judas Priest / Sabaton / Avatar

Mainstage West: ROYAL BLOOD  / Wolf Alice / Puscifer / Ghostemane

 

clash between two mainstages

 

[gabrielomachado]

1 hour ago, gabrielomachado said:

thinking about a festival in the style of Rock Am Ring who could appeal to old R&L (2003-2015) crowd and a Download crowd. let's imagine a festival like that with bands that are around next year

Friday

Mainstage East: QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE / Placebo / IDLES / Gary Clark Jr.

Mainstage West: BRING ME THE HORIZON / Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes / Mudvayne / While She Sleeps

____

Saturday

Mainstage East: AVENGED SEVENFOLD / Five Finger Death Punch / Megadeth / Ministry

Mainstage West: TWENTY ONE PILOTS / Pendulum / Rise Against / Refused

___

Sunday

Mainstage East: METALLICA / Judas Priest / Sabaton / Avatar

Mainstage West: ROYAL BLOOD  / Wolf Alice / Puscifer / Ghostemane

 

clash between two mainstages

 

made a poster 

[beetchez]

20 hours ago, gabrielomachado said:

made a poster 

I'm not so sure about having six headliners. I know Reading did it this year but it kinda cheapens the whole 'band headlined a major festival' moment when in reality they're co-headlining.. Especially if they've never headlined another major festival before.

Having said that, it could work if the layout was like Sonisphere. Both stages are roughly the same size, but the "South" stage has smaller bands (though potentially bigger than what you'd get on the Zippo stage) and finishes earlier than the main headliner on the North. And the "chill" stage in a tent focused on indie pop.

FRIDAY NORTH: BRING ME THE HORIZON / Architects / Don Broco / Rina Sawayama

FRIDAY SOUTH: NO DOUBT / McFly / Frank Turner / July Talk

FRIDAY CHILL: CHRISTINA PERRI / Beach House / Mazzy Star 

 

SATURDAY NORTH: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE / Royal Blood / Yungblud / Rise Against

SATURDAY SOUTH: JUDAS PRIEST / Sabaton / Arch Enemy / Jinjer

SATURDAY CHILL: CHVRCHES / Grimes / Tash Sultana

 

SUNDAY NORTH: AVENGED SEVENFOLD / Evanescence / Limp Bizkit / Rise Against

SUNDAY SOUTH: YOU ME AT SIX / Neck Deep / State Champs / New Found Glory

SUNDAY CHILL: BRIGHT EYES / City and Colour / Cigarettes After Sex

[jump]

The funny thing is on these predications is I'm still not seeing bands like Slaves, Nothing But Thieves or Yungblud who are borderline academy/arena acts and have never played Download before despite being some of the biggest UK rock acts of the last few years.

[Spiral_Low]

3 hours ago, jump said:

The funny thing is on these predications is I'm still not seeing bands like Slaves, Nothing But Thieves or Yungblud who are borderline academy/arena acts and have never played Download before despite being some of the biggest UK rock acts of the last few years.

They aren't 'predictions' though cuz it's a hypothetical festival that doesn't exist 😉 They are just suggestions. 

[andyrhodes24]

3 hours ago, jump said:

The funny thing is on these predications is I'm still not seeing bands like Slaves, Nothing But Thieves or Yungblud who are borderline academy/arena acts and have never played Download before despite being some of the biggest UK rock acts of the last few years.

I'd love to see acts like these play, BMTH, Slaves, Yungblud, MGK, NBT and Royal Blood seem to be staples of R&L lineups but can't cross over into Download territory for whatever reason.

Download needs to accept that it's going to have to take the leap of faith and start booking these new wave of acts that aren't their traditional idea of rock/metal or it'll die a death. They'll never please everybody but overall satisfaction with the current criteria for booking acts has to be declining, hence the thread.

 

[jump]

11 minutes ago, Spiral_Low said:

They aren't 'predictions' though cuz it's a hypothetical festival that doesn't exist 😉 They are just suggestions. 

Yeah my bad, I'm too use to saying predications when people post line ups on here.

[Spiral_Low]

2 hours ago, andyrhodes24 said:

I'd love to see acts like these play, BMTH, Slaves, Yungblud, MGK, NBT and Royal Blood seem to be staples of R&L lineups but can't cross over into Download territory for whatever reason.

Download needs to accept that it's going to have to take the leap of faith and start booking these new wave of acts that aren't their traditional idea of rock/metal or it'll die a death. They'll never please everybody but overall satisfaction with the current criteria for booking acts has to be declining, hence the thread.

 

Why do Download need to accept this? Plenty of rock/metal fests thriving in Europe. The difference is those fests will promote bands like Korn, Volbeat Machine Head etc and turn them into headliners whilst Download keeps them sub or 3rd at most. 

With respect, if Download did what your proposing, all the rock and metal fans would simply go to whatever metal n hard rock festival popped up in its place. There are tonnes of rock n metal fans who are bored of Download line ups but don't want indie or emo or whatever, they just want different rock n metal bands.

One of the reasons Biffy Clyro have gotten such a mixed reaction is that on the negative side many people find it bizarre they can headline but Korn can't, when within the metal scene the latter are much bigger.

2 hours ago, jump said:

Yeah my bad, I'm too use to saying predications when people post line ups on here.

Haha that's cool. 

[andyrhodes24]

59 minutes ago, Spiral_Low said:

Why do Download need to accept this? Plenty of rock/metal fests thriving in Europe. The difference is those fests will promote bands like Korn, Volbeat Machine Head etc and turn them into headliners whilst Download keeps them sub or 3rd at most. 

With respect, if Download did what your proposing, all the rock and metal fans would simply go to whatever metal n hard rock festival popped up in its place. There are tonnes of rock n metal fans who are bored of Download line ups but don't want indie or emo or whatever, they just want different rock n metal bands.

One of the reasons Biffy Clyro have gotten such a mixed reaction is that on the negative side many people find it bizarre they can headline but Korn can't, when within the metal scene the latter are much bigger.

I guess my point comes down from me being a disillusioned R&L goer wanting something somewhere between what R&L is and what Download is. I guess what I'm after is 2000 Trees or even Slam Dunk but on a grander scale.

It all boils down to Download needing to stop booking the same predictable headliners and start promoting new ones. It just seems hellbent on booking a safe, legacy-style headliner or two when in reality it'd do them a favour to take the risk and promote from within or tweak the style ever so slightly. I'm obviously not asking for indie rock or anything close but they're definitely missing a trick not booking certain acts.

[jump]

Don't get me wrong I can go to Download and have fun all day long but personally I see Download as a Dad's rocks festival rather than the big UK rock fest. It's all well and good ditching the Monsters Of Rock name to and try to be cool by calling it Download instead but they are still booking the same acts like KISS who headlined the last one. It doesn't feel like they have their finger on the pulse of the rock market as there's been so many acts who have never played and have been shit hot in the rock circle.

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by jump

[Spiral_Low]

27 minutes ago, andyrhodes24 said:

I guess my point comes down from me being a disillusioned R&L goer wanting something somewhere between what R&L is and what Download is. I guess what I'm after is 2000 Trees or even Slam Dunk but on a grander scale.

It all boils down to Download needing to stop booking the same predictable headliners and start promoting new ones. It just seems hellbent on booking a safe, legacy-style headliner or two when in reality it'd do them a favour to take the risk and promote from within or tweak the style ever so slightly. I'm obviously not asking for indie rock or anything close but they're definitely missing a trick not booking certain acts.

Well the premise of this thread is that there should be an additional festival alongside Download catering for more of a mixed crowd. 

In terms of headliners, Download needs a better long term strategy but it's not just down to them. Over the last 10 years it's become really hard for newer bands to get as big as say SOAD or Slipknot because metal is out of the mainstream and the media is ignoring it. But oddly the live rock gig scene (pre-covid and Brexit) was probs the best it's been in decades, it's just so many bands reach a certain level and don't have the backing to get further.

But you can get way deep Into economics and politics here - part of the problem is the amount of rock pubs and clubs that closed down - and Brexit making it hard for British bands to tour EU - so yeah it's a complicated issue.

18 minutes ago, jump said:

Don't get me wrong I can go to Download and have fun all day long but personally I see Download as a Dad's rocks festival rather than the big UK rock fest. It's all well and good ditching the Monsters Of Rock name to and try to be cool by calling it Download instead but they are still booking the same acts like KISS who headlined the last one. It doesn't feel like they have their finger on the pulse of the rock market as there's been so many acts who have never played and have been shit hot in the rock circle.

 

Honestly that's a more recent thing. Like in 2009 for example the festival felt very on the pulse of the metal scene and me and friends had like 50 of us there from our small home city, all aged below 30 (back then). Since then it's been quite up and down tbh, some years deffo notice a more Dad rock crowd than others. 

[gabrielomachado]

29 minutes ago, jump said:

Don't get me wrong I can go to Download and have fun all day long but personally I see Download as a Dad's rocks festival rather than the big UK rock fest. It's all well and good ditching the Monsters Of Rock name to and try to be cool by calling it Download instead but they are still booking the same acts like KISS who headlined the last one. It doesn't feel like they have their finger on the pulse of the rock market as there's been so many acts who have never played and have been shit hot in the rock circle.

 

it's unbeliavable that the three most hyped UK metal bands of the last decade (BMTH, Architects and While She Sleeps) haven't played at UK biggest rock festival in almost a decade

Edited September 13, 2021 by gabrielomachado

[Spiral_Low]

2 hours ago, gabrielomachado said:

it's unbeliavable that the three most hyped UK metal bands of the last decade (BMTH, Architects and While She Sleeps) haven't played at UK biggest rock festival in almost a decade

While She Sleeps played the Download pilot. And the rumour about the other 2 has been they've been purposely avoiding Download to seek other audiences. Which would explain why Architects played the shambles that was Alt Ldn. 

[jump]

5 minutes ago, Spiral_Low said:

While She Sleeps played the Download pilot. And the rumour about the other 2 has been they've been purposely avoiding Download to seek other audiences. Which would explain why Architects played the shambles that was Alt Ldn. 

In fairness they got paid for ALT LDN which was 45 mins of work and could then spend the rest of the day shopping at the M&M store and seeing The Tate in London whilst you didn't get paid for Download Pilot.

[Spiral_Low]

1 hour ago, jump said:

In fairness they got paid for ALT LDN which was 45 mins of work and could then spend the rest of the day shopping at the M&M store and seeing The Tate in London whilst you didn't get paid for Download Pilot.

True, but it does seem they're elected to play that rather than Download 2022, unless they are in one of the empty mainstage slots. 

[Rotinajer]

Like others I’d much rather a hybrid between R&L and Download

 

some of the metal oriented suggestions here are too download esq for me. (Been to download a few times)

 

id like to see a complete mix up between the indie, metal etc that we get at both festivals. 

[rivalschools.price]

On 9/13/2021 at 7:30 PM, Spiral_Low said:

While She Sleeps played the Download pilot. And the rumour about the other 2 has been they've been purposely avoiding Download to seek other audiences. Which would explain why Architects played the shambles that was Alt Ldn. 

Well I’ve got news for BMTH and Architects, their audience isn’t at R+L or ALT LDN,their audience is at Download.

Architects stuck out like a sore thumb at ALT LDN.

[jump]

9 minutes ago, rivalschools.price said:

Well I’ve got news for BMTH and Architects, their audience isn’t at R+L or ALT LDN,their audience is at Download.

Architects stuck out like a sore thumb at ALT LDN.

ALT LDN was a train wreck, there was meant to be two stages one with hippity hop and the other with mEtalZ but there were so many cancellations they combined the two stages into one. But yeah, even if there were two stages it wouldn't have worked.

In fairness to Bring Me and Architects they do have a point, their audience isn't the double demin dinosaurs wearing Status Quo and W.A.S.P. patches that roam Download, it's a young metal crowd and if they feel out place it's kinda telling of what Download books and who they are booking for.

[rivalschools.price]

4 minutes ago, jump said:

ALT LDN was a train wreck, there was meant to be two stages one with hippity hop and the other with mEtalZ but there were so many cancellations they combined the two stages into one. But yeah, even if there were two stages it wouldn't have worked.

In fairness to Bring Me and Architects they do have a point, their audience isn't the double demin dinosaurs wearing Status Quo and W.A.S.P. patches that roam Download, it's a young metal crowd and if they feel out place it's kinda telling of what Download books and who they are booking for.

Haha, ‘Status Quo and WASP patches’.
When was the last time you went to Download?

[jump]

3 minutes ago, rivalschools.price said:

Haha, ‘Status Quo and WASP patches’.
When was the last time you went to Download?

Around 3/4ish years ago if we aren't including The Pilot and I did actually see someone with Status Quo and WASP patches there. I remember thinking about if it was meant to be somekind of ironic cosplay or not.

[thewayiam]

30 minutes ago, rivalschools.price said:

Well I’ve got news for BMTH and Architects, their audience isn’t at R+L or ALT LDN,their audience is at Download.

Architects stuck out like a sore thumb at ALT LDN.

I think they just feel that Copping is a knob and don't want to play his event. I mean, they correct. 

[FeverDream]

I reckon a festival with the lineup that Mad Cool 2022 has would go down a storm here. Slightly more “generic” (for want of a better word) than a Rock Am Ring style festival but it works. Then again, the below lineup is probably what R&L should be booking as opposed to another festival entirely. So maybe a RAM style festival is better to bridge the gap between R&L and Download.

Edited September 27, 2021 by FeverDream

[RonanM]

*ignore*

Edited September 27, 2021 by RonanM

[Spiral_Low]

22 hours ago, FeverDream said:

I reckon a festival with the lineup that Mad Cool 2022 has would go down a storm here. Slightly more “generic” (for want of a better word) than a Rock Am Ring style festival but it works. Then again, the below lineup is probably what R&L should be booking as opposed to another festival entirely. So maybe a RAM style festival is better to bridge the gap between R&L and Download.

The problem in the UK is mainstream attitude's towards rock and metal. Fans like me get rather tired of being called 'f***ing goths' by the weathespoons going crowd, so the mixing of bands can be a put off. It's why I don't bother with R+L anymore. 

[FeverDream]

4 hours ago, Spiral_Low said:

The problem in the UK is mainstream attitude's towards rock and metal. Fans like me get rather tired of being called 'f***ing goths' by the weathespoons going crowd, so the mixing of bands can be a put off. It's why I don't bother with R+L anymore. 

Yeah, I get you. The reaction on Twitter when RATM were announced was atrocious.