Stereoboard Look Through The Iconic History Of Download Festival's Donington (Download Feature)
Monday, 30 April 2012
Written by Heather McDaid
While Download Festival will be celebrating the tenth year of its current namesake, Donington is – of course – iconic when it comes to the rock and metal music scene, having hosted Monsters of Rock for many years and Ozzfest too. Ever since the site became synonymous with rock ‘n’ roll, it has played backdrop to many iconic moments.
With Monsters of Rock starting back in 1980, I suppose you could say we have many thanks to offer to Paul Loasby who originally planned this festival dedicated to hard rock and metal. In its first year it raked in a staggering 35,000 people - back then it was merely a one day festival.
In the first five years, fans were treated to bands such as Judas Priest, Saxon, Scorpions, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Slade, Anvil, Meat Loaf, Dio, Diamond Head, ZZ Top, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue. These are just some of the names that appeared from 1980-1984. Saxon hold the prestigious honour of being the first band to play twice at the festival, while AC/DC hold the comparative title for headlining.
Rolling up to 1990, the big hitters of music were still rocking up to Donington. Metallica, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Def Leppard, Motorhead, Anthrax, Cinderella, KISS, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith and Poison managed to add their names to the iconic site in the space of five years – quite an impressive job on behalf of the promoters, especially as they skipped a year in 1989.
While the big bands were certainly descending on Donington year in and year out, the festival arena wasn’t just iconic for good reasons. Guns N' Roses have a string of high profile stories, yes, but one that has always stood out as a tragic event was the accidental death of two fans during their performance of 'It's So Easy' in 1988. With a staggering 107,000 people there to witness the event, the surge of fans in such muddy surroundings ended in such a horrible way. This is the reason behind the festival's break the following year.
Taking on the nineties, the festival showed no dip in quality. A lot of fantastic acts returned to the site including AC/DC, Metallica, Maiden, Motley Crue and Aerosmith but it would appear that the early nineties started to step more towards the metal side as opposed to pure, hard rock. Slayer made their first appearance, as did Skid Row, Sepultura, Therapy?, Pantera, Biohazard, Machine Head, White Zombie, Fear Factory, Korn... By 1996 – the festival’s final year – many of the bands that are rendered the soon-to-be-classics nowadays were just making their first tentative steps into the realm of rock.
Korn are still here, they’re still pushing the boundaries of musical genres. Machine Head are playing high up on any bill they appear and it’s likely that they will be one of the next bands to be bumped up to a headline slot. Rob Zombie, while not with his original band anymore – is also rendered iconic; Max Cavalera is not only still performing with Sepultura, but with a string of other musical acts – all of which are pretty damn good.
It feels that even back then, Donington was the Mecca of metal, having played host to most of the icons of the genre. Its last musical hosting duty prior to Download was 2002’s acclaimed Ozzfest.
Fast forward to 2003 and the current name-sake was born. Download Festival was set to continue the legacy of Monsters of Rock but grow to a two day festival. This is how the festival operated until 2005, where it grew once more to host three days of hard rock, the norm for us festival goers nowadays. It is said that the name itself was chosen because the word was considered “dirty” in the music industry, with pirating and file sharing rife. I’m sure there was more thought or reasoning behind it, but that’s the reason I’d always been told.
Download set the bar high with its line up. Iron Maiden and Audioslave - who replaced Limp Bizkit following them dropping out - headline the festival's debut. They were accompanied by Marilyn Manson, Murderdolls, Deftones, Disturbed, Mudvayne, Stone Sour, Sepultura, The Bouncing Souls and many more. Metallica were seemingly set to headline, but couldn't due to commitments with Reading and Leeds. Instead, they played a surprise set on the 2nd 'Scuzz Stage'. Metallica and Maiden seem to be the two definitive festival bands, so much so that their appearance would render the event a success regardless; it would have been neat to have them headline, however Audioslave were still mammoth.
2004 faced more hitches than the previous year. They added an extra stage and had more bands perform, yet Soil missed their main stage slot due to getting lost and Static-X's bus broke down and they followed the same suit. The following day, Slayer's equipment didn't arrive on time, which led to a reshuffle of the line-up. Metallica's Lars Ulrich was also rushed to hospital, which led to the band performing an hour late with Slipknot's Joey Jordison and drum tech Flemming Larsen filling in accordingly. Troubled as many circumstances may have been, that year played host to Linkin Park, Metallica, Korn, Slipknot, Machine Head, The Distillers, Soulfly, HIM, Biffy Clyro... When you look back at these lists of line-ups, it’s hard to just pick a handful of bands. Even back then, Download had their bill packed with quality.
2004 also marked a Scottish leg of the festival, which was notably smaller than its English counterpart. Featuring a number of the headlining bands as well as Welsh rockers Lostprophets, it seems that though this carnation was minute in comparison, they’d taken all the best bands up North for the cause.
2005 marked a different vibe for the festival. It seems that they were more experimental with their line-up, not leaning quite as heavily on metal. With the festival now spanning three days, this was a prime example of their ability to draw a brilliant line-up. While the latter two days embraced metal with Black Sabbath, System of a Down, Slipknot, Anthrax, Killswitch Engage, Slayer, Motorhead, Lamb of God and Mastodon; Friday teetered more on the lighter rock sound. Feeder, Garbage, Billy Idol, The Used, My Chemical Romance and Flogging Molly are just a few bands who played that day, yet metal was not forgotten, with the likes of Megadeth keeping the standard upheld.
Throughout its years, Download has continued its high standard of bills and has also had its ups and downs in the process. 2006 saw a similar scenario to Lars Ulrich’s hospital trip, as Korn’s Jonathan Davis was unable to play their set. He was replaced by numerous guest vocalists including Slipknot’s Corey Taylor and Matt Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold. More problems followed during Guns N’ Roses’ headline set as bottles were thrown that hit the bassist Tommy Stinson and caused Axl to slip. Unsurprisingly, he left the stage. Surprisingly, he came back and finished their set – a real moment of history.
In the last few years, Download Festival has given that last punt to some bands who were successful, but hadn’t yet headlined. In 2007, New Jersey’s My Chemical Romance found themselves headlining the festival; admittedly, this caused some controversy as the festival is known as a ‘metal fest’ overall, yet its further proof that Andy Copping and those behind Download give big breaks to big bands. Another more recent example would be Lostprophets’ headline set in 2008.
Following this, Donington has continued to play host to a number of stunning sets: Slipknot, Faith No More, Black Stone Cherry, Motley Crue, Papa Roach (2009), Rage Against The Machine, Stone Sour, Slash, Unearth (2010), Def Leppard, Avenged Sevenfold, Skindred, Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper (2011) – and those are just picking a select few from a vast, vast list.
What’s more, bands from the Monsters of Rock era still turn up to the festival now and kill it. Metallica, KISS, AC/DC, Aerosmith, simply all the classics will still come to Download, knowing that Donington is the real home of rock music, regardless of the name it goes by.
So, as Download turns to its tenth year it’s fair to say that they’ve got a quality history behind them and one they are set to keep adding to. Fans and musicians alike can appreciate that Download embodies rock ‘n’ roll, and while they may diversify the acts and genres that feature on their stages it will always be a celebration of the genre at its core.
Just a few more weeks to go until Download 2012. Bring it on!
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Fast forward to 2003 and the current name-sake was born. Download Festival was set to continue the legacy of Monsters of Rock but grow to a two day festival. This is how the festival operated until 2005, where it grew once more to host three days of hard rock, the norm for us festival goers nowadays. It is said that the name itself was chosen because the word was considered “dirty” in the music industry, with pirating and file sharing rife. I’m sure there was more thought or reasoning behind it, but that’s the reason I’d always been told. 
