After being cancelled in March, Download festival is now going ahead as a government pilot event to monitor Covid-19 transmission.
Good news for gig-goers: the pits are now open and you can mosh to your heart's content. Download was scheduled for the 4-6th June but sadly had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. With this pilot event, we are hoping to see the return of large-scale events such as other festivals potentially coming back. It’s time to get excited! With huge bands such as Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, Bullet For My Valentine, Yonaka and Enter Shikari performing, we’re looking forward to it!
The capacity has been reduced from 111,000 down to 10,000 for the one-off Download pilot festival, which is a drastic reduction. The festival is being overlooked by the Event Research Programme to monitor Covid-19 transmission, but the festival will include camping.
The reduced capacity allows for attendees to be tested for Coronavirus before entry. All ticket holders will be required to take a lateral flow test at home and a PCR test beforehand. Five days after the festival, another PCR test will be conducted and returned to complete the research. But if you do test positive for Covid-19 before the festival, your tickets will be refunded!
This is part of the second phase of the event research programme that saw other pilot events in the last year such as the day festival, Sefton Park in Liverpool, which recorded very low transmission. Only 15 people tested positive out of 58,000 who attended the series of pilot events in May.
Download will take place in the same location, Donington Park from 18-20th June as normal. The only thing that will change is the capacity! You can still camp, hug and mosh all without wearing a mask and with no social distancing measures. A nice taste of normality for all of us.
The full list of bands follow:
Friday: Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Neck Deep, Sleep Token, Boston Manor, Holding Absence, Hot milk, Malevolence, Death Blooms.
Saturday: Enter Shikari, While She Sleeps, Creeper, Stone Broken, Twin Atlantic, Yonaka, Those Damn Crows, “A”, Vukovi, Tigercub, Wargasm, The Hara, Bleed From Within, As Everything Unfolds, Conjurer, Lotus Eater.
Sunday: Bullet For My Valentine, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Skindred, The Wildhearts, Trash Boat, Massive Wagons, Elvana, Jamie Lenman, Lonely The Brave, Higher Power, Loathe, Chubby and The Gang, Employed To Serve, Cassyette, Saint Agnes, Static Dress.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing?
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