make him say chlan

I’m pretty sure this is the one question everyone wants to know – what is happening with Friday main stage? Are there going to be any more bands or not?

WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU MAKE SOME ROOM FOR ANDREW WK IF THERE WASN’T ANY?!

Which band are you most proud of getting on any Download bill?

will the in-field arena ever come back? now that the F1 wont be taking place at donington.

Can you book some more hardcore for this year please?

Yep – Friday, having three bands on a mainstage – regardless of who the bands closing it off, is pathetic.

We pay alot of money to come to download, I don’t want to spend my whole Friday sat around waiting for 3 bands on the mainstage…so my question is this: Please tell me there are 5 or 6 more bands to be announced for the friday…right?

Also: What is with the lack of thrash and UK bands- Evile, Gama Bomb, Savage Messiah?

A couple of weeks ago the boys talked about the lack of contemporary bands headlining festivals. They talked about how SlipKnoT have been deserving of a headlining slot for years now but it only happened for the first time last year. What about bands like Machine Head, Rammstein, Lamb Of God, Meshuggah and even Slayer and Megadeth? Why are they not considered “worthy” of headlining slots?
Each one of those bands is immensely loved and respected throughout the metal world and none of them are the kind of band that is “inaccessible”. It’s not like I’m asking you to put Cannibal Corpse as your festival headliner… Although that would be totally awesome.
Anyway thank you for your time.

does download have a contingency plan just incase it gets over run by ninjas?

Was an offer put to Rammstein this year? And if so, are you gutted you missed out on them or is it a case of plenty more fish in the sea?

How does it feel being one of the only Englishmen to actually pull off the cowboy hat look?

and also which band do you think will be the one to see this year?

I’m with Casper on this one, can you give one good reason why Andrew WK isn’t on the line-up?….

Open all the campsites at once so most people get to camp where they want! Rather than not camping anywhere decent cos they don’t have a pop up tent!

If Darnload is a rock festival, AC/DC is a perfect booking, although what about Aerosmith and rage as headliners? there is little balance on this year’s mainstages, not enough metal bands being given a chance on the two mainstages amongst the classic rock acts.

What goes through your mind when you read some of the mindless, hateful comments directed toward some of the bands you’ve booked? I have to say it depresses the hell out of me sometimes.

If you were only able to buy one day ticket, which day would you go?

Apart from the question about Friday mainstage.

I’d ask him why so many 80’s are booked on the lower stages?

I’m very to see bands such as Judas Priest, Aerosmith,Kiss,Dream Theater play, but can Andy explain why bands such RATT/tyketto are playing when more relevant artisits / up and coming UK acts could be booked? He hasnt even booked Dokken lol!

Also – Rody from Protest The Hero said that DL didnt want to book them? Is this true? Or Internet B.$hit?

p.s – ask / beg /plead him to book Between The Buried and Me

could you ask andy, with all the top bands announced on main and second stages this year especially on Saturday has he ever thought about staggering the stages with 3rd and 4th running against them so we dont miss out on top class bands via clashes!? Dave

One thing you have pulled off well over the past few years is getting a crossover artist somewhere on the bill (prodigy, pendulum and the bizzle), but this year it’s sadly lacking from the bill at the moment.. Any reason why you haven’t booked one of the many bands around who could fill the slot nicely (cough* hadouken *cough).

Andy – why is it that Blaze Bayley has never had the opportunity to play donington, when he’s put the hours in on the music scene,unlike others that are/have graced the hallowed turf ? i’m looking forward to rockin out again this year ! Regards. Paul Russell

why is your festival so shit?

First of all, just wanted to say that Dahnload is going to be the first festival I’ve been to and I couldn’t have asked for a better line-up, it’s going to be EPIC!

Is there going to be any more bands announced and whose Slash bringing along with him?

Prior to the first announcement made you said something about how you thought this was the best lineup has ever had. Do you still think this is the best one sicne you’ve been booking the festival?

Whats the purpose of the cowboy hat?
Does it help you decide the headliners each year

Do you approach bands or do bands approach you?

Why is the third stage so weak this year, Suicidal Tendancies aside?

Will the first and second stages be staggered?

How many bands will play friday main?

Hi

I just wanted to say that i will be selling bottle lids in the arena this year. 10p per lid.

keep an eye out for me, ill be dressed in jeans, black tshirt and will be very drunk.

Why is there not much diversity at Download this year every stage has the same genres on(Metalcore/80’s Cheese why are you leaving out metal genres like Death/Black/Industrial gives people nothing to watch and if you have ever walked around at Download these genres are definatley what people are interested in?

Do get to just relax and enjoy your work come the day, or is it like asking someone to listen to your bands demo tape for the first time with you in the room?

How do you justify the high ticket price? Particulary the increase to come down early?

Is this because you blew all your cash on booking Aerosmith?

I begrudgingly purchased a Download ticket this year as I couldn’t ignore the line up but having been to Sonisphere last year, (And having experienced Download in previous years before that), I was amazed at how well that festival was put together. Layout wise it wiped the floor with previous downloads and due to well planned band times it meant that you could see the majority of bands you wanted to see without having to force your way through the crowds just to catch the last 10 minutes of their performance!! It was clear indication that band clashes, especially with the “bigger” bands is completely avoidable and that festivals can be laid out in such way as to make the stages easily accessible at all times. So my question is, what has been put in place to help rectify these issues for this years Download?

Why is the arena on the Friday not opening until 2 pm?
The last few years it has opened at 12pm.

Ps I am love the line up so far.

Joe from Scotland.

how does it feel having two of the best rock and roll bands in history headlining your festival?

also any chance of a free ticket?

Tell us whats happening with friday and don’t say – ‘ i’m still deciding’ we have two months left!

Tell us whats happening with friday and don’t say – ‘ i’m still deciding’ we have two months left!

A brief one:
How are the decisions made about who/when/where will play, do the bands have any word? Some of the orders of playing are ridiculous, if not insulting.

Is there any chance in opening the 3rd stage until 1AM like at Soni…That way we can still have something to watch after the headliners and it would also give smaller bands a good chance to play a late night set with a good (possibaly drunk) audience…

Is there any chance you can let Gill and Beez open the festival? This would be a brilliant addition to the already awesome line-up…

Since download began, how many attempts over the years were made to book Rammstein?

1. Have you attempted to get The Almighty to do one more show at this years festival. If not, why not, now get on it straight away.

2. ACDC headling is great, but do you think you may have pandered to them too much in order to get them.

3. Tyketto & Skin, If you keep this up I may let you book my festival on a regular basis.

4. What about Junkyard?

After last year with slipknot, down, hatebreed, devildriver, Meshuggah, korn etc there seems to be a bit of a lack of metal this year, was this a concious decission or just how it turned out?

also as above, please tell me you have something special planned for friday main stage??

1 more thing- next year the early entry fee NEEDS to go! i know its only an extra tenner but come on, dont you think i’ve paid enough aready??

If you could book System of a Down I would be in your debt forever. My question is would you make me do?

I presume you saw the light show AC/DC put on at Rochester castle in regards with the Iron Man film… Is there any chance on something simular at Download? Or is it just going to be 2 hours of normal AC/DC (not that thats a bad thing lol)

Where are Mastodon and Clutch?

Are you going to tell us the secret band before the festival like last time?

i will be there on the wednesday morning, so whats being put on to keep me and thousands more entertained till the friday ,
cheers dude

ps i cant wait for MEGADETH \m/ cheers for getting them….. gutted you never got Testament as they are over europe at the time, also no Overkill

Any chance of kidnapping Rob Zombie and forcing him to play?

Andy, If there is a band that have or is generating a large following and you’re not a fan, as an event booker, this must be hard. So i would like to know how difficult is it to keep your personal feelings about bands in check when making bookings?

Have you thought about making another festival?
A few of us on the forums talked about a festival similar to Roadburn in Holland or Hellfest in France, but having it in the good ol’ UK.

Does it make it harder to get exclusives for download now there are more UK festivals such as sonisphere and bloodstock?

and

What was your reaction when you found out sonisphere had booked the big four?

With the emergence of Sonisphere do you get frustrated with band exclusivity and are you finding it harder to book more established bands?

yeah agrred with that overkill and testament would have been gr8

kreator would have been really good.

Andy dude cheers for a gr8 line up man . and THANK YOU FOR WHITE WIZZARD
i was woundering tho why is Dommin opening the main stage and White Wizzard oping the 2nd ? they are both new bands but RATT CINDRELLA SLASH SOUND NOTHING LIKE DOMMIN WHERE WHITE WIZZARD HAVE THAT OLD SCHOOL MAIDEN PRIEST SOUND. soz about caps there. also in Kerrang this last week it said under the latest announcments that Evile were booked but are not on the offical line up could you shed some light on this one please. i would also like to ask about the 3 rising records bands if we are able to have this are we able to have 3 earache records we have White Wizzard may be to more EVILE , GAMA BOMB , or CAULDRON.
and i would also like to ask about Friday will we see some more bands on main stage and anyother stage on this day. ?
cheers all and soz about all the questions

Who would your ideal 3 main-stage headliners be? Regardless of whether they are still together or not.

Also, are there any bands you either wish you hadn’t booked or tried to book but couldn’t?

ANDY get janes addiction on download with rage aswell , they are on finsbury park with them .. please i know you can do it

2010 will be my 3rd year in a row at Dahnload, but more importantly are we going to get Skindred & Mastodon this year?

Could you get Beez and Gill to put together a prog punk band to open a stage this year?

Hi Andy

Would you consider having themed stages at Download not all stages just say 3rd stage for let’s say Extreme metal and keep Main and 2nd for mainstream bands i know it would please a lot of the Download crowd to branch out and try and cover a lot more of the metal genre at the festival?

Are there any bands that have made it clear to you that they want to play, but for one reason or another you have had to refuse them?

Oh, and please book Jane’s Addiction!!!

will you be going to Sonisphere

Why have you booked Rage Against The Machine to headline this year after they pulled out in 08 to headline Reading and Leeds? obviously a band that is all about money so i doubt they care about the festival at all just seems weird you would book them after that happened.

Of course this years line up is pretty special , what are your thoughts on the future of download headliners and the general direction of the festival ? Also if Tool could possibly come back either this year or next that would be pretty much perfect. Oh and andrew wk ? what happened there

As sonisphere have announced their comedy stage with acts like Stephen Hughes and Tim Minchin do you have any comedians up your sleeve for the comedy tent in the village?

Also
CKY have self-confirmed for sonisphere but not been added to their line up, could you been in for a final swoop for them? Hope so.

P.S i hate sonisphere :@

No disrespect intended but…
Why O’ Why were My Chemical Romance, Lost Prophets and Linkin Park headlining Download????

REVOKER N BULLET ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!

Hey Andy great lineup so far this year the right one to loose my festival virginity to are you deciding to book anymore bands for the friday? If so could you have a look into booking Annihilator, Mastodon, Venom and Freak Kitchen for me?

Ask em Why in gods name they haven’t booked Belligerence yet!!??!!??!!??
http://www.myspace.com/belligerencerock

AS EVERYONE ELSE HAS SAID ‘ASK ABOUT FRIDAY MAIN STAGE’.

Obviously you’ll be asking that.

The real question is if you’ve got ACDC, Rage and Aerosmith headlining this year, it is obviously worth paying nearly two tonne, but how can you top these headliners? They will still probably put the prices up again next year though, they do every fucking year. I love the festival, but when are prices going to stop going up.

This year hasn’t sold-out as of yet (whether it does or not who knows), and no way will next year be as big as this year. Prices to come down next year maybe?
Or by the 40th anniversary will we be paying THREE fucking hundred for the weekend.

any chance of Download moving its dates so it doesn’t collide with like gcse and a level exams?

will slash be bring Myles Kennedy with him, and will he be getting the other people like lemmy and things to do there part.

Is it a safe bet to assume Soundgarden will be headlining next year?

Anymore bands to be announced for Saturday?

when you wear your cowboy hat do you feel awsome or really freaking awsome?

I keep going back to when it was Monsters Of Rock why o why do you persist with so many bands on 4 stages I reckon 3 is enough and you could do a Graspop so the main stage change over you could go to the other stages to see those bands and not miss out on the big boys on the Main Stage. Instead of masses of fans fighting through crowds to catch glimpses of other acts.
Give me a job and I’ll make it better.

What would you do if Ac/DC, Aerosmith and Rage against the machine all canceled last minute?

For download 2011 can u PLEASSSSE get poison to cone back to the uk, if bret fully recovers which he will!!!!!

And when is ye next announcement gonna be or how many more bands are left to be announced???

With the mainstream media attacking the “legal high” will there be stalls selling any this year as there has been before? Do you worry it could lead to the likes of Download being villified by the tablods if someone was ill as a result of them?

With not long to go are you happy with the amount of tickets sold by this point?

With Sonisphere now a major festival competitor to Download, do you relish the competition, are you just annoyed that you have less of a chance of getting the better bands for your own bill or are you just pleased that support for rock and metal in the UK has never been stonger?

Which three bands would you book to headline Download if you had unlimited money to throw at them?

Great line up, it truley is a ass kicker!

Do you think we will ever get Manowar to play Download, or anywhere in U.K. at all???

Also, any more bands coming on the friday?

Is there any chance of seeing Lamb of God headlining in the next few years?

Firstly, I’d like to ask Andy what he thinks of Hellfest, it’s eclectic and amazing line up, well set up stages and lack of ridiculous clashes. It seems to have everything that download doesn’t, don’t you think?

My other question is:
Does it bother you that you’ve been trying to book Rammstein for years and years, and yet Sonisphere have done it on their second attempt?

From top to bottom the line up is good.. However this year there is a distinct lack of those middle of the road stable metal bands – the likes of Machine Head – Slayer – Anthrax types… Not gonna list em all but you know the level of bands I mean. That middle band that we are use to seeing at Download.

Is the rumour of a 5th stage, (acoustic or otherwise, true?

Also, why can’t it be easier to upgrade from a 3 day ticket to a 5 day one? I’m going to have to do that on the day at the box office on ‘guaruntees’ it will work

What up and coming UK band do you see being the future of metal. Who is giving you and the Industry the buzz right now…

why is there no belligerence? them boys rocked hammerfest!

Last year classic rock magazine quoted you as basically saying Van Halen won’t play the UK until US demand drys up – You likened the situation to Aerosmith.
After finially getting Aerosmith has the situation with Van Halen improved at all one year on?

Seeming youve celebrated 30yrs on MOR at Donnington, do you think you’ll make a big deal of of the 10years of Download in a couple of years?

& now youve booked 3 headliners that youve been after for a while, do you have many ideas for future headliners or are you going to have to begin repeating yourself?

Who would be your dream line up?

Gandy

First of all great line up, really looking forward to download. My question is in the wake of recent events. According to the media scare mongers, the icelandic volcano is expected to erupt again in may, perhaps june, is there any contingency in place in case airport disruptions prevent bands from getting to the festival?

hi,
Firstly, I was wondering whether there would be more bands announced for the friday main and second stages.
Secondly, i have never been to Download before, and was wondering what entertainment there is on wed and thurs?
Thirdly, are the main and second stages alternated (like at Sonisphere), or overlapping?

Book BELLIGERENCE.

Question Number 1 would be : If you need any help bundling Mr Zombie in a big sack to get him to dono i’ll gladly help.
No 2 : Ever thought about Lynyrd Skynyrd on the classic day? imagine a warm sunday tea time cold beer in hand, Confederate flags fluttering in the breeze as 90,000 thousand people drunkenly sing along to freebird. Now that would be a donington “Moment”
and 3rd question is: Why haven’t you put the mighty Lawnmower deth on the main stage you Clahn

How about putting Paradise Lost on the bill, a truly great UK band? I would die to see Accept play Download, that would totally kill !!

Can you at last come clean and admit that apart from the (admittedly great) headliners, the line up is the worst in Donington history? Three main stage bands on the Friday is an absolute disgrace.

You are a bus driver. On you’re first route of the day, at the first stop, 8 people get on the bus. At the second stop, 3 people get off and 5 get on. At the third, 11 people get on and 7 get off. At the fourth stop, 6 people get off, and 23 people get on. At the fifth stop, 17 people get on and 14 get on. What is the name of the bus driver?

Anyway, serious question, have you added more water points this year as last year was damn hot and the water points were few and far between!!
Cheers!

1) As there are hardly any new bands in the rock/metal genre making it to stadium sized venues these days, do you think that the future for the Download lines ups will be with a collection of arena sized bands (like DL 2009) as apposed to stadium sized headliners (like DL 2010). Personally I think a collection of smaller names would have a broader appeal to the ticket buying public.

2) Which bands do you think are future headline material?

3) There was discussion on the Download forums about adding a fourth day of music. I think the best way to do this and make it cost effective would be to only open the second stage and have a limited number of tickets available to access the arena on this fourth day. Customers could buy a supplementary ticket along side their full weekend ticket. With the thousands of people who turn up early anyway you’d be sure to shift enough supplementary tickets to make it financially viable. Any chance of this happening?

Oh and one more thing this year will be my 25th anniversary of going to dono in it’s various forms, do i get a prize?

Do you ever ask bands to play specific songs as part of signing them to play?

Could you please tell me how come the Mighty Machine Fuckin’ Head have never headlined the Dahnload festival?
If one band deserves to headline then surely its these guys!!

do you ever want a band to play for another band if one band leaves just like the ghost of a thousand and the blackout thing last year

Will add the fact that everyone is very unhappy with only 3 stage bands on the friday it is not good enough.

The other thing i would like to ask andy is why he thinks a band with 1 studio album is in a position to subheadline the biggest rock and metal festival in the country?

Andy, will there be anymore bands on the mainstage friday?

Theres obviously going to be more bands added on the friday stage.

Plus what does only having one album got to do with anything?
Quality over quantity plus all the band members are highly successful musicians in their own right!

Any chance of Slayer?

In regards to mainstage friday, are there going to be any more bands announced for it?

Why dont you sell aerosmith and get more bands on the friday

With you and John being on the offical forums. You do both seem to come under alot of stick, just because people like a moan for no good reason.

Being some of the very few major festival bookers/promoters/etc that actual go on these forums and reply to questions, etc.

Knowing the stick and uncalled for abuse would come, why did you go on ahead with it?

Personally I feel it adds alot to the general vibe of the forum, knowing you are listening and taking note.

And on that note, whats your thoughts on Metalicbear? Ha.

The nighttime entertainment was best in 2008 with the monster battlefield (i think it was called that) and the duracell tent (amazing with pendulum doing a dj set)

Last years “comedy” tents were average and the luncha britania gets old

My question is:

“Is there going to be a tent dedicated to an “old school” rock/metal rave because outdoor entertainment just isnt the as fun”

andy
thanks for getting AC/DC…..can’t wait, but whats the plan for friday, only 3 bands on main stage? is this the total amount or is there more to come?
been last 4 years to download and hoping this will be best yet
tom

“Is there going to be a tent dedicated to an “old school” rock/metal rave because outdoor entertainment just isnt as fun” ************

Can u book Devildriver, Suicide silence, MALEFICE! ALL SHALL FUCKING PERISH!!

you just know the crowd will go fucking crazy
hail the metal

Well done for getting ACDC and aerosmith on the bill i bought the tickets based on those two bands alone.

But to have stone sour five finger death punch and a host of other great bands as well was a masterstroke.

My question is how did you make the decsion to put billy idol motorhead, saxon and some other has beens on the main stage and put airbourne, Steel panther and stone sour on the second stage. surely it should be the other way round. what has billy idol and motorhead done recently? as good as they are i think airborne and steel panther might have been a better fit on the mainstage as they are more like aerosmith.

is loving the line up but is quite disapointed in the fact im guna miss most of the stone sour set list becuase i want to see aerosmith why do you put 2 big bands on at the same time you have sorted out for the friday why not for the other 2 days p.s what happened to SHINEDOWN

I want to know how much of head banner are you

Is the classic rock theme for the Sunday going to become a permanent feature? I think it should, its a great way to round off the weekend and I know a lot of people think the same.

why the hell aint belligerence on the bill , they destroyed hammerfest . there garlic bread(the future)

Any idea on what you’re gonna do now that the used have pulled out?

with Sonisphere (thonisphere) now being in the picture do you feel more pressure to book better bands? do you think there is room for 2 hard rock/metal festivals?

Does it get harder to book different bands every year? Or do you have a rough idea of who you want each year?

Also, what’s the craziest thing you have ever witnessed at Donington?

In the years to come do you see Download and Sonisphere cornering specific markets/genres of rock and metal (much like Bloodstock has done with the extreme metal community) or do you want to keep things as open as possible and risk getting your prime bookings nicked by the competition?

When do you think it will be time for a ‘fresh batch’ of festival headliners, for example we see bands like Metallica, Guns n Roses, Iron Maiden etc. headline uk festivals most years, when do you think it will be the turn of bands like Bullet for my valentine and Machine head to step up and headline a festival like Download?

Great lineup this year. I love the festival, so I’m not one of those whiny “it’s so shit because Anaal Nathraak aren’t headlining” idiots. Do have a few questions though:

1] The year is 2015. Name 5 potential (Hammer friendly) headliners who have not headlined before, and who started out in 2000 or later (as opposed to more bands from the 70’s and 80’s).

2] Machine Head – when the fuck are you going to put them on as headliners? Every metalhead in the UK would instantly cream their pants and more importantly buy a ticket. They’ve already headlined Wacken so you know they can do it.

3] You said in an interview a while back that AC/DC would have input into the bands that play before them – what bands specifically? You already had TCV before booking AC/DC, so that just leaves Wolfmother.

4] Download is billed as a 3 day festival, but 3 mainstage bands on Friday can’t really be considered a full day can it? Then you have to also think about the reduced arena times and it’s looking a lot more like a 2 or 2 .5 day festival spread over 3 days.

5] Where the hell are Skindred, Mastodon, Bleeding Through, Paradise Lost, Amon Amarth or Soulfly? They’re all in Europe around Download time so must be available, are all awesome live bands and would solve the reduced arena time problem quite nicely.

6] Are there any bands you will never book again or would never consider as headliners or otherwise?

7] 2009 was considered to be Download’s best year yet, but had 3 relatively smaller headliners (i.e. not Wembley stadium sized bands). To me, this worked brilliantly well and can only be a good thing for rock music. In 2010, you’ve got two of the biggest bands on the planet in AC/DC and Aerosmith. In the future, where do you see the festival going in terms of headliners – mega bands like AC/DC and Aerosmith (or please God, Van Halen) or more arena sized bands.

What, if any, contingency plans do you have in the event that further volcanic activity prevents bands from reaching the UK?