The first Download Festival was held in 2003. The headliners were originally Iron Maiden and Limp Bizkit, although Limp Bizkit pulled out and were replaced by Audioslave. Metallica attempted to step in as headliners, but were unable due to already being headliners at that year's Reading and Leeds Festivals. Instead, they played an unannounced "secret slot" in the afternoon on the second stage.

Main Stage Saturday Sunday Iron Maiden Marilyn Manson Deftones Ministry InMe Murderdolls Amen Funeral for a Friend Stampin' Ground Shadows Fall Murder One Audioslave Zwan Flint Apocalyptica Less Than Jake Disturbed Stone Sour Evanescence Mudvayne Spineshank The Darkness One Minute Silence Raging Speedhorn Instruction Scuzz Stage Saturday Sunday A Reel Big Fish Taproot Sepultura Reef HIM SOiL The Hellacopters SikTh 3 Colours Red From Autumn to Ashes QueenAdreena Violent Delight Arch Enemy Chimaira NOFX boysetsfire The Bouncing Souls Strung Out Thrice [Spunge] TSOL Real McKenzies Metallica The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster Brand New Beatsteaks Randy Fabulous Disaster In 2004, another stage was added to the festival, bringing the total to three. Seventy-two bands played over the two days. The 2004 event was also noticeable for several last minute hitches. Firstly, SOiL got lost on the way to Donington and missed their main stage appearance on Saturday (they later joined Drowning Pool on stage to perform Drowning Pool's "Bodies" and their own song "Halo"). Static-X missed their slot due to a bus breakdown. On Sunday, Slayer arrived on time, but their equipment did not, leading to a slot change from the middle of the afternoon on the main stage to a later slot (and longer set) on the second stage. Slayer were replaced on the main stage by Damageplan, who were scheduled to play the second stage. Their setlist ended with a rendition of Damageplan founders Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell's most recognisable song from Pantera, "Walk."

The biggest news came from the headliners Metallica, however, when Lars Ulrich was rushed to hospital.[1] Taking to the stage an hour and a half late, James Hetfield explained the situation with Lars and the show began with Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo playing on "Battery" and "The Four Horsemen." Slipknot's Joey Jordison played the rest of the set apart from Fade to Black which was played by Metallica's drum technician, Flemming Larsen. The set featured no post-"Black Album" songs and was about an hour and ten minutes long: short for a headliner. The set is considered one of the band's most memorable performances.[citation needed]

The full line-up included:

Main Stage Saturday Sunday Linkin Park Sum 41 The Stooges The Hives The Distillers Cradle of Filth Monster Magnet Opeth The Dillinger Escape Plan Metallica Korn Slipknot Slayer Machine Head Damageplan Soulfly Ill Niño Turbonegro Breed 77 Snickers "Game On" Stage Saturday Sunday Pennywise Electric Six Wildboyz (Steve-o and Chris Pontius) Arch Enemy Biffy Clyro Million Dead Instruction 36 Crazyfists Akercocke Viking Skull Powder The Bled HIM Bowling for Soup Taking Back Sunday Slayer Life of Agony Brides of Destruction Drowning Pool Hatebreed Hoobastank Trapt Silvertide Ricky Warwick Terra Diablo Barfly Stage Saturday Sunday Peaches International Noise Conspiracy Ikara Colt thisGirl Roxy Saint The Glitterati Surferosa Burst Lowfive Yourcodenameis:Milo Bullet for My Valentine The Holiday Plan Hiding Place Fireapple Red Suicide Girls Young Heart Attack Span The Sounds Dirty Americans Recover Amplifier Do Me Bad Things Danko Jones The Black Dahlia Murder Mooney Suzuki Gonga Acidtone Hurricane Party Planet of Women

Scotland In June 2004 a two day Download Festival was held on Glasgow Green, several days before the Donington event. This had a limited line up with only nine bands performing over a two day period. However, the bands which did play were similar to those appearing at Donington including the headliners, Metallica and Linkin Park. Download Scotland also saw an appearance from the Welsh rock band Lostprophets who were unique to the event and did not perform at Donington.

Acts which also appeared over the two days at Download Scotland were Korn, Slipknot, Iggy and The Stooges, Machine Head, The Distillers and HIM.

The running order went as follows:

Day 1 Day 2 Metallica Slipknot Korn HIM Linkin Park Lostprophets The Stooges The Distillers Machine Head [edit] Download 2005 A view of the Main stage at Download Festival 2005Download 2005 was held again at Donington Park, on 10-12 June 2005. This festival was different from previous years as the Saturday was officially dubbed Ozzfest 2005, as well as an "Indie day" on the first day of the festival.

Billy Idol performed on the Snickers stage on the Friday night; his first UK gig after a lengthy hiatus, performing songs such as White Wedding, Rebel Yell and a cover version of Van Halen's anthem, Jump.

Feeder's frontman Grant Nicholas was so relieved the band won the crowd over (there were concerns that they would be received badly by the traditional attendee to the festival), he decided to smash his green Fender Jazzmaster guitar after "Descend" was performed. He later said that he regretted it, but also said he kept the neck and the tremeloes, and might use what was left to make a new guitar. A part of the body was thrown to a member of the crowd.

Lemmy also took to the stage, with former MC5 members, and Gilby Clarke, to perform Back in the USA.

Sleaze Metal band Crashdiet played their first and so far only show in the UK on the Napster Stage

Initially, Bert McCracken of The Used and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance were asked to perform their cover of Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie, but the former friends refused the offer to perform the cover as they had recently fallen out.

The official line-up included:

Main Stage[2] Friday Saturday Sunday Feeder Garbage Dinosaur Jr Megadeth Biffy Clyro The Others JJ72 Wednesday 13 Queen Adreena Black Sabbath Velvet Revolver HIM Anthrax Alter Bridge Bowling for Soup A The Mad Capsule Markets The Dwarves Trivium System of a Down Slipknot Slayer Nightwish Killswitch Engage Papa Roach Mudvayne Society 1 DV8 Snickers Stage[2] Friday Saturday Sunday Billy Idol The Used My Chemical Romance InMe The Bled Apocalyptica Underøath Lordi Fozzy Flogging Molly In Flames Chimaira Lamb of God Bullet for My Valentine Meshuggah Unearth Every Time I Die Open Hand American Head Charge The Hurt Process Motörhead DKT/MC5 Funeral for a Friend[3] Lacuna Coil Mastodon Shadows Fall Helmet Caliban As I Lay Dying Gizmachi Send More Paramedics The Mascara Story Napster Stage[2] Friday Saturday Sunday Napalm Death Raging Speedhorn Paradise Lost A Change of Pace Hurricane Party Tokyo Dragons Colour of Fire Slunt Just a Word Crashdiet Planet of Women Helmet The Lucky Nine Breed 77 The Explosion Towers of London Johnny Truant The Ga Ga's The Answer Panic Cell Crucified Barbara Diamond Nights Quit Your Day Job City on Fire Therapy? Team Sleep Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster The Dresden Dolls The Glitterati The Saints Engerica 3 Inches of Blood Still Remains No Hope in New Jersey Acidtone Henry Rollins (Spoken word 'Sermon') The 2006 Download Festival was held at Donington Park, England on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of June. Download 2006 boasted the largest selling acts out of all the UK music festivals that year (in terms of the combined total of every act).[citation needed] The three days comprising the headlining acts (Tool, Metallica and Guns N' Roses) have sales of approximately 200-250 million albums between them, more than the entire line up of 2006's V Festival.

2006 was the first time the festival was mirrored in the Republic of Ireland, as Download Festival Ireland.

One memorable moment of the festival was the announcement that Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis had been rushed to hospital. Similar to 2004's Metallica set, Munky, Fieldy and David Silveria arrived and explained to the fans why Jonathan couldn't make it and played with guest vocalists Corey Taylor from Slipknot, Dez Fafara from DevilDriver, Jesse Hasek from 10 Years, Benji Webbe from Skindred, M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold, and Matt Heafy from Trivium. Lyrics from from the song "Blind" were displayed on the screen because Matt Heafy could not remember all the words. Another talking point of the festival was Metallica playing the album Master of Puppets in its entirety in honour of its twentieth anniversary. Guns N' Roses also performed material from the long forthcoming Chinese Democracy album which was received quite well by the crowd.

Main Stage The main stage was situated in the centre of the arena with crowd control moving around it, and was the largest of all three stages, the safety barriers used at this stage were in a T shape so as to avoid crowd crush in the middle. The stage was open-air and named in honour of the 25th anniversary of Kerrang! magazine.

Main Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Tool Deftones Coheed and Cambria Soulfly Strapping Young Lad SOiL Wicked Wisdom Amplifier Metallica Korn Trivium Avenged Sevenfold Stone Sour Alice in Chains Arch Enemy Bloodsimple Satyricon Down (Unannounced Set[5]) Guns N' Roses Funeral for a Friend Bullet for My Valentine Cradle of Filth Lacuna Coil In Flames 36 Crazyfists DragonForce Hatebreed Breed 77

Snickers Stage The Snickers Stage was situated in a tent, behind the main stage and was the second largest stage at the festival. Access to the stage was via a one-way system which attempted to spread people around the site, rather than all attempting to push through a rather small space.

Snickers Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday The All-American Rejects Atreyu InMe Clutch Fishbone Dredg Bleeding Through Gojira Throwdown Suns of the Tundra Alter Bridge Opeth Within Temptation Secret Machines Billy Talent Henry Rollins DevilDriver SikTh Johnny Truant Khoma The Prodigy Alexisonfire Eighteen Visions Hundred Reasons Aiden Fightstar From First to Last DevilDriver (Instead of Soilwork[6]) Zebrahead God Forbid

Gibson/Myspace Stage The Myspace stage was the smallest of the three and under a smaller tent. It was positioned across from the front of the main stage.

Gibson/Myspace Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Art of Dying Ginger & The Sonic Circus Backyard Babies Cathedral Engerica Bullets & Octane My Awesome Compilation Animal Alpha The Audition Enter Shikari Kitty Hudson Killing Joke Reuben Mondo Generator Louie This Is Menace 10 Years Flyleaf Manic It Dies Today Living Things Exit Ten Colon Open Bracket Stonegard My Alamo Sick of it All Lordi Skindred Moneen Darkest Hour Blindside Mendeed Bring Me the Horizon The Zico Chain Voodoo Six Lauren Harris Winterville Streetlight Youth I-Def-I Snickers Bowl Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Gay for Johnny Depp Keiko SinTuition Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly getAmped The Hedrons Viking Skull Betty curse Evergrey The 2006 Download Festival was held at Donington Park, England on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of June. Download 2006 boasted the largest selling acts out of all the UK music festivals that year (in terms of the combined total of every act).[citation needed] The three days comprising the headlining acts (Tool, Metallica and Guns N' Roses) have sales of approximately 200-250 million albums between them, more than the entire line up of 2006's V Festival.

2006 was the first time the festival was mirrored in the Republic of Ireland, as Download Festival Ireland.

One memorable moment of the festival was the announcement that Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis had been rushed to hospital. Similar to 2004's Metallica set, Munky, Fieldy and David Silveria arrived and explained to the fans why Jonathan couldn't make it and played with guest vocalists Corey Taylor from Slipknot, Dez Fafara from DevilDriver, Jesse Hasek from 10 Years, Benji Webbe from Skindred, M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold, and Matt Heafy from Trivium. Lyrics from from the song "Blind" were displayed on the screen because Matt Heafy could not remember all the words. Another talking point of the festival was Metallica playing the album Master of Puppets in its entirety in honour of its twentieth anniversary. Guns N' Roses also performed material from the long forthcoming Chinese Democracy album which was received quite well by the crowd.

Main Stage The main stage was situated in the centre of the arena with crowd control moving around it, and was the largest of all three stages, the safety barriers used at this stage were in a T shape so as to avoid crowd crush in the middle. The stage was open-air and named in honour of the 25th anniversary of Kerrang! magazine.

Main Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Tool Deftones Coheed and Cambria Soulfly Strapping Young Lad SOiL Wicked Wisdom Amplifier Metallica Korn Trivium Avenged Sevenfold Stone Sour Alice in Chains Arch Enemy Bloodsimple Satyricon Down (Unannounced Set[5]) Guns N' Roses Funeral for a Friend Bullet for My Valentine Cradle of Filth Lacuna Coil In Flames 36 Crazyfists DragonForce Hatebreed Breed 77

Snickers Stage The Snickers Stage was situated in a tent, behind the main stage and was the second largest stage at the festival. Access to the stage was via a one-way system which attempted to spread people around the site, rather than all attempting to push through a rather small space.

Snickers Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday The All-American Rejects Atreyu InMe Clutch Fishbone Dredg Bleeding Through Gojira Throwdown Suns of the Tundra Alter Bridge Opeth Within Temptation Secret Machines Billy Talent Henry Rollins DevilDriver SikTh Johnny Truant Khoma The Prodigy Alexisonfire Eighteen Visions Hundred Reasons Aiden Fightstar From First to Last DevilDriver (Instead of Soilwork[6]) Zebrahead God Forbid

Gibson/Myspace Stage The Myspace stage was the smallest of the three and under a smaller tent. It was positioned across from the front of the main stage.

Gibson/Myspace Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Art of Dying Ginger & The Sonic Circus Backyard Babies Cathedral Engerica Bullets & Octane My Awesome Compilation Animal Alpha The Audition Enter Shikari Kitty Hudson Killing Joke Reuben Mondo Generator Louie This Is Menace 10 Years Flyleaf Manic It Dies Today Living Things Exit Ten Colon Open Bracket Stonegard My Alamo Sick of it All Lordi Skindred Moneen Darkest Hour Blindside Mendeed Bring Me the Horizon The Zico Chain Voodoo Six Lauren Harris Winterville Streetlight Youth I-Def-I Snickers Bowl Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Gay for Johnny Depp Keiko SinTuition Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly getAmped The Hedrons Viking Skull Betty curse Evergrey The 2006 Download Festival was held at Donington Park, England on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of June. Download 2006 boasted the largest selling acts out of all the UK music festivals that year (in terms of the combined total of every act).[citation needed] The three days comprising the headlining acts (Tool, Metallica and Guns N' Roses) have sales of approximately 200-250 million albums between them, more than the entire line up of 2006's V Festival.

2006 was the first time the festival was mirrored in the Republic of Ireland, as Download Festival Ireland.

One memorable moment of the festival was the announcement that Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis had been rushed to hospital. Similar to 2004's Metallica set, Munky, Fieldy and David Silveria arrived and explained to the fans why Jonathan couldn't make it and played with guest vocalists Corey Taylor from Slipknot, Dez Fafara from DevilDriver, Jesse Hasek from 10 Years, Benji Webbe from Skindred, M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold, and Matt Heafy from Trivium. Lyrics from from the song "Blind" were displayed on the screen because Matt Heafy could not remember all the words. Another talking point of the festival was Metallica playing the album Master of Puppets in its entirety in honour of its twentieth anniversary. Guns N' Roses also performed material from the long forthcoming Chinese Democracy album which was received quite well by the crowd.

Main Stage The main stage was situated in the centre of the arena with crowd control moving around it, and was the largest of all three stages, the safety barriers used at this stage were in a T shape so as to avoid crowd crush in the middle. The stage was open-air and named in honour of the 25th anniversary of Kerrang! magazine.

Main Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Tool Deftones Coheed and Cambria Soulfly Strapping Young Lad SOiL Wicked Wisdom Amplifier Metallica Korn Trivium Avenged Sevenfold Stone Sour Alice in Chains Arch Enemy Bloodsimple Satyricon Down (Unannounced Set[5]) Guns N' Roses Funeral for a Friend Bullet for My Valentine Cradle of Filth Lacuna Coil In Flames 36 Crazyfists DragonForce Hatebreed Breed 77

Snickers Stage The Snickers Stage was situated in a tent, behind the main stage and was the second largest stage at the festival. Access to the stage was via a one-way system which attempted to spread people around the site, rather than all attempting to push through a rather small space.

Snickers Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday The All-American Rejects Atreyu InMe Clutch Fishbone Dredg Bleeding Through Gojira Throwdown Suns of the Tundra Alter Bridge Opeth Within Temptation Secret Machines Billy Talent Henry Rollins DevilDriver SikTh Johnny Truant Khoma The Prodigy Alexisonfire Eighteen Visions Hundred Reasons Aiden Fightstar From First to Last DevilDriver (Instead of Soilwork[6]) Zebrahead God Forbid

Gibson/Myspace Stage The Myspace stage was the smallest of the three and under a smaller tent. It was positioned across from the front of the main stage.

Gibson/Myspace Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Art of Dying Ginger & The Sonic Circus Backyard Babies Cathedral Engerica Bullets & Octane My Awesome Compilation Animal Alpha The Audition Enter Shikari Kitty Hudson Killing Joke Reuben Mondo Generator Louie This Is Menace 10 Years Flyleaf Manic It Dies Today Living Things Exit Ten Colon Open Bracket Stonegard My Alamo Sick of it All Lordi Skindred Moneen Darkest Hour Blindside Mendeed Bring Me the Horizon The Zico Chain Voodoo Six Lauren Harris Winterville Streetlight Youth I-Def-I Snickers Bowl Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Gay for Johnny Depp Keiko SinTuition Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly getAmped The Hedrons Viking Skull Betty curse Evergrey The 2006 Download Festival was held at Donington Park, England on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of June. Download 2006 boasted the largest selling acts out of all the UK music festivals that year (in terms of the combined total of every act).[citation needed] The three days comprising the headlining acts (Tool, Metallica and Guns N' Roses) have sales of approximately 200-250 million albums between them, more than the entire line up of 2006's V Festival.

2006 was the first time the festival was mirrored in the Republic of Ireland, as Download Festival Ireland.

One memorable moment of the festival was the announcement that Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis had been rushed to hospital. Similar to 2004's Metallica set, Munky, Fieldy and David Silveria arrived and explained to the fans why Jonathan couldn't make it and played with guest vocalists Corey Taylor from Slipknot, Dez Fafara from DevilDriver, Jesse Hasek from 10 Years, Benji Webbe from Skindred, M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold, and Matt Heafy from Trivium. Lyrics from from the song "Blind" were displayed on the screen because Matt Heafy could not remember all the words. Another talking point of the festival was Metallica playing the album Master of Puppets in its entirety in honour of its twentieth anniversary. Guns N' Roses also performed material from the long forthcoming Chinese Democracy album which was received quite well by the crowd.

Main Stage The main stage was situated in the centre of the arena with crowd control moving around it, and was the largest of all three stages, the safety barriers used at this stage were in a T shape so as to avoid crowd crush in the middle. The stage was open-air and named in honour of the 25th anniversary of Kerrang! magazine.

Main Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Tool Deftones Coheed and Cambria Soulfly Strapping Young Lad SOiL Wicked Wisdom Amplifier Metallica Korn Trivium Avenged Sevenfold Stone Sour Alice in Chains Arch Enemy Bloodsimple Satyricon Down (Unannounced Set[5]) Guns N' Roses Funeral for a Friend Bullet for My Valentine Cradle of Filth Lacuna Coil In Flames 36 Crazyfists DragonForce Hatebreed Breed 77

Snickers Stage The Snickers Stage was situated in a tent, behind the main stage and was the second largest stage at the festival. Access to the stage was via a one-way system which attempted to spread people around the site, rather than all attempting to push through a rather small space.

Snickers Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday The All-American Rejects Atreyu InMe Clutch Fishbone Dredg Bleeding Through Gojira Throwdown Suns of the Tundra Alter Bridge Opeth Within Temptation Secret Machines Billy Talent Henry Rollins DevilDriver SikTh Johnny Truant Khoma The Prodigy Alexisonfire Eighteen Visions Hundred Reasons Aiden Fightstar From First to Last DevilDriver (Instead of Soilwork[6]) Zebrahead God Forbid

Gibson/Myspace Stage The Myspace stage was the smallest of the three and under a smaller tent. It was positioned across from the front of the main stage.

Gibson/Myspace Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Art of Dying Ginger & The Sonic Circus Backyard Babies Cathedral Engerica Bullets & Octane My Awesome Compilation Animal Alpha The Audition Enter Shikari Kitty Hudson Killing Joke Reuben Mondo Generator Louie This Is Menace 10 Years Flyleaf Manic It Dies Today Living Things Exit Ten Colon Open Bracket Stonegard My Alamo Sick of it All Lordi Skindred Moneen Darkest Hour Blindside Mendeed Bring Me the Horizon The Zico Chain Voodoo Six Lauren Harris Winterville Streetlight Youth I-Def-I Snickers Bowl Stage[4] Friday Saturday Sunday Gay for Johnny Depp Keiko SinTuition Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly getAmped The Hedrons Viking Skull Betty curse Evergrey The 2007 Download Festival took place on June 8-10 2007.[11]

The three bands that headlined the 2007 festival were My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park and Iron Maiden. My Chemical Romance's announcement as headliners caused much disappointment with fans looking forward to a heavier lineup.

Through February, March and the beginning of April, more bands were announced in small groups of five or six,[12] and on 17 April this lineup was arranged into days and stages on the official website.[13] A further announcement of fifteen bands on 24 April added to this lineup, and announced the names of the second and third stages - The Dimebag Darrell Stage, and The Tuborg Stage.[14]

Korn's Jonathan Davis stated that the reason for the band returning this year, was because of his absence due to illness last year. He states on the official Download Festival website, "I am so looking forward to coming to the Download Festival this year. I was heartbroken to pull out last time. So this time I am very happy to be coming back and we promise to rock the place! I will definitely make-up for missing the last one. You can expect an amazing Korn show!"[15]

Download 2007 was Dimmu Borgir's first ever festival appearance in England. Hardcore Superstar pulled out of their slot on the Tuborg stage on the Sunday because their tour bus broke down in Germany.

Download 2007 also featured the first band to officially perform on the Thursday of the festival. Scumface played on the Tuborg Stage during the boardie barbecue.[16]

Lamb Of God's DVD Walk With Me In Hell features the band's full performance at the festival.[17]

Main Stage[13] Friday Saturday Sunday My Chemical Romance Velvet Revolver Wolfmother DragonForce Megadeth Hinder Buckcherry Zico Chain Linkin Park Marilyn Manson Slayer Machine Head Bowling for Soup 30 Seconds to Mars Aiden Shadows Fall HELLYEAH Turisas Iron Maiden Evanescence Killswitch Engage Stone Sour Lamb of God Mastodon Papa Roach Chimaira Reuben Parikrama Dimebag Darrell Stage[13] Friday Saturday Sunday Korn Enter Shikari Paramore Porcupine Tree Saosin From Autumn to Ashes Turbonegro Ill Niño ANJ Mötley Crüe Satellite Party Biffy Clyro My Vitriol My Dying Bride Gallows Anathema As I Lay Dying Bring Me the Horizon Bloodsimple Elliot Minor Cat the Dog Billy Talent Dream Theater Dimmu Borgir Within Temptation Napalm Death Paradise Lost Orange Goblin DevilDriver Unearth Cancer Bats After Forever Eyelash Tuborg Stage[13] Friday Saturday Sunday Suicidal Tendencies Hayseed Dixie yourcodenameis:milo Job for a Cowboy The Hedrons Sanctity I Was a Cub Scout The Scare This Et Al Fortune Drive Drive-by Argument Head Automatica Necro The Answer Silverstein Lez Zeppelin Architects Priestess Panic Cell Beyond All Reason My Alamo Damone Army of Freshmen Malpractice Reel Big Fish Fastway Cult of Luna Lauren Harris Fair to Midland Kids in Glass Houses Between the Trees Flood of Red Hardcore Superstar Lights. Action! In This Moment The Ghost of a Thousand LostAlone The 2008 Download festival took place on June 13 to June 15. The 2008 festival had a significantly different layout to that of the previous years in that the festival arena area was situated in land to the west of the race track instead of the traditional venue of the race track infield area. Notable amongst numerous changes is that the second, 'Tuborg', stage became larger and moved from a marquee to an open-air format, located on a tarmac car park.[18] Chris Cornell was originally scheduled to play the festival, but he cancelled his European tour so he could focus on a new album. Twin Method and Finger Eleven were announced to play but were removed from the official websites lineup. On the Friday of the festival, Kid Rock was meant to appear between Seether and Disturbed on the Main Stage but pulled out at the last minute. At first it was announced that this was due to illness, but it was later revealed he left the festival grounds after becoming dissatisfied with the amenities.[19] This allowed the two bands, Disturbed and Judas Priest, to have longer sets.

Main Stage Friday Saturday Sunday Kiss Judas Priest Motorhead Disturbed Kid Rock (cancelled) Seether Beat Union Black Tide The Offspring Incubus Bullet for My Valentine Biffy Clyro Alter Bridge Madina Lake 36 Crazyfists Job for a Cowboy Skindred Sign Lostprophets Jimmy Eat World Coheed & Cambria In Flames Within Temptation Apocalyptica Black Stone Cherry Fightstar From First to Last Glamour of the Kill

Tuborg Stage Friday Saturday Sunday Simple Plan Rise Against Rival Schools The Subways The Fall of Troy Comeback Kid The Black Dahlia Murder Stone Gods Zebrahead HIM Ash Pendulum Ace Frehley Amon Amarth Bleeding Through Throwdown A Day to Remember The Devil Wears Prada Alesana Annotations of an Autopsy Malefice Cavalera Conspiracy Children of Bodom The Wildhearts Elliot Minor Kids in Glass Houses Chiodos Airbourne Rose Tattoo Lethal Bizzle Municipal Waste Animal Alpha Cry for Silence Gibson Stage Friday Saturday Sunday The Dillinger Escape Plan Kill Hannah Slaves to Gravity High on Fire In Case of Fire Blackhole Hostile Firewind Caimbo Rolo Tomassi Lovvers Testament Saxon Johnny Truant Fighting With Wire Brigade Army of Freshmen The Haze Big Linda The Last Supper Trigger the Bloodshed Mexicolas Go:Audio Rise to Remain Verra Cruz Jonathan Davis Valient Thorr Haunts August Burns Red Voodoo Six Between the Buried and Me Ted Maul Canterbury Exit Ten The Galvatrons Sons of Albion Devil Sold His Soul Invasion The 2009 Download Festival is due to take place on June 12-14 at Donington Park. Confirmed to headline are Faith No More, Slipknot and Def Leppard. These headliners are the only bands yet to have been placed on a set stage and scheduling order. The rest of the line-up will be arranged in accordance to their position and stage in the weeks leading up to June 12th.

The officially confirmed line-up so far can be found here.

Main Stage Friday Saturday Sunday Faith No More

Slipknot

Def Leppard Unknown Day/Stage Anvil Billy Talent The Blackout Buckcherry DevilDriver DragonForce Dream Theater Killswitch Engage Korn Limp Bizkit Marilyn Manson Motley Crue Pendulum The Prodigy Trivium Whitesnake ZZ Top