How can the Download Festival top this past summer’s lineup, which featured Metallica AND Black Sabbath? Well it looks like the UK festival have come close with its first two headliners: Iron Maiden and Rammstein.
Iron Maiden confirmed that they will be headlining the next Download Festival, taking place on June 14-16 in Donington Park, along with announcing the European leg of their Maiden England Tour. The headlining set’s timing is no coincidence, since 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of Maiden’s first headlining performance at Download (then known as the Monsters Of Rock). Singer Bruce Dickinson had the following to say about the Maiden England European tour and headlining Download once again:
“We were completely overwhelmed by the reaction from our North American fans to the Maiden England Tour, which was our most extensive tour there for many years. Some of the cities we played we hadn’t visited in over twenty years so had no idea what to expect! But the opening night in Charlotte was packed to the rafters and the crowd was amazing. This continued throughout making the whole tour very special. We had a lot of fun playing the older songs there and the fans seemed to love the set list and Eddie’s various incarnations! We all can’t wait to bring this show to our European fans.
We’re absolutely over the moon to be headlining Donington again. The idea of returning exactly 25 years later with a show inspired by that same 1988 Seventh Son Tour was too good an opportunity to be missed! And, thanks to modern technology, we’ve been able to update and improve on the original production. We will be bringing a huge new lightshow, stage set, various incarnations of Eddie, plenty of pyro and all kinds of other exciting stuff for the fans. And of course treating the fans to lots of their favourite songs from that period! We’ve had many great times at Donington and there is always a wonderful mix of bands and a really wild crowd who love their metal, all of which makes for a memorable show and fantastic party atmosphere!”
But Iron Maiden isn’t the only headliner Download Festival let slip out early. Rumors had started to swirl the web shortly after Maiden’s announcement that Rammstein would be performing at numerous European festivals next year. This morning, though, the German industrial kings confirmed two festival appearances: Download Festival AND Germany’s Wacken Open Air. Rammstein had the following to say about their summer 2013 plans:
“‘Wir halten das Tempo’ will also be Rammstein’s motto for 2013, with the band headlining a number of big European festivals.
Over the past two years alone, over 1.3 million people from Mexico, the USA, South Africa, Australia, Canada and Europe have been blown away by the band’s spectacular live show. The Rammstein machine keeps rolling on and on, and 2013 will be no different: it promises to be one hot summer.”
Rammstein’s addition to the Wacken Open Air (already featuring Deep Purple, Anthrax, Nightwish and more) is definitely a big one for the German festival. However, the addition of Iron Maiden and Rammstein to the Download Festival already makes this a festival for Americans to be jealous of. In case you are planning to travel to the UK next summer, tickets for the Download Festival go on sale starting Friday, September 28.
