Live Nations Download festival is now in it’s 6th year, having started in 2003 as a two day festival. It has grown over the years to become one of the best festivals on the British and European circuit. 2008 follows in that trend and is shaping up to be another great year.

The headliners have been announced as Kiss, The Offspring and Lostprophets
Over 100 bands will appear over the three days and it promises to be a great mix of different styles that are sure to keep even the most hardened Rock fans more than happy. It will include appearances from some of the old school masters, such as special guests, Judas Priest and Motorhead, right up to some lesser known new faces that are sure to be big in years to come.

Weekend tickets for the 3 days start at £130 for Arena Only tickets and £150 for the Arena ticket plus 5 days camping. RIP (Rest In Peace) tickets are available for the festival goer who prefers a quieter end to their day and they have a wide range of options from camping to hotel packages and also the quirkier Tepees and Pods. RIP packages start at £190

Download Festival organisers are committed to helping save our environment and encourage all visitors to participate in such things as Liftshare, Recycling and generally keeping the site clean and uncluttered. It also encourages people who would normally just leave their unwanted tents behind, to pack them up and take them to special points where they are given to such organisations as the Scouts so they can be used again. In 2007 it started a cup deposit scheme where people were charged an extra 20p when they brought their beer from the arena bars and this was refunded to them when they took their empty cups back, this produced over 17.6 tonnes of recycled cups in that year alone as well as over 60 tonnes of recycled waste. This scheme will be running again in 2008.

Please keep checking back to our site to read our pre-festival interviews with some of the bands that are appearing as well as other information about this year’s festival.
After the event we will have galleries and reviews as well as interviews at the festival itself with several 2008 bands.

You can check out our galleries from 2007 HERE. They include photos from Park Farm Campsite (RIP) and several from the Arena before it was open to the public.
If you sign up to the Download Forums you may also get the chance to attend the Boardie BBQ that takes place on the Thursday inside the arena, this is organised by Live Nation and you will get the chance to meet up with friends old and new and also a few of the Live Nation Staff.