Download Festival untroubled by arrival of Sonisphere

Feb 16 2009 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post

As the countdown to festival season begins, the organisers of Midland rock festival Download have dismissed competition from newcomer Sonisphere.

Download, on the former site of the Monsters of Rock festival at Donington Park, last week revealed the first set of bands confirmed for this year’s event.

Slipknot, The Prodigy, Limp Bizkit and Mötley Crüe are lined up to play at the festival which takes place from 12th to 14th June. Korn, Pendulum and Def Leppard are also set to play Download, which draws over half its audience – 55 per cent – from the Midlands.

But the rock festival, in its seventh year, faces stiffer competition with the announcement Sonisphere, a new Europe-wide touring festival, has signed Metallica.

The UK leg of Sonisphere will be in August at Knebworth, the stately home famous for hosting acts such as Robbie Williams, Oasis and Queen. Other Sonisphere