The highly-anticipated 2024 edition of Download Festival is going to be even more exciting than fans initially thought, as there will be a special surprise from one of the biggest metal bands to ever perform. The famous music festival which will be held from June 14-16 at Donington Park, will this year feature a secret set from a “big band”. Booker Andy Copping had previously teased about such an announcement and recently confirmed it once and for all, debuting the news on Planet Rock during his show “Andy Copping’s Secrets of Download”.
Copping had hosted this show during the bank holiday weekend, and reflected on some of the most iconic moments throughout the festival’s history, including Metallica’s surprise set in 2003 which he described as “utterly immense”. He stated that some years saw performances from “different bands – Enter Shikari, Black Stone Cherry, Bullet For My Valentine” but Metallica’s secret set back in 2003 “kind of sets it all off”, and that the band’s decision to play was an unexpected and welcome surprise.
The booker then played Metallica’s ‘St. Anger’ on air and once it finished, he revealed that there will be a “big” secret performance at the upcoming event. He emphasised, “One thing’s for sure, you’ve got to keep your eyes and ears peeled for this year at Download because, yes, we have another band coming in doing a secret set. Something very, very special. Big band. So look out for that.” Kerry King from Slayer, Creeper, and Soft Play were just some of the names added to this year’s lineup of the bumper festival.
The current poster for this year’s festival features headliners Queens Of The Stone Age, Avenged Sevenfold, Fall Out Boy and many other big names. In 2023, Slipknot, Bring Me The Horizon, and Metallica were among the bands headlining the stage, with Metallica playing two distinct sets over two nights. Copping said of this year’s event, “After our unbelievable 20th-anniversary celebrations last year, we couldn’t be more excited about what DLXXI has in store…With first-time headliners and our first headline partner with Liquid Death we are embracing the evolution of Download Festival.” The upcoming secret set is among the things that fans and metal music enthusiasts can look forward to at Donington Park
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