Download will celebrate 20th anniversary in 2023 by moving to four days
Organisers add an extra day to next year's Download festival to mark its 20th anniversary. Early bird tickets on sale now

The UK’s Download festival might only have come to a close last night, but that hasn’t stopped organisers from revealing that next year’s Donington bash will be bigger than ever before.
That’s because it’s been revealed that the long-running rock and metal festival is moving from its standard three-day format to four days of musical mayhem.
Festival bosses explain: “In 2023, the Download festival will return to celebrate its 20th anniversary and announces today that for the first time, an extra day of music will be added to bring four massive days of live music and the biggest ever edition.”
While artists have still to be announced – let’s give organisers a few days off to recover shall we? – we now know it’ll run from Thursday, June 8 to Sunday, June 11, 2023. And what’s more, early bird tickets are now on sale through the official Download website.
This year’s Download festival was headlined by Kiss, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro with around 85,000 people descending on the famous Donington site.
In our review of Iron Maiden's Download set, Metal Hammer said: "Thirty-four years since they first headlined (and just shy of 20 since their appearance at the inaugural Download event), Iron Maiden remain one of Donington’s most beloved acts, their associations with the festival running so deep they are as synonymous with the site as Led Zeppelin and Knebworth or Hendrix and Woodstock.
"If Slipknot are the 'Download Festival band', Iron Maiden are the lords of the land, claiming dominion over the site in ways few bands can – or possibly ever will. Hail heavy metal. Hail Iron Maiden."
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Scott has spent 36 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 11 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.