subject: Download Festival | Download Festival Tickets | Download Festival Donnington Park Tickets [print this page] The Download Festival was confirmed to return to Donington on the weekend 11-13 June, 2010, with the campsite expected to open at Midday on Wednesday the 9th. On Monday 25 January, nine bands were announced at the official Download website, including AC/DC as one of the main stage headliners. On Monday 15 February Rage Against the Machine and Aerosmith were confirmed as the other 2 main stage headliners, as well as 5 more bands confirmed a few hours later.
22 bands were added at midnight on 22 March. This announcement confirmed that Bullet for My Valentine, 30 Seconds to Mars and Stone Sour will be the second stage headliners. Stage splits were also confirmed.
A further 30 bands were added on 12 April, including the third stage which is to be sponsored by Pepsi Max. Y&T were moved from the second stage to the third. 21 April saw more bands added at 5pm, including the announcement of the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage for the second year running.
4 May saw twelve more bands being added to the line-up. It was announced that The Used had cancelled their appearance due to unforeseen problems with their management, and would be replaced by Napalm Death. The Boardie Takeover will also be running for the second year.
It has been announced that Saxon will perform their 'Wheels of Steel' album in its entirety to commemorate its 30th anniversary. Download 2010 will also be the 30th anniversary of rock festivals at Donington Park, since the first one - which Saxon performed at - in 1980. As such, there is a focus on booking 'classic' rock bands who performed during the '80s and '90s at Monsters of Rock, including AC/DC, Aerosmith, Motrhead, Cinderella, Slash (who performed with Guns N' Roses in 1988 and Slash's Snakepit in 1995), Ratt and Y&T.
It was announced on 16 May that the second stage would be renamed "The Ronnie James Dio Stage" in tribute to the singer and bassist who died of stomach cancer on the same day. It was also announced that the main stage would be called The Maurice Jones Stage after the co-founder of Monsters of Rock who also passed away the previous year.
28 May saw 15 more bands added, as well as the official announcement of the Jgermeister-sponsored fifth stage, which would host acoustic acts including bands already performing usual sets at the festival. Sum 41, who were initially announced, then cancelled their appearance due to drummer Steve Jocz being involved in an accident. Also on 28 May, it was announced that AC/DC would bring their own stage to the festival, which will be next to the Maurice Jones/Main Stage. This marks the first time a headlining band will bring their own stage to Donington. On 30 May 2010 it was announced that Wolfmother had to cancel their set due to illness and they were replaced by Killswitch Engage.
