Download gets bigger (somehow?) with 44 new bands
Download 2023, announcing 44 new bands, is starting to get… a bit ridiculous really. It has so many bands crammed into it, the mere thought of it invokes clash anxiety. It’s a truly insane line-up - it’s almost as if they’re celebrating something..?
Everyone by this point knows the basics. It’s Download’s 20th anniversary, so of course they have to try and outdo everyone else. Three days? Nah, let’s go with four. Booking legends like Metallica on the Saturday night isn’t enough anymore - ‘hey, let’s book them on the Thursday too!’ Everything needs to be bigger, better. So, with only a small bit of fanfare, Andy Copping and his mates over at Download have dropped another huge wave of artists, as well as the day splits and day tickets, and it’s safe to say some people are freaking out.
Let’s start with what we already had. Bring Me The Horizon. Slipknot. Metallica(s). Architects, Alexisonfire, Evanescence, Disturbed, Parkway Drive, I Prevail, Ghost, Pendulum. Lorna Shore, Polaris, Stray From The Path, Nova Twins. Practically a who’s who in modern metal (and metal adjacent!)
So the first question, really, was just who the hell wasn’t already announced?
Well, let’s have a look. First off, after two triumphant solo sets last year, Myles Kennedy and his friends in Alter Bridge are back in Donnington once more, this time on the new Thursday — announced along with them for the Thursday come Five Finger Death Punch, Halestorm, Jinjer, Perturbator, A.A.Williams — who unfortunately had to pull out last minute last year — Caskets, Fearless Vampire Killers, Mammoth WVH, Mimi Barks, Mom Jeans, Tigress and The Bronx, along with obviously Metallica. Basically, this wave has single handedly fleshed out an entire day!
Sprinkled throughout the other days come Neck Deep, Clutch, Electric Callboy, Coheed and Cambria, Ice Nine Kills — after a particularly rammed set last year — Carpenter Brut, and Hatebreed.
And those are just the names with the bigger font! That’s not even half of what dropped. We have fierce Canadian rock duo Cleopatrick making their Download debut. We have The Amity Affliction, fresh off the back of their fantastic UK tour last month. We have one of the most unique and acclaimed metal bands around in Mongolian outfit The Hu. We have Beauty School, Bob Vylan, Bad Wolves. Hot Milk, Pup, Palaye Royale. Caskets, Deaf Havana, Dinosaur Pile-Up.
And, most interestingly, a band that has released very little information beyond that two of its members are Mike Vennart of Oceansize and Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro — the latter of whom will likely seem out of place on a smaller stage after headlining last year. I don’t usually like copying from any press releases, but a description of Empire State Bastard as Simon Neil’s ‘grindcore extreme metal side project’ fills me with a heady mixture of excitement, trepidation, and a good measure of confusion; those five words alone ramp a stupid level of excitement to ‘possibly dangerous’, and the prospect of seeing whatever they have in store seems like it already justifies the ticket price!
Download is going to be insane. Buy tickets now, because this won’t be one to miss.
Words by James O’Sullivan
