List of Donington Park Festivals
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Since 1980 when rock music was revived in Britain by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal,[citation needed] Donington Park has played host to many music festivals. The venue, located near Donington Castle in central England has build itself a reputation as the 'spiritual home of British hard rock'. Though other festivals have taken place there, the two most notable were annual offerings of Monsters of Rock and Download Festival.
Contents |
[edit] List of Festivals
- 1880 - 1989: Monsters of Rock
- 1991 - 1992: Monsters of Rock
- 1994: Monsters of Rock
- 1995: Metallica Escape from the Studio '95
- 1996: Monsters of Rock
- 2001: Rock and Blues Festival, Stereophonics A Day at the Races
- 2002: Ozzfest
- 2003 - present: Download Festival
- 2005: Ozzfest Download
- 2006 - present: Twisted Realm @ Download
[edit] Annual Festivals
[edit] Monsters of Rock: 1980 - 1997
See main article, Monsters of Rock
Monsters of Rock was the first major festival event at Donington Park. It was regular, with few cancellations throughout it's run. In 1988, two fans died in a crush due to in part to the vast (100 000 - largest ever) number of people attending. This led to the festival's first cancellation in 1989. Cancellation happened again in 1993, and in 1997. Plans for converting the two day festival into a three day one had been set out for 1997 before it's cancellation, however.
After huge success in the 1980s, the early 1990s faced a decline in hard rock. Difficulty to find a powerful headline act was the reason for the 1993 cancellation and end of the festival itself. In 1995, without a major act willing to play the festival was going to cancel. Metallica were persuadded to play, but the festival was to be called 'Escape from the Studio '95', with major contributions to the organisation by the band in exchange for their services. Whether the festival counts as a Monsters of Rock show is sometimes debated but it is generaly considered one.
Though in 2006 another festival by the name of Monsters of Rock was held in Britain (headlined by Deep Purple), it was at Milton Keynes Bowl, not Donington.
[edit] List of Monsters of Rock headline acts/total bands
- 1980: Rainbow - 8 bands
- 1981: AC/DC - 7 bands
- 1982: Status Quo - 7 bands
- 1983: Whitesnake - 7 bands
- 1984: AC/DC - 8 bands
- 1985: ZZ Top - 7 bands
- 1986: Ozzy Osbourne - 7 bands
- 1987: Bon Jovi - 7 bands
- 1988: Iron Maiden - 8 bands
- 1989: Festival Cancelled
- 1990: Whitesnake - 5 bands
- 1991: AC/DC - 5 bands
- 1992: Iron Maiden - 6 bands
- 1993: Festival Cancelled
- 1994: Aerosmith - 12 bands
- 1995: Metallica - 9 bands
- 1996: Ozzy Osbourne and KISS - 13 bands
- 1997: Festival Cancelled
[edit] Metallica Escape from the Studio '95
See main articles, Monsters of Rock and Metallica
Taking the place of a Monsters of Rock 1995 was a Metallica organised festival as part of their 'Escape from the Studio '95' tour. The show was considered the official Monsters of Rock 1995 show by bands playing, including Metallica. If the organisers of Monsters of Rock had not been struggling to find a headliner for the festival, they would not have allowed Metallica to present the festival as it's own and controlled the event so much. In 1996, Monsters of Rock would return - for the last time. Their 'Escape from the Studio '06' festival tour also covered the venue, arriving at the Download Festival though this was not a Metallica organised festival.
[edit] List of Metallica Escape from the Studio '95 headline acts/total bands
- 1995 Headline act: Metallica - 9 bands
[edit] Download Festival 2003 - present
See main article, Download Festival
After the decline of British hard rock music in the early 90s in the face of grunge rock, and with the late 90s rise of synthetic pop music further hampering the genre, Monsters of Rock had been forced to stop. By 2003 however, hard rock was growing again and Live Nation decided to resurrect the Monsters of Rock of old, under a new name - Download Festival. The festival was a runaway success, and lasted followed 1997's plans to extend Monsters of Rock to two days rather than the single day Monsters of Rock always had. The festival continues to this day.
In 2005, when the Ozzfest tour decided to perform at Donington it picked a Saturday in the middle of Download Festival. Following this, Download has always been a three day event. See notes on Ozzfest below.
[edit] List of Download Festival headline acts/total bands
- 2003: Iron Maiden (Saturday) and Audioslave (Sunday) - 55 bands
- 2004: Linkin Park (Saturday) and Metallica (Sunday) - 72 bands
- 2005: Feeder (Friday), Black Sabbath (Saturday - Ozzfest), System of a Down (Sunday) - 105 bands (inc. Ozzfest)
- 2006: Tool (Friday), Metallica (Saturday), Guns N' Roses (Sunday) - 105 bands
- 2007: My Chemical Romance (Friday), Linkin Park (Saturday), Iron Maiden (Sunday)
- at least 100 bands (31 confirmed acts as of 29th March 2007)
[edit] Twisted Realm @ Download 2006 - present
See main article, Twisted Realm @ Download
A guerilla festival that first occurred in 2006, Twisted Realm happens in the Download Festival camp the day before the festival itself (the Download camp opens a few days before the stages are opened). It features unsigned acoustic acts lacking in fame. Aural Demolition began with stating they would perform, and managed to gather a following interested in joining them. It attracted over 200 viewers. For 2007, the mini-festival will occur again and will do in the future should enough interest continue to generate. It has expanded from 8 to 12 acts, including a secret one.
[edit] List of Twisted Realm @ Download headline acts/total bands
- 2006: Aural Demolition - 8 bands
- 2007: Vomit Sock and Encrusted Lovepump - 12 bands
[edit] Other Donington Festivals
[edit] Stereophonics A Day at the Races
See main article, Stereophonics
To promote the new album they played a two day festival which was called "A Day at the Races". The two day concert was held at Donington Park on the first day and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on the second. The concerts were supported by Ash, Black Crowes and Proud Mary.
[edit] List of a Day at the Races headline acts/total bands
- 2001 Headline act: Stereophonics - 4 bands
[edit] Rock and Blues Festival
A two day event featuring blues rock bands for the most part, aiming at a larger audience who would have been around during the genre's heyday which had ended at the dawn of the 1990s.
[edit] List of Rock and Blues Festival headline acts
- 2001 Headline acts: Hawkwind (Friday), UFO and Uli Jon Roth (Saturday)
[edit] Ozzfest
See main article, Ozzfest
The largely America-based tour organised by Ozzy Osbourne (of Black Sabbath fame) and his wife, Sharon Osbourne. In 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2005 the tour extended itself to visit the United Kingdom, and two of it's visits were to Donington. It first came to the UK in 1998, to fill the void left by the end of the Monsters of Rock festival series. It's role as the nearest the UK had to a 'replacement' Mosnters of Rock was made more evident with the 2002 performance at Donington, and then in 2005. The 2005 trip for the tour was part of the Download Festival 2005, adding a third day onto the previously two day festival. It was dubbed 'Ozzfest Download'.
[edit] List of Ozzfest at Donington headline acts/total bands
- 2002 Headline act: Ozzy Osbourne - 24 bands
- 2005 Headline act: Black Sabbath - 9 bands (Download Festival 2005 mainstage)
[edit] Trivia
- On the official Download website it refers to Monsters of Rock 1996 as Monsters of Rock 2000 and A Day at the Races as Monsters of Rock 2002
- 2001 is the only year (not counting Twisted Realm @ Download and Ozzfest Download which were 'sub festivals') were more than one major music festival occurred at the venue
- Presently the record for most headline appearances by a band at Donington Park is three - this record is held by AC/DC (1981, 1984, 1991), Metallica (1995, 2004, 2006), Iron Maiden (1988, 1992, 2003) and Ozzy Osbourne (1986, 1996 and 2002). However, In 1996 Osbourne was the only headline act for a Donington Park festival to have to join headline a day (with KISS). In 2007, Iron Maiden are making their fourth appearance and will set a new record.
- If Ozzy Osbourne's appearance in 2005 is counted when he performed with Black Sabbath means that despite being with a different band Ozzy holds the present record of four appearances
- Monsters of Rock and Download festivals have happened accross the world
- If Twisted Realm @ Download is counted as part of the main Download event, it can be said that for 2006 and beyond the festival has now been extended into a four day event
- To date there have been 26 headline acts, spread accross 32 days of festivals
- From 1991 - 1993, between the two Monsters of Rock cancellations all three headline acts were repeats from previous years
