BACK TO LIVE
None of us dared to dream that Download would happen this year. 2020’s edition was cancelled during the first lockdown, and then, in March of this year, organisers announced they had no choice but to call off the muchanticipated 2021 weekend, too. That, coupled with most other live events falling by the wayside, made it a grim time for the music industry and its fans.
Then, on May 26, there was a shock announcement: Download would be going ahead, at a tenth of its capacity, as a government-backed pilot for its Events Research Programme. There’d been a pilot one-dayer headlined by indie band Blossoms in Liverpool’s Sefton Park earlier that month, but this would be a full-scale, three-day festival, with camping, designed to test whether large-scale gatherings were viable in the age of COVID. It promised: ‘You’ll be able to mosh, dance, hug your fellow Downloaders, and rock out without a mask or social distancing!’
“We didn’t get the green light until the middle of May,” remembers Live Nation Promoter / Download Booker Kam Haq. “Speaking to the agents and managers at the time, they thought we were having a laugh. We had to explain the situation! Everybody was jumping at the chance to play the festival.”
The bookers had put together a wishlist of British bands, with Enter Shikari and Frank Carter the first to confirm, followed by more than 40 established favourites and rising stars. Tickets went on sale on June 1, with Festival Republic starting the build a week later, assembling a “small village” on site with all the infrastructure needed for fans. “They pulled it off in record time,” marvels Kam. “It was incredible.”
When the gates opened at 2pm on Friday June 18, 10,000 festival-goers were welcomed onto Donington’s hallowed turf for the event of the year. After doing an at-home PCR test and showing evidence of a negative lateral flow test, they were allowed to behave as you would in the ‘before-times’, mask-free and without inhibitions.
“The fans were losing their minds,” says Kam. “They did the COVID checks, and then the minute they got to take off their masks, when they got on site, they were screaming ‘Freedom!’ and running towards the campsites. It was like some Braveheart moment.”
Team Hammer were there to capture all the action. This is our blow-by-blow account of the most unique Download of a lifetime, and one that may well set the precedent for live music events to come. We screamed, we cried, we circle-pitted, we saw homegrown talent step up to new heights, and we thanked the metal gods for making this annual pilgrimage possible.
FRIDAY
8am It was inevitable, wasn’t it? Weeks of glorious weather give way to the heavens opening. But we don’t care – we’ll mosh in the rain!
Donington might be where rock gods are made, but
