Run to the Hills… Iron Maiden have been announced as the first headliner for next year’s legendary Download festival. These gods of British heavy metal will be gracing the stage at Donnington Park over the weekend of Friday 10th to Sunday 12th June 2016.
The band will fly in on their Ed Force One Boeing 747, which will be piloted by Bruce Dickinson, who incidentally was one of the UK’s top fencers in the 1990s. They are scheduled to close the festival on Sunday in what will be the band’s only UK appearance, as they bring their The Book of Souls tour to the spiritual home of Heavy Metal.
Bruce Dickinson spoke of his love of the festival. “Download is a very special place for us. Not just because it’s always great to play on home turf, but because there’s a truly unique vibe there. It’s the very heart of England and of Metal, so a fitting place for Iron Maiden!”
Iron Maiden have played at Castle Donnington several times, the first being the ill-fated 1988 Monsters of Rock party around the time of their Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour. Despite various members of the band coming and going, the current line-up is a carbon copy of the one that played their inaugural slot with the addition of Janick Gers, who joined the band in 1990 for the Fear of the Dark album.
Iron Maiden are the first of three headliners to be announced this week alongside rumours of an extra special set. With the band declining at previous performances to play much of their old material, perhaps we can expect a tour of their hugely popular 1980s albums.
Expect more mammoth headliner announcements over the next coming days as the intrigue behind one of the world’s most popular metal events gets red hot.
Early bird tickets have now all flown away and general sale tickets will be available from 9am Friday 23rd October here.
