Download Festival Returns For 2007

Starting the festival mania early, tickets for Download 2007 go on sale at 9am on Wednesday 31 January. Leaving no doubt that the fifth Download Festival will be more exciting than ever, the three headliners for Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively are confirmed as My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park and Iron Maiden. A mixture of the best new and established talent from across the globe is what makes Download the must see event of the year.

Celebrating its outstanding fifth anniversary this year, Download has rocketed into the UK’s hearts as the biggest alternative festival on the summer music calendar. The addition of a third day in 2005 proved a monumental success, and the popularity of this weekend of live music and non-stop activity continues to grow with each passing year. Selling out in advance, a massive 70,000 people descended on Donington Park last year experiencing the hottest bands and weather in festival history. With the three headliners already confirmed, Download 2007 kicks off on 8, 9 and 10 June.

First performing at Donington Park in 2005, My Chemical Romance’s meteoric rise sees them return to headline the opening night. My Chemical Romance have firmly established themselves as one of the best live bands of the moment. The release of ‘The Black Parade’ album in 2006 escalated them to international stardom and this will undoubtedly be one of the must see performances of the weekend.

My Chemical Romance’s guitarist Frank Lero said this about headlining the opening night, "Being asked to headline Download festival was definitely a milestone in our lives...just two years ago we were playing the side stage...and now we're closing the main stage! A slot previously filled by Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and even Black Sabbath. These are legendary bands... so how do I describe that feeling? There really are no words to describe that honour. I just can't wait to play."

With a sound that is unmistakable, Linkin Park headline day two. Having sold in excess of 35 million albums worldwide, Linkin Park truly are the purveyors of a new brand of alternative rock music. With a hybrid of genres that appeal to a multitude of fans, the use of turntables, samplers and the classic ‘rock’ instruments, Linkin Park cover a truly versatile ground and provide an entertaining and unique performance. A new album (produced by Rick Rubin) is due for release in the summer of this year.

Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington says, "We're really excited to perform new music for all of our UK fans as well as the old favourites you know and love. Download is always awesome and the bands this year are going to be amazing. UK fans are some of the best in the world and we can't wait to see you!"

As headliners on the final night we are very proud to announce the return of legendary rockers Iron Maiden to Donington for a record breaking fourth headline appearance. The first time Maiden ever played at Donington was when they topped the bill in 1988, with Kiss and Guns N’ Roses among the supports, playing to over 100,000 people - the biggest Donington crowd by far and still the biggest Metal show ever in the UK - returning again in 1992 and 2003. With a career spanning almost 30 years, and album sales of over 70 million, Iron Maiden are seen by many as one of the most important rock acts of all time. Iron Maiden's integrity, passion and live power fully demonstrate why they have influenced and inspired so many modern day rock acts. The huge international success of their latest album and tour goes to show that their power is if anything still on the rise!

Says Bruce Dickinson "Our fans know that Donington is a special place for Maiden and we are all looking forward to getting back there for a fourth time. The "A Matter of Life and Death UK Tour" last December was very special for us and we very much appreciated the fans giving us such great support in us playing the whole album which, lets face it, was not necessarily the easiest thing to do for us or them! It was definitely the right challenge for us at that time but outdoors in the summer is different and as a thank you to our fans we will be including quite a few more "classic" favourites balanced with some of the tracks from the new album. We will naturally bring Eddie and his toys along, so all in all it should be a great day for everybody!!"

With a larger variety of packages than any other event, festival-goers can choose how they want to experience Download 2007. From special VIP offers to the in the thick of it raw experience, check out downloadfestival.co.uk for the full list of packages that includes Pods, Campervans, and hotel inclusive packages. Ticket prices are as follows:

Weekend Arena Ticket PLUS Camping - £145 + booking fee
Weekend Arena Ticket - £125 + booking fee
Campervan supplement - £40 + booking fee
Parking £6 for the weekend (£10 on the day)
Lockers £6

Returning due to popular demand and in a larger quantity than ever before are the Security Lockers.

One of the major successes of Download 2006 was the 24/7 entertainment on offer, and the extended camping facilities. This year’s campsite opens at midday on Wednesday 6 June and will close at noon on Monday 11 June. Also returning in 2007 is ‘The Village’ a unique hub of amusements which last year included activities from LaserQuest to Human Table-Football, from Contortionists to Drumming Workshops. Download is the only festival to offer this degree of entertainment; it quite literally doesn’t stop.

In an unprecedented move to make Download one of the most environmentally friendly festivals in the UK, organisers are committed to introducing a variety of green initiatives. From encouraging car sharing (a car pooling system that features on downloadfestival.co.uk) to using recyclable cups the Download festival has vowed to spend £250,000 (the same amount it cost to clean up the site last year) to ensure that 2007 is cleaner and produces less waste than ever before. More details will be revealed shortly.

Festival director Stuart Galbraith is delighted that in its fifth year Download has become the massive success that it is. He explains “By making changes each year and reacting to the suggestions and ideas put forward by our Download message community, we have created a festival with not only the great bands they want to see, but have introduced internet cafés, mobile and laptop recharging centres and 24 hour entertainment at the hub of the festival.

“This year we have taken aggressive steps to ensure that Download becomes as environmentally friendly as possible. Reflected by the new green logo, we are introducing massive recycling initiatives and are encouraging festival-goers to pool cars via our liftshare service, reduce the number of cars brought into car parks by encouraging as many people as possible to use public transport which includes comprehensive bus shuttle services from Derby, Leicester and Loughborough railway stations and an extensive national coach service network (see downloadfestival.co.uk for full details) cutting down not only on emissions, but also congestion in the area.”

Exclusively announced in Radio 1's Zane Lowe show, Radio 1 will be at the event recording live music with further programming details to be announced nearer to the time. Tickets are available from downloadfestival.co.uk or ticketrush.co.uk. As the official website, downloadfestival.co.uk will contain all information about camping, accommodation and all the packages, as well as information on the transport facilities available.