Download bosses talk festival improvements and tease 2023 headliners
nme.comDownload have spoken to NME about the major improvements coming for this year’s event – as well as revealing that all three headliners have already been booked for the 2023 festival.The legendary Donington rock bash has seen a two-year hiatus due to COVID – aside from 2021’s smaller scale Download Pilot to show that festivals could go on during the pandemic – and will return in its full form this June with headline performances from KISS, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro.“It’s just over 50 days until we open the gates to the campsite, and there are many, many people counting down every single one of those days,” Festival Republic boss Melvin Benn told NME. “Also, it’s been nearly 1,100 days between Tool closing in 2019 and Heriot opening in 2022.
That’s definitely too long without this festival.”With the festival fast approaching, this week saw Download review major site improvements for accessibility, inclusivity and green issues – including moving camping area The Village closer to The Arena, bringing it closer to the Access Camping area for disabled fans, and a range of new more environmentally-friendly camping schemes.“The Download community embraces fans with disabilities probably more than any other festival, I would say,” said Benn. “We’ve been listening to fans, and formerly the accessible campsite was a distance away from the campsite village and almost impassable during a wet year, so we’ve redesigned the campsite overall.
The two are now much closer together and it’s nearer to the heart of the camping world.“The walk from the campsites to the arena is now much shorter than it was before.
Read more on nme.com
