Download boss says Limp Bizkit should headline when they return
Download‘s boss Andy Copping has suggested Limp Bizkit should headline the festival when they return.
The nu-metal group have had a long history with the Donington Park festival, where they were supposed to be the inaugural headliners in 2003, but dropped out and were eventually replaced by Audioslave.
Limp Bizkit sub-headlined the last day of this year’s edition, which took place at the weekend. Their show marked their first appearance at Donington Park since 2013.
Now, a new photo posted by Copping has shown he’s open to considering the band returning to top the bill. Sharing the photo yesterday (June 18), Copping wrote: “Fred and I leaving the stage at the end of a gargantuan performance by LIMP BIZKIT at Download on Sunday. Next time they come back, they have to be headlining, surely?”
This year’s edition saw headliners Queens Of The Stone Age, Avenged Sevenfold and Fall Out Boy take to the stage.
Slipknot legend Corey Taylor, Pantera, Machine Head, The Offspring, Sum 41 and Royal Blood were some of over 80 bands announced to play the Derby festival.
NME attended this year, deeming Download worthy of four stars: “At first glance, Download 2024 seemed to be marred by a range of factors that could have signalled its downfall – even festival boss Andy Copping admitted that it was the “hardest year” to secure a line-up and the team approached over “21 bands” to find headliners.
“Pair that with the threat of boycott in retaliation against the Barclays sponsorship and news that this year could be the wettest in a century, and the hopes of it coming out smoothly began to waver. Yet, against the odds the festival delivers one of its most promising editions in recent memory, and proves that it is one of the main events leading the way when it comes to creating opportunities for the next generation of headliners.”
Copping opened up about his struggle to secure his line-up this year, saying: “It’s been probably the hardest year – I’ve said that in previous years before when it’s been hard to put the bill together – but this year has been particularly hard.”
According to the festival boss, he has seen that other festivals across Europe have “have been feeling the same” and also “struggling to lock the bands in.”
“Myself and the team, we dug in really hard…We would list all the bands that we should go for and, yeah, it was 21 different acts that we approached,” he continued. “Normally, you’d be looking five, six, seven and you’d find your three from that.”
In other news, here’s what Pantera played at their first UK show in 20 years at Download ahead of their upcoming tour.
The post Download boss says Limp Bizkit should headline when they return appeared first on NME.
Alex Rigotti
NME
