Download Festival issues warning as rainy weather turns Donington Park into mudbath

16 June, 2024

General view of the main stage on Day 2 of Download festival at Donnington Park on June 11, 2022 in Donnington, England. (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage)

Download Festival has issued a warning as rainy weather has turned Donington Park into a mudbath.

The Leicestershire festival will be celebrating its final day in the wake of some torrential rains that have hit the UK – and now, the festival have taken to social media to post a statement.

“Driving to Download today?,” the statement began. “The weather has affected conditions in the South Car Park. Your arrival and departure today may be slower, so please prepare with drinks, snacks and any medication you may need. Traffic is currently moving steadily. If you need assistance, please turn on your hazard lights.”

Aong with causing traffic issues for festivalgoers trying to reach the venue, the rain has created extremely muddy conditions for those already at the festival.

Download has generated so much mud that even Pantera referenced the sludgey fields in a tweet showing a snippet of their set: “We had a great time today at Download! Here’s a glimpse of our performance. Hope you guys had fun in the mud.”

Take a look at some photos of the park below:

 

 

The festival previously issued a warning earlier this month due to “unprecedented” congestion at last year’s festival.

There were major delays on the surrounding roads, including the M1, A50 and A453, as festivalgoers descended on Donington Park in Leicestershire last year. Some fans said it took them up to seven hours to get on the site, while according to the leader of Leicestershire County Council, around 600 people missed flights at the nearby East Midlands Airport due to traffic jams.

75,000 people are expected to attend Download this weekend. The festival has been running from June 14-16.

Download Festival booker Andy Copping has teased that a “big band” will perform a surprise set at this year’s edition of the festival.

The booker revealed the news during an hour-long show on Planet Rock called Andy Copping’s Secrets of Download, saying: “In some years we’ve had some secret sets from different bands – Enter Shikari, Black Stone Cherry, Bullet For My Valentine. But one of the very special secret sets, which kind of, I guess, sets it all off, was Metallica back at the very first Download (in) 2003,” he said.

He went on to tease: “One thing’s for sure, you’ve got to keep your eyes and ears peeled for this year at Download because, yes, we have another band coming in doing a secret set. Something very, very special. Big band. So look out for that.”

Meanwhile, a number of bands have dropped out of this year’s edition due to the festival’s former ties with Barclays, and the bank’s role in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Pest Control were the first band to pull out of the Donington Park festival, saying that they would not “take part in an event whose sponsor profits from facilitating a genocide.” Scowl, Speed and Zulu all boycotted the festival later, as well as Enter Shikari.

The number of boycotts eventually led to Barclays pulling out of a number of festivals including Download, Latitude and Isle of Wight.

In other news, Bambie Thug has dedicated their cover of The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’ to those in Palestine at Download.

 

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