Download Festival 2023: how to get tickets as Metallica and Slipknot announced for festival’s 20th anniversary

One of the 2023 headliners will play not one, but two sets
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Metallica and Slipknot have been announced in the first wave of acts for Download Festival’s 20th anniversary show next year. The 2023 event has four days of music rather than three, meaning fans will be treated to even more world class music in what will be a special year for the festival.

Metallica will play two headline sets on Thursday and Saturday but there will be no song played twice. Metallica first played Download in 2004 and were last at Donington Park in 2006. With this long wait for a return to Leicestershire, it’s fair to say this gig is long overdue.

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Also amongst the first wave of act announced for the anniversary show are Bring Me The Horizon and Disturbed.

Bring Me The Horizon will headline on the Friday, with Slipknot closing the festival on the Sunday.

The festival has been an icon for metal fans from across the UK and afar since its first ever year way back in 2003. This first festival was just a two day event and was scheduled to be headlined by Iron Maiden and Limp Bizkit, although the latter pulled out and were replaced by Audioslave.

Download 2023 takes place from Thursday June 8 to Sunday June 11 and will have four jam-packed days of music.

Which bands were at the 10th anniversary of Download?

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The 2013 show was the 10th anniversary of Download, and fans were treated with three legendary headline acts. Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Rammstein topped the bill, with other big names including Queens of the Stone Age, Motorhead and Bullet for my Valentine.

Who played at Download 2022?

Last year’s festival was the first full scale edition of Download since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic. KISS, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro were the three headline acts whilst Welsh reggae metal group Skindred, Rise Against and A Day To Remember also played memorable sets.

How to get tickets

The announcement was made just hours after early bird tickets were removed from sale. Tickets will be back on sale at 10am on Thursday, November 10. This will include weekend tickets for both four and five nights of camping. Tickets will return to sale through Ticketmaster