Download 2012 - The happening!!

Download festival, once known as monsters of rock festival throughout the 80’s and 90’s, returns for it’s 10^th anniversary in 2012 and in the words of Andy Copping “the best Download yet”. Of course he says this every year because Download does just seem to get better and better year after year and last year saw Def Leppard, System of a Down and Linkin Park headline and many other famous faces of rock play throughout the weekend. Bands that played that weekend included the likes of Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, Alter Bridge, Twisted Sister and many more! I thought that Andy had got the line up just right and thought that would be a hard year to beat but somehow he has managed to beat that great line-up once again to Download 2012.

The 10^th anniversary of Download sees the new age punk band The Prodigy headline the Friday, heavy metal band Metallica headline the Saturday and the recently reunited Black Sabbath take the stage on the Sunday. For Black Sabbath it will be the only festival they play and for the 10^th anniversary of this historic festival I couldn’t think of a better place for them to play. After their small homecoming gig at the o2 in Birmingham everyone was ready to see these guys rock the world of 100,000 people!! 

One of the main things that had been on everyone’s mind was ‘why the hell is Chase and Status playing Download’ I haven’t a clue but festival promoter Andy Copping thinks differently about the matter stating in an interview I did with him “Chase & Status will surprise everyone and blow people away. Their live show is off the scale. They will move people in the same way that The Prodigy did in 2006 and 2009 and Pendulum in 2008, 2009 and 2011. People back then said I was crazy to book those bands and I knew I was right. If Download does not diversify it will die in the same way Monsters of Rock did.” This is a bold statement from him saying that they would move people in the same way as The Prodigy, I do have to disagree with him on this one as after all The Prodigy are a new age punk band and appeal to the Download audience and having Chase and Status on the bill just didn’t fit that “spiritual home of rock” category. When they were on there were more people moving away from the main stage and going to watch Nightwish on the Zippo Encore stage, who by the way knew how to please the audience and put on a great show! The main headliner for the Zippo encore stage that Download promoter Andy Copping had got was the guitar shredding Slash that featured Myles Kennedy on vocals.

Download festival also has 3 other stages, apart from the main stage (renamed the Jim Marshall stage shortly after his death) and the second stage (Zippo encore stage) which are the Pepsi Max stage, the Redbull jam stage and the Jagermeister stage. These last two stages mainly played host to less known bands than the bands that played the main and second stage all of which played well and did Download proud!

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Interview with Andy Copping on Download 2012

Now I know download used to be called monsters of rock festival. How do you compare it to what it is now to what it was back then? What has changed that makes it Download festival and not Monsters of Rock? Well Monsters of Rock was effectively a one day, one stage event. Towards the end it was two stages but on one day with no camping. Monsters of Rock became a bit one dimensional and a lot of the newer bands refused to play it. Download is a three day, five stage, camping extravaganza and we include a lot of contemporary bands.

You’ve seen new generations every year at Download and families come together. What has Download got that makes it perfect for families and for people of all ages?  Download just offers great variety with it’s selection of bands. There’s always something for everyone in the most part…for young and old alike. It also gives fans the opportunity to check out bands that they would never normally buy a ticket to go and see in concert.

Out of all your years of being the booker for Download, what has been your proudest year, as in the year you couldn’t believe you managed to get them bands booked? How does it relate to this year, Download’s 30^th anniversary? 2010 takes some beating…being the only person to persuade AC/DC to play a festival made me feel immensely proud. Having AC/DC alongside Rage Against The Machine & Aerosmith made Download look like a giant compared to other festivals. 2009 was a great year, as I believe when we got everything right…the location of the site, the variety on the bill and just the greatest atmosphere ever. 2012 looks like it’s going to top both 2009 and 2010 though, which is great for our 10^th Anniversary.

I read in other articles that you had a hard time booking AC/DC for 2010’s Download bill. What were your thoughts when they said they would come and headline... for the 4^th time in the history of this historic festival? Booking AC/DC was actually fairly easy! Dealing with them once they were booked wasn’t so easy! They are one of the biggest bands in the world and their expectation levels are really high and rightly so…I would go through it all again to get them back at Donington again.

We have some “newer” bands on the bill this year for example Chase and Status. Now Download has been called the spiritual home of rock and Chase and Status don’t really fit the part. What makes them worthy of playing the main stage this year, following in the steps of so many other great artists? Chase & Status will surprise everyone and blow people away. Their live show is off the scale. They will move people in the same way that The Prodigy did in 2006 and 2009 and Pendulum in 2008, 2009 and 2011. People back then said I was crazy to book those bands and I knew I was right. If Download does not diversify it will die in the same way Monsters of Rock did. Remember that Download has five stages, so if there’s a band on a certain stage that you don’t like, then there’s always the other stages to go and check other bands out.

It’s obviously very sad to hear about Tony Iommi and him falling ill. They must feel very privileged to be headlining Download and to say it’s their second gig out of two how privileged does it make you feel knowing you have them booked? When I booked Black Sabbath it was before Tony announced he was fighting that dreadful disease. I am blown away that he and the band have selected Download as the only festival in Europe that they are actually going to play. Can you imagine the reception Tony Iommi is going to get when he walks on stage?? It will be immense!!

And lastly for those out there that haven’t yet got a ticket to Download what would you say to them? Hurry up! You are going to miss the party of a lifetime!!

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Post Download 2012

So another year dawns on us all and another of Download is born! With over 10 years in the business and being head of promotions at Live Nation Andy Copping returns to bring us the best Download line up to date!
Andy is known to book book some of the best bands from around the world at this famous festival, from the likes of Iron Maiden all the way to The Prodigy. At this festival, which some have been known to call it the "spiritual" home of rock, Download has something to offer everyone with over 4 stages of pure rock music across 3 days... talk about a long weekend.
This festival actually began in the 80's and went through to the late 90's under the name "Monsters of Rock" which hosted artists such as; AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Megadeth, Metallica and many more faces of rock, some who are still going to this day. When Monsters of Rock stopped going the people of Britain were left with basically nothing left, except Leeds fest and Glastonbury which, no offence, did not give us rockers what we needed so badly. Along came Andy, a man who had been with Live Nations for quite some time already, and he was ready to relaunch if you will, this historic festival. His goal was to create a festival that only gave rock and it became a hit! Over the past 10 years download has been home to some of the most influential rock bands on the planet including; Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Guns n' Roses, Slash, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick and for the 4th time headlining this festival AC/DC in the year 2010. AC/DC had already headlined this festival when it was Monsters of Rock and to return in 2010 made it their 4th time headlining, something which no other band has ever done or will ever do. In fact no other band has ever even headlined twice never mind 4 times!! If you missed it I too feel your pain.
This year, 2012, brings us to Donington; The Prodigy (Friday headliners), Metallica (Saturday headliners) and Black Sabbath (Sunday headliners). Metallica have played Download before so this marks their second time headlining and marks the Prodigy's first time headling the main stage. Having only ever headlined the second stage back in 2007, is quite an achievement. As most of you probably know Black Sabbath are reuniting to bring us a brand new album and to see the famous Ozzy Osborn back in the group to eat bats and do whatever he does now days ha ha. So a pretty rockin' line up if I don't say so myself, one I'm definitely looking forward to!
Now time to talk about the controversial side of things... Chase and Status playing the main stage. On the one hand it does fit in with the whole "new age punk" scene. After all the prodigy are headlining the main stage and are the "new age punk" scene band. But a lot of people, mostly hard core Download fest fans, are not happy with the techno band being placed anywhere near Donington! Has Andy made a big mistake placing these guys on the bill? Well yes I think he has. Not being a fan of the band doesn't really give him the benefit of the doubt but I must say they would be better off playing somewhere like V-Festival or Leeds Festival. NOT Download, the spiritual home of rock... they are not rock. As one of my friends said "them chavs are going to get trashed by us rockers" well I couldn't agree me and in the words of The Kaiser Chiefs "I PREDICT A RIOT!"
Anyways I will be doing a live review of the festival in real time while I'm there so be sure to check it out! In the meantime feel free to keep up with the latest news from me on my Twitter, my Facebook page or The Sheffield Scenester where you can find all the up to date live reviews from around Yorkshire! Till then...