The UK’s largest rock and heavy metal festival has announced a trio of headliners for its 15th edition. They include Def Leppard, who will be performing their bestselling fourth album, Hysteria, in full, as well as cult prog-rockers Tool, and the masked metal group Slipknot.
Download festival takes place at Donington Park, Leicestershire, on 14-16 June. Tool’s appearance at the weekender marks their first Download gig since headlining the festival in 2006. In September, vocalist Maynard James Keenan hinted that the band are working on their first album in more than a decade, likely to be released next year.
Since they formed in Sheffield in 1977, Def Leppard have sold more than 100m records, with Hysteria (1987) selling more than 25m copies worldwide and spawning one of their most recognisable hits, Pour Some Sugar on Me. They have headlined the festival twice, in 2009 and 2011. Their forthcoming performance will mark their only UK performance in 2019.
Slipknot have performed at Download five times. The band’s most recent Download appearance was in 2015, five years after the death of their founding member and bassist, Paul Gray. Their 2019 performance will be one of their first live shows since singer Corey Taylor announced a new album, due for release next year.
The Download lineup also includes Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash (who is performing with vocalist Myles Kennedy), along with the South African duo Die Antwoord and Welsh ska-metal band Skindred.
