Download Festival has added some new names for its 2024 edition, and it includes a thrash metal icon, some goth-punk heroes and an imminent Eurovision star. Joining the likes of Avenged Sevenfold, Fall Out Boy, Queens Of The Stone Age, Limp Bizkit, Machine Head and more will be Slayer legend Kerry King - who, along with his various own dates across the summer, will be reuniting with Slayer for some US festival appearances - alongside histrionic Southampton goth-punks Creeper, nu gen starlet and Irish Eurovision entrant Bambie Thug, English punk duo Soft Play (formerly Slaves) and UK alt-rockers Lowlives. Also added to the bill are New York punk rockers Bayside, Welsh trio Florence Black and Bristol alt-metallers Mallavora.
Download 2024 takes place June 14-16 at Donington Park, England, with headliners Queens Of The Stone Age, Fall Out Boy and Avenged Sevenfold joined by Limp Bizkit, Royal Blood, The Offspring, Tom Morello, Enter Shikari, Sum 41, Corey Taylor, Machine Head, BABYMETAL, Pantera, Fear Factory, While She Sleeps, Billy Talent, Black Stone Cherry, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, The Struts, Of Mice & Men, Busted, Wheatus, Electric Callboy, Bowling For Soup, The Used, Mr Bungle, Bad Omens, Dying Fetus, The Black Dahlia Murder, Those Damn Crows, Holding Absence, Silverstein, Charlotte Sands, Thy Art Is Murder, Fit For A King and more.
Tickets are on sale now at the official Download website. Check out the poster for the full announced lineup below.
Speaking earlier this year, Kerry King revealed that he wasn't always going to put out his first post-Slayer material under his own name. "It was going to be King’s Reign for a long time, which is really cool," he told Rolling Stone. "But even with that one, I went to the guys, like, 'I’m not a vain dude. I don’t want my name to be a part of it.' We talked about Blood Rain for a while, but it didn’t work. Every time I came up with anything remotely cool, it was taken by some obscure band in Eastern Europe. It became Kerry King because I love that logo."
Slayer's return shocked many fans given that it was evident King was only just starting a whole new chapter in his career. Whether we'll see any more Slayer activity beyond their current announced dates remains to be seen.
