Iron Maiden, System of a Down and KISS to Headline Virtual Download Festival

2020-06-02

Photo by Ken Settle / Story by Kevin Toby

This year’s Download Festival is going online with a range of performances from heavy metal and hard rock bands

The U.K.’s popular Download Festival is going virtual this year, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and will stream via the festival’s YouTube and social media pages from June 12 through 14. While Download won’t be in-person, the festival is making up for that with an A-list lineup of headliners for the online edition, including Iron Maiden, KISS, and System of a Down.

All three acts were originally scheduled to headline this year’s Download Festival, but this year’s edition was canceled due to coronavirus. The virtual festival will feature footage from previous Download sets, as well as interviews, socially distant performances and special content from the bands that were supposed to be on this year’s lineup.

Download will offer both day and evening performances. The day content, according to a release, will celebrate “the spirit of Download Festival,” while the nightly content will bring “tailor-made programming” just for Download TV.

Each night on YouTube, a different headliner will play, with KISS appearing on the Friday night slot with a repeat of their 2015 Download performance. Saturday night will bring an archived performance from Iron Maiden, footage from their latest “Legacy of the Beast Tour” and special content for Download TV. Sunday will offer System of a Down with performances footage from their Download sets in 2005, 2011, and 2017.

Other artists and bands slated for the weekend include Mastodon, Korn, Deftones, Babymetal, Baroness, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Gojira, Volbeat, the Offspring and more.

Download TV will also broadcast various artist Q&As, celebrity “cookalongs” and user-generated content. View the full lineup on the Download Festival’s website.