The Download Festival headliners for 2020 have been announced, and it is splitting fans’ opinions!
Some people are thrilled with the bands, while some are majorly disappointed.
Why the divide in opinion? And who is right? Well, let’s discuss…
The Download festival 2020 headliners are:
- Iron Maiden
- System of a Down
- Kiss
My Opinions
First off, let’s get my own personal opinions out of the way, so that you can apply that bias of the rest of this blog post.
One of my favourite bands of all time.
They play classic rock/metal and have a universal appeal. I have seen them at least 5 times.
But… that’s kind of my issue! I want to see other bands, Bands that I HAVEN’T seen multiple times, especially for the headline slot of a festival.
I am not a huge Kiss fan.
I actually missed their set at Download festival in 2015 in favour of seeing Suicidal Tendencies, and I am still convinced I made the right choice. (Read more about that festival here)
Kiss have some good songs but I am nothing more than a casual fan.
I love SOAD! They are a phenomenal band and I am super exited that they are here.
I am a bit confused though, as they haven’t released a new album in 17 years and headlined Download Festival only 2 years ago.
There is talk of a new album at some point in the future, but nothing really concrete.
Either way though, I’m very hyped they’re playing.
Now, with all that out of the way, lets get on with the totally unbiased review!
The Split
As I mentioned, people are either loving or hating this line up.
Those that love it are generally people who haven’t seen any these bands before, and to be fair, they are huge bands! This is three big bands that draw a crowd!
The ‘Happy’ crowd are happy because they get to see three great bands all in one place.
However, on the other side, those that hate the line-up usually complain that all of these bands have played download festival before, and all within the last 7 years.
The ‘Angry’ crowd are frustrated because they want variety.
After spending £250+ for a ticket (Don’t expect that to get cheaper any time soon), they don’t want to see the same bands they’ve seen multiple times before, no matter how good they are!
I have spoken to a lot of people who say that they’re either not going to Download in 2020 because of this line-up, or that they are unlikely to go again if the line-ups don’t change more often.
So… Who’s Right?
For me, the issue is that for every potential Download festival goer who has never seen any of those three bands before, there are ten people who have seen them!
The more times that Download Festival puts on the same bands, the less and less people there will be who have never seen them before.
Therefore, the more often they put on the same bands, the fewer people there will be who are willing to spend £250+ on seeing them again.
Now, this doesn’t mean that no festival can have the same headliners again; they would run out of headliner-worthy bands pretty quickly that way!
It just means that spreading these bands out a little bit thinner would be great.
The other plus is that it would allow smaller bands to get the exposure and recognition they need to become headliner, stadium-filling, household-name bands in the future.
Smaller Bands Aren’t Good Enough
This is an argument I have heard over and over again on this topic.
“Download Festival is a historic site and bands have to earn the right to play the top slots.”
Smaller bands haven’t ‘earned their stripes’ as it were, and so don’t deserve the honour of playing the headline slot.
To some degree, I can understand this and agree with it. A small band with one album probably doesn’t deserve that headline slot on the Friday night.
However: I am not suggesting that! Not at all.
There are plenty of bands out there that are big, but still need that exposure to get wider acceptance.
Within the rock and metal genre, I’m talking about bands like:
- Parkway Drive
- A Day To Remember
- Rise Against
- Killswitch Engage
Critics usually respond to this with a resounding:
“Just give them a few years, then they will be big enough to play!”
How?!
Any band that became huge, at some point had a big event/festival/venue take a chance and give them that platform to play on.
At some point, any band needs someone to take that chance on them and give them the recognition of saying ‘We think this will be a huge band’.
Download Festival has that power and that ability. And they need to use it more often.
In 2017, they had Avenged Sevenfold play the festival. That was a bit of a risk, but it worked out. People are now more likely to think of that band as able to headline in the future, because they have been given that possibility already.
My Solution
I have come up with the best solution for this whole argument, and it comes down to a combination of both A-list and smaller bands.
Download festival has three headline slots available. So why not split those slots into categories:
- Classic, big band (E.g. Iron Maiden)
- Slightly smaller band who just need exposure (E.g. A Day To Remember)
- A wild card (E.g. Primus)
With this system, you can appeal to new people who have never been before as well as bring back the festival veterans.
Conclusion
I have nothing against the three Download Festival 2020 headliners. They are big bands and fairly safe choices.
That’s the issue though.
All of these bands are very safe choices. There is nothing surprising, or ’out there’ that will make the 2020 festival stand out from any other year.
I still enjoy the festivals and this line-up doesn’t put me off, but it doesn’t fill me with joy either.
If there was another metal festival option (Like Sonisphere) around and they followed my system of a mix of huge and smaller bands, I would be more likely to choose that festival!
Going to a festival and seeing bands you like is great.
Seeing bands you like AND haven’t seen before… well, that’s the dream!
