Download festival to return in June and ‘moshing will be allowed’

UK rock festival Download is set to go ahead as a pilot event in June, after initially being cancelled earlier this year.

The Download Pilot festival will take place with a reduced crowd of just 10,000, rather than the usual 100,000. Crucially, moshing will be allowed, say the organisers. 

The small-scale festival will take place on 10-12 June 2021 at Donington Park in Leicestershire.

Last year’s Download festival was cancelled due to the pandemic while the original 2021 event, which was due to take place on 4-6 June, was officially cancelled in March.

The new scaled-down event is part of the UK government’s Events Research Programme, which is aimed at supporting the return of live events.

Researchers from Public Health England will be gathering data on transmission risk, the suspension of social distancing and face coverings over several consecutive days. It is hoped that the data will be used to help other events to go ahead safely later this summer.

This year’s Download will not require gig goers to wear masks or stick to social distancing, however, everybody on site will need to take a lateral flow Covid test and receive a negative result before entry.

The full Download Pilot lineup will be announced on Friday 28 May, and tickets will go on sale on Thursday 3 June. There will be no day tickets available, only full weekend camping tickets. Download 2022 tickets holders will be given priority to buy tickets for this year’s event for 48 hours.

Download 2022 is already lined up for 10-12 June 2022 with KISS, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro confirmed to perform.