After months of rumours and a good deal of prayer, a report has surfaced confirming the UK’s Download Festival, one of the biggest heavy music events on the international festival calendar, is coming to Australia.
Following the permanent cancellation of Soundwave Festival, Australian heavy music fans were given a glimmer of hope after Download booker Andy Copping suggested fans should not give up hope about the fate of heavy festivals in Australia.
Then, when global touring giant Live Nation and homegrown house of heavy music UNIFY Present announced their partnership, their press releases made a point of mentioning that “Live Nation is also the producer of the UK’s famous DOWNLOAD Festival“.
Now Music Feeds is reporting that the lineup for the inaugural Download Australia is set to drop in 2017 with the festival itself set to go down in late 2017 or early 2018, smack dab in the middle of the summer festival season.
Following the confirmation that Legion Festival would be going ahead, former Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah wrote on Twitter, “Things are heating up. We may have 3 new rock festivals next year! Download, Sonisphere + Legion!”
Whilst details were obviously scant, Maddah did manage to offer some odds on any of these festivals making their way Down Under, saying it’s “100% that we’ll get 1. 50% that we’ll get 2. 25% that all 3 happen.”
Speaking to Tone Deaf back in May, Venue Collective co-founder Ben Thompson let slip that “three big touring festivals” are set to debut next year, which will hopefully lead to a “sideshow boom” and help stimulate the live music economy.
However, Thompson did not clarify just which festivals are set to debut next year and Download, which this year featured a lineup including Rammstein, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden, has not traditionally been a touring festival, though it does host a French instalment.
Tone Deaf have reached out to a UNIFY representative for confirmation.
