Metallica download festival 2009

Revealing their new era of stagy terror and grim costumes last week confirmed that their hiatus of a few years is now over; Slipknot return to the summer festival fold with headline appearances at Rock am Ring , VOLT Festival , VOA Fest , and Download Festival.

It's not the first time they've bestowed Donington with their maniacal presence, however, slowly edging their way up the bill over a number of years until a debut headline appearance in When they reached it, frontman Corey Taylor proclaimed: "I've never been so excited for a show in my life.

Smothered in pyrotechnics and crushing levels of sound, Taylor and co slew through their set with anger, passion, and consummate showmanship. With 'Wait and Bleed', 'Before I Forget', 'Left Behind', 'Psychosocial' - the list goes on - Slipknot set the benchmark for modern metal music, and with numerous Grammy Award nominations to show for it they now garnered the adulation and prestige they rightfully deserved.

Fan-favourite 'Duality' was a sight to behold, however. It was the final UK appearance of bassist and founding member Paul Gray who passed away the following year; the performance meant so much to the heavy metal moguls that they released the entire headline set alongside a mini-documentary in tribute, titled sic nesses.

After threatening to walk off after bottles were thrown onstage, both band and audience settled in for some hard rocking, with Axl Rose declaring, "I'm actually having quite a good time now! I couldn't have said that an hour ago! Playing an epic song set, Kiss brought their spectacular live show to this side of the Atlantic. Though perhaps the less said about Gene Simmons' bass solo, the better. The only punk band to have headlined the Download festival, The Offspring brought the pogo the headbangers.

There's probably a song title there…. Returning for their first live shows in 11 years, Faith No More served to confirm just how much they'd been missed.

Slipknot's first headline appearance at Download would also be their last UK performance with bassist Paul Gray before his death in Their performance was later released as the live DVD, ' sic nesses'. Worthy headliners, indeed…. Headlining a day of torrential rain, classic rock overlords Aerosmith brought a touch of glamour to the otherwise sodden environs of Download.

Slotted in between the release of 's 'A Thousand Suns' and 's 'Living Things' album, Linkin Park made their third headlining appearance at Download. Fusing heavy metal with techno, The Prodigy lit up the Download festival after a wet start forced the cancellation of some acts. For their third Download headliner, the metal titans that are Metallica elected to play the whole of their eponymous album — in reverse order.

Despite being treated for cancer, Tony Iommi played as strongly as ever as Black Sabbath went through some of their biggest career highlights including 'War Pigs', 'Children Of The Grave' and 'Paranoid'. As the scene of Slipknot's last UK appearance with him, calling in at Download was only right and fitting. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of their first Donington headline slot at Monsters of Rock as part of their 'Seventh Tour Of A Seventh Tour', the metal institution that is Iron Maiden returned to this hallowed ground.

Does it get any more explosive than Teutonic titans Rammstein? Probably not, and so it be proved as Donington Park ignited in flames. Hot on the heels of their first transatlantic chart-topping album, 'Hail To The King', Avenged Sevenfold hit Download with the force of a Viking raiding party.

Following in the footsteps of bands such as Metallica revisiting their landmark records, Linkin Park played their debut album, 'Hybrid Theory', in full. Back for their second Download festival headliner, Aerosmith brought this year's event to a spectacular close. You can't keep a good band down as Slipknot return for their third Download festival headline slot. Was the police's facial recognition software needed for Kiss?

And would they be able to tell the difference between say, Tommy Thayer and Ace Frehley? It may have been one of the wettest Download festivals ever — perhaps it should have been re-named 'Downpour'?

Embarking on their 'The End' farewell tour, Black Sabbath called in for one last time at the home of heavy metal. Metallica will headline the first-ever German edition of Download Festival when it takes place in The inaugural Download Festival Germany will take place at the motor racing circuit Hockenheimring in the Rhine valley on June 24 next year.

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