Download Festival Unveils Over 60 Bands for 20th Anniversary Lineup, Metallica Playing Two Sets

Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the U.K.'s historic Download Festival, and they've just revealed a massive lineup of over 60 bands that'll perform to celebrate the milestone. Additionally, Metallica will play two sets throughout the weekend with no songs repeated.

The four-night special edition of Download Festival is set to take place June 8-11 in Castle Donington. Bring Me the Horizon and Slipknot will headline the Thursday and Sunday nights, respectively, and there will also be performances by Disturbed, Alexisonfire, Ghost, Evanescence, Parkway Drive, The Distillers, Architects, I Prevail and many more.

See the festival poster below for the rest of the performers — more are to be announced. Tickets go on sale this Thursday, Nov. 10 at 10AM.

Metallica's two sets will take place on the Friday and Saturday nights and will be completely unique from each other, meaning no songs will be repeated, so fans get a double dose of Metallica if they attend both nights.

"We’re psyched to announce that we’ll be celebrating Download Festival’s 20th Anniversary with not one… but two nights on June 8 and 10, 2023! It’s been over a decade since we last visited Castle Donington so we’ll be making up for lost time with two unique and completely different set lists with no repeat songs whatsoever that weekend," Metallica shared in a post on their social media.

The legends have only played Castle Donington eight times throughout their career. They played the massive Monsters of Rock festival four times between 1985 and 1995, and they performed at the inaugural Download Fest in 2003. Their last time playing the festival was in 2012.