The one day "Monsters of Rock" festival lasted from 1980-1997, with a few interruptions. Every heavy metal and hard rock band of name performed at Donington Park, some performances were recorded and released as "Live at Donington" albums.

Many of them came back for more, Iron Maiden hold the record for most headline appearances at Donington Park - four. AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica have headlined three times, but Ozzy Osbourne also appeared four times, counting his appearence with Black Sabbath in 2005 but the Ozzfest/Escape from the Studio '95 (Metallica) can't be considered as part of the main Monsters of Rock/Download festival series.

In 1988, the festival saw its darkest hour - two fans were accidentally crushed to death during the Guns ‘N' Roses performance, they died when people at the front of the 107,000 strong audience slipped in the mud and fell during the sudden surge to the stage to see the band. As a consequence, the 1989 festival was cancelled.

Since British hard rock music declined in the early 90s - grunge took over, and with the late 90s rise of pop the heavy metal and hard rock genre was further pushed in the back, the last "Monsters of Rock" was held in 1996.  The tradition of festivals taking place at Donington over lived this crisis; in 2001 the "Rock and Blues Festival" was the first 2-day festival at Donington.

With hard rock recovering, Live Nation resurrected the festival under the new (and for that time rebellious) name "Download Festival". The festival now lasts tree days and is getting bigger and better every year. 1980 only seven bands were performing, nowadays there are five stages with up to ten bands performing on them per day.

In 2011, "Download Festival" headliners will be System of a Down and Linkin Park.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/donington-park-from-monsters-of-rock-to-download-festival-3853341.html#ixzz1BrtkaBnh
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution