Since 2003 Donington Park in Leicestershire has been home for the largest rock event in Britain—Download Festival. It also hosts a large Formula One Race Circuit which serves as a perfect venue for all kinds of events.
The Download Festival has always been famous for its line-up with headliners like AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, Aerosmith, Guns N 'Roses, Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot, Linkin Park, and many other world rock icons. It annually attracts around 100,000 people. A weekend ticket with camping privileges costs about $264.
Before The Download Festival, Donington Park featured the Monsters of Rock festival, which was underway from the early 1980s. The first Download Festival was founded by Stuart Galbraith, Tom Pyke and Andy Copping; who chose the name Download to emphasize that in the 21st century and the internet provides connectivity for the rock audience. In 2003 festival tickets even had a code, which would allow downloading of tracks that were played at the festival. Unfortunately, this idea was dropped. In 2009 the festival got radio broadcasting from Rock Radio, 87.7FM, it aires music of the bands participating at Download as well as festival news and interviews about upcoming events.
The Download Festival has an official mascot - it's the Download Dog. It appears at campsites and on promo materials related to the festival, - flyers, tickets, stage banners and various merchandise. The dog's name is Dexter.
