This weekend, 10,000 metalheads in the United Kingdom finally felt some sense of normalcy. While the actual Download Festival has been pushed back to 2022, a smaller test version occurred this weekend to help ease fans back into shows.
The three-day pilot festival took place between June 18 and 20 at Donington Park in Leicestershire, with a capacity of 10,00 as part in the U.K. government's Event Research Programme. Among the lineup were Bullet for My Valentine, Frank Carter, Enter Shikari, Skindred, and others. Fans were tested upon entry, and also filled out forms for contact tracing, so that if there were an outbreak, affected parties can be properly contacted.
The BBC and the Daily Mail filed reports from the festivities, which you can view below.
"This massive next step will help us understand and study the safe return of large-scale festivals with no social distancing or facemasks over a full weekend." said Festival Republic's Melvin Benn previously. "The return of the full festival experience we have all been waiting for and a much-needed return to work for musicians, backstage crew, caterers and many more that form part of the UK's exemplary live music industry."
Did you attend? Chime in below.
