It said suggestions welcome for an up date. I've gone done some careful research :) 1) Monsters of Rock was renamed "ZZ Top - Rocking the Castle" in 1985 and "Metallica - Escape from the Studio" in 1995. I know it was still in the "Monsters of Rock era" but shouldn't the names at least be acknowledged on there somewhere? - next to the date or something. Otherwise we might as well call Download Monsters of Rock too...
I don't know if ZZ Top actually had any influence on the festival, but Metallica requested permission to book some of the bands on the bill, Therapy? were a repeat-booking made at the band's request, I know that one, and it was their decision to have everything on one stage as they wanted the bands they selected to get maximum viewing
2) For some reason spelling "Guns N' Roses" as "Guns n Roses" always really jibes with me. I think I'm sorta alone in having that problem though
3) The link to the "more in depth look at the Monsters of Rock years" is dead
4) Should "A Day at the Races" perhaps be renamed "Stereophonics - A Day at the Races"? - it was my impression that it was a special Stereophonics gig, run by the band, rather than an independant event that happened to hire them as the headliner
5) Similarly - some note could be made about the Saturday in 2005 being Ozzfest at Download?
6) MOR 1996 - I've always read that it was a co-headline show for Kiss and Ozzy?
7) There were plans for an MOR 1997, it was to be a two day event. Obviously it was cancelled, but still note it?
8) What alias were Metallica billed under in 2003? I know they weren't under their real name, it was some tribute band-style name, but should that be noted?
9) Is there any chance of collecting known attendance figures? Here's the ones I can get (of course, the earlier ones are a bit unreliable, but it's all we've got to go on):
ATTENDANCE / CAPACITY
* 1980 - 35, 000 (official figure) - 70, 000 (Samaritans figure) / 100, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1981 - 65, 000 / 100, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1982 - 50, 000 - 60, 000 / 100, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1983 - capacity was 100, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1984 - 60, 000 / 100, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1985 - 80, 000 / 100, 000 (ZZ Top - Rocking the Castle)
* 1986 - capacity was 100, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1987 - 80, 000 / 100, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1988 - 107, 000 - / 107, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1989 - planned Monsters of Rock cancelled
* 1991 - attendance of 27, 000 (Monsters of Rave)
* 1991 - capacity was 80, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1992 - 70, 000 - 75, 000 / 80, 000 (Monsters of Rock)
* 1993 - planned Monsters of Rock cancelled
* 1994 - 80, 000 capacity (Monsters of Rock)
* 1995 - 80, 000 capacity (Metallica - Escape from the Studio '95)
* 1996 - 80, 000 capacity (Monsters of Rock)
* 1997 - planned Monsters of Rock cancelled
* 2001 - 50, 000 attendance (Stereophonics - A Day at the Races)
* 2001 - (Rock & Blues Festival)
* 2002 - 50, 000 attendance (Ozzfest 2002)
* 2003 - 75, 000 / 80, 000 (Download)
* 2004 - 75, 000 / 80, 000 (Download)
* 2005 - 75, 000 / 80, 000 (Download)
* 2006 - 76, 000 / 80, 000 (Download)
* 2007 - 77, 000 / 80, 000 (Download)
* 2008 - 60, 000 / 80, 000 (Download)
* 2009 - 82, 000 / 82, 000 (Download)
* 2010 - 105, 000 / 120, 000 (Download)
* 2011 - 120, 000 capacity (Andy Copping has said expectations of around 70-75, 000 attendance)
10) That tom f chap who posted about Monsters of Rave in 1992 - if that's not some kind of joke (as I'm wondering why the update's not been made to include it, and I haven't bothered to research it myself yet), that really deserves a place! When people explore the history of Knebworth, Robbie Williams and Pink Floyd tend to sit side by side in the history books. That gave attendance figures at 25, 000, and he included a full line-up. I did googling, it was '91 with 27k, but it did happen!
<message edited by The Elfoid_TFS on 05 June 2011 12:11>