AC/DC and Aerosmith prepare for Donington Park

With only two weeks to go until the gates open at Donington Park for the eighth DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL, featuring rock's biggest hitters AC/DC, Aerosmith and Rage Against The Machine, organisers have confirmed that this year's Download is already the biggest and have urged fans not to miss out on one hell of a way to celebrate 30 magnificent years of heavy rock at Donington Park!

Weekend and day tickets are still available from www.downloadfestival.co.uk.

In true AC/DC, over-the-top style, only their own stage can handle the legendary spectacle that is AC/DC – resplendent with pyrotechnics, hell's bells, cannons, and of course the inflatable Rosie! For the first time ever a headlining act is bringing their own stage and specifications to the Donington site, the AC/DC Stage will be situated next to the Main Stage on Friday 11 June.

This means that rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures will be headlining the Main Stage on the Friday, before AC/DC take over on their own stage. Supporting Them Crooked Vultures will be Wolfmother, 36 Crazyfists (having just returned to Roadrunner), and Unearth. All other stages will be up and running as usual.

Expanding the already tremendous line up even further, Download Festival has added another 14 acts to the bill.

Taking time out from his usual gig with the Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins brings his Coattail Riders to Donington to showcase the band's new album 'Red Light Fever, and Kerrang! cover stars My Passion make their Download debut. Also confirmed are progressive / ambient metallers Devil Sold His Soul, atmospheric rockers Anathema, death metallers Trigger The Bloodshed, UK riff-makers Enemo-J, modern British metallers The More I See and Sondura, Rising Records signings Everything Burns, melodic rockers Starseed, 'porno rockers The Dirty Feel, new Thin Lizzy vocalist and ex-Almighty frontman Ricky Warwick and 80s influenced rockers Jett Black.

In addition to playing with Michael Monroe, The Wildhearts' Ginger will also be playing a solo set, as will Tyketto's Danny Vaughn plus an exclusive DJ stand off set from Classic Rock editor Scott Rowley and Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas. Some of these acts will be playing on the brand new Jägermeister acoustic stage – bringing the total of stages to five (see line up at end of release).