DOWNLOAD

For putting its loyal fans at the forefront of its annual live - and growing — celebration of heavy metal music as well as adjacent genres, this 20-year-old festival is head and shoulders above the rest

- Sophie Porter

'ONE THING ABOUT the rock world, they [the fans] can smell bullshit a mile away," says Download boss Andy Copping, months after the festival's 20-year celebration.

"I think we're very lucky in the rock world. The acts and their fans stay relevant. The fans are incredibly loyal. Once they're with you, they're lifers." It's a mentality that Copping and his team have always sought to embrace: "We want the fans to come with us and grow with us," he says.

Since Download launched in 2003, it has fostered a diehard community of heavy music lovers who view Donington Park as an essential pilgrimage site for likeminded fans across the globe. This year, Download basked in the glory of two headline sets from Metallica and a real festival moment when Bring Me the Horizon headlined for the first time.

It's for these reasons that Download, the UK's spiritual home of all things heavy music, is the winner of The Festival Award.

"Everybody knows what Rolling Stone is and what it stands for and the fact that, in the first year in the UK, that we won this award, I can't find the words properly for how much it means. It is validation, quite frankly," says Copping.