It was put on by Live Nation, who that Monday won "Event Of The Year" at the Metal Hammer Golden God Awards back in London. The main sponsors were Kerrang Magazine, BBC Radio 1 (who was broadcasting from the venue), Last.fm, HMV (the last remaining chain record store in the UK), Tuborg Beer (official beer and sponsor of "Tent Stage") and Red Bull (sponsor of the 4th stage of developing artists). Saw some major presence from Jagermeister as expected who had a big freestanding bar set up as well as a VIP lounge out in the field.
The sponsors were not in your face like at some festivals, but all 75,000 people there were saying "Tuborg Stage" and "Red Bull Stage" throughout the whole weekend. And with the live streaming on the website, the visibility had to have hit hundreds of thousands of people around the world that couldn't make it to the center of the UK.
The best part of Download, that goes for most festivals outside the US, is the diversity of bands "under one roof". You had the same people that were moshing to Slipknot, also dancing to Prodigy and rocking out to Journey. No pretension, no sub-genres, just a love of music.
The US fans are starting to come around to this when you see a festival like Bonnaroo this year booking heavier bands like Nine Inch Nails, Dillinger Escape Plan, Shadows Fall and High On Fire, alongside Phish, Bruce Springsteen and Snoop Dogg.
Rock and metal fans are definitely some of the most loyal out there, and now that they are making inroads at bigger US festivals (Tool @ All Points West, Coheed And Cambria @ Lollapalooza), I hope the bigger brands will see what they are missing out on.
