Rollin’ Coverage: Download Festival Australia 2019 Confirms, Clues, Predictions and more…

And we’re back with all your collated information about Download Festival‘s return to Australia in 2019, this time around they’re taking the event north to Sydney as well as Melbourne and will run it over the same weekend. Between now and March, we’ll keep you up to date with all the information that comes our way including lineup info, ticketing details and all the rumours, clues and confirmations announced along the way…

Wall of Sound’s “Unofficial Pre-Download Fest MELB Party”

We’re teaming up with the gang at The Last Chance Rock & Roll Bar in Melbourne (238 Victoria St) on March 10thfor a Pre-Download Fest Sunday Session. There’ll be acoustic sets from Hanny J (Clowns), Tim Hampshire and Boom! Civil War + some GREAT PRIZES to be won including 1 x General Admission Pass to Download Festival Melbourne, vinyl from the legends at Cooking Vinyl Australia/Epitaph Records, 2 x $50 24Hundred Vouchers and some Wall of Sound merch. Free Entry. Everyone is welcome from 2pm onwards. Come say g’day to the WoS Crew! Click Here for more details

Dates and Venues

The 2019 Editon will see the festival expand to Sydney for the first time, as well as returning to Melbourne for the (VIC) Labour Day Long Weekend.

Sydney will be held at Parramatta Park on March 9th.
Melbourne will be held at Flemington Racecourse on March 11th

The website is updated too, find it here

Ticketing Options and On-Sale Date

Tickets Sale Dates are as follows:
Optus Perks Pre-sale: 9am AEDT, Friday September 21 – 12am Saturday September 22 via Optus’ website
General Public On Sale: 9am (AEDT), Wednesday September 26 via the Download website

Ticket prices:
GA $189 + BFs (including Optus Presale)

RIP VIEWING PLATFORM EXPERIENCE: MELBOURNE – $379 + BFs
Take your Download 2019 experience up a few notches. Forget VIP, you can RIP!
 Event ticket to Download Festival Melbourne
 Entry via dedicated RIP Express Lanes
 Dedicated RIP Viewing Platform right next to the Black/Red (Main) stages which includes –
 Dedicated RIP Cloak Room
 An exclusive bar and food offering
 Your own Download official merchandise stand with some limited-edition items
 Exclusive Download Festival RIP laminate
 Re-usable souvenir Download Festival Cup plus complimentary drink
 Your very own plush RIP dunnies
 Complimentary wifi and phone charging stations
 Shade and seating areas

RIP FESTIVAL BAR EXPERIENCE: SYDNEY – $299 + BFs
Take your Download 2019 experience up a few notches. Forget VIP, you can RIP!
 Event ticket to Download Festival Sydney
 Entry via dedicated RIP Express Lanes
 Dedicated RIP Zone which includes –
 Dedicated RIP Cloak Room
 An exclusive bar and food offering
 Your own Download official merchandise stand with some limited-edition items
 Exclusive Download Festival RIP laminate
 Re-usable souvenir Download Festival Cup plus complimentary drink
 Your very own plush RIP dunnies
 Complimentary wifi and phone charging stations
 Shade and seating areas

DOUBLE DOWN(LOAD) TICKET: $360 + BFs 
Want more Ozzy? Need more Slayer? Then why not double down on your Download experience with the Double Down(load) ticket. With a Double Down(load) ticket you won’t have to miss a thing with discounted general admission entry to both Download Sydney on Saturday 9 March 2019 AND Download Melbourne on Monday 11 March 2019 (Labour Day Public Holiday). It’s a long weekend after all, so why not make the most of Download 2019!

FOOD

Mary’s, Jake and Kenny are returning in 2019 to with a plethora of food options for you to pace yourself during the day.

OFFICIAL HASHTAG #

For everything Download Festival, use or search for #DLAUS2019

Fake Poster

As with EVERY music festival, trolls always unleash a fake “leaked” poster for their own enjoyment. This was their latest attempt at gaining recognition.

First Lineup Announcement Date

Wednesday 19th September at 8:30am AEST

Media Launch Details

We also hit up the official Media Launch evening and found out some more insider information regarding the festival including:

• Why Metallica and Iron Maiden will never play Download Festival in Australia.
• There’ll be a dedicated Local Stage for Australian bands.
• There are two more lineup announcements to come, one of which will include 5 Australian bands, the other will have 8 more bands, but we’re not sure that’ll be a mix of international and local bands or just internationals.
• It is “Extremely Unlikely” that there’ll be any sideshows in Sydney or Melbourne.
• Organisers were trying to have the festivals on two separate weekends and fill the week between with sideshows, but it didn’t work out this time.

Second Lineup Announcement Date

Wednesday, November 14th at 8:30am AEST

Third Lineup Announcement Date

Wednesday, January 30th @ 8:30am AEST

Real Poster

Updated with Third Announcement Bands

Confirmed Bands

Third Announcement

Aversions Crown, The Beautiful Monument, Devilskin, Eat Your Heart Out and Justice For The Damned were added to play the Ascension Stage, highlighting local, upcoming talent.

The last band to be announced is the winner of Triple J’s Unearthed Competition. For your band to play, enter here.

Second Announcement

Polaris were added on November 9th, 2018. Exclusive Performances by Sum 41 and Pennywise were confirmed on the second announcement. Also, Thy Art is Murder, Twelve Foot Ninja, Slaves and Perth’s very own prog-rockers Voyager were added too.

There are 6 more bands yet to be announced. See the second lineup announcement here

First Announcement

Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Judas Priest, Alice in Chains, Ghost, Rise Against, The Amity Affliction, Anthrax, Halestorm, Behemoth, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Airbourne (added after Ozzy cancelled), I Prevail, Converge, Frenzal Rhomb, Luca Brasi, Code Orange, Andy Black (New Years Day replaced), The Fever 333, War on Women, High Tension, Outright, Ruins, Alien Weaponry

See the first announcement here

SET TIMES – NEW

Lineup Changes

On January 25th, 2019 it was revealed Andy Black had pulled out of the festival due to “scheduling conflicts”, with New Years Day taking his place, marking the band’s first ever trip to Australia to Exclusively play the festival…

On February 19th, headliner Ozzy Osbourne was forced to cancel his appearance due to poor health on doctors orders. There was no replacement for the headliner slot, although Airbourne were added to the lineup earlier in the day.

Refunds/Compensation – NEW

In lieu of Ozzy’s cancellation, DL will also offer all current ticket holders a merchandise voucher to the value of $45 plus postage and handling available from our online shop at 24hundred.net from9am AEDT Monday 4 March 2019. Ticket holders must enter their ticket number to redeem the voucher. This voucher is only redeemable online and cannot be redeemed at the event. Voucher is valid for the full Official Event Merchandise range.

This merchandise voucher offer will not be available to new ticket purchasers, only those who have purchased tickets prior to the cancellation announcement on Monday 18 February midday.

Should patrons require refunds, they will be available now until Midnight AEDT Sunday 24 February 2019. To request a refund, you’ll need to get in touch with the Ticketmaster Customer Service Team by clicking here. Please select the “Refund/Exchange” Topic and complete all required fields of the form.

Our Predicted/Potential Bands

CONFIRMED – The Amity Affliction – They weren’t on UNIFY 2019 (because they Headlined Day 2 in 2018) and with their new album Misery under their belt, they could on the lineup under one of the Australian acts to get a shot at playing. The band have also told fans at their recent signings and let slip on Triple J breakfast they’ll be appearing too so it’s pretty much a given. The band also won’t be touring Australia until late 2019 according to frontman Joel Birch so a festival appearance will definitely feed the fire for fans to see them at the event.

Hellions – Also with a new album out soon. Chances are they’ll pop up on one of the main stages as the local/Aussie act similar to Northlane/Ocean Grove/High Tension this year. Yes they’re playing UNIFY Gathering again next year but WAAX are playing Good Things AND UNIFY soo this counts.

Parkway Drive – Yeah we know they would have just wrapped up their Australian Reverence Tour in November, but they’ve also got a bunch of free time after Feb 18 when their Euro Tour wraps up in Prague. What better way to kill two days than by playing a couple of Festival dates in your own backyard.

Avenged Sevenfold – They haven’t been to Australia since co-headlining Soundwave back in 2014 (with Green Day) and since then they’ve released their 2016 album The Stage which Australians are yet to see in concert.

Bleeding Through – The band reformed this year and released their new album Love Will Kill All in May. Could they make an appearance at DL?

CONFIRMED – Halestorm – When we spoke to frontwoman Lzzy Hale during her Wall of Sound: Up Against The Wall co-hosting duties, she said she wanted to get back to Australian soon with nothing set in stone yet, but with their new album Vicious out, now more than ever would they be ready for a return down under.

In This Moment – They’re currently touring with Halestorm and also have new music out too. Promoters could kill two birds with one stone and bring their current US tour to Australia for Download and a sideshow.

Misery Signals – We had these guys feature as a potential band in our UNIFY Rolling Coverage and the news of the original members being back together meant we HAVE to include them in our Download predictions too…. The original Scooby Gang are back including frontman Jesse Zaraska, lead guitarist Ryan Morgan, drummer BrandenMorgan, rhythm guitarist Stu Ross and bassist Kyle Johnson. Earlier this year at a Music Festival in Iowa, Zaraska revealed the band were, in fact, making new music together and the album’s style: “will probably be a lot like of Malice” (aka the band’s 2004 debut album Of Malice and the Magnum Heart).

Angels & Airwaves – Tom Delonge said the band is recording new music and they’ll be touring on the back of it too. Low chance of them flying here for it, but there’s still a chance right?

Alkaline Trio – Matt Skiba and co. are back, touring and releasing new music together. Since Matt hasn’t got any limitations with AK3 as opposed to blink (Travis Barker doesn’t fly) then they could quite easily jump on a plane to Australia.

System of a Down – They reformed and played at Soundwave 2012. They could to it again and play at Download Festival Australia 2019.

Ice Nine Kills – Their new album The Silver Scream comes out on October 5th and will be the perfect reason for the guys to head to Australia, for the first time? Correct us if we’re wrong but we can’t find any news about the band touring Australia in the past.

CONFIRMED – I Prevail – They absolute killed it with a Sold Out Australian Debut Tour last year and they’ve been working on some new music since then. Can we expect another visit from these lads at DL?

CONFIRMED – Ghost – They got a new album out and should be willing to bring it to Australian audiences. Download would be the PERFECT festival for them to do so as well so chuck them on the high probability list.

CONFIRMED – The Fever 333 – Having just dominated Download Festival in the UK for the first time, this Jason Aalon Butler fronted band who rose from the ashes of letlive. should be making their way to Australia soon and a festival would be the best place to gauge their popularity before returning to headline or support another band.

Five Finger Death Punch – Another band with a new album out and no Aussie tour dates. They were supposed to come down under supporting Black Sabbath on their Final Tour in 2016 but had to pull out due to frontman Ivan Moody‘s hospitalisation.

Three Days Grace – Their new album Outsider was released in March and still, we’ve had no tours down under. Could the band be heading to us via DL a year after their album’s release? They haven’t been to Australia for years so chances are they may.

Asking Alexandria – Their new self-titled album came out in December last year (and was a bullshit good return to form for them) and they haven’t been back down under since Danny Worsnop rejoined them as their frontman again. Maybe they’ll come for DL?

Devildriver – The band were supposed to be coming down for the ill-fated Legion Fest in 2017 (ha! remember that) but pulled out due to incompetent planning. They’ve just released their new “Country Turned Metal” cover album Outlaws ’til the End Vol. 1 and would be a fantastic metal addition to the lineup.

Dio Hologram – It/He first appeared at the Wacken Open Air Festival in 2016 and has since been making it’s way around with the Dio Disciples. Plans are being made for the tour to cross America and Canada in 2019, but could a sneaky two-day festival slot in Australia be on the cards too?

CONFIRMED – Slayer – The band’s first show in 2019 show was announced recently, they’ll be headlining France’s Hell Fest in June. They’re also still adding dates for their Final World Tour and Australia is seriously lacking some love, so they could make an appearance at Download before returning for a headline tour later?

Trivium – WHERE THE FUCK IS OUR TOUR FOR THE SIN AND THE SENTENCE? 

Bring Me The Horizon – The Sheffield lads have announced their new album amo here and will be touring Australia’s East Coast in April, but they don’t have any dates booked in on their world tour between Feb 16 and April 10th. So, maybe a Download Festival appearance could happen too!?

Pagan – Yeah they’re playing UNIFY Gathering but Download Fest will be just under 2 months later, I’m not sure about contracts for festivals, but I know there are some rules for gigs about not playing another show for 6 weeks either side of something that’s confirmed and booked. Plus if High Tension can open the main stage, so can Pagan.

CONFIRMED – Judas Priest – Another one for the “pure” metal fans, their new album Firepower came out back in March and since then, they haven’t toured Australia on the back of it, chances are they may be saving their trip down under for Download.

Marilyn Manson – Yes he has a new album out and yes he hasn’t been here since Soundwave Fest 2015, but Manson doesn’t suit Music Festivals. He’s said it in interviews, we’ve seen his (woeful) performances too, but he still gets booked and for that matter, we’re chucking him on the list. If he does end up on there, let us know if he got better…

Sinsaenum – ex-Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison‘s new death metal band who just released their new album Repulsion For Humanity last week and have a couple of debut Aussie shows coming up in November, but there may be a chance they could come back for Download right?

CONFIRMED – Code Orange – The Grammy Nominees were last here back in 2015 and since then they’ve gained worldwide recognition for their hardcore punk style and released their 2017 album Forever. Will 2019 see the former kids return to Australian shores?

BABYMETAL – Yes they’re playing the recently announced Good Things Festival but they won’t be doing any sideshows while they’re here for it. However, 3 months later, they could come back for DL considering they’ve played the UK edition… can’t they?

Epica – Their new album Epica vs Attack on Titan came out back in July, we’ve had no tour announcements from them yet, so maybe they’re playing songs off it for us at DL?

Manowar  – The legends are doing their Final Battle World Tour in 2019 and the first date they have on their calendar is March 29 in Frankfurt… Download Fest Australia comes before then sooo, maybe.

Anaal Nathrakh – Will be in Japan at the start of March, thats just over the ocean and up a little bit plus most bands that play in Japan usually come to Australia too.

August Burns Red – The two time Grammy nominated metal legends are yet to make their way down under since their last visit supporting Northlane for their Node Tour back in 2015. Since then they’ve their 2017 album Phantom Anthem and have been a bit neglectful of their Australian fans. Will they make it up to us in 2019?

CONFIRMED – Ozzy Osbourne – He just announced a Farewell Tour with Judas Priest over in the UK between January 30th and March 3rd. That leaves him enough time to get down to Australia for a sneaky Festival appearance as opposed to doing a farewell tour across Australia. And if Judas Priest are a high possibility for appearing, then Ozzy surely is too.

Tenacious D – They’ve got a new album on the way so maybe an appearance on the back of that too? They haven’t been to Australia since they supported the Foo Fighters back in 2011 so there’d be a good chance they’ll make an appearance right?

Within Temptation – Their new album Resist comes out on December 14th and if that isn’t a good enough reason to head down under and play some shows, then what else could you want/need?

Architects – The lads just announced their new album HOLY HELL will be released in November and they haven’t toured Australia since supporting Bring Me The Horizon in 2016 (not including their Exclusive performance at UNIFY this year and their rAdelaide make up show), so chances are they could make an appearance, considering they don’t have any more tour dates lined up after Feb 2019… yet.

Alpha Wolf – These lads have bounced back from their withdrawal on the event lineup this year, and what better way to redeem themselves than with their new lineup at the 2019 edition.

NEW CONFIRMED – The Beautiful Monument – Also on the back of great Australian bands that deserve a spot on a huge festival in their own backyard, these legends have already wowed crowds at UNIFY and Big Sound and most certainly deserve a place on the lineup. They have a new album on the way and what better way to debut a new song than by premiering it at Download Fest 2019!?

Gravemind – If this brutal Aussie band aren’t on the lineup I will be verrrrrry surprised. Another band we finally saw at Big Sound and they bloody well deserve a spot on the roster next year.

Psycroptic – They’ll be dropping their new album As The Kingdom Drowns next month and if that’s not reason enough to put them on the lineup, then I don’t know what else you want/need.

CONFIRMED Sum 41 – The band have been announcing tour dates left, right and center which means they’re active AF touring, and since we haven’t seen them down under since releasing their latest album 13 Voices, we’re chucking them on the list.

The Damned Things – According to Scott Ian (who told us in a recent interview), their new album is complete but they have no plans to release it yet… What better way to unleash it upon the world than moments/days before appearing at Download? Scott will already be here with Anthrax, so just depends on what the rest of the band are doing.

CONFIRMED Thy Art Is Murder – No touring dates between February 18th and August 3rd 2019. That a nice, BIG healthy gap of opportunity to play two shows in their own backyard don’t you think? Especially with the forthcoming Australian band announcement.

King Parrot – They’ll be touring with Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals later in the month, but, they may just score a slot as one of the Aussie bands yet to be announced so we’re not ruling them out just yet…

Karnivool – Having just wrapped up a string of shows on their way to UNIFY, the want/need for them on the East Coast is growing and maybe the reason why they haven’t announced any East Coast dates is because they’re playing Download!?

 

Probable Ruled Outs/Not Appearing

Metallica – The awesome foursome will be playing a show in Louisville on March 9th, the first date of Download Festival Australia’s 2019 tour and see below…

Iron Maiden – Download Head honcho Nigel Melder stated “No” and “once you go that big, where do you go from there?” when quizzed about Metallica or Iron Maiden playing the event in Australia. So cross them both off right now.

Enter Shikari – The boys have a show locked in already in Russia on March 9th sooo expect a headline tour down under before a festival appearance.

twenty one pilots – They would have just wrapped up their Australia tour in December and they’ve got a show lined up in Amsterdam on March 12th so there’s no chance they’ll be playing.

The Offspring – They’re headlining Good Things Festival playing Smash in Full. I doubt they’d come back again that soon, especially when in a headlining position.

Overkill, Destruction & Flotsam And Jetsam– They’re all playing a show in Munich on March 10th so there’s no way they’ll be on the lineup

Doro – Doro Pesch aka The Queen of Heavy Metal will be playing a show in support of her new solo album Forever Warriors, Forever United in France on March 9th so no love for us in Australia.

Soilwork – They kick off their own Australian East Coast Tour on March 14th. Highly doubtful they’ll be appearing on the Festival if that’s the case

Haken – Playing a show in Madrid on Match 12th so no chance they’ll be here

U.F.O. – Playing at the O2 arena in London on March 9th. The NWOBHM won’t be here for Download 2019

Slash – He’s playing a show with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators on March 8th in Italy and March 10th in France.

Guns ‘N Roses – Due to Slash‘s appearances overseas with his solo band/ don’t expect Axl Rose and co. to head down under without their Top Hat wearing brother.

Alter Bridge – Ditto for above with Myles Kennedy playing with Slash, don’t expect his bandmates in AB to play without him.

Leprous – The band are playing a show in Brazil on March 10th during their Latin American Tour so rule those prog heroes out.

KISS – Their Final World Tour will come through Australia in November 2019. Don’t expect them any sooner so no Download.

Disturbed – Playing a show in the states on March 8th, no chance of them appearing.

Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals – They’ll be doing their own headline shows later in March

Baroness – They’ll be playing shows in Texas between March 8th and March 10th

Zeal & Ardor – They’ll be playing those shows with Baroness but catch them on their own headline tour a few weeks prior

Deafheaven – They’re also playing with Baroness and Zeal & Ardor + doing their own headline shows in Australia prior

Terror – They’re touring this month with Stick To Your Guns so no chance they’ll come back for it.

Soulfly – Max and Iggor Cavalera will be doing their Beneath: Arise Tour in mid-March

 

We will keep adding to the list when more information makes its way to us, until then keep an eye on our Social Media pages for the latest, up to date information on Download Festival Australia 2019

 

Sideshows

Sideshows have been announced for Alice in Chains, Slayer (with Anthrax and Behemoth), Ghost, Fever 333, Code Orange, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Twelve Foot Ninja (with Voyager), Alien Weaponry, Converge (with War on Women), Frenzal Rhomb and Slaves. Find all of the 2019 Download Festival Sideshows right here

Wall of Sound on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram