Big names in heavy metal will grace YouTube and various social media outlets at this year’s Virtual Download Festival with headlining acts to include KISS, Iron Maiden and System of a Down on June 12-14. According to Consequence of Sound, “All three bands were set to headline this year’s Download Festival, a massive annual UK heavy music gathering that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The virtual fest promises footage from prior Download appearances, socially distant performances, interviews, and exclusive content from the bands that were initially slated for this year’s lineup.”

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, various musical acts of all genres have to creatively adapt to the ever-changing livestream landscape of professionally performing live. For this year’s Virtual Download Festival, the online weekend presentation of acts will be broken down by day and evening programing.

As previously noted in the aforementioned Consequence of Sound article, “The day content “celebrates the spirit of Download Festival” and the evening will feature two to three hours of “tailor-made programming” exclusive to Download TV, according to a press release.

Each night on YouTube, the fest will feature a ‘headliner’, with KISS playing the Friday night slot with replays from their 2015 Download set. Saturday night belongs to Iron Maiden, featuring vintage performances, clips from their most recent ‘Legacy of the Beast Tour’, and exclusive content just for Download TV. System of a Down will close out the streaming festivities on Sunday night with performances clips from their Download appearances in 2005, 2011, and 2017.”

Major restructuring has lead notable acts, including a couple of featured acts performing at this year’s Virtual Download Festival, having to approach live performances differently due to public health concerns related to COVID-19. The said performing acts have even had to postpone or cancel events altogether. As previously reported here on mxdwn, “…Korn and Faith No More announced a co-headlining tour for 2020. However, the last three months have been a whirlwind around the world with the rise of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to their tour, Korn and Faith No More also had a special Los Angeles leg with System of a Down. Originally, the groups postponed these shows as the pandemic worsened, but they have now been moved to May 2021. ”

The aforementioned Consequence of Sound article concluded with, “Other notable heavy acts that will be featured across the weekend include Deftones, Korn, Babymetal, Baroness, Mastodon, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Gojira, The Offspring, Volbeat, and many more.”

To check out the lineup for the Virtual Download Festival stream the video below, via YouTube.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat