Download Festival 2020 surprises with a big first announcement. It confirms that KISS and Iron Maiden will be back at the European festivals next year.

For both metal bands, Download 2020 is the first headline spot of 2020. For Iron Maiden, this does not come as a surprise. Rumours were already going that the Brits will tour Europe next year.

The return of KISS is more surprising, since they already did a European festival tour in 2019. The Americans played at Hellfest, Graspop and more.

System of a Down will also headline Download 2020. The Armenian-American band was already confirmed for Provinssi in Finland, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, Spain’s Resurrection Fest and Portugal’s VOA.

This is the full list of names confirmed for Download 2020:

KISS

Iron Maiden

System of a Down

Deftones

Korn

The Offspring

Disturbed

Gojira

Black Veil Brides

Alestorm

Daughtry

Of Mice and Men

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden are an English metal band formed in 1975. Their breakthrough came in 1982, when they released their famous third album, The Number of the Beast, which featured the vocalist Bruce Dickinson. Following the release of Fear of the Dark, Dickinson decided to leave the band and concentrate on his solo career. However, he returned in 1999. With 32 albums, 2000 live shows and more than 100 million copies of their albums sold worldwide, they are considered to be one of the most successful and influential bands in metal history. The band is also known for their energetic concerts with spectacular stage sets.

KISS

KISS are an American rock band which formed in 1973. They are well known for their black-and-white makeup and their extreme outfits. They dropped the makeup and costumes in 1983, but they returned to it in 1996, after the original lineup re-formed. Over the years they have been through various lineup changes with the original members reuniting at various times either to perform together or to receive awards. The hard rock and heavy metal band released an astonishing 24 studio albums. Their last album Monster came out in 2012. Having sold more than 75 million records worldwide, KISS is one of the best-selling bands of all time. In 2014 they were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Download Festival 2020

Photo credit: Matt Eachus

Download Festival was first held in 2003 at Donington Park and is conceived as the follow-up of Monsters of Rock, which was held at the same venue between 1980 and 1996. Currently, Download is considered to be the biggest rock and metal festival in the United Kingdom with a capacity of 110,000 visitors and headlining acts like Iron Maiden, Metallica, System of a Down, Kiss, Aerosmith, Slipknot, Black Sabbath, and Rammstein throughout the years.