UPDATE: The full 2018 Download Festival Australia lineup has now been announced.
ORIGINAL STORY: It looks like two huge names in metal may have leaked their spots on the first-ever Download Festival Australia lineup, as hype builds for the event’s official announcement.
In a new interview with NME, Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland says the band are preparing to hit Australia in March 2018, with some good friends in tow.
“I think [Limp] Bizkit and Korn are doing Australia in March, and we’ll be doing a bunch of summer stuff,” he says, which is a huge deal given that Download is expected to make its Aussie debut in March and Korn have been plotting a new Australian tour for some time now.
Borland’s comment comes as Download Festival promoter Andy Copping reportedly confirmed the festival will make its Australian debut in Melbourne next year, after the event’s Australian website momentarily went live last week.
System Of A Down were also named in code within the once-live website, but the band are yet to confirm or deny their place on the lineup.
12 Bands We Think Could Be On The Download Festival Australia Lineup
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Download Band Predictions
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System Of A Down
SOAD last tore up Aussie stages as part of Soundwave Festival in 2012, and haven't been back since. The Southern Cali rockers already headlined Download France & UK this year, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to make it a clean sweep of the circuit while quenching Aussie fans' six-year thirst for Chop Suey. -
Paramore
Evidence: 1) Paramore love playing Aussie festivals, we know this because they've already graced the bills of two past Soundwaves. 2) They're also no strangers to the Download stage, having played the UK event before. 3) Their old Aussie tour promoter AJ Maddah has teased a new Paramore down under tour announcement coming "very soon" off the back of their freshly-released new album. -
Biffy Clyro
These dudes are a deadset shoe-in for Download Aus. Not only did they headline Download UK this year, they've also just announced an Aussie tour for April, which just so happens to be close to when Download Australia is tipped to debut. Coincidence? -
Tonight Alive
Now indulge us a bit of industry babble. Behemoth tour promoter Live Nation is believed to be one of the companies responsible for bringing Download Festival to Australia, after purchasing the festival's Aussie domain name. Now, LN also recently struck up a heavy music touring partnership with the folks at UNIFIED to bring acts like Bring Me The Horizon & Architects down under, and the companies are now believed to now be putting their heads together to work on Download's Aussie debut. As such, we're pretty sure we can expect to see a crap-tonne of acts from UNIFIED's UNFD label on the fest's inaugural lineup, including Sydney rockers Tonight Alive. -
Northlane
...Similar can be said of Northlane. Though the Sydney metalcore legdehammers aren't playing UNIFY Gathering 2018, they DID play Download UK this year for the second time since 2015, and are still in hot touring form off their latest album Mesmer. -
Metallica
It's unlike Metallica to skip Australia on any album cycle, which is why we're getting impatient that we haven't seen any Aussie dates materialise for their most recent LP Hardwired... To Self Destruct. But they ~have~ confirmed a "WorldWired" tour, while Soundwave boss AJ Maddah has predicted that the band will be coming to Australia, and after multiple stints headlining previous Downloads overseas, the festival's down under debut sounds like the perfect place for them to stage their return. -
Prophets Of Rage
Not only are the Rage Against The Machine/Public Enemy/Cypress Hill supergroup planning their debut Australian tour for 2018, guitarist Tom Morello has also told Music Feeds that he'd prefer a festival vibe. Add to that the fact that POR just played Download UK this year, we reckon they're looking the goods. -
Airbourne
Download has always hosted a range of classic rock acts alongside its more modern metal, punk & hardcore fair, with Melbourne's Airbourne already gracing its overseas stages on multiple occasions. Not only would it be logical for them to feature on Download's debut down under lineup, we also kind of owe it to these old school riffsters to give them the opportunity to play on home turf in front of a crowd the size of what they're used to playing to in Europe. -
Blink 182
Not only did Blink play Download France this year, they've promised Aussie fans they'll be looking into sea travel options to get back down under with drummer Travis Barker, who hasn't flown since the horrific plane crash that almost killed him. OK, this one might be a bit more of a long shot, but we can dream. -
Korn
After playing both the UK & French legs of Download last year, Korn have also teased forthcoming Aussie tour plans. Could definitely be a goer. -
Babymetal
Babymetal are still yet to make their debut down under, and Download seems like the perfect place to do it. Not only have the Japanese kawaii-metal schoolgirl act performed at multiple OS Downloads, they were hotly rumoured to be keen for Soundwave 2016 before the festival crumbled. Give us chocolate already! -
Rammstein
OK so this one could just be wishful thinking. But LOOK -- the German industrial firebugs played Download UK & France in 2016 and they haven't played here in Australia since the 2011 Big Day Out. It's about time they brought their gimp-suited, dildo-wielding, fire-scorched antics back down under, FFS.
