The phrase “Scream for me Donington!” is ubiquitous in heavy metal’s lexicon. One of the joys of this weekend is watching the obvious pleasure that uttering those words gives to almost every musician playing the event. The fact that it coupled with the refrain “I’ve always wanted to say that” tells you everything about the importance of Donington Park not just to British heavy rock but to the whole scene in general. We may be celebrating Download’s twentieth incarnation, but the reverence given to what is essentially a second-rate racetrack shows that adulation goes back much further than that.

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