As thrilling as it undoubtedly was to see 100,000 rock obsessives cram into Donington Park last summer to worship at the altar of Guns N’Roses, the occasion left Download organisers with a seemingly impossible task: how on earth could they follow that?

“You always say to yourself, ‘How are we going to match previous years?’” promoter Andy Copping tells Music Week. “The beauty is that the sales this year are on par with last year, so I’m very, very ...