Limp Bizkit, You Me At Six, DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Buckcherry and more have been confirmed to be part of this year's exclusive Kerrang! Awards Shows in London.
The five days of shows - taking place from July 28 to August 1 will be hosted at the London HMV Forum in Kentish Town with an incredible bill planned every night.
On August 1, nu-metal titans Limp Bizkit will play their first UK headline show since 2004.
"After many years of being off, it's an amazing honour to be welcomed back to the UK to play Download, especially by Kerrang! and their readers!" say the band. "We are equally excited to play the HMV Forum show for Kerrang! as well as attend the awards themselves - always a blast!"
On Tuesday July 28, UK pop-punk stars You Me At Six will take to the stage, with support from Welsh rockers Attack! Attack! and newcomers Out Of Sight.
"The whole thing is so exciting!" You Me At Six frontman Josh Franceschi tells K!. "We were a little freaked out at first because the Forum is massive, but I hope we will be able to do well. We are really looking forward to it," he adds. "We went to the Forum the other day to see Gallows and the venue is so amazing that we've decided we are going to film our show! It will be great to do a hometown gig and get all our family down and have a good time with a good vibe. We hope to see our fans there!"
On the Wednesday night, July 29, metal titans DragonForce have secured the coveted headline slot with support from Brit rockers Stone Gods and metallers Glamour Of The Kill.
"We really wanna give fans a special show, as it's been a while since we played in London," says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li. "I think we're going to mix our set up, maybe some bonus tracks that we wouldn't usually play live and do something interesting for our fans. We also really like playing diverse bills. We love variety. People listen to different music at home, when they are growing up, it's great to have live shows like that too. Perhaps we will make some new fans at Download, who will then come along to the headline show!"
On Thursday July 30, Los Angeles rock 'n' rollers Buckcherry will be joined by goth mob The 69 Eyes and Dear Superstar.
"We're so excited about it," Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson tells K!. "The UK is one of our favourite places in the world to play. British crowds are very particular, and you can't bullshit them. They know the real deal when they see it, and we take a lot of pride in that. It should be a great show. We love doing this!"
Friday July 31 will see the HMV Forum graced by Italian metal heroes Lacuna Coil with support from Dirty Little Rabbits, Slipknot's Shawn Crahan's side band, plus this week's K! Introducing stars Dead By April.
"We can't wait to do the show, it's going to be amazing!" says Lacuna Coil frontwoman Cristina Scabbia. "We are going to play some new tracks from our album Shallow Life and see how the crowd like them! I really enjoy the Kerrang! Awards every year, but to be able to also do a show in the run up to the big night makes it all the more exciting!"
Tickets for these Kerrang! Awards shows at the HMV Forum go on sale Friday June 19 at 9am from www.aloud.com / 0844 848 8888 or www.hmv.com. Tickets priced at £20 adv apart from Limp Bizkit which is priced at £30 adv.
Meanwhile, The Kerrang! Awards themselves will take place at a top secret location in London on Monday August 3, and the voting for this year's ceremony - the most important date in the rock calendar - has already begun. You can either cast your vote on the form opposite, or log on awards.kerrang.com.
Everyone who votes - and is over 18 - will be entered into a draw to win a pair of VIP tickets to this awards themselves. So get voting!
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