MUMBAI: The 2016 edition of the annual British Rock and Heavy Metal festival – Download Festival, held in the city of Leicestershire – will have German metal band Rammstein take the main stage on day one (10 June). The announcement came a day after organisers revealed legendary British metal band Black Sabbath would headline the festival for the third time, next year. The band, led by Ozzy Osbourne, will perform on the main stage on day two (11 June), at the festival’s iconic venue- Donnington Park.

Rammstein has not played a live show since the Wacken Festival in 2013, and the latest announcement comes as a huge surprise. Earlier this month, the band, through its Facebook account, hinted that they are “back on” and gearing up for something big.

The third headlining band, Iron Maiden, was revealed a couple of days ago. The band will be closing the last day of the festival (12 June). Fans of the festival expressed mixed opinions through social media accounts, citing the organisers’ ‘predictable’ approach, with many guessing Radiohead, Metallica and Eminem as other possible headliners.

Iron Maiden will also be headlining the first ever Download Festival in France on 10 June, at Longchamps Racecourse in Paris. Maiden frontman, Bruce Dickinson, returns to the festival after a successful cancer recovery.

The festival, which enters its 14th year, will be part of Black Sabbath’s final tour- ‘The End’. Speaking about the festival, Osbourne said, “It's always like coming home. Download is my absolute favourite summer festival. See you all there.” Last played at the festival in 2012, this would make the band’s third appearance on the main stage for their ‘biggest production yet’, but, unfortunately, the last.

Tickets for the three-day festival will go on sale on 23 October. Last year, the festival, which featured Kiss, Slipknot and Muse as headliners, experienced a lot of complications due to bad weather and flooding. However, organisers have gone all out to ensure history does not repeat itself.