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Metallica at the download Germany 2022: Big names attracted to the Hockenheimring again this year

Photo: Rainer Keuenhof / action press

After the German premiere last year, the second round of the Download Germany was scheduled to take place on June 23 and 24 at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg. Now the festival has been surprisingly cancelled by the organizer.

Until the very end, they tried to realize the festival for the fans, it says on Instagram. But "the massive number of open-air events" makes it difficult to organize and carry out the event this summer. The problem lies in bottlenecks in production technology.

The organizer does not go into more detail about the reasons for the cancellation. Tickets that have already been purchased will be automatically refunded in the coming days, it is said.

Criticism of the organizer

The comments under the Instagram post show disappointment. The metal festival had advertised with big names, including bands like Slipknot, Volbeat and The Prodigy. It was only in February that the organizer announced a new edition of the festival and shortly afterwards announced the headliners.

Some fans speculate that the real reason for the cancellation is simply inadequate planning, coupled with too few tickets sold, which they attribute to the short-term announcement. Last year, there had already been criticism of the organization of the festival on social media.

The organizer of the festival is the US media company Live Nation.

ZOB