Download Festival XXIII.

The brief

Star Live was appointed to deliver the Main Arena for Download Festival XXIII at Donington Park, creating the stage and supporting infrastructure for one of the UK’s major festivals.

At its heart was the new Apex Stage, the UK’s largest festival stage, designed and constructed using Titan, Star Live’s next-generation staging system.

But the brief extended far beyond the stage itself. Four 25m Titan SQ AV towers, FOH structures, delay positions, camera platforms and viewing facilities all formed part of a Main Arena designed around the demands of major international touring productions.

The challenge

Scale was only part of the challenge.

The Main Arena needed to accommodate the requirements of the festival while remaining flexible enough to respond to individual headline artists. Thrusts, production and scenic support structures all had to be integrated into the wider infrastructure, with the stage adapted between headline productions.

The build was further complicated by a significant change in weather conditions.

Heatwave temperatures and dry, dusty ground gave way to thunderstorms, torrential rain and waterlogged conditions. Thunderstorms forced construction to pause, while deteriorating ground conditions affected plant movements and introduced additional considerations around team safety.

With time lost and the production schedule unchanged, the team needed to recover the programme while continuing to deliver safely.

Our solution

The Apex Stage was designed and constructed using Titan. Engineered for major festival production, the system combines high roof-loading capacity, advanced wind management, improved working-at-height access and Star Live’s SmART lifting system.

That engineering approach extended across the Main Arena.

Four new 25m Titan SQ AV towers were developed specifically for Download’s cylindrical video screens. Working closely with the production team, screen supplier and manufacturer, Star Live used 3D CAD and structural analysis to develop the structures around load-bearing, ballast and production requirements.

The specialist infrastructure brought its own engineering considerations. With the cable cam operating above the audience, its towers needed to provide secure structural bracing points while also creating a safe working environment for the operator. As requirements developed, the tower was redesigned around a reduced footprint and its HD beam position revised.

The same adaptability applied to the stage. A 25m thrust was developed and refined through changes to its access, ramp gradient and stage geometry, while further bespoke structures were engineered around individual artist productions.

On site, the team responded to the weather disruption by adapting the build programme and, once construction could safely resume, working around the clock to recover lost time.

The completed Main Arena brought together the Titan Apex Stage, four Titan SQ AV towers, V-Tower delay positions, FOH structures, IMAG bracing, VIP viewing facilities, camera platforms and specialist cable cam infrastructure.

And delivery did not stop when the festival opened. Between shows, bespoke thrusts and production and scenic support structures were constructed overnight, adapting the stage to the production requirements of each headline artist.

Impact

Despite severe weather, interruptions to construction and changing production requirements, Star Live recovered the programme and delivered the Main Arena ready for the festival.

The result was the UK’s largest festival stage at the centre of a complete Main Arena environment, bringing together staging, video, lighting, audio, camera, viewing and production infrastructure.

More than the scale of any single structure, Download demonstrated the flexibility of Titan and the breadth of Star Live’s engineering and delivery capability. From purpose-designed AV and cable cam towers to overnight stage adaptations for headline artists, the team combined large-scale infrastructure with bespoke engineering to meet the demands of a major festival and top-tier global productions.