It has been confirmed that food stalls at Download 2024 were shut down as “hundreds” of festival goers fell ill with food poisoning.
This year’s instalment of the metal and rock festival took place over the past weekend, running between June 14-16, and featured the headliners Queens Of The Stone Age, Fall Out Boy and Avenged Sevenfold.
However, as the event unfolded, numerous attendees began reporting symptoms of food poisoning – including nausea, stomach cramps, fever, and general malaise. According to reports from a medical tent on site (via FoodPoisoningNews), as many as 500 people were affected by what they described as a “real food poisoning epidemic”.
Speaking to BBC News, a spokesperson for the North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC) said medics began to see “a pattern” of fans falling ill, prompting event organiser Live Nation to launch an investigation.
Live Nation said that customer safety was its “primary concern” and confirmed that all food traders had been inspected before and during the event. The promotor added that two vendors “were closed and removed from the site as they failed to meet the standards of Environment Health and the local authority” (via LeicestershireLive).
Among those who reported illness were artists performing at the event, including Sean Smith – frontman of The Raiders – who revealed that he was hospitalised after the event and was put on an IV drip due to food poisoning.
Got food poisoning. Been sick ALL night.
— Sean Smith (@SeanSmithSucks) June 17, 2024
I’ve got to go to hospital to be put on an IV apparently. Sadly, it’s not looking likely. I’m so sorry.
— Sean Smith (@SeanSmithSucks) June 17, 2024
The NHS lists common food poisoning symptoms as nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps, high fever, and general feelings of unwellness, including fatigue, aches, and chills. These symptoms typically arise after consuming contaminated food that has been improperly cooked, stored, or handled.
Speaking to LeicestershireLive, Paul Sanders, head of community services at NWLDC, said: “We carried out ongoing food hygiene safety checks on-site throughout the five days of the festival to ensure that all vendors were up to the required standards.
“Where we find improvements are required, we provide advice and carry out a further visit to ensure the improvements have been made. We worked with the event organiser to investigate two food vendors, both of which were closed by the event organiser over the course of the weekend.”
The issue with food poisoning was just one of the many issues that plagued the 2024 edition of the festival, with the organisers also issuing warnings across the three-day span due to extreme weather conditions.
Throughout the course of the event, heavy storms hit the Donington Park site, causing the space to turn into a mud bath – to the point where even Pantera referenced the sludgy fields in a tweet showing a snippet of their set: “We had a great time today at Download! Here’s a glimpse of our performance. Hope you guys had fun in the mud.”
We had a great time today at Download! Here’s a glimpse of our performance. Hope you guys had fun in the mud
: @metaldavemedia #pantera #downloadfestival #castledonington pic.twitter.com/UBZrqluOcP
— Pantera (@Pantera) June 15, 2024
As well as that, a number of bands have dropped out of this year’s edition due to the festival’s former ties with Barclays, and the bank’s role in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Pest Control were the first band to pull out of the festival, saying that they would not “take part in an event whose sponsor profits from facilitating a genocide”. Scowl, Speed and Zulu all boycotted the festival later, as well as Enter Shikari.
The number of boycotts eventually led to Barclays pulling out of a number of festivals including Download, Latitude and Isle Of Wight.
Despite the issues, NME praised the event in a recent review, and highlighted how the line-up this year marked a huge step in the right direction.
“At first glance, Download 2024 seemed to be marred by a range of factors that could have signalled its downfall – even festival boss Andy Copping admitted that it was the “hardest year” to secure a line-up and the team approached over “21 bands” to find headliners,” it read.
“Yet, against the odds, the festival delivers one of its most promising editions in recent memory, and proves that it is one of the main events leading the way when it comes to creating opportunities for the next generation of headliners.”
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