By Zena Gardner – 01/02/10

Ever been watching your favourite band ….. or at least trying to sneak a peek between a sea of giant flags blowing in the breeze and right in your view!?!?!? And it’s not just people at an event that suffer, people watching televised coverage get the same problem!

They may be a good way to find each other in the crowd (providing you aren’t holding 1 of the 50 George Cross, Welsh or Scottish flags) if you cant use a mobile phone or arrange a meeting place if you get separated, but in recent years it has got beyond a joke. Nothing is more annoying than bobbing up and down like a meerkat on acid to catch a glimpse of the stage and only getting a view of welsh flags, english flags, trippy hippy flags, poles with 3 flags on, homemade I am here flags blah blah blah!

Download has announced on it’s Forums that this year will see a flag in the arena ban put into force. Festival Organisers posted this message on the message board, confirming the ban – “Due to an overwhelming number of complaints from people and now we have had chance to view the footage from previous years and can see what everyone means (and not see the acts on stage!), we will be banning flags on sticks in the main arena. Hope you all understand that this is to ensure that everyone can enjoy what’s on stage.”

Apparantly flag holders will be stopped at the entrance to the arena and anyone who breaks the rule will be ejected from the festival. Organiser’s advise their punters that “It’s a rule and if someone thinks they can be funny by smuggling in a stick up their ass then they should expect swift action. Plus I’ve booked a sniper!!” Maybe slightly OTT to bring in snipers, but there doesn’t appear to be too many people that have found the introduction of this rule a problem.

Controversy of 2010? …… I highly doubt it unless they announce the only flags that they will allow are My Chemical Romance flags LOL!

Download returns to Donington Park over the weekend of Friday 11th to Sunday 13th June 2010. Confirmed acts include AC/DC, Them Crooked Vultures, Wolfmother, Bullet For My Valentine, Motorhead, Deftones, Stone Temple Pilots, Volbeat, and Megadeth.

Download 2010 Tickets are available here

See you there