Stage times for this weekend’s Download Festival pilot event are now available, as is the weather forecast for the event’s small-scale return.

A 10,000 capacity camping festival with no social distancing restrictions, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Enter Shikari and Bullet For My Valentine have already been announced as headliners.

As of 4pm BST today (June 15), the Met Office is predicting clouds on the festival’s first day (Friday June 18), with temperatures between 13 and 17 degrees Celsius and a 20 per cent chance of precipitation.

Saturday June 19 is set to be similar, with temperatures peaking at 18 degrees Celsius and a 10 per cent chance of rain. Sunday June 20, however, is 50 per cent likely to bring rain from 10am until 7pm.

Full stage times for the weekend are as follows.

FRIDAY JUNE 18

Main Stage
5:30pm – Hot Milk
6:35pm – Boston Manor
8:00pm – Neck Deep
9:35pm – Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes

Second Stage
5:00pm – Death Blooms
6:00pm – Malevolence
7:20pm – Holding Absence
8:50pm – Sleep Token

SATURDAY JUNE 19

Main Stage
12:00pm – Conjurer
1:00pm – Bleed From Within
2:00pm – Wargasm
3:00pm – A
4:10pm – YONAKA
5:30pm – Twin Atlantic
7:05pm – While She Sleeps
9:35pm – Enter Shikari

Second Stage
11:30am – Lotus Eater
12:30pm – As Everything Unfolds
1:30pm – The Hara
2:30pm – Tigercub
3:35pm – VUKOVI
4:50pm – Those Damn Crows
6:15pm – Stone Broken
8:15pm – Creeper

SUNDAY JUNE 20
Main Stage
12:00pm – Saint Agnes
1:00pm – Employed To Serve
2:00pm – Loathe
3:00pm – Lonely The Brave
4:10pm – Elvana
5:30pm – The Wildhearts
7:05pm – Skindred
9:35pm – Bullet For My Valentine

Second Stage
11:30am – Static Dress
12:30pm – Cassyette
1:30pm – Chubby And The Gang
2:30pm – Higher Power
3:35pm – Jamie Lenman
4:50pm – Massive Wagons
6:15pm – Trash Boat
8:15pm – Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls

The event will form part of the second phase of the UK Government’s scientific Events Research Programme. All attendees must be aged over 16 and be willing to stay for the whole weekend.

The first stage of the government’s events research programme saw thousands of music lovers attending a series of pilot events in Liverpool over the May Bank Holiday weekend, where the likes of Fatboy Slim and Blossoms played to a crowd without any Covid restrictions.

Just 15 people tested positive for Covid-19 following the event, with initial data suggesting that holding mass events without face masks and social distancing poses as little risk as going to a shopping centre or restaurant.