Motörhead, 30 Seconds to Mars and Queens of the Stone Age will be playing at next year's Download, festival bosses confirmed last night.
Organisers broke the news to excited rock fans just after 9pm, following the announcement of the three headliners – Iron Maiden, Slipknot and Rammstein – in September.
Other acts confirmed yesterday included Gaslight Anthem, HIM, Alice In Chains and A Day To Remember.
The Leicester Mercury was given a rare interview slot with 30 Seconds to Mars frontman and Hollywood actor Jared Leto ahead of the announcement being made.
The singer, who has played at the Donington Park event twice before, said it was one of his favourite festivals in the world.
"I love playing in the UK, it's one of the best places in the world to play," he said.
"People are so connected to the music over there. Download, especially. It's mayhem, it's amazing, it's crazy and there's a lot of variety."
Fans can look forward to some of the band's biggest hits, including Kings and Queens, This Is War, Closer To The Edge and The Kill (Bury Me), as well as material from their upcoming fourth album.
"Download will be the first time in the UK that we play our new songs off the new album, so we're really looking forward to it.
"We first had the pleasure of playing the breakfast slot and worked our way up over the years, and that gives us an incredible amount of gratitude.
"The last time we headlined the second stage, so it's nice to be part of this evolution."
Download 2013 takes place at Donington Park, in Castle Donington, north west Leicestershire, from June 14 to 16.
For Queens of the Stone Age, next year's event will be their Download debut and their first UK date to be announced for next year.
For legendary rockers and Download veterans Motörhead, it will be their fourth time at the festival. For their last performance, in 2010, frontman Lemmy and the band were joined on stage by Slash – creating a mosh of thousands to classics including Stay Clean, Killed By Death and Ace of Spades.
Weekend tickets with camping are on sale now. A new deposit scheme has been set up, allowing customers who buy before the end of December to pay for tickets in three installments.
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See The Week on Thursday for our full interview with Jared Leto.
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