Its been a pretty quiet couple of weeks as far as major festival news is concerned, so its time to look ahead to a couple of the major UK festivals that are taking place this coming weekend. Firstly some sad news. Ex Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable has been found dead at his home in Wales. He was 40. As yet no cause of death has been identified. I remember Stuart ripping it up when the band were at their peak at Donington around 2001 and again at Glastonbury a year later. Peace and Love would like to send condolences to his family. RIP Stuart.

Stuart would appreciate being at the first of this weekend’s big events. Its time for the first heavy rock festival of the summer the traditional Download Festival taking place at Castle Donington. In all its various guises the event is this year celebrating its 30th birthday and acts have been picked who have graced the stages in years gone past. So we have headliners AC/DC (headlining for the 4th time) and Aerosmith along with others from the Monsters of Rock era such as Cinderella, Ratt, Y & T, Saxon (who played at the very first bash), Motorhead, Megadeth and Slash. These old timers are backed up by Rage against the machine, Deftones, 30 seconds to Mars, Him, Stone Sour, Bullet for my Valentine and Them Crooked Vultures, featuring the first ex Led Zep member to trad the festivals boards since Jimmy Page made a brief appearance with Aerosmith in 1990. Friday in particular should prove spectacular as AC/DC are bringing their own stage to the event and as all other stages are finished by the time they go on, all eyes will be on them literally. Initial weather forecasts suggest a bit or rain on the Friday with fine and dry Saturday and Sunday.

The other biggie this weekend takes place on the Isle of Wight. In the past this festival has booked acts who most of the other festivals don’t seem to get, The Police and Rolling Stones spring to mind. This year is no exception with Pink, Spandau Ballet and Paul Mc Cartney all set to feature. They are backed by Jay Z, The Strokes Blondie, Editors, Florence and the Machine, Biffy Clyro and Calvin Harris. Again the weather forecast is very similar to what is expected at Download with Friday the main waterproof day. Other major events this weekend include the Rock Ness festival in Scotland featuring The Strokes, Leftfield and Fatboy Slim, and Doves and Simply Red’s forest gigs.

Stop Press: Ratt have had to cancel their appearance at Downoad as vocalist Stephen Percy will be undergoing urgent hernia surgery this week. No replacement will be called in.