With 100,000 rock fans descending on Donington Park this weekend for the eighth Download, making this year’s festival the biggest ever Download, organisers have proclaimed 2010 a resounding success and a highlight of the site’s 30-year history.

Donington site celebrated 30 years of rock with over 100 bands performing across five stages with artists flying in from across the globe.

On Friday night, monsters of rock AC/DC performed a 2-hour set on a stage specially erected beside the Main ‘Maurice Jones’ stage, a set resplendent with all their iconic hits such as ‘Back in Black’ and ‘Hell’s Bells’, and a massive stage production that involved a giant train and an inflatable Rosie.

Despite the 1-1 World Cup result in South Africa, it was the Americans that scored all the goals and stole the show on Saturday with amazing Main Stage performances from Megadeth, Deftones and the return of Rage Against The Machine.

That’s not to say the Main Stage had all the best action; the other stages were overflowing with memorable performances, from Welsh wonders Bullet For My Valentine who headlined the Second Stage on Friday – and who also got a big thumbs up from Slash today during his press conference – HIM, Saturday’s Second Stage headliners who covered Billy Idol and Chris Isaak, plus Rolo Tomassi, Cancer Bats, Taylor Hawkins and many many more who kept the music going throughout the day.

Download Festival paid tribute to those rock legends who tragically lost their lives over the last few months. On Friday night after Them Crooked Vultures, a video on the Main Stage celebrated the lives of Ronnie James Dio, Paul Gray (Slipknot), Pete Steele (Type O Negative), Stuart Cable (Killing For Company), Mike Alexander (Evile) and Maurice Jones. On Saturday, a second video on the Main Stage paid an intimate tribute to Paul Gray, with memories of Slipknot’s headlining performance on that stage this time last year firmly in everyone’s minds.

So Download 2010, how was it for you?