Download festival dedicates main stage to Jim Marshall

The main arena at this year's Download festival is to be temporarily renamed 'The Jim Marshall Stage' in honour of the guitar amp pioneer who passed away last Thursday (5 April).

As we proved last week, there is no shortage of heavy artists lining up to pay tribute to the departed Marshall Amps founder and now the UK's best-known heavy music festival is paying its own respects.

Commenting on the move, Download organiser and Stetson fan, Andy Copping said, "The music industry lost an innovator and a legend with the sad passing of Jim Marshall. We had to remember him in some way and having the main stage dedicated to his name seemed the perfect tribute."

Download festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is set to take place 8 to 10 June at Donnington Park and acts playing the newly-renamed Jim Marshall Stage include headliners Metallica, The Prodigy and Black Sabbath, as well as Biffy Clyro, Soundgarden, Machine Head, Tenacious D and Megadeth.

Check out the MusicRadar festival guide 2012 for the full rundown on this summer's best events, including key artists, locations and ticket prices.