When using IE, hit F12 and that allows you to choose various older versions of IE to test with.
I was able to replicate the issue when using IE8, however it does load in IE7 - weird : )
I see you're using the "footer" tag, which research shows is new to html5. A quick search shows that IE8 is not the best when it comes to html5 support, here's an excerpt:
Internet Explorer 8 is pretty far behind the curve. IE scored a total of 32 points out of 400. Pretty dismal showing for what used to be the top internet browser in the world.
It may be an html5 issue, have you though about testing by adjusting it so you're not using the "footer" tag?