As is now becoming a tradition for Download Festival, the first announcement has left barely a stone unturned. More than 90 bands have been announced, one of which continues the new trend of bumping a previous main stage sub to the top of the bill and many of whom are up and coming British rock bands. Where to begin?!
Well, obviously, let’s address the elephant in the room – all three headliners are potentially amazing but all come with potential pitfalls.
Linkin Park, for some, are just a shadow of their former selves. Really though, From Zero is as strong a comeback album as anyone could have hoped for. Their Wembley show in Summer ’25 was incredible and songs like ‘Two Faced’ and ‘Over Each Other’ in a setlist packed with Hybrid Theory and Meteora tracks will be the ultimate festival closer.
Limp Bizkit on the other hand. The only concern here is that a band that sometimes play their biggest song twice don’t have the chops for a two hour festival set. The good news there is that that is a load of complete nonsense for two reasons. 1, less than half of all Download Headliners since 2022 have done 2 hour + sets and 2, just go and put Bizkit on on your streaming platform of choice and see how many absolute bangers they have in the next two hours. Yes, they’ll probably have to drop a ‘Gold Cobra’ in there, but I’m all for a shotgun solo on Download’s mainstage.
Axl Rose and Guns N’ Roses. Anyone who has seen them in the past decade knows how… interesting…their live shows can be. Yes, those massive, ego-driven delays that saw the band take to the stage hours late. Now though, their main battle is again age. Axl’s voice and timekeeping at Back To The Beginning was suspect at best. This is the weak link in a trio of headliners that should go down as an all-timer, but even then, just put Axl’s wail out of your mind and scream ‘Paradise City’ at the top of your lungs. You’ll still have fun.
For seasoned festival goes, it’s the undercard where the true value is to be found and in true Hardbeat style, it’s those underground British bands that pull our focus. When you have the likes of Mouth Culture, As December Falls, Lake Malice, unpeople, Native James and more on the lineup, it’s easy to start pulling value. Mouth Culture alone are coming off the back of an incredible UK tour where they’ve proven themselves as a future headliner of many UK festivals and unpeople are just the perfect band. Festival or not.
The message is always the same, whether it be Download, 2000trees, Burn It Down, whatever, just go and pour yourself a glass of wine, find a playlist and lose yourself in those smaller bands. That’s where you’ll find the value. Plus, the most exciting announcement is still to come: who will be taking the Thursday Vengaboys slot?!
Get your tickets now and we’ll see you in the pit: downloadfestival.co.uk/