FESTIVAL REVIEW + PHOTOS: Download Festival 2026 – Sunday

Want more Download Festival? Check out our full reviews and galleries of Friday and Saturday.

What’s this? A new metal band announced for Download before they’d even played a show or released a song, spurred entirely on who may or may not be involved? I think I’ve seen this film before…

Fret not, though—this isn’t PRESIDENT II (no matter how much their Sleep Token connection might gesture towards it). No, Spitting Glass are more a straight deathcore prospect, not reinventing any wheels but fine-tuned to where their experience shines through. Joe Bad of Fit For An Autopsy fronts and is obviously on savage form, complemented by members of Osiah, Visceral, A Night In The Abyss and—yes—Sleep Token. There’s nothing to really wow just yet, but the band give it both barrels regardless, where the cavernous deathcore and spine-breaking crash of Danny Yates’ drums are certainly coloured by experience. They pull in a decent crowd, too, no doubt intrigued by another bunch of mysterious Download debutants, but likely leaving with some genuine appreciation. The 20 minutes that Spitting Glass have are more than enough to get that done.

---

You don’t need sophistication to be main stage-ready; you just need to be good at what you do. In the case of Kublai Khan TX, there are few who more capably embody the stereophonics of macho-man hardcore fronted by a sentient slab of beef. Matt Honeycutt literally mentions how he broke his back three days ago in the gym, if you need to be further told what we’re dealing with. But between Honeycutt’s astouding charisma (strolling down Linkin Park’s catwalk as if he brought it from home), his endless supply of quirky little quotes (“Let’s groove, baby; feel it in your DNA”, “Put on your dancing shoes, daddy”), and how comprehensive the beatdown is, it’s pretty unshakable stuff. It helps that it feels so big up on the Apex Stage, notably how Eric English’s bass could crack a few sternums in tone. Even if there’s far grander stuff to come, a beatdown as comprehensive as what Kublai Khan TX dish out is worth remembering.

---

There’s something that continues to fascinate about RØRY. She’s still a rarity among the alt-pop soloists in thriving on real sincerity, which you’d imagine would catch on more when it leads to opportunities like this. Then again, the feeling of finally cracking Download’s main stage (the oldest woman in the festival’s history to make her debut there, in fact) is RØRY’s all over. As she strides down the catwalk on Dead Girl Walking, arms outstretched, there’s genuine triumph in the air; coming after the lyric “I’m alive” just wrenches it up further.

And honestly, it’s deserved. She’s become such a versatile performer, now with real chops at screaming and metalcore acumen that complement her huge pop choruses so well. Furthermore, ALTERNATIVE and Strange work as real tearjerkers even if this detached environment, the latter even having RØRY choking up about the passing of her collaborator Miles Kent from cancer, midway through making her new album. Moments like that are so embedded in RØRY’s persona now, where openness and honesty can thrive wherever they lay. And when those have passed, you get the twin-headed closer of SORRY I’M LATE and BLOSSOM, one a spring-loaded affirmation of tenacity, the other a towering monument to overcoming adversity and becoming so much more. On this stage, coming from this artist, it couldn’t feel more right.

---

Yep, it’s the band with Keanu Reeves in it, but Dogstar prove to be a lot more as they bring their alt-rock anthems to the Opus Stage.

---

Bloodywood rip. There’s no two ways about it. In the pantheon of excellent metal bands making real ascendencies, few are giving it from the gut to the degree that Bloodywood are. They sound titanic, for one—sharp, engulfing and unfailingly anthemic, where the pairing of nu-metal and Indian folk music remains pitch-perfect on the Apex Stage. (Shoutout for being the only band with a dhol- and flute-player up here, too.) Dual vocalists Jayant Bhadula and Raoul Kerr are phenomenal, too, and not just in a performance capacity. For the uplifting spirit of Bloodywood, these two have the perfect voices to stir that mood; when they bellow out how they’ve followed their dreams to be here, you can’t not believe them. And when that’s paired with music as deft at balancing titanic size, aggro intent and a catchy-as-anything thrust (people are even singing along to the Hindi parts of Nu Delhi), picking faults is practically impossible.

---

One of the most lauded names in current metalcore, The Plot In You arrive at the Opus Stage.

---

The feel of revivalism moors The Pretty Reckless more than it liberates them. Scoff at them being a ‘retro-rock’ band if you want, but they flaunt all the hallmarks of it today. Granted, they’re on the main stage for a reason and thus do do it better, but you feel it coming a mile away. Taylor Momsen, for the whiskeyed, imperious presence she holds, is playing into the ‘rock chick’ angle with a bit too much tropery, losing layers and gyrating against the drum kit on Follow Me Down and Witches Burn without much in the music leaping out. It’s generally okay, and Ben Phillips’ extended, winding solo on Heaven Knows is legitimately dazzling, but none of this feels as larger-than-life as intended. There’s a moment during For I Am Death where, at a point of silence, Momsen strides down the catwalk and someone yells “Mummy!”, kind of illuminating the whole thing. Without Momsen, The Pretty Reckless would have precious little in their favour; even with her at the helm, they just aren’t that interesting here.

---

So, can we agree that Ice Nine Kills will headline Download in the next, say, five years? That doesn’t seem out of the question when they’re pulling crowds of a similar calibre already, and putting on stage shows that rival the actual bill-toppers’. Even if most of the costumes and horror references and iconography are lifted directly from last year’s arena tour, that’s still one of the bombastic displays of creativity within the medium in recent memory. Plus, it’s not like there’s so much fatigue from Art the Clown windmilling a baby by its umbilical cord that it’s boring to watch. Even without the antics, Ice Nine Kills have vibrant, melody-heavy metalcore down to a science. Ex-Mørtis and Welcome To Horrorwood vertically rocket; Hip To Be Scared revels in its kitsch; Twisting The Knife sees Creeper’s Hannah Greenwood lend a perfectly timed, perfectly sized assist. It’s just really great stuff, even outside of the mini-productions that have turned Ice Nine Kills into the pinnacle of metal theatre. With a few new scenes and routines in their bag, that headline slot will come much sooner than you think.

---

Armed with Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave classics—not to mention political fervour and one of the most recognisable guitar styles in recent memory, Tom Morello makes his way to the Opus Stage to produce one of the highlights of the entire festival.

---

The ceaseless chaos of letlive. is never not a spectacle, as they bring some of post-hardcore’s most flammable works to the Avalanche Stage.

---

Credit to A Day To Remember—even after torching their goodwill to cinders with their previous couple of albums, they can still put on a hell of a festival show. So good, in fact, that the current version gets lifted up by association. Miracle and Resentment actually resemble what A Day To Remember should be, the band who revolutionised the scene and turned pop-punk and metalcore into exciting, cooperative partners. Of course, that’s just a pocket of the set worth giving some light to. The majority is loaded with the smashes this band have staked their legacy on, still sounding as potent as ever. Maybe Jeremy McKinnon is a bit creakier of a vocalist these days—screams and growls are treated more like accompaniments than the main course—but that’s a complaint that gets easily bulldozed by Right Back At It Again, or Have Faith In Me, or All I Want.

What’s especially good to see is how the fun of A Day To Remember has yet to be dampened. There’s a diabolical edge ready to peak through on I’m Made Of Wax Larry, What Are You Made Of? or 2nd Sucks (crystallised among the Opus Stage’s superb sound), but this is a pop-punk show at heart. Thus, there are all the big, gaudy trimmings that A Day To Remember love to break out. Confetti; streamers; beach balls; a guy dressed as Mario shooting t-shirts into the crowd on All My Friends; a throng of people onstage to hammer home this communal get-together; it’s broad and basic but always good. It’s also where A Day To Remember’s proven shine persists, with the bounty of good-time rock-show-ness that’s unbeatable at its best. “Don’t get hurt, don’t do anything you don’t wanna do,” instructs McKinnon, “but if you wanna go home a legend, it’s up to you.” Too right.

---

It’s double duty for Creeper this year, filling in for Static-X as Dogtooth Stage headliners with their swathe of gothic rock bangers.

---

When it comes to Linkin Park’s latest visit to Donington, the headline has proven more important than the headlining. They’re now the first ‘female-fronted’ band (ugh…) to top the Download bill, a fact that has more to unpack than most will acknowledge. It’s definitely a good thing that it’s happening, and although it probably should have before (especially in the festival’s current, less-strictly-metal form), the achievement is still there. Conversely, it’s a little disappointing to put so much emphasis on when it’s been grandfathered (grandmothered?) in by a band who could’ve headlined at any point in their career. Linkin Park aren’t here because of their new singer. As such, it puts a further onus on Emily Armstrong to prove herself, a narrative that’s hung low and heavy over the entire Linkin Park enterprise since her introduction nearly three years ago.

You can see that pressure on her face. For any older songs, she seems cagey and conservative, almost like she’s scared of getting something wrong. It’s not the foundation of great headline set, and yet it’s hard to really blame Armstrong for it. When she does find her pockets of groove, she’s a welcome addition to the fold, not looking to fill the much-missed silhouette of Chester Bennington but create her own. And although there’s a more limited range for what that can be (the omission of Given Up from the setlist is rather conspicuous), this is where Armstrong can undoubtedly come into her own.

And yet, there’s the feeling that that doesn’t last. When older songs are so heavily reliant on crowd participation, it’s a return to the tentativeness that ultimately dominates Armstrong’s time onstage. It’s even clearer next to Mike Shinoda, who performs as though he knows he’s an appreciated, established component within these songs. He actually seems really happy to be here, and enthusiastic to have Armstrong join him. It’s a little forced in execution—he asks if there are any fans of Armstrong’s previous band Dead Sara in the crowd to limited response—but his heart’s in the right place.

There’s certainly worth to that, especially when taking the set in as a whole. It’s where Armstrong’s best performances come from, when she’s more cleanly ingratiated and playing to material that’s more up her alley. In terms of melody, she sounds fantastic on Waiting For The End and a cover of Fort Minor’s Where’d You Go. As far as the her-fronted work goes, Two-Faced morphs into this grinding hulk of a number that’s pleasant done-up, and Armstrong’s timbre of screaming works much better for something like Heavy Is The Crown. It’s why kicking the set off with The Emptiness Machine is such a good move—building tension before Armstrong takes her turn, and allowing her to impress in her own field.

It’s also worth remembering, though, that at the core of any insufferable discourse about where and how Armstrong does or doesn’t fit, Linkin Park have an armory of some of 21st Century’s greatest alt-rock and -metal hits at their disposal. Regardless of whether or not they’re ‘ruined’ by a new singer (which they aren’t), there’s a high floor to begin with. And that’s really the crux of all of this. Amid the lineup quibbles and delineated ‘acts’ that do little but create dead air, there’s Numb, and Papercut, and Bleed It Out, and In The End, and Faint. Sure, One Step Closer gets scuppered by a crowd incident (that maybe turns out to be nothing), but the knowledge of so much else in the wings just lets it slide. Ultimately, that’s where the magic of Linkin Park lies, and always has. By hook or by crook, something will come from this new era, but festival-headlining capabilities? Always undeniable.

---

Words by Luke Nuttall

Photos by Maryleen (Instagram / Website)