Download 2026

Somewhere around 95,000 people attended Download Festival last weekend. That made it (apparently) the biggest live music festival in the UK this year, what with Glasto taking a year off. At least, the claim from the organisers was that the Apex stage was the largest festival stage in the UK this year, so I’m not sure if that actually makes it the biggest festival in the UK. There were certainly a lot of people there and my strong impression was that it was a lot busier than last year. And I think the crowd pictures bear this out.

I have to confess to having a certain amount of mixed feelings about DL this time around. It had one of the best lineups ever, taken across the three days on the four stages. Booking Linkin Park, by far the biggest band in heavy music right now, and Limp Bizkit, was an absolute coup. G’n’R didn’t disappoint on the Saturday, although some might say that Architects’ performance on the Opus stage at the same time was arguably a better experience. Surely they deserve to headline the main stage at some point in the next few years?

There was huge variety right across the lineup though. The highlight for me in the tents were Marmozets, but there were so many amazing performances I would struggle to list them all. On the bigger stages, I thought Behemoth were incredible, as were Architects, and the headliners each gave the fans what they wanted.

The downside of having so many people there was that it felt a little claustrophobic for me. It’s great to have so many metalheads in one place, enjoying the music and sense of community that always comes with Download. It had all the usual camaraderie and healthy spirit of alternativeness that we love, but I also felt there was an undercurrent of “Break Stuff” attitude in certain sections of the crowd. You might well say “because Limp Bizkit” and “you should have known”, but it took the edge off the experience this year for me. Growing old I suppose…