When it comes to perfect couplings, punk rock and riots go together like a horse and carriage. In 1981, at The Ritz in Manhattan, Public Image Limited led their paying public into disorder by playing behind a curtain while frontman John Lydon derided the 3000 strong crowd with the taunt of “silly fucking audience.” That same year, a series of dangerously oversold shows by The Clash at the Bond International Casino saw anarchy in the USA spill out in pitched battles on the thoroughfares of Times Square.

Neither of these donnybrooks, though, can hold a candle to Green Day’s afternoon set at Winston Farm in Saugerties, New York, on Sunday August 14, 1994.

The occasion was Woodstock ’94, a three-day jamboree held to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the now legendary Woodstock festival, at which appeared The Who, Jimi Hendrix and many other leading lights of the time. A quarter of a century on, the bill featured, among others, Aerosmith, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails and Primus.

In 1969, half a million people had been warned to stay away from “the brown acid.” In 1994, the same number of faces were met with a less avoidable threat: the weather. For three days a dishwater sky had wrung torrential and constant rain on upstate New York. By the time Green Day met their audience that Sunday afternoon, conditions were becoming untenable. Onsite, in a radio interview the Australian journalist Andrew Mueller surmised the scenario in one word: “shithouse.”

With a black shirt, a red tie and blue hair, Billie Joe Armstrong’s opening words to the crowd gathered at the festival’s South Stage were antagonistic. “What is this free fucking hippy love shit?,” he asked, adding, “How are you doing, you rich motherfuckers?”

Standing in conditions that made a wet year at Glastonbury look like a sunny day at Glynebourne , the answer was probably, “Not so great, actually.” Testy and volatile, the audience’s distemper would soon enough find its avenue of expression.

20 minutes into their 35 minute set, things began to truly slide out of control. Green Day were already having quite the summer – their Dookie album catapulting its way up the charts, crowds on the Lollapalooza tour hurdling turnstiles in order to catch their noon set – but the trio had never seen anything like this. Slogging their way through When I Come Around, the sky was brown with missiles made of mud; the stage looked like a late season non-league football pitch from 1973.

“I hope it rains so much, you all get stuck,” announced bassist Mike Dirnt, unhelpfully. 15 minutes later, when attempting to leave the stage, Dirnt would be tackled by a security guard with such force that it sheared his front teeth, an intervention that required a visit to the dentist the following day.

No fun, as Johnny Rotten would say. With the set nearing its chaotic end, Billie Joe Armstrong abandoned his guitar in favour of volleying several clumps of mud from whence they came; or, if you prefer, fighting fire with fire. Behind him, the rhythm section swerve in to a circumcised rendition of Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It as the audiences surges and leaps like salmon upstream.

“Look at me, I’m a fucking idiot!” announces the frontman. He might have been describing the spectators, or else referring to himself; possibly both.

Astonishingly, five years later Woodstock ’99 would prove even grimmer than its immediate predecessor – a gathering that culminated in riots, rapes and a stage set on fire.

But in 1994, things were bad enough. Leaving behind a stage in a state of perfect destruction, Green Day were expedited from the site via helicopter, a mode of transport of which Billie Joe Armstrong was terrified. Touchingly, his second concern was that his brand new pair of black Converse hi-tops were becoming sullied by the slurry at his feet.

“Woodstock [‘94] was about the closest thing to anarchy I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” the singer would later recall. “I didn’t like it one bit.”

Louder Than Life, America’s largest rock and metal festival, has officially announced the set times for its colossal 2026 edition, meaning you can get planning on how you'll be spending your weekend. And if you haven't got tickets yet, don't panic; there's still time to secure your place at what will surely be one of this year's most unforgettable, action-packed weekends.

Get your tickets for Louder Than Life 2026 here

Taking place September 17-20 at the Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky, Louder Than Life 2026 will see heavyweight headliners Iron Maiden, My Chemical Romance, Limp Bizkit and Tool head up a bill of almost 200 bands. Amongst them are the likes of Megadeth, Pantera, Pierce The Veil, A Day To Remember, Papa Roach, Gojira, Sublime, Danny Elfman, Rise Against, The Pretty Reckless and many, many more.

To get stuck into this year's set times and to start planning your weekend, head to the Louder Than Life website or, if you want to personalise your own schedule and get the most up to date information on what's happening across the festival, download the official Louder Than Life app.

If you're yet to secure your pass for Louder Than Life 2026, you still can do via the Louder Than Life website, where a variety of options are waiting including General Admission, VIP and various packages. All ticket holders also get free access to the amusement rides inside Kentucky Kingdom, which for the weekend will be open exclusively to Louder Than Life attendees. You can find out everything else that will be happening on site during the weekend, including the huge variety of food and drink options, here.

Remember, Louder Than Life isn't just an amazing lineup with a plethora of experiences: it will boast some one-off performances that you won't find anywhere else. Amongst these are Pantera’s only U.S. show of 2026, Danny Elfman’s first show in the Eastern half of the U.S. for the first time in decades, reunion sets from Circa Survive, Get Scared, Blood For Blood, Metal Church, Primer 55, Sent By Ravens and 40 Below Summer and album celebrations including Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American, Sleeping With Sirens' Let's Cheers To This and Sepultura's Roots, courtesy of Cavalera.

So what's keeping you? Make sure you have your ticket, get on the app, download those set times and get ready for the weekend of the year.

"Now is forever! IN THIS REALM!"

So goes the battle cry for Castle Rat, the New York group who've leveraged high fantasy themes and roaring riffs into becoming doom metal's hottest new band.

They've played barely a dozen gigs in the UK so far - their first was at Desertfest last year - but already the buzz around Castle Rat is obvious. It's a little after mid-day but the crowd swells under the brutal sun ahead of the band's Bloodstock debut and we'd wager by the time they finish they've pulled a bigger crowd than any main stage act from Saturday save perhaps Bleed From Within or Slaughter To Prevail.

It's not hard to see why. They might not have any proper anthems just yet - though Wizard, Wolf I and Dragon from last year's The Bestiary are absolute belters - but it's impossible not to get caught up in Castle Rat's spell. The high-camp theatrics feel like something heavy metal has neglected over the past 30 years, even the likes of Ice Nine Kills or GWAR going more for tongue-in-cheek meta-jokes than for a genuine sense of the fantastic.

Castle Rat aren't playing up their fantasy elements for jokes. Vocalist Riley Pinkerton inhabits the role of the Rat Queen with a seriousness that'd do Arthur Brown or Hawkwind proud, narrating the lore of her band's fantasy realm with irresistible earnestness. The "sword battle" between Pinkerton and "The Rat Reaperess" might be the set's most TikTokable moment, but the music itself doesn't suffer for all their live antics, delivering a baseline of defiant, chest-beating heavy metal.

Chunky, fuzzy riffs and keening guitar solos help build the sense that Castle Rat are well on the way to becoming something massive, somehow tapping the vein for trad metal whilst feeling fresh and vibrant. If this is what they can do in a 40-minute afternoon slot, imagine what they could do as a headliner.

You Got Another Thing Comin', Metal Gods, Breaking The Law: talk about an insane opening run. But then, when it comes to Judas Priest, you'd be hard-pressed to find any combination of hits that doesn't feel like an all-time great selection of heavy metal anthems. So who better to close out the final day of Bloodstock's 25th anniversary celebration?

"25 years of Bloodstock? 100 years of Judas fucking Priest!" Frontman Rob Halford declares to massive cheers.

Barely 20 miles up the road from where he grew up in Walsall, Bloodstock is as close to home territory for Halford as you can get without Priest doing a gig at Bescot Stadium and there's a clear sense of gratitude as Priest get a homecoming for the ages. Early on, Rob sports a leather jacket with the Black Country flag proudly displayed on the back, and their ties to the region seep through in little nods and easter eggs that pop up in the graphics.

And this setlist is an absolute beast. With a greatest hits to promote, it's not a massive surprise that Priest are cranking anthems out at industrial pace throughout the night - The Ripper, The Sentinel, Turbo Lover, Victim Of Changes. It's perhaps not as adventurous as what they broke out at Bloodstock 2021, but it's splitting hairs trying to figure out what you'd take out to round it out. Steeler for Exciter? Desert Plains for Judas Rising? Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Far from slowing down in their winter years, Judas Priest seem to be picking up steam. Rob Halford confirms the band are working on new material - a delightful concept, considering just how fantastic their last two records were - and there's barely any pause in the set, even the encore - teeing a colossal finisher of Electric Eye, Hell Bent For Leather (complete with Harley ride-on, of course) and Living After Midnight - only taking a minute or two before the band charge back on.

In many ways, Priest are representative of what Bloodstock was all about in its early years - and still continues to be about now, even with the evolving roster of bands. This is, after all, a celebration of heavy metal in its entirety, a chance for bands who'd get relegated to the sidelines at more mainstream festivals to strut their stuff in front of an ardent and ever-enthusiastic audience.

With Priest covering much of their half-century-plus as one of heavy metal's most iconic bands, there's a real sense of celebration that makes it almost impossible not to grin like a loon and roar along to your heart's content.

Judas Priest setlist @ Bloodstock Open Air, 9/8/2026

1. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
2. Metal Gods
3. Breaking The Law
4. The Ripper
5. The Sentinel
6. Desert Plains
7. Lightning Strike
8. Turbo Lover
9. Steeler
10. Delivering The Goods
11. Panic Attack
12. Victim Of Changes
13. Halls Of Valhalla
14. Painkiller
15. Electric Eye
16. Hell Bent For Leather
17. Living After Midnight

"Nevermore are one of the greatest, most important bands to ever do it." So says Urne's Joe Nally early on Saturday at Bloodstock and while the prog metal group's profile certainly never reached that of Tool or Rush, they wouldn't be the first band to make a comeback this decade and become bigger than ever.

But they endure a patchy start. Put it down to the controversy around tonight's headliners Slaughter To Prevail, the unyielding heat, or the simple fact that it's been 16 years since Nevermore last played the UK - and before that was Bloodstock in 2007, so they were hardly frequent visitors - but the crowd seems especially sparse for the retooled and revitalised Nevermore.

They won't let that stop them putting on a killer show. New vocalist Berzan Önen - replacing the much missed Warrel Dane, who died in 2017 - has great stage presence and his powerful, histrionic vocal talents are geninely captivating, while the band's unique fusion of extreme metal heft - just listen to that double-bass go, never letting up - old school heavy metal guitars and prog melody means Nevermore still feel genuinely ahead of the curve.

A few songs in, and the crowd thankfully swells to a healthy level as they hit their stride. Drawing from across their discography, the set is an abridged greatest hits with particular emphasis on 2000's phenomenal Dead Heart In A Dead World, thundering as they bust out the likes of Inside Four Walls and Engines Of Hate. Hitting each track with fresh vitality, Nevermore sound more like Hypocrisy or Strapping Young Lad than Queensryche and the sheer force of their sound is tremendous.

There's no major set pieces or production gimmicks, just great tunes and musicians going hell for leather for a hale 60 minutes. The highlight of the set is undoubtedly the gothic, doomy The Heart Collector, a track that somehow manages to bridge Sabbath and Nymphetamine with the Gothenburg sound, colossal in its ambition and brimming with anthemic potential. With more shows like this - and a new album on the way next year - we reckon Nevermore 2.0 might finally give the band the love they so richly deserve.

“I feel like Scotland have just won the World Cup!” says Bleed From Within frontman Scott Kennedy halfway through his band's set. Scott is happy, and so he should be; after all, his band have been grafting for 23 years and have reached a point where they can turn up at the UK’s premier metal festival and be greeted like one of the highlights of the weekend.

Two years ago at Bloodstock, Malevolence subheadlined the Ronnie James Dio stage, blew everyone away and walked off looking like shoe-ins as future headliners. Today, it’s Bleed From Within’s turn to do the very same.

With a back catalogue of seven strong albums and over two decades of hard road work behind them, BFW were never going to let an opportunity like today pass them by, and they are exceptional this afternoon, grasping the chance to stake their claim in an incredible manner. The grooves and propulsion of tracks like Levitate and God Complex sound magnificent, with Scott, rapidly growing into one of metal’s best frontmen, endlessly egging on the crowd, demanding more circle pits and more chaos. He gets his demands met, too, with at least five swirling pits being counted at one point.

The band sound fabulously tight, and the extra elements they add to their sound today with bagpipes players and vocalist Hannah Boulton pepper some glorious new textures to their meaty metallic crunch.

By the time they bid farewell with a superb run through of In Place Of Your Halo, jaws are on the floor and they’ve left headliners Slaughter to Prevail with a mighty high bar to reach. “This,” Scott tells us “is the best show this band has ever played.” It’s hard to disagree.

A John McGinn winner in the World Cup final? Sorry Scott, that sounds like pure fantasy. But Bleed From Within to headline Bloodstock? Well, that seems a much safer bet.

It’s fair to say that more than a few eyebrows were raised last year when Slaughter to Prevail were announced as Bloodstock headliners. A new name at the top of the bill is always something to celebrate, but there were more than a few grumbles that the Russian/UK deathcore crew were either not big enough or not musically in keeping with the tradition of Bloodstock to truly fit the bill. So STP arrive at the festival very much with plenty to prove and a lot of cynics to win over.

With all of this for context, it’s actually quite impressive how emphatically they ram those doubts back down people’s throats this evening. Because Slaughter to Prevail look every inch the consummate modern metal festival headliner this evening.

The reasons they succeed are simple, yet stunningly effective; firstly, they bring a show, a sense of theatre and an aesthetic that should appeal to all fans of heavy music. There is fire, loads of it, there are explosions, tonnes of them, there are massive party cannons full of streamers going off over the crowd and there are the masks. There are plenty of bands in masks in metal (in case you hadn’t noticed), but STP’s might just look the coolest. Frontman Alex Terrible in particular has an amazing silver skull visage with a moving jaw that makes him look like Skeletor if he was reimagined for a Hellraiser movie. Again, a simple idea, but gnarly as hell in practice.

So they look the part and, luckily, they sound the part too. Any of the objections people have made to Slaughter to Prevail making dumb, simplified, meat-headed metal on record feel completely redundant the second you’re stood in a field and those riffs slam you in the gut. This is pummeling, crushing, groove-laden metal that just feels good to hear live, the likes of Russian Grizzy In America, Babayka and Viking all kicking like a mule and lapped up by the crowd.

Speaking of the crowd, the online suggestions that STP would pull the smallest headline crowd in Bloodstock history are laughably wide of the mark. The field is equally as full as it was for Lamb of God on Friday night, and these people are enjoying every second. When Alex Terrible tells everyone to wave their hands or crouch to do a 'jumpdafuckup', it stretches all the way back past the sound desk. If people were coming here purely out of curiosity or just to see Slaughter to Prevail fail then it would appear that they’ve all been won over.

There’s also the fact that STP treat this show as if it is something truly special to them. Alex speaks with humility to the crowd on more than one occasion, letting them know how nervous he is and how humbled he is to have been asked to headline this festival. It’s a sweet thing to see from a man who has an unbelievable, almost inhuman growl in his repertoire.

If there's one slight concern with their performance, it’s that Slaughter to Prevail could add a bit more dynamism to their music, the Rammstein-esque Behelit standing out as something quite different from the rest of their set. But this is a mere nitpick; with a first showing this strong, you wouldn’t bet against them tweaking things to address that the next time they come round. And, let’s have it right, when they do, they’ll be headlining again.

Whatever your thoughts on who or what constitutes Sepultura, the fact that this is a band who have been a constant in the world of heavy music for four decades now is a remarkable achievement. This evening their 40th anniversary farewell celebration tour (now into 42 years) reaches Bloodstock for their final ever show on UK soil.

There’s a clear air of excitement for such an occasion in the field and the band are greeted like heroes as they walk onstage and launch in the immortal Inner Self. For a song that was released in 1989 it still sounds unbelievably fresh; a grooving, thrashing masterpiece, it’s an example of precisely why this band are held in such high regard.

Of course, as much as those in attendance want all of the classics from Sepultura’s golden, Max Cavalera-fronted era, you’d be a fool for sleeping on their more recent material. There’s a very good argument to be made that Derrick Green is one of metal’s most underrated frontmen; Kairos and Means To An End, both songs from his time in the band, sound massive today, and Green performs them in his usual commanding manner.

Sepultura also rip through three brand new songs from their recent The Cloud Of Unknowing EP, something that most bands on their final run would never even consider doing. The almost proggy The Place actually sounds more than at home in amongst their more legendary material.

Ultimately, though, as great as all of this is, things really reach fever pitch with the set's final lap. Can any band in heavy music match Territory, Refuse/Resist, Arise, Ratamahatta and Roots Bloody Roots as five-song run? Bloodstock clearly doesn’t think so and goes absolutely feral for 20 minutes of pure metal perfection.

As the final chords of Roots… ring out, guitarist Andreas Kisser thanks everyone for 42 years of support and to congratulate Bloodstock on its 25th anniversary; as he does Green stands beside him, glassy eyed and clearly emotional, knowing that this will be his last time in front of a UK Sepultura crowd. What a band, what a way to sign off.

Bloodstock is back, baby! After a triumphant first night with Saxon - who headlined the very first event back in 2001 - the 25th birthday celebrations are well underway by the time Lamb Of God rock up on Friday evening. It's their third time taking top spot - putting them on equal footing with Judas Priest and Nightwish for the bands who've headlined the festival most - and they aren't fucking about getting things started.

A blast of sparks marks their arrival as they get stuck into Ruin. From there, we get a crash course in why Lamb Of God are so beloved on these shores. Laid To Rest and Now You've Got Something To Die For are undeniable anthems, kickstarting a flurry of movement that is astonishing considering the day has effectively been HIT training with each successive band turning the dial up (Life Of Agony - Fit For An Autopsy - Biohazard - Municipal Waste - Sepultura's final UK show).

For all the energy the crowd bring, Randy seems to want to match them pace-for-pace. Leaping, howling and stomping his way around with a demonic sense of vitality, his howls take on an almost screeching, manic fury. It's all off-set with a sense of playfulness and humour that betrays that they aren't the same band who seethed with a genuine sense of danger and destructive force 20-odd years ago and to be honest, they're better for the change.

There's a sense these lads actually like each other, and are having the time of their lives on stage (Randy even brings out his beloved mock-British character "Roger Brilliant" for a few bits that clearly crack up guitarist Mark Morton), inviting 20,000 metal fans to join in the fun. Enhanced with pyro and some freewheeling instrumentals, the set feels loose and joyous as the band span almost their entire careers (no New American Gospel or Omens era tracks stops it being a clean sweep). While there's a few dips - the drum solo after Parasocial Christ doesn't help - they manage to keep things tight and explosive for the most part.

Given just how consistently brilliant they've been live over the past 26 years, it's easy to take Lamb Of God for granted. But when they break out the likes of Walk With Me In Hell, 512 or even a newer rager like Momento Mori, you can't deny they basically set the bar for 21st Century metal bands live. Accept no substitute.

The 25th anniversary edition of Bloodstock Open Air Festival kicked off this week and tonight organisers announced Mercyful Fate, Electric Callboy and Motionless In White as main stage headliners for next year's 26th year of the event.

With Lamb of God, Saxon, Slaughter To Prevail and Judas Priest headlining at Catton Park in Derbyshire, England, this weekend, fans who had just watched Municipal Waste's set on Friday were told who will be the big hitters on the Ronnie James Dio Main Stage in 2027.

In a statement announcing the 2027 lineup, Friday's headliners Mercyful Fate say: "Mercyful Fate is honoured and looking extremely forward to playing Bloodstock again. Last time was awesome, and this time with a brand new album out, finally!"

Saturday's main draw Electric Callboy will be headlining the festival for the first time. The German electro-metal party-starters are cover stars of the new issue of Metal Hammer magazine which is available with an exclusive cover and special art print.

On being confirmed as Sunday headliners for 2027, Motionless In White frontman Chris Motionless says: "We were told that we are one of the most requested bands to perform at your legendary festival, so it is with great honour to announce that we are answering the call and will be seeing you next year for our first ever European festival headlining show, and only UK show of 2027! Thank you so much! Let the countdown begin."

The Sophie Lancaster stage in 2027 will be headlined by Madball, Gaerea, Kanonenfieber and Dethklok.

It's around 10pm on Saturday night, and up on the huge stage in front of me, a worried-looking keyboardist in priestly garb and corpse paint is getting burned at the stake. Behind him is a giant image of a grinning, hooded werewolf, looming over crumbling ruins that resemble an old, decaying church. In front of him are about 70,000 screaming, fist-pumping, circle-pitting and crowdsurfing metalheads. Some on the front row are so overcome with emotion that they're bawling their eyes out. It's unlike any spectacle I've seen in 25 years of metal shows.

This is Powerwolf, the supernaturally-inclined German power metallers that have become one of Europe's most surprising success stories, playing their biggest ever show at Wacken Open Air, their country's premier metal event. It's a powerful moment for Wacken itself, which over 35 years has grown from a small, local gig nestled in some farmland in North Germany into the biggest metal festival on planet Earth.

In a climate where large-scale rock and metal fests are more commonplace than ever - Germany alone also has Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, Summer Breeze and Rockharz taking place every summer - Wacken positions itself as a true Mecca of metal, informally referring to its main arena as the 'Holy Land' and welcoming a black-clad army of 85,000 each year.

It's certainly an event of some scale - upon walking onsite for the first time on Thursday afternoon and around areas that include two big outdoor stages (plus a couple of smaller ones), a large array of food stalls, stores and merchandise stands, a tattoo shop, some bars and even a full farmer's market, imagine my surprise upon realising that I haven't actually arrived at the main arena space yet.

In there are the festival's two biggest stages - Faster and Harder, built side by side and timetabled so bands never overlap - with the festival's third biggest stage, Louder, a few hundred metres around the corner. There are also the Wackinger and Wasteland stages, plus the W:E:T and Headbanger stages I strolled past earlier, making it seven decent-sized, outdoor stages in total.

It's a little overwhelming at first - from some vantage points you can spot three or four big screens showing different bands playing at once - but despite the sheer amount of people here and all the stuff going on, it never feels too busy. The atmosphere is relaxed, there are no signs of any crowd surging or bottlenecking and the stages are all spread widely enough not to interfere with each other, but are never a slog to get to (at least, not in the lovely weather we're blessed with - a repeat of last year's mud may have been a different story).

This year, Wacken is marking its 35th anniversary and the celebratory vibes last all weekend, not least from the stacked lineup. Old school heavy metal legends Def Leppard and Judas Priest roll out the bangers on Thursday and Friday night respectively, garnering the kind of full-hearted singalongs that'll guarantee some croaky throats in the morning. Swedish melodeath veterans In Flames and Arch Enemy - the latter fronted by fire-throated new singer Lauren Hart - slay it on the main stages in front of tens of thousands.

The future of metal looks in safe hands thanks to a clinical but bruising hour from rising Swedes Orbit Culture, who bounce back from some initial technical issues, while modern British metal gets a fine showing courtesy of Employed To Serve and Bleed From Within's pulverising sets. Both bands look like they're having an absolute blast in front of pleasingly large crowds on Wacken's third and fourth stages.

Elsewhere on the site, just about every corner of heavy music is represented, whether it's Hatebreed's battering metallic hardcore, Emperor's flaying black metal majesty or Municipal Waste's chaotic crossover thrash. Lamb Of God, meanwhile, put on what might just be the set of the weekend, making the most of their sixty minutes with an absolute scorched earth performance, the likes of Walk With Me In Hell and Set To Fail landing so hard it's a surprise the dusty ground beneath us isn't cracking open.

All of this makes for a great metal weekender, but its the thought put into Wacken's organisation that makes it feel like a step above. There's an abundance of shaded areas to sit in - much needed in the thirty-plus degree heat that hits on Thursday - plus a decent scattering of water points and proper, flushing toilets and accompanying sinks. It means you're never more than a ten minute walk or so from a quick rinse or a water top-up (again, weather-permitting). There are also booths dispensing free sun cream and walking vendors selling drinks and snacks (and, er, cigarettes).

Queues for some food stands and facilities are inevitable at certain times but they never seem to get out of control, especially compared to many big festivals; I'm pretty sure I never had to wait more than five minutes or so to get served. It paints the picture of a festival that has a) grown organically and b) continued to prioritise the enjoyment and comfort of the people buying tickets.

It also means you can see a band like Saturday night headliners Sabaton draw a metal crowd the size of which would have once been exclusively reserved for Iron Maiden or Metallica. The war-obsessed Swedes tag in from fellow power metal heavyweights Powerwolf to bring Wacken 2026 to a pyro-powered peak, setting off enough fireworks to fuel a decade of bonfire nights - not to mention their massive tank drum kit that ends up being suspended from the ceiling at one point.

It's bombastic. It's epic. It's completely ludicrous. It's heavy metal in its final form, and it's the kind of thing this festival was built for. There's no doubt about it: Wacken Open Air is the home of metal, and this was a special weekend.

Dozens of heavy metal bands have been confirmed for the lineup of German mega-festival Wacken Open Air in 2027.

Leading the pack are US groove metal arena-fillers Five Finger Death Punch, German power metal veterans Helloween and German electronicore party-starters Electric Callboy (who grace the cover of this month’s Metal Hammer).

Also announced are UK power metal band Dragonforce, who’ll be playing a 2027 European exclusive and joined by their recently added co-vocalist, ex-Arch Enemy member Alissa White-Gluz. White-Gluz’s new band Blue Medusa will appear, too.

German metal band Edguy will play as part of their farewell tour and, on the more extreme end, blackened death metal unit Kanonenfieber will put on a show featuring the production from their own curated festival, Kanonenfest.

Ex-Anthrax singer John Bush will play a special set featuring material by his former thrash band, and Children Of Bodom will play following their recent reunion with new frontman Samy Elbanna. Elbanna replaces the Finnish quintet’s late founder, Alexi Laiho.

The full list of names is available below. The festival, which is held annually near Wacken village in north Germany, will take place from July 28 to 31.

This first wave of 2027 acts was announced as Wacken Open Air 2026 came to a close on Saturday (August 1). It remains to be seen whether any in this crop are headlining the festival.

Wacken this year was headlined by Def Leppard, Sabaton and Judas Priest. Powerwolf, In Flames, Savatage, Arch Enemy (now fronted by Lauren Hart), Saxon, Lamb Of God, Europe, Emperor and many more also populated the bill. Electric Callboy played an exclusive Electric Bassboy DJ set at the event, celebrating the release of their upcoming album Tanzneid this week.

Wacken is Five Finger Death Punch’s first announced date for the 2027 European festival season, but the band will headline a tour across the continent from January to February. The headline run will include a show at the O2 Arena in London, their biggest-ever UK performance. Lamb Of God and Bleed From Within will serve as support for those dates.

As for Electric Callboy, the band are currently on the cover of Hammer, and inside the issue they tell the story of Tanzneid and their career so far. Co-singer Nico opens up about his past throwing weekly house parties for all his friends.

“At its peak, we had 80 people in this tiny flat. People that we didn’t know were ringing the doorbell,” he says. “They treated our flat like shit. I wanted to go to bed, and there were drinks and liquids that I couldn’t identify all over my bed! Very good memories, even if it doesn’t sound like it.”

The six-piece, who released their latest single The Way You Are last week, are still touring Europe and will bring their Electric Bassboy show to their own festival, Escalation, on August 7. The day after, they’ll headline the event. Order the new Hammer, with Electric Callboy on the cover, and get it delivered directly to your door.

Helloween’s Wacken 2027 appearance will be part of their ongoing 40th-anniversary celebrations. They’re currently making their way across Europe and will play the Concert Music Festival in Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain, on Thursday (August 6). A Latin American tour is in place for August and September. Wacken will be part of a 2027 summer European run also featuring dates in Spain and the Czech Republic.

Wacken 2027 bands:

• John 5
• Avatar
• Beast In Black
• Belphegor
• Between Two Worlds
• Blue Medusa
• The Browning
• John Bush (Anthrax set)
• Carnifex
• Cavalera Conspiracy
• Children Of Bodom
• Creeper
• Crypta
• Dark Tranquillity
• Dethklok
• Dragonforce
• Edguy
• Electric Callboy
• Feuerschwanz
• Five Finger Death Punch
• Gaerea
• Hammerfall
• Heaven Shall Burn
• Heavens Gate
• Helloween (40th-anniversary set)
• Hiraes
• Imminence
• Jinjer
• Kanonenfieber (Kanonenfest set)
• Knocked Loose
• Make Them Suffer
• Malevolence
• Metal Church
• Mittel Alta
• The Narrator
• The New Roses
• Norther
• Overkill
• Primordial
• Seven Blood
• Shadow Of Intent
• Sylosis
• Tailgunner
• Towards The Sinister
• Tyketto
• U.D.O.
• Victorious
• Witch Club Satan

Iron Maiden have thanked fans who attended Eddfest earlier this month in a six-minute video that takes viewers behind the scenes at Knebworth Park and features contributions from band leader Steve Harris.

In the blurb accompanying the video, the band thank the fans who attended the festival, their merch partners, and the crew, before revealing that the Maiden-branded parasols at Eddie's Dive Bar were stolen on opening night and expressing their disappointment.

"Not cool, guys," they say. "Literally."

Highlights of the video include Harris exploring the festival site and embracing former Irons singer Blaze Bayley, footage of the Infinite Dreams Experience and the Unfair Funfair, as well as live and backstage footage of the band.

"I walked around before the public came in," says Harris. "I went around and looked at all the stuff. It's just amazing. All the museum stuff. It was just outrageous, really."

Harris also reveals that he watched the sets by all the Irons-connected bands he chose to perform on the first night of the festival. This lineup included Bayley, Stray, Gypsy's Kiss, Maiden United 1980, Airforce and Tony Moore's Awake.

Iron Maiden kick off the North American leg of the Run For Your Lives tour in Toronto at the end of August, which is followed by dates in Central and South America, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Full schedule below.

Iron Maiden: 2026 Run For Your Lives tour

Aug 29: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
Aug 30: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
Sep 03: Montréal Parc Jean-Drapeau, QC
Sep 05: Harrison Sports Illustrated Stadium, NJ
Sep 06: Harrison Sports Illustrated Stadium, NJ
Sep 09: Boston TD Garden, MA
Sep 11: Bristow Jiffy Lube Live, OK
Sep 12: Charlotte Truliant Amphitheater, NC
Sep 15: Hershey Hersheypark Stadium, PA
Sep 17: Louisville Louder Than Life Festival, KY
Sep 19: Shakopee Mystic Amphitheater, MN
Sep 22: Chicago Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre, IL
Sep 25: Los Angeles BMO Stadium, CA
Sep 27: Los Angeles BMO Stadium, CA
Sep 29: San Antonio Alamodome, TX
Oct 02: Mexico City Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico

Oct 05: San Salvador Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González, El Salvador
Oct 08: San José Estadio Nacional, Costa Rica
Oct 11: Bogotá Vive Claro, Colombia
Oct 14: Quito Estadio Atahualpa, Ecuador
Oct 17: Lima Estadio Nacional, Peru
Oct 20: Buenos Aires Estadio Hurácan, Argentina
Oct 21: Buenos Aires Estadio Hurácan, Argentina
Oct 25: São Paulo Allianz Parque, Brazil
Oct 27: São Paulo Allianz Parque, Brazil
Oct 28: Curitiba Arena da Baixada, Brazil
Oct 31: Santiago Estadio Nacional, Chile
Nov 01: Santiago Estadio Nacional, Chile

Nov 07: Auckland Spark Arena, New Zealand
Nov 08: Auckland Spark Arena, New Zealand
Nov 11: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Australia
Nov 13: Melbourne AAMI Park, Australia
Nov 15: Sydney Allianz Stadium, Australia
Nov 18: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Australia
Nov 19: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Australia
Nov 24: Yokohama K-Arena, Japan
Nov 25: Yokohama K-Arena, Japan

Find Iron Maiden tickets.

"You'd think there was a football match on!" grins Bruce Dickinson as he looks out over 50,000 giddy Iron Maiden fans having a thoroughly lovely time in the hazy evening sunshine. In just over three hours from now, England's men's team will have confirmed their place in a World Cup semi final, but here at Knebworth, there are far more pressing matters: celebrating 50 years of this country's most storied heavy metal band.

A year on from a historic homecoming gig at West Ham's London stadium, you'd be forgiven for assuming that Eddfest - Maiden's first ever curated, multi-day festival - is little more than a fist-pumping victory lap for a band that are well into the second year of their Run For Your Lives world tour. Nope. From the second you walk onto the festival grounds, you feel less like you're at Yet Another Iron Maiden Show and more like you've just stumbled into a fanatic Maiden fan club member's fever dream.

At the top of the site is an open air mini-museum boasting props and costumes from five decades of touring. Everything from Paul Di'Anno's 80s leather jacket to OG Pharaoh Eddie and Dance Of Death grim reapers are on display, and fans of all ages are gravitating to attractions from their favourite era; everyone has that Maiden tour that means something to them.

Around the corner is 'Maidenville', a bespoke mini-fest of its own featuring Eddie-fied attractions, a Maiden-themed tattoo parlour, an Eddie dive bar and its own stage which, last night, Maiden alumni Blaze Blayley headlined. We're in Maiden heaven here, basically, and the main event hasn't even got going yet.

Eddfest's main stage eventually kicks off courtesy of some well-received pub rock boisterousness from The Almighty and Airbourne, but it's The Hu who really crank things up a notch. Their unique Mongolian folk metal stomp sounds huge, and the band look genuinely blown away to be here and at the reception they receive.

The Darkness arrive next, and while their decision to start their set with a cut from last year's decent but lesser known Dreams On Toast album warrants a relatively muted response, they quickly make amends with a riotous showing packing plenty of bangers from legendary debut Permission To Land, a cheeky Led Zeppelin jam and a welcome drop of the title track from the vastly underrated One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back.

It goes down very well, but nothing can compare to the reaction that greets the PA blasting UFO's Doctor Doctor about 40 minutes later, signalling the arrival of this weekend's grand finale. The huge LED backdrop that has given Maiden a thoroughly modern upgrade on this tour flickers into life, and suddenly Knebworth is bathed in the gloomy, amber hue of 80s East London, a rollocking Murders In The Rue Morgue kicking off the gritty but anthemic four-track run plucked from the band's Di'Anno era.

Stomping around in a biker jacket, long hair pulled tight into a slick ponytail, Bruce Dickinson sounds on fine form as he screeches his way through a lairy Number Of The Beast next, Steve Harris' propulsive bass lines thundering along under his wails as the band are surrounded by bursts of fiery orange flame.

"This is the first time we've played this song in 38 years," Dickinson notes before Maiden launch into much-requested, Seventh Son-era fan favourite Infinite Dreams. "Well...technically it's the first time since Tuesday night in Lisbon, but don't worry about that," he corrects himself to a few thousand chuckles. The atmosphere here is as warm as the weather, and the metal veterans seem to be enjoying the hell out of themselves.

Infinite Dreams is the only tweak from last year's setlist (and a welcome one at that; what took them so long?!), meaning that many here already know what to expect from hereon in. Not that it matters; whether they're dropping urgent heavy metal ragers like 2 Minutes To Midnight and Powerslave or prog metal epics like Rime Of The Ancient Mariner and a stunning Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, Maiden are putting on a masterclass in heavy metal history, and everyone is lapping it up.

These lads rarely miss live, though. What really sets this performance aside is that it's brought to a close a whole weekend that has allowed one of metal's most passionate fanbases to immerse themselves in Maiden's world. Iron Maiden won't be here in another 50 years' time, but their legacy will. What a triumph.

Even if it was merely a big, outdoor gig, Iron Maiden’s Eddfest would be one of the events of the year. But there’s more to it than just the music. Infinite Dreams Experience is an on-site display of props and memorabilia from Maiden’s illustrious 50-year history.

“A big part of doing this is to show fans items that have never seen the light of day apart from on past tours,” says Ben Smallwood, the Infinite Dreams Experience creative director. “It’s a way of inviting the fans into the Maiden world, giving them more access and a chance to see these things up close.”

The items on display run from the 80s to most recent tours. It goes without saying that Eddie features rather prominently throughout.

“Some of it is very old, from the 80s, but the [props are] great to see up close because they’re so clearly handmade and have real character,” says Ben. “We’re excited to share it because it’s a huge part of who Maiden are and their history.”

Read on, as Ben talks us through some of the items that will be on display at Eddfest.

Clairvoyant Eddie

“Derek Riggs’ The Clairvoyant artwork from the Seventh Son era is one of Steve’s favourite pieces of art. This specific prop is from the Maiden England tour [2012-14], and it was used during the track Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. It’s massive – the full-sized bust is probably three metres tall.”

Tank Commander Eddie

“He appeared on top of the tank turret on the A Matter Of Life And Death tour in 2006-07, looking through his binoculars. We’ll be displaying Tank Commander Eddie, but there’s not room for the actual tank.”

Cyborg Eddie

“This is Cyborg Eddie from the Somewhere Back In Time tour in 2008-09. He stands about four metres tall. A big Eddie!”

Sarcophagus Eddie

“That’s an original sarcophagus from the World Slavery tour [1984-85]. He’s a big lad. Steve has kept some other items from that tour at his house, and he’s loaning them to the museum. We’ve got the big Sarcophagus Eddie that splits open and the mummy comes out.”

Grim Reaper Eddie

“It’s from the Dance Of Death tour [2003-04]. He was our pop-up Eddie during the song Iron Maiden.”

Baphomet

“That’s Baphomet from the Final Frontier tour [2010-11]. He appeared during The Number Of The Beast. It’s huge – you can sit on its lap like it’s Christmas and he’s Santa Claus!”

Icebergs

“Those are the icebergs from the Maiden England tour, which is obviously Seventh Son themed. The cages are actually on hydraulics. They would sit under the stage, and then the hydraulic lifts would push them up into
the stage set.”

Polish poster and police hat

“That’s one of the posters used to advertise the Behind The Iron Curtain tour in 1984 [part of the World Slavery tour], which was the first time a Western band had taken a major show to Eastern Europe. Publicity was still under the control of the Soviet Union, so you weren’t allowed to print artwork or logos. Kenny Feuerman, who directed the Behind The Iron Curtain documentary, took one off the wall and kept it. He also kept one of the Polish police hats that were thrown onstage. They’re authentic antiques from that era.”

Egyptian Cat

“It was part of the stage set from the Somewhere Back In Time tour. We also have the original animals from the World Slavery tour, though they’re obviously a lot older and not in as good condition.”

Iron Maiden are on the cover of the brand new issue of Metal Hammer – which comes with an exclusive Maiden Eddfest water bottle! Order your copy online here and have it delivered straight to your door. You can also get an alternate cover version of the magazine with a glow-in-the-dark Maiden shirt in an exclusive bundle here.

The summer music festival season is in full swing, with live events happening all over the world featuring some of the biggest bands around. But, as you’ll be well aware, there’s no Glastonbury this year with the Worthy Farm festival having a fallow year, with the plan for it to return in 2027.

With the weather finally sorting itself out, have you thought about creating your own festival experience at home to fill the gap?

You and your friends can avoid the inevitable downpours, the massive queues at the bar, the pricy food, the late nights and the hassle of pitching a tent when you’d much rather be seeing live music.

I’ve picked out several products that can help transform your living room, bedroom or patio into a mini-festival site - and with the BBC currently showing highlights and a selection of live sets from the 2025 festival including The Prodigy’s blistering performance, alongside classic performances such as Radiohead from 1997 and The Cure from 2019 via the BBC iPlayer, it’s a great time to add some festival joy to the summer.

If you want a bit more inspiration when creating your Glastonbury at home experience, how about setting up a food and drink station, complete with bowls of snacks, plastic glasses and an ice bucket in the hall? You could even replace the bean bags I mentioned above with camping chairs - although it might now be quite as comfy.

Give your guests a running order for the day ahead - and plan in times for games of Hitster, giant jenga and food breaks for pizza delivery. You could even get some VIP lanyards printed, allowing "exclusive access" to your living room and fit some blackout curtains to create a night vibe for the whole day.

And if you think the noise might upset your neighbours, invite them round to join in!

50 years, 17 albums, over 2,500 shows under their belt – Iron Maiden show no signs of stopping.

On 10-11 July, Maiden celebrate their half-century in style, with Eddfest, an Iron Maiden party in the grounds of Knebworth. To mark it, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer have teamed up with Maiden to create a killer-collectible: the official programme and museum guide!

Eddited by Iron Maiden Fan Club Edditor Alexander Milas, the programme features exclusive interviews, including founder Steve Harris looking back at over 50 years of heavy metal mayhem, plus the official guide to the Infinite Dreams Experience, the open-air Maiden Museum full of stage props and Maiden memorabilia collected over a half-century of historic tours.

There’s an all-new interview with Blaze Bayley, archive content from the pages of Metal Hammer and Classic Rock (and sister magazines like Guitarist, Guitar Player and more), a letter from Rod Smallwood, interviews with the festival’s many guests, chats with Maiden artists Alberto ‘Akirant’ Quirantes and Hervé Monjeaud, the inside story of Trooper beer and more besides.

The programme is going to become a must-have collector’s item – so get it while you can. Available at the festival or via our exclusive pre-sale on the Classic Rock and Metal Hammer online store.

PLEASE NOTE: ANY PRE-ORDERED ITEMS WILL NOT BE DELIVERED BEFORE EDDFEST IN JULY.

They are Iron Maiden. Hallowed be thy name.

Just what is it about Glastonbury? 55 years in and the world's most famous music festival continues to create headlines, crown new stars and produce those one-of-a-kind, you-had-to-be-there moments that get talked about for years after.

Michael Eavis' creation has survived all manner of changing trends, dramatic cultural shifts and the rise and fall of countless major music acts, evolving from more rock and folk-centred lineups to eventually embrace dance music, reggae, metal, country, hip hop and, despite the protestations of a few grumpy gatekeepers, pop.

2025's edition boasted a typically varied bill, everything from the experimental punk of Turnstile to the scabrous rap of Denzel Curry to the delirious trash-pop of Charli XCX and chaotic big beat of The Prodigy represented. Each year, the list of iconic Glasto performances only seems to get bigger. With the festival taking a well earned break this year, here are the 15 greatest Glastonbury sets of all time, so far.

The Smiths (1984)

More than a decade had passed since the birth of Glastonbury Festival, and the music scene that it represented in the early '70’s had moved on some way as we reached the mid-point of the 1980’s.

Not that these changes were particularly reflected in the line-up of the festival, with the 1984 bill featuring jazz legends Fela Kuti and Dr. John and new wave hero Elvis Costello headlining. But, halfway down the bill on the Saturday, Michael Eavis had booked a band that would give the festival the lightbulb moment it needed, leading to its refusal to stagnate ever again.

The Smiths only had one album at this point, their self-titled debut, released in February of that year, but already they were becoming cult-like, a magnet for frustrated and disaffected youth. No one quite knew what was going to happen when Morrissey and Johnny Marr led the Manchester quartet out that day, but their ten-song set seemed to be a siren for young people to appear from nowhere and turn the Pyramid Stage from a docile field of hippies into an pogoing indie disco.

By the time a triumphant Hand in Glove closed the show, a full-blown stage invasion was happening. The festival would never ignore the zeitgeist again.

Orbital (1994)

Glastonbury’s relationship with dance music wasn’t an immediately happy one. Michael Eavis has openly admitted he didn’t care for the style, and when a series of free parties started springing up on site around the time that the UK rave scene was being vilified as public enemy number one in the media, a sense of lawlessness that was the antithesis of Glastonbury’s purpose caused all manner of headaches.

But when the Criminal Justice Act bill of 1994 scandalously targeted and criminalised fans of acid house, the festival, rather than shun the genre, showed solidarity and embraced it.

Brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll, aka Orbital, were installed as NME Stage headliners that year and proceeded to perform a set that has gone down as a kind of EDM big bang for festivals the world over.

Not only was the duo's hypnotic set of euphoric beats rapturously received, it showed that dance artists could compete with the traditional guitar band set up, opening the door for The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Moby, Fatboy Slim and more to become an integral part of the festival's fabric.

Perhaps even more importantly though, the booking was a statement of political intent, one that defied the government's heavy-handed and discriminatory stance. It offered solid proof that the anti-establishment principles which gave birth to the festival were still alive and well.

Pulp (1995)

When The Stone Roses pulled out of their 1995 headline slot at the last-minute, after guitarist John Squire broke his collarbone and a shoulder blade falling off a mountain bike, Glastonbury was in urgent need of a replacement to close the Pyramid Stage on the festival's Saturday night.

On the face of it, Pulp, indie journeymen who had been plugging away for the past 15 years, and had only just begun to experience crossover success with their 1994 album His ‘n’ Hers, may have seemed like an underwhelming alternative to the mercurial Mancunians.

But the Sheffield band had a pretty huge ace up their sleeve, having just released what would become their definitive anthem; the arch pop of Common People. So big a hit was the song, that Glastonbury took a punt on the band as headliners, and Pulp repaid them with the performance of their career.

Suave, self-depreciating, charmingly geeky and yet blessed with the kind of charisma that you couldn’t take your eyes off, frontman Jarvis Cocker wonderfully conducted the crowd through his band's brilliantly odd, distinctly British, working class, guitar pop anthems. The reaction when the first notes of Common People’s disco throb begin, just after Cocker has read out his weekly shopping list by way of farewell, is spine-tingling stuff.

It elevated Pulp from cult favourites into one of the biggest bands in the country and turned Jarvis into a national treasure. One of the all-time great feel-good stories of the festival's history.

The Prodigy (1997)

Three days before The Fat Of The Land dropped and confirmed The Prodigy as one of the most significant and influential acts of the 90s, Essex's favourite firestarters rocked up to the Pyramid Stage to play one of the most explosive EDM sets ever seen at a major music festival. The first dance band to make the step up to Pyramid headliner, Liam, Keith, Maxim and their bandmates blew Glasto away with the kind of relentless, visceral energy usually more associated with the most confrontational punk and metal bands rather than anything out of the UK rave scene.

A break in the set owing to some equipment failure only heightened the sense of anticipation around the crowd when the band finally made it back onstage. By that point, Glastonbury was already an absolute mudbath, days of heavy rain in the lead up to the festival turning it into a bog as soon as punters stepped within its boundaries.

It didn't matter; The Prodigy had seas of people bouncing, moshing and dancing like maniacs, newer cuts like Smack My Bitch Up, Breathe and number one smash hit Firestarter establishing themselves not just as career-high bangers, but some of the heaviest, most essential anthems of their era. Incredibly, this incendiary set was arguably not even the most iconic Glastonbury performance of that year...

Radiohead (1997)

By 1997, BritPop had been a national obsession for a few years, and that summer's Glastonbury line-up reflected that. But, although no one knew it at the time, the rug was very much about to be pulled out from underneath the movement.

Two weeks before the festival took place, Radiohead released their third album Ok Computer. Installed as Pyramid Stage headliners on the festival's Saturday night, the Oxfordshire band put on a performance that was so good it arguably contributed to changing the entire landscape of popular music in Britain.

Rather than coming out with a bang in an attempt to immediately grab attention, Radiohead teased out the opening of their set with the slow, delicate Lucky. It seemed a risk to start a first ever festival headlining set with a song placed as track 11 on an album that came out just 12 days earlier, but it immediately marked Radiohead out as the antithesis of the zeitgeist.

From there the Glastonbury audience was held rapt, becoming hypnotised by the band ran through a set of songs that sounded completely unique, utterly advanced and totally alien. Take a look at Thom Yorke wailing along, his body flinching and juddering, trying to keep in rhythm with his band as Johnny Greenwood’s iconic solo during Paranoid Android rips out of the Pyramid Stage PA, it’s a truly transcendent moment.

Unquestionably one of the greatest sets in the history of live music, raising the bar to near impossible standards.

David Bowie (2000)

Michael Eavis once described David Bowie as one of the three greatest singers of all time, alongside Elvis and Frank Sinatra, and Bowie hadn’t rocked up at Worthy Farm since its second iteration back in 1971, so this one was always going to be a bit special.

Let's be honest, there is a more than a touch of revisionism when discussing Bowie these days; during the late '80s and into the '90s he wasn’t being lauded as a forward-thinking visionary in quite the same way as he is now, with albums from that period like Earthling and Black Tie, White Noise getting a lukewarm reaction upon their release. This performance, though, did as much as anything to re-cement Bowie’s place at the very pinnacle of popular culture, as he ran through a greatest hits set that reminded the entire world of his undoubted genius. Also, the warmth with which the veteran performer later spoke about his experiences at the festival was evidence of just how hallowed even the biggest artists considered this site to be.

Watching the set back today, the mass sing-along during Heroes, Life on Mars or Under Pressure are positively life affirming, but don’t ignore Bowie ending his set on a fantastic version of I’m Afraid of Americans, a nod to his thirst to remain relevant and never sink into the nostalgia quagmire.

Amy Winehouse (2007)

Everyone in the music industry knew that Amy Winehouse was a talent long before this performance blew her stratospheric. But Glastonbury 2007 is the moment where everyone could see that Winehouse was more than just a gifted, enigmatic vocalist; she was a true one-off, destined to be one of the finest artists that Britain has ever produced.

Less than a year earlier, her second album Back To Black had received plaudits from pretty much every corner of the music world, but as she stepped onto the Pyramid Stage for her early afternoon slot on the festival's Friday, it felt like everything that made her so special became amplified for the entire world to see.

There’s just something so brilliantly unique about Winehouse here; slim, petite but lacking the airs and graces of a typical diva singer, she wipes the mud from her shoes on her backing curtain, before shuffling on and effortlessly belting out opening track Addicted. From there on in, it’s a greatest hits set with a few covers - Sam Cooke’s Cupid, The Specials Hey Little Rich Girl and Toots & The Maytals Monkey Man - thrown in for good measure. Great as they are, though, nothing really can compete with the awe-inspiring performances of You Know I’m No Good and Rehab, the pure soul and pain that glides so effortlessly from her mouth showing an artist at the peak of her powers.

As enigmatic as any artist on this list, Winehouse only ever performed at Glastonbury once more after this. At this point she’d doubtless have been a headliner, making her 2007 peak even more of a bittersweet pill to swallow.

Jay-Z (2008)

When Oasis’ Noel Gallagher scoffed that “Glastonbury has the tradition of guitar music...I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury, it's wrong,” after it was announced that Jay-Z was to headline the Pyramid Stage in 2008, he might have been speaking as an out-of-touch, grumpy, old curmudgeon, but he wasn’t alone in his thinking.

Even back in 2008 the internet loved a pile on, and the purists' ire was keenly felt, with many traditionalists happily jumping onboard the outrage train. How dare Jay-Z take a place on the bill usually reserved for legendary artists such as... er...Travis and Stereophonics...? Seems silly now, doesn’t it? Because those words could not have been more emphatically rammed down the throats of the detractors, as the New York rapper provided one of the all-time iconic Glastonbury moments by walking out to one of the biggest crowds seen in years, guitar in tow, and began to giggle his way through a sarcasm-laced cover of Wonderwall, before launching into an awe-inspiring mash up of 99 Problems and AC/DC’s Back In Black. As intros go, it might just be the best ever.

From there on in Jay couldn’t fail, drawing on one of the most bullet-proof, hit-filled catalogues in modern music, and chucking in snippets of The Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up and Amy Winehouse’s Rehab just hammered home the win.

This killer set opened the door for Kanye West, Beyonce, Stormzy, Dave and others to storm the festival in later years, and make anyone who ever questioned hip-hop's place at Glastonbury again look exceedingly daft, at best.

Metallica (2014)

Save for the odd booking of alt-metal here and there over the years, Glastonbury had never truly embraced heavy metal. Which, considering the festival's reputation as the most musically eclectic on the planet, was quite the source of frustration for some metal fans. It was a huge shock, then, to see Michael and Emily Eavis go from 0 to 100 and book the biggest metal band of all time to close the Pyramid Stage in 2014.

Confusingly, this prospect caused almost as much of a stir as Jay-Z's six years prior, with endless indie no-marks and the same exhausting online commentators lining up to question the booking: as if that were not enough, an anti-hunting group of festival goers created a petition to have them removed due to James Hetfield’s extra-curricular activities. Metallica, as usual, won the day though, mocking the controversy in their set-opening video and playing a set of hard rock and thrash metal that won over even the most sceptical attendee.

In the aftermath Glastonbury would invite Motörhead to perform, and give Earache Records a stage to curate, which saw the likes of Gojira, Napalm Death, Entombed, Venom Prison and Employed To Serve added to the bill. Hard to imagine that would have happened without Metallica kicking the door down.

Dolly Parton (2014)

The day after Metallica laid waste to the Pyramid Stage a very different, but no less exciting, event took place. The long-established Sunday afternoon legends slot on the Pyramid Stage had boasted some great sets by some huge artists, with Tom Jones, Paul Simon, Neil Diamond, Dame Shirley Bassey and more overseeing mass singalongs over the years. But few, if any, pulled such a crowd, or put on such a heartwarming, good-time, fun-filled set, as country legend Dolly Parton did in 2014.

The consummate entertainer, Dolly knew exactly what was required to make the slot work, and with the gargantuan crowd eating from the palm of her hand, she turned a muddy field in Somerset into a Nashville hoedown in the most effortless way. The fact that she could just casually chuck Joelene out as the third song of the set says it all.

Some artists truly do transcend genre, and Parton is one of music's all-time great characters and songwriters. In terms of matching the energy, and reciprocal devotion garnered by that set, only Kylie Minogue’s emotional and long-awaited performance in 2019 could match an hour of Dolly at her best. It was impossible not to raise a smile.

Florence And The Machine (2015)

In 2015, Foo Fighters were due to return to Glastonbury for the first time since 1997, to headline the Pyramid Stage. Then just weeks before the show, Dave Grohl broke his leg falling onstage at a stadium show in Sweden and their entire summer tour was cancelled. Just like 20 years earlier, Glastonbury suddenly needed a new headliner, and just like 20 years previously, the artist that stepped in gave the performance of their career.

Florence And The Machine were already a sizeable outfit, having picked up a BRIT award for their 2009 debut album Lungs, but the jump from well-known, indie rock band to Glastonbury headliner is a chasm. And Florence made the jump with impressive ease, drawing from the best of all three of her albums, and throwing in a beautifully poignant cover of The Foos' Times Like These as a nod to her fallen peers, with Dave Grohl later describing her version as being “better than Foo Fighters had ever played it.” By the time the victory lap of You’ve Got the Love and Dog Days are Over came around, Florence had established herself as an all-time festival headlining act.

Stormzy (2019)

When Stormzy stepped out onto the Pyramid Stage to headline the Friday night of the 2019 festival he was 25-years-old, had one album to his name and was the first grime artist to do so. These events alone have to make his set one of the most astonishing achievements in Glastonbury’s history, but the fact that he made it such a spectacle, such a wonderful celebration of the best of black and alternative British culture and such an emotionally moving experience, cements its place amongst the all-time greats.

Beginning with a video of Jay-Z giving him advice about what to expect from the festival, which was a lovely little call-back, Stormzy walked out in a Banksy-designed, Union Jack stab vest, railed against the Tory government, then brought out members of the Black Ballet company, a full gospel choir, fellow UK grime artists Dave and Fredo and... er... Coldplay’s Chris Martin. In the process, he crowned grime as the definitive British youth culture movement of the modern era.

From an underground musical style from the streets of South London to closing the biggest music festival on Earth, Stormzy’s place at the top of the bill at Glastonbury should give hope to every young musician that the summit can be reached, no matter how stacked the odds are against you.

Foo Fighters (2023)

It might just have been the worst-kept secret in Glasto history. Within days of a mysterious band called 'The Churnups' being added to the Pyramid Stage lineup for 2023's edition, Dave Grohl posted an open letter to Foo Fighters fans that seemingly gave the game away. "Every night, when I see you singing, it makes me sing harder," he said. "When I see you screaming, It makes me scream louder. When I see your tears, it brings me to tears. And when I see your joy, it brings me joy. But, I see you... and it feels good to see you, churning-up these emotions together."

Churning-up emotions? It can't have been a coincidence. And it wasn't: around tea time on the Friday afternoon of Glastonbury 2023, Foo Fighters did indeed stroll out on stage to an ecstatic response from a huge, expectant crowd, launching into a nine-song, banger-filled set to send Worthy Farm bouncing.

It was the Foos' first appearance at Glasto since the death of Taylor Hawkins the year prior, making Dave's emotional dedication of Everlong to his drummer and dear friend all the more poignant. A relatively short set, all things considered, but it might just have been Foos' most impactful festival performance on these shores.

Elton John (2023)

There was no doubting that Elton John's final UK festival show was going to be something special, but it surely exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations. A sparkling, emotional, hits-stacked set that helped draw the curtain on Elton's touring career in style, an incredible two-hour showing broke records and set a new standard for legacy acts on the Pyramid Stage.

Not only did the set draw the biggest ever viewing figures for the BBC's Glasto coverage - peaking at 7.6 million views - but it drew the biggest live crowd the Pyramid had ever seen, a humungous, singing, swaying, dancing, flare-waving army that looked like something out of a particularly fabulous Lord Of The Rings scene. After intense rumours of appearances from Dua Lipa and Britney Spears, Elton instead largely used his time to spotlight younger artists in the form of Jacob Lusk, Stephen Sanchez and Rina Sawayama - a classy act that spoke volumes of the Rocket Man's passion for great music above all else.

From an inevitable but emotional tribute to George Michael to the welcome surprise inclusions of Pinball Wizard and Are You Ready For Love, it was a near-flawless waltz with one of the UK's very greatest songwriters. "This may be my last show ever in England and Great Britain, so I better play well and I better entertain you," a visibly moved Elton remarked at one point. That he certainly did. We may never see a Glastonbury set with quite this level of spectacle and gravitas again.

Turnstile (2025)

Hardcore punk is hardly the first genre you'd associate with Glastonbury, but then Turnstile are quite unlike any band to have ever emerged from the hardcore scene. Many would argue that Baltimore's finest had long outgrown their roots by the time they graced the Other Stage at Worthy Farm; the fizzing, technicolour shine of both 2021's Glow On and last year's Never Enough took as much influence from MGMT and The 1975 as Bad Brains or Trapped Under Ice.

And yet, their live shows remain some of the most chaotic and relentless in all of modern rock music - hell, frontman Brandon Yates became the first musician to stage dive at a Tiny Desk Concert - meaning that, as the mid-afternoon sun baked Glasto nicely on the final day of 2025's edition, it felt like something special could be about to happen.

And special it was. From the second the band skipped out on stage and the shimmering opening notes of Never Enough's title track gave way to that fat, grungy riff, Glastonbury became a city of moshing, bouncing, dancing, crowdsurfing bodies and never let up. What followed was, quite simply, one of the most energetic, electric sets to have hit the festival in recent memory, a welcome reminder that rock music is indeed alive and thriving and that it can still have a home at the world's biggest music festival.

True to its name, Rock For People is a festival that puts people first. As soon as you step foot on the Czech festival grounds, everything feels curated with its 50,000 punters in mind, from its eclectic palette of rock flavours to its ever-conscious commitment to sustainability. It’s the kind of mindset that instantly breeds a sense of community – and within that community, everyone feels safe to let their hair down.

At any given point, Czech crowds never seem to stop moving; whether you’re watching dreamy grunge indie-rockers Wolf Alice, nu-pop-punks South Arcade, or the legendary heavy metal grit of Iron Maiden, you’re guaranteed to lose your pal in a circle pit. And it’s bloody marvellous to see.

With that all said, these are the bands from 2026's edition that won the (long) weekend, as they happened.

Letlive

“This whole project is in the name of liberation,” Jason Aalon Butler proclaims, pausing to catch his breath after the one-two punch of Le Prologue and The Sick, Sick, 6.8 Billion. It’s 1pm, but the post-hardcore frontman has charged up the crowd – when a man rips his shirt off, bounds over and screeches squarely into your face, it quickly scares off even the mightiest of warm-festival-beer hangovers.

Dripping with sweat, Butler churns through cuts like Renegade 86’ and White America's Beautiful Black Market like an exposed wire. He’s grabbing at the drum stand, adrenaline giving him the inhuman strength to drag it halfway across the stage, backflip and treat his mic like a yo-yo. And, of course, he closes things off by climbing to the top of the stage, leaving a hanging mic behind as a souvenir.

The Plot In You

As the sound of thunder rumbles over the speakers, punters truly don’t know what storm lies ahead of them. Because, when The Plot In You take to the stage to the triumphant Divide, it’s an instant case of metalcore brilliance. The clash of metallic guitars and electronic distortion packs a punch, but frontman Landon Tewers is in a class of his own – from the heart-stopping wail of “I CAN’T FUCKING TAKE IT!” to You Get One’s eerie whispers that instantly switch to full-bodied yells, Tewers’ ability to bounce between dynamics is even more impressive in the flesh. It’s fair to say that metalcore is in very safe hands here.

Blood Incantation

With an ominous, glowing obelisk by their side, prog death metallers Blood Incantation are taking Rock For People on a riffy trip through time and space. With their faces hidden behind walls of straggly hair, the Colorado quartet embark on a journey through Metal Hammer’s favourite album of 2024, Absolute Elsewhere, treating crowds to a full playthrough of the dense, cosmic magnum opus. It’s a glorious battle of dark and light, from The Stargate [Tablet II]’s Tangerine Dream daze and clash of surreal death metal existentialism and reverberating sci-fi horror, to The Message [Tablet III]’s culminating high of Pink Floydian triumph.

Papa Roach

Yes, Jacoby Dakota Shaddix looks like he’s stuck his finger in a plug socket – but he knows how to give the people what they want. From opener Even If It Kills Me to the mega Getting Away With Murder, the nu metal frontman has the crowd eating from the palms of Papa Roach's hands. In spite of the mud pools underfoot, everyone is happy to stomp around and let their inhibitions run wild. The set also sees Papa Roach honouring their metal peers in style, welcoming letlive.’s Jason Aalon Butler out for BRAINDEAD before rumbling through their “NU! METAL! TIME! MACHINE!”, ticking off everything from Korn’s Blind to Limp Bizkit’s Break Stuff, before finishing on a high with their own nu metal megahit, Last Resort.

Limp Bizkit

“This is the Limp Bizkit karaoke party!” Fred Durst explains, pointing up at the ever-present screen of lyrics that towers behind him. There’s no prizes to be won for being able to list everything that’s “fucked up” in Hot Dog, so why not just let the drunken masses sing along? There’s no gatekeeping in the House of Durst – everyone is free to kick up some mischief and have a good time.

Of course, as the frankly massive moshpits of Fred Durst lookalikes break out, its clear that a majority of the 50,000-strong crowd know the lyrics by heart anyway. And that’s further confirmed when Durst picks out two fans for Full Nelson – with the language barrier resulting in the more lanky Fred Durst clone just screaming “WOODSTOCK 99!” in response to anything Durst asks. Yet he still knows every word of the song. Go figure.

Bring Me The Horizon

Bring Me The Horizon have been fine-tuning their video-game-like live experience for a few years now, but boy-oh-boy does it keep getting better. As their onscreen AI mascot EVE announces “Rock For People, you are all possessed”, it’s seen as a badge of honour – and the punters confirm just how ‘possessed’ they are by opening up two healthy, circling pits long before opening track DArkSide even kicks into life.

Though, there’s something that’s very different about this headline set in comparison to, say, Bring Me The Horizon’s Arena tour back in 2024. And that’s Sykes’ voice – following his work retraining his deathcore vocals to re-record the band’s debut, Count Your Blessings, his growls sound fucking phenomenal. It makes everything hit that bit sweeter, from The House Of Wolves, to the pyro-centric AmEN!, to the glitching, kawaii-metal infused Kingslayer.

While Damon Albarn is mainly known as a charismatic Britpop darling manning the helm of Blur, we’d argue that Albarn is actually the music world’s ultimate wingman. From cherrypicking the finest new voices to feature on-track to curating the African Express collective to share the most unique sounds from across the globe, he’s always keen to give other people a platform – and Gorillaz is the ultimate sign of that.

While Gorillaz’s unique blend of genre-spanning electro-art-pop is in a league of its own, it’s something Albarn is happy to detach his own ego from. Instead, tonight’s Rock For People headline set is about his cartoon alter ego, 2D – and every talented artist Albarn wants to shine a light on instead of soaking up the attention himself.

As the set kicks off with The Mountain, it perfectly sets the tone of the evening. Serving as the meditative title track from Gorillaz’s psychedelia-infused latest record, the opener bubbles with the Indian flavours that inspired the album – and he’s got the sound of bansuri flautist Ajay Prasanna’s playing wafting over the crowd like a spell. Albarn finally picks up his fuzzy-filtered microphone for the synth-sprinkled The Happy Dictator – but he remains humble, always quick to redirect attention to animated clips or welcome another collaborator onstage.

And the list of collaborators is immense. The God Of Lying sees Albarn welcoming out IDLE’s post-punk frontman Joe Talbot (rocking a very classy safari hat), who at one point gets down on his knees to serenade his collaborator. Then Albarn invites out fresher talent in the form of Kara Jackson, encouraging the 26-year-old to take centre stage for Orange County as he watches on like a proud dad.

Of course, the crowd is delighted at every turn. Whether it manic dance-pits during Delirium’s drug-trip haze or avid pogo-ing during the breezy funk of Andromeda, it’s a blessing. The party seems to spike during cuts like Damascus, with its fantastic meld of American rap and Arabic hip hop. Again, it’s a broad palette – and Albarn just grins, flashing his broken front tooth as he watches his multicultural tapestry unfold.

By the time things begin to round off, with the crowd howling back Feel Good Inc. and circling in a goofy pit for Clint Eastwood, Albarn seems thoroughly chuffed with himself. And rightly so; as he exclaims in shock at one point, “this is meant to be a rock festival!”, but his diverse, borderless world of sprawling dub, hip hop and electronica chaos can charm just about any rock or metalhead. That’s one hell of a badge of honour.

Download festival is the undisputed home of rock and metal here in the UK. Saying that, though, and with our ears still ringing as we reflect on another amazing weekend of music at Download 2026, you can’t help but notice that the festival is happily embracing more and more wildcard bookings from outside of the genre we all love; Five, Scooter and Cypress Hill this year joined the recent bookings of Vengaboys, McFly and Busted to make their debuts at Donington.

You can do one of two things with this surprisingly evolutionary step: you can act the purist, grumpily fold your arms and moan that this is not in line with what you want from Download, or, alternatively, you can do what the majority of punters did this weekend and enjoy these bookings for the fun little added extra they are.

Which is exactly what we have decided to do. So much so that we've picked our out suggestions, from least ludicrous to most ridiculous, for eight more wildcard bookings from outside of rock and metal that we’d love to see Download take a punt on.

The Cure

So maybe this isn’t too much of a stretch, really. Robert Smith’s godfathers of goth have been the inspiration for hundreds of rock and metal bands over the years; from Deftones to Paramore, Nine Inch Nails to Blink 182, your favourite band’s favourite band are The Cure. With their size and reputation, you’re almost certainly looking at a main stage headline slot, but imagine the scene as the sun descended on Castle Donington and the bleak majesty of Burn, Lullaby or A Forest filled the air. What a moment that could be.

Jack White

Again, there won’t be many people claiming that Jack White has nothing to do with rock music, so this feels like a pretty conservative pick. Still, save for a few early years with The White Stripes, Jack has tended to hang more with the indie crowd in his career. Which is a shame, particularly as his 2024 solo album No Name was the most rocking thing he has put his name to in many a year. Plus, for Donington Park, with all of its history, to have never had the riff to Seven Nation Army, arguably the biggest rock song of this Millennium, played on its grounds, feels criminal.

Ice Cube

It’s outside of rock and metal for sure but this doesn’t feel like too controversial a call. Cube and rock 'n' roll have plenty of history together, the rapper playing both the Lollapalooza and Family Values travelling festivals in the 90s alongside the likes of Korn, Ministry, Limp Bizkit, Soundgarden and more. Plus, much like Cypress Hill this year, he’s got a shed-load of crossover tunes that metalheads already love. Stick him on main in the late afternoon and it will be a good day.

Skrillex

With both Pendulum and The Prodigy making regular visits to Download over the years to represent electronic music, it is a bit of a headscratcher that Sonny Moore’s alter ego Skrillex has never played the festival. With his background in the post-hardcore scene and his work with Korn, he seems like the perfect fit for an afternoon slot to get a metal crowd lobbing glow sticks about. Also, as much as it might force you to confront the fact that you are getting really old, we’re surely very close to a dubstep nostalgia revival. When that happens, expect Skrillex to clean up at Donington.

Rick Astley

What would have been considered an absolutely absurd booking a decade ago now feels kind of possible. Astley’s career took an unexpected bump in the late 2000s with the practice of Rickrolling, but it’s when he arrived onstage with Foo Fighters to sing his big hit Never Gonna Give You Up in 2017 at the Summersonic Festival that the tide really turned. Since then, Astley’s career renaissance has seen him join Blossom’s to sing the songs of The Smiths and get a Pyramid Stage booking at Glastonbury. A massive rock fan, he regularly covers Foos, AC/DC, Queen, Biffy Clyro and other rock artists during his set. He would not only surely love to play Download, but he’d also absolutely smash it too.

Demi Lovato

Lovato is one of many post-Avril Lavigne pop artists that are happy to openly admit just how big a part rock plays in their music. 2022’s Holy Fvck album featured a very metal aesthetic, contributions from Linkin Park’s Emily Armstrong and Yungblud and was brought to life on the album's tour by Alice Cooper guitarist Nita Strauss. Get Nita back for Download, lean in on the likes of Skin Of My Teeth and Eat Me, and this would be a killer show.

So Solid Crew

If the last couple of years are anything to go by, the good people of Download don’t half love a bit of early 2000s, lairy pop nostalgia. Five smashed it in 2026, so let's go one further and book the infamous garage riot starters So Solid Crew. Back in the early 2000s they were as controversial as it got here in the UK, with pearl-clutching and outrage following them around all over the place. These days you don’t hear from them so much, but imagine the scene of Lisa Maffia, Romeo, MC Harvey and the rest charging the Dogtooth and spitting out Hater, They Don’t Know and 21 Seconds. It would be wonderful chaos.

East 17

Another one on the Five tip here. In many ways, East 17 were the original bad boy boyband, creating headlines and scaring middle England way before N-Dubz or Blazing Squad ever did. The younger demographic of Download may not know the majesty of songs like It’s Alright, Steam, House of Love or Let It Rain (although, trust us, they’re all absolute bangers), but they’ve got one song that everybody will know. Trust us: when East 17 decide to drop Stay Another Day on a sweltering June evening, Download is suddenly going to feel Christmassy. Sing it with us...STAAAAAY NOOOOWWW!!!!

23 years in and, after a truly blockbuster weekend of beautiful weather, returning legends and some of the most exciting new noises in metal, it seems Download's standing as one of the biggest and most important fixtures in rock remains very much intact. Many bands made their Download debut, while one headlined for the very first time; plenty of others showed that bigger things surely await them. Here, however, are the 10 bands that truly stole the show.

Silent Planet (Friday, Opus stage)

One of the first acts to grace the second stage this year, Silent Planet delivered a battering we still felt as we hauled ourselves home on Monday. The Californians’ EU tour has grabbed plenty of headlines – they gave away shirts in Italy to protest venue merch fees and are booked for two Ukrainian gigs – but beneath the frills, they’re a bollocks-heavy and lyrically conscious outfit. Antimatter and Collider dropped into djent riffs with such force that it made other metalcore bands who draw influence from Meshuggah sound lame in the process, while frontman Garrett Russell screamed his soul out up front. MM

Limp Bizkit (Friday, Apex stage)

The kings of swaggering nu metal bangers finally made the big step up over two decades after they had to cancel on headlining Download's first event, and Fred and the boys didn't disappoint. An all killer, no filler set ensured maximum movement across the field all night - with the sole exception of their mushy cover of The Who's Behind Blue Eyes, which still drew a ton of crowdsurfers and, courtesy of a dedication to Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers, packed a genuine emotional punch. MA Read our full Limp Bizkit review here.

Lowen (Saturday, Dogtooth stage)

One of the most unique and powerful sets of the weekend came early Saturday afternoon in the Dogtooth tent, as London-based British-Iranian metallers Lowen brought some Persian mysticism to Download for the first time. Packing massive, doomy riffs and Middle Eastern melodies sounding like they snaked their way out of the depths of the Caspian Sea, it was a sign that the UK metal underground remains an exciting, inventive place. MA Read our full Lowen review here.

Trivium (Saturday, Apex stage)

With the possible exception of Slipknot - who were already a massive deal and had played Download twice previously by the time they took their legendary headlining slot in 2009 - no band's rise is linked so closely with Download as Trivium. Their Saturday evening set was the first time they've returned to Donington and truly put on a showing that matched that iconic moment in 2005, the nostalgic swell behind classics like Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr only surpassed by the sheer quality of modern anthems like The Catastrophist and The Sin And The Sentence. Modern metal done right. MA Read our full review of Trivium here.

Elder (Saturday, Dogtooth stage)

Slow-burning psych-metal jams in a festival field, before the kind of audience who’ve shown up for Guns N’ Roses and The All-American Rejects? Sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen, yet Elder scored an unlikely win with their Saturday Dogtooth set. Taking the stage just as Trivium finished unloading hell on main, their turn was a welcome lull, pulling Download into a cosmos of immersive melodies and gradual riffs. Watching it, it was excellent, but it was even better when we closed our eyes and let the New Englanders transport us to the haziest corners of our imagination. MM

Kublai Khan TX (Sunday, Apex stage)

Kublai Khan TX’s barrel-chested hardcore was a genius booking for a crowd overcoming their Sunday-morning hangovers. Right after main-stage openers Unpeople blasted everybody awake with the loudest set of the weekend, the Texans stormed in and got them all two-stepping. Frontman Matt Honeycutt demonstrated masterful control of the still-filling field, pulling more than a few weary arses from their camping chairs. Hardcore had an incredible showing at Slam Dunk last month, and after this assured Download debut, maybe camo shorts and Sick Of It All long-sleeves will have their day once the nu metal revival blows over? MM

Bloodywood (Sunday, Apex stage)

It wasn't just the genre's OG icons bringing nu metal mania to Donington this weekend. One of the few modern artists doing something brand new with the sound brought some South Asian thunder to the main stage on Sunday, shaking off any weekend fatigue with their groovy Delhi metal ragers. Anyone not already on board with Bloodywood's brilliantly full-throttle live show would have been converted within minutes of them bouncing out on stage, with one of the funnest sets of the whole festival following. MA Read our full Bloodywood review here.

Skindred (Sunday, Dogtooth stage)

Secret sets have been an on-and-off Download tradition since Metallica appeared unannounced in 2003. So, when an unusual gap was spotted in this year’s Sunday-afternoon Dogtooth schedule, everyone from Pantera to Don Broco was rumoured to be showing up. In the end, it was ragga-metal party-starters Skindred, hot off scoring a UK number-one with April album You Got This. The tent was overflowing as Benji Webbe’s crew oversaw 25 minutes of feel-good mayhem, capped off by a hemmed-in Newport Helicopter. “Come see us at Alexandra Palace on Halloween!” Webbe urges – you got it, mate! MM

Letlive (Sunday, Avalanche stage)

Arriving with a reputation for anarchy, Letlive’s Jason Aalon Butler says the Cali punks were briefed heavily before seizing the stage. We’re not sure what rules were laid out for them, but each was probably broken. The fivesome played a hyper-spirited 40 minutes, loaded with post-hardcore ragers and principled speeches from their frontman. Guitarist Jeff Sahyoun’s mic cable has to be untangled within a couple of songs, before Butler rips his shirt open, tears his trousers, then strips to his boxers. During 27 Club, he scales the scaffolding and ignores demands over the P.A. to climb back down, even as the sound gets cut. An act of awesome, righteous rebellion. MM

Linkin Park (Sunday, Apex stage)

Linkin Park closed out the weekend with a celebratory and emotional run through their hits-stacked catalogue, and there could be no bigger seal of approval on Emily Armstrong becoming Download's first headlining frontwoman than the sheer volume with which Donington sang along with the cuts from 2024's excellent comeback album From Zero. If theres a better way to see out a festival than a packed-out field screaming its heart out to Faint, we haven't seen it. MA Read our full review of Linkin Park here.

"Who has no idea who the fuck we are?" growls Gatecreeper frontman Chase Mason as he glowers over the throng gathered at Download's Dogtooth stage to see the Arizona death metallers cause a little late afternoon chaos. "Well, you're about to find out."

If there was anyone arriving that was still left in any doubt over Gatecreeper's standing as one of the very best things in modern death metal, such concerns are blown away courtesy of one of the weekend's most exciting and relentlessly full-on performances. The boys sound absolutely colossal, Eric Wagner's buzzsaw riffs peeling out with such ferocity you're surprised the tent isn't caving in as Mason sends fans circle pitting in multiple directions.

Melding old school death metal blunt force trauma with sprinklings of hardcore grit, Gatecreeper wear their influences on their longsleeves but channel them into something fresh, 2024's brilliant Dark Superstition adding extra layers of 90s melodeath to bring the five-piece's penchant for a killer hook to the fore.

It gives standout anthems like the chugging, catchy The Black Curtain that little bit more oomph live, suggesting that should momentum build their way, Gatecreeper could comfortably produce songs that'd fill some big venues. As the swirling havoc builds beneath him, Mason remains a focused master of ceremonies, his no-bullshit energy and stoic charisma bringing to mind late, great Power Trip frontman Riley Gale, another singer who brought hardcore energy to the modern metal scene.

By the time Gatecreeper finish up, crowdsurfers are making their way over the barrier, pits are still spinning and there can be no doubt about it: Gatecreeper rule and just put on one of the best sets this stage has seen all weekend.

The sun has made a surprise guest appearance for the third day running this weekend as Indian nu metal sensations Bloodywood arrive on the Apex stage for their second ever Download appearance. Having opened the festival's main stage at its humungous twentieth anniversary edition in 2023, the Delhi crew have jumped up a few spaces this year, their enthralling mash-up of millennial metal riffage and powerful traditional Indian folk music deemed the perfect early afternoon gear change.

Turns out it's a spot-on call: the six-piece's irresistible groove sees a sunshine-drenched Donington kick up a storm, full-throttle circle pits opening up from the second they bounce on stage. Bloodywood's energy and earnest excitement is infectious, and it's nigh-on impossible to avoid damn near banging your head off as the likes of Gaddar and Aaj throw out riffs so bouncy they'd make Godzilla's knees wobble.

Jayant Bhadula and Raoul Kerr are a formidable frontman tag team, Jayant's powerful bellows the perfect foil for Raoul's gruff rapping. "We want to take you back to where it all started!" growls Raoul before Bloodywood drop a thunderous Nu Dehli, the set's highlight alongside an airing of giddy Babymetal collab Bekhauf.

On a weekend where nu metal nostalgia is running rampant - Limp Bizkit, P.O.D., Drowning Pool and Snot having already taken up prime lineup estate with Spineshank and Sunday headliners Linkin Park still to come - it's refreshing to see a band taking the spirit of that genre and moulding it into something genuinely fresh, exciting and vital.

As Raoul and Jayant skip down the Apex stage's ego ramp and Karan Katiyar's riffs send Donington dizzy one more time, Sarthak Pahwa headbanging as he smacks the shit out of his dhol 50 metres behind them, you can't help but believe Bloodywood will be making another jump up the bill the next time they play.

If anticipation levels for Linkin Park's first Download show in over a decade weren't already at fever pitch, the introduction of a countdown 10 full minutes before their set begins does the job nicely. Unlike the relatively sparse crowd that gathered for Guns N' Roses last night, there's an army forming around the Apex stage, Gen Z moshers rubbing shoulders with OG nu metal kids - many of whom have brought their own nu metal kids-in-waiting along for the occasion.

It feels like there's a lot riding on tonight. It's not just LP's first appearance at Donington in twelve years, but their first festival show on these shores since the shocking loss of Chester Bennington in 2017. Throw in the surprising fact that his replacement Emily Armstrong is about to become the first frontwoman to ever headline this festival and you have all the makings of an historic occasion.

As the countdown finally ticks down to zero and nu metal's biggest ever graduates kick into a rollocking Emptiness Machine, any memories of the divided response Emily's appointment received online are banished in an instant. Not only is she greeted with widespread cheers as she saunters up to the mic stand, but her debut LP chorus is sung back at her with all the passion and fullheartedness of any of the band's classics. Put plainly: people are here to party, and the looks on Linkin Park's faces suggest they're happy to follow suite.

An early run of that comeback banger, Lying From You and a colossal Crawling is a blinder of a way to kick things off, and while pacey newer cut Up From The Bottom doesn't quite hit the same heights, Meteora standout Somewhere I Belong kicks the singalongs right back up to ten.

The next phase of the set is a little bit of a mixed bag. The Catalyst is one of Linkin Park's most powerful mid-career anthems, but its confetti-powered climax feels like an emotional grenade thrown out just a little too early. We then get an enjoyably bouncy Burn It Down, before Mike Shinoda continues his inexplicable habit of dropping a cover from his Fort Minor project. Where'd You Go isn't a bad track, but when you're a band with one of the greatest catalogues of hits in the history of rock music, it feels like an unnecessary distraction.

Plodding 2010 alt-pop cut Waiting For The End doesn't do much to get things back on track, its lacklustre energy making a mockery of Emily asking if we've "got any pits happening here?" soon after. Luckily, From Zero rager Two Faced is on hand to spark everything back to life, Shinoda using Emily's history-making appearance as a platform to get some women-only mosh pits going.

We then get two more propulsive nu metal bops in the form of A Place For My Head and IGYEIH, Armstrong going full scorched Earth for her furious "From now on, I don't need ya!" refrain, and for a while it feels like we are very much back. One Step Closer then lands with all the force of a dropkick from a kaiju, but its climactic final drop is curtailed when Armstrong stops the set for a few minutes to make sure a fan is OK.

That pause is, of course, necessary and totally out of the band's hands, but it makes another pause immediately following the conclusion of One Step Closer feel a little dragged out, even if the shots of beaming front row fans projected onto Download's giant screens is a lovely touch.

Eventually, Armstrong and Shinoda return to the stage for an emotive piano redux of excellent Meteora b-side Lost, a boisterous Breaking The Habit and an atmospheric Overflow, but it's what follows that firmly and definitively raises this gig to greatness.

The band rattle through a flawless run of classics, the celebratory atmosphere that's been bubbling across the field all night overflowing as the skyscraper choruses of What I've Done and Numb are followed by a triumphant Heavy Is The Crown (featuring another blinder of a vocal showing from Armstrong) and a full-throttle Bleed It Out.

By the time a jaw-dropping triumvirate of Papercut, In The End and Faint takes us home, Download is a sea of waving arms, pumping fists, crowdsurfers, people on shoulders and inflatables flying about all over the place. It's a beautiful sight, testament to the enduring legacy Linkin Park have wielded across generations of rock fans, and a guarantee that the most significant Download set of 2026 will linger long in the memory for all the right reasons.

“Fuck me, it feels good to be home!” Sam Carter proclaims, pausing to bask in a well-earned moment of pride. Over the last two decades, Architects have steadily risen up through the ranks of the British metalcore scene - and Download crowds have eagerly supported their growth.

Honestly, headlining Download Festival's Apex Stage feels long overdue, but we got here eventually. And, from the off, all signs point to a thing of triumph. Under the golden glow of the late afternoon sun, pits whirl for Whiplash and Black Lungs. The area is thoroughly rammed (the jury is out as to how many stragglers have wandered over for a mid-set break from Guns N Roses), the blegh-centric smack spiking in ferocity during the “bitter and then some!” hit of Gravedigger.

But that's when things take a sour turn. It's a clash of the titans - Download Festival versus one of British metal's most renown frontmen as security seem to stop the show. A stop-start tug of war seems to ensue within Carter’s in-ears, displeasure colouring his face before he fully storms off stage. “I'm either playing or I'm not,” he says before disappearing during Blackhole.

The Apex Stage has had a few teething pains over the last few years - 2023 in particular saw people complaining about Ghost and Evanescence’s headline slots there, noting the relatively small space for such high profile acts - and murmurs are spreading that there just isn't enough room down the front for some proper moshing.

When Carter re-emerges, he's almost laughing at how ridiculous he sounds telling the crowd to calm down at a rock festival. Eventually, Blackhole’s rumble does get unleashed, but following cut Impermanence ironically seems to show the momentum isn't sticking around for long.

“We do this all over Europe all the time,” Sam sighs eventually. After a lengthy, awkward gap and another storm-off, Download's security and the singer seem to reach an agreement. But there's a crack in every grin Carter flashes for the crowd, something that undercuts his heartfelt reflection on overcoming alcoholism during Broken Mirror, or even the nod to the next-gen of metal when Landmvrks’ Florent Salfati hops out for Braindead.

Let's not mince words here: moshing’s mess of arms and elbows can, of course, be dangerous. But the chaos of this set suggests that either Architects are too big for this stage, or there's been a shortfall in proper preparation to handle high energy bands in this area of the festival. It's a damn shame to see such a beloved band being handed such a handicap during an otherwise celebratory affair.

It's around 15 minutes before Lowen are due on, and you already get the sense that this is going to be something just a little bit different. The stage is bedecked with candles, incense, plants and a traditional Persian daf drum, hinting at the burst of primal mystic power that is to come.

These British-Iranian metallers' blend of crushing, progressive doom and Middle Eastern melody has marked them out as one of UK metal's most exciting young bands, 2024's Do Not Go to War With the Demons of Mazandaran one of the best albums to emerge from the modern underground. As they walk on stage and let the riffs rip, the impact on the curious onlookers filling up the Dogtooth tent is immediate - heads are banging, smiles are spreading, energy levels are rising.

Then, a male belly dancer slinks on stage, flowing around frontwoman Nina Saeidi as she lets loose a venue-shaking howl, book in one hand and ceremonial dagger in the other. Download has existed for well over two decades now, and yet this is a performance quite unlike anything this storied festival has ever seen.

Before long, Nina's dagger has been replaced by a huge sword, the singer suddenly looking less like a metal musician and more like a vengeful war queen as she hoists it high above her head, Shem Lucas' thunderous riffs providing the perfect, battle-ready soundtrack.

And then, barely 25 minutes in, it's all already over, a short but superb set confirming what plenty in attendance already suspected, but everybody here now knows: Lowen are a special band, and it won't be long before they're playing much bigger stages than these.

There are few bands in history to have made Download their own like Trivium. Their 2005 set is one of the most legendary in metal history, a last-minute upgrade to the festival's main stage setting the scene for a coming-of-age performance that remains the benchmark for every show they've played since. It might explain the sense of urgency that colours their arrival on stage today: kicking straight into hallmark anthem Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr, frontman Matt Heafy grinning as he's damn near submerged in pyro, Trivium start in fifth gear and rarely let up.

It's not just the band's energy levels that are operating on a higher plane today: from the off, Heafy's vocals sound absolutely colossal. You'd never know that he had to consider abandoning screaming entirely after damaging his voice just over a decade ago, such is the sheer power of his scorched-earth roars today; even clean vocal-heavy bangers like Strife and The Sin And The Sentence get some added bellowing grit for good measure.

He's undoubtedly today's man of the match, but his bandmates are all similarly locked in and clearly having an absolute blast. Guitarist Corey Beaulieu beams and playfully mean-mugs as he lets all manner of millennial metal riff mana rip; Paolo Gregoletto stalks the stage like a moustachioed war general as he plucks the hell out of his bass; recently instated drummer Alex Rüdinger - a man Heafy claims Trivium courted for a decade - smashes his kit like it owes him money.

Windy conditions mean we don't get the full-throttle arena show that might have put Trivium's headliner ambitions on full display: after some early bursts of fire and steam, all the showy stuff has to be cut, meaning we don't get to see the band's epic, Eddie-esque 'Monte' mascot in all its inflated glory. Luckily, Trivs are determined to make up for it with sheer blunt force.

"There's one rule for a Trivium show," Heafy teases. "Everybody fucking moves!" Download duly obliges, waves of crowdsurfers streaming past delirious circle pits as modern metal classics like Down From The Sky, Like Light To The Flies and a storming Throes Of Perdition drop one after the other. After a career-topping run of albums over the last decade, Trivium are a band operating at the peak of their powers, and, as a rollocking In Waves creates one final moment of bedlam, it all feels like a long overdue Donington moment worthy of the set that made their name.

The legendary circus showman P.T. Barnum is credited with coining the phrase 'always leave them wanting more'. Barnum has been dead for over 130 years now, but you can bet that if he was alive to see Guns N’ Roses headline the Apex Stage on Download’s Saturday night, he’d have a few choice words for them.

Gn'R are one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time; no matter what they do, that reputation is set in stone. But here in 2026, their live shows are a patience-testing exercise. Ironically given their historic reputation for lateness, they arrive early, and for a giddy 20 minutes look every inch the legends that they are.

Welcome to the Jungle, Bad Obsession and It’s So Easy all sound incredible. Despite their vintage, they’re snarling, strutting bangers with the bite of a viper. Crucial to their success is Axl Rose; the lower-register tunes are ones that he’s able to successfully recreate, but when we get to You Could Be Mine, you can hear him straining to hit those high notes. He’s doing his best, but his struggles certainly dampen the overall impact.

Axl never really recovers from there, but it would be unfair to completely blame him for the set's problems. Firstly, there is a crowd which is arguably smaller than Trivium played in front of just prior, something that would have been unthinkable in the past, but a clear indication that Download’s audience is evolving.

Those that are still here are happy to go mad for the likes of Mr Brownstone, Live and Let Die and Sweet Child O’ Mine, but many either drift away or stand looking disinterested during a dragging middle of the set. Occasional highs such as a cover of Velvet Revolver’s Slither or the irresistible Rocket Queen stand out, but soon it all starts to feel like a slog when Guns are ruining Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, sounding like a pub band covering Sex Pistols' Black Leather or letting Slash solo for what feels like forever.

Guns N’ Roses could have shaved off an hour, crammed their slot with all killer, no filler gold and have everyone in the palm of their hand: when we get that final run of Don’t Cry, November Rain, Night Train and Paradise City it’s so good that you can almost forgive and forget those sluggish low points.

Ultimately, it all means that tonight's highs were still sky high, but this was far from a classic Guns N’ Roses show. Less would definitely have been more.

Babymetal have never had much luck at Download. Ever since their first performance at the festival in 2015 as guests for Dragonforce, they’ve somehow managed to arrive amidst massive downpours. It’s got to the point where fans have joked on Reddit about the band being cursed, and with their last performance in 2024 cut in two thanks to, you guessed it, heavy rain, you’d be hard pressed to argue.

Imagine the sheer delight, then, when Sumetal addresses the crowd with a beaming grin: “we’re so happy to be with you, with SUNSHINE!”

The next 50 minutes or so fly in giddy, joyous exuberance. There are well-honed parts of the show that by this point feel like beloved fixtures: a big dramatic intro video, the staccato blasts of BABYMETAL DEATH, and screams of zeal when the core trio of Su-Metal, Moametal and Momometal spring onto the stage.

But there’s also the sense that this is the experience Babymetal have wanted to give fans for a decade now. It’s striking just how diverse the crowd are, young kids, teenagers and old school metallers all popping up on the big screens. At the same time, it feels reflective of just how broad Babymetal's sound is.

We’re treated to the high-speed riffs and breakdowns of Poppy feature From Me To U, power metal overdrives of hyperspeed guitar on the Alissa White-Gluz-sporting Distortion and even the all-out brutality of deathcore on Slaughter To Prevail Collab Song 3.

Yet, somehow, it all works together. Even with the features relying on backing tapes (you’d need a full revolving festival lineup just to cover their set otherwise), Babymetal don’t fall into the same trap as others who use pre-recorded features – and there are many in metal now, from Bring Me The Horizon to Amon Amarth and Bloodywood – in that instead of standing around looking lost when these segments come up, Babymetal are literally always on the move, dancing, bouncing and just generally filling the stage with a sense of electric energy.

In turn, the crowd goes nuts. From bouncing along and howling back the lyrics to Pa Pa Ya!! And RATATATA (played for a second time this weekend), to headbanging and kicking off massive pits to Gimme Chocolate!! and an impressively pyro-scorched Road To Resistance, the show feels both like an overdue homecoming and a celebration of their shift from metal’s fringes to one of its most exciting and beloved acts.

With a bigger and more vocal crowd than even the headliners later today, it feels like the world is Babymetal’s for the taking. Thank the Fox God the curse has been lifted.

Being the first act to open a stage on the first day of a festival is a pretty underrated slot. You get a fresh, excited and expectant crowd, all looking to kick off their weekend in style.

With a chance to grab as many new fans as he can, UK alt-rapper Native James does not let his opportunity slip, turning a tent of curious Download goers into cheering fans in a breathless 20 minute set.

The first thing you notice as James struts out onstage, before a note has even been played, is that this is a man with some serious charisma. His band are a fantastic foil, throwing themselves around as they peel out trappy nu metal bangers like Hammer and opener Raise the Alarm, but you rarely can take your eyes off the man himself.

Put frankly: the guy just looks fucking cool. It might seem trite to say it, but it’s something that can’t be taught, and when he rips his shirt off and dives into the increasingly energised throng, you can’t help but imagine him being able to do the same on far bigger stages, to far more people in the not too distant future.

He even ends his set by bringing out some UK hip hop royalty, with Boy Better Know’s Frisco joining him for Never Been Scared and Professor Green arriving towards the end of an absolutely, gloriously chaotic Block. With these kind of co-signs and with the crowd chanting his name after he finishes, it seems pretty evident that Native James is going to be a major player very soon. Put it this way: he won’t be opening many bills in the future. We might have a star on our hands.

Lzzy Hale has been here before. Halestorm headlined Download’s second stage back in 2019, a beacon of full-hearted rock 'n' roll wedged within the transgressive weirdo rap of Die Antwoord and the aggy millennial metal of Slipknot. This year they’re doing much the same, offering a classic rock alternative to Cypress Hill before headliners Limp Bizkit. Only, a lot has changed in seven years.

They’ve not had the kind of immediate blow-up that a crossover single or viral hit might have afforded, but the fact is Halestorm are now an established arena band, and have racked up stadium gigs with everyone from Metallica and Iron Maiden to Black Sabbath. That experience shows.

Opener Fallen Star is punctuated with blasts of flame, while the song’s solo sees Lzzy and Joe Hottinger trade licks in front of sparking jets. Confetti blasts up for I Miss The Misery and the flames keep coming; this is Halestorm going the whole nine yards and putting on a massive spectacle worthy of a stadium. They’re not just relying on production, though, Lzzy howling for a good 30 seconds by way of introduction. The set is punchy and amped up; Love Bites (So Do I), Bitch and Freak Like Me are tackled with all the ferocity and force of a starving great white let loose on a seal colony.

It sets the tone for the set to come, the wall of Marshall stacks hinting towards the old school rock style glow-up they give every song. Lzzy puts her voice through its paces with almighty renditions of I Get Off and I Gave You Everything, while a mid-set, rocked up rendition of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance proves to be a surprise highlight, the crowd singing along gleefully.

2026 marks a big turning point for Download, with its first ever frontwoman headliner in Linkin Park’s Emily Armstrong. But with such sheer star quality and on the best form of their lives, it feels like Halestorm are lining themselves up to ascend to headliner status down the line.

Neon shellsuit fanciers Electric Callboy have become the biggest party band this side of Limp Bizkit, so it’s only right they play on the same night, bringing their arena show to even more of the masses.

The field is already packed as the Germans open with Tanzeid, the title track of their next album, turning Download into a daytime rave.

They’re packing their backdrop video of a robot playing Slayer, their techno mashup ending in Drowning Pool’s nu metal hit Bodies, multiple costume changes and all the hits. Hypa Hypa, the song that launched them into a new era of popularity in 2020, comes early in the set - a reminder that it’s still a banger and it’s not even their best song now.

The show and the fun stops during Mindreade, due to an emergency in the crowd, with Kevin and Nico apologising for not noticing sooner and making sure everyone’s okay - “We appreciate a party, but more important than a party is a life.”

Still, the party soon goes up a few levels with Elevator Operator, complete with jets of fire and showers of sparks - the character of the title introduced in mock seriousness as an “idol, like our father”. Ratatata is, predictably, a massive moment, the Babymetal part done as video recording but no less powerful. The Japanese kawaii metallers will surely play the same song on this stage tomorrow…but whose version will be better?

The band go off as if they’re done, but fans know they always close with We’ve Got The Moves. Returning with their bowl cuts and wearing white shirts and lime trousers, backed by multicoloured visuals of drinks in penis-shaped glasses with heart-shaped straws, they oblige their biggest UK audience yet, with thousands of people singing along to the “da, da da da da” refrain.

As Electric Callboy exit the stage, a tape of 2 Unlimited’s No Limits plays. It’s fitting - not just for a band who embrace techno, but for one whose potential for absurdity, partying and fame appears uncapped.

It's late afternoon on a sunny Friday in June, and about 40,000 people are losing their minds to Pendulum's synth-frenzied drum 'n' bass onslaught. This isn't Creamfields, though; it's Download, the UK's home of rock and metal, and Pendulum couldn't look more at home. It shouldn't be a surprise - this is the Aussie crew's fifth appearance at the festival, and they always go down a storm, their guitar-charged take on arena EDM more than propulsive enough to spark a fair few mosh pits.

Much like The Prodigy before them, Pendulum have shown that the rock community - so often accused of narrow-mindedness and gatekeeping - are more than happy to accept the right kind of bands as one of their own. As certified screamers like Propane Nightmares, Watercolour and Tarantula peel off one after the other, it's impossible not to get swept up in the giddy shape-throwing that consumes Donington, a beautifully worked cameo from Rou Reynolds for a beefed-up take on Enter Shikari classic Sorry You're Not A Winner the highlight of a set that barely pauses for breath.

And, a mere couple of hours later, it's the turn of another band from outside rock's remit to stake their claim on this hallowed ground: Cypress Hill, the kings of hard-hitting hip hop whose appearance here feels less like a novelty and more like something that was long overdue.

Warming the crowd up with a medley that teases everything from Metallica and Rage Against The Machine to Daft Punk, DJ Lord introduces his comrades with a flurry of scratches, Download welcoming B-Real, Sen Dog and Eric Bobo like returning heroes. A field of black-clad metalheads, emos and punks is turned into a singular bobbing, dancing mass as How I Could Just Kill A Man drops, and it never stops pulsing for the hour of excellence that follows.

Inevitably, a superbly deployed cover of Rage classic Bombtrack draws the biggest cheers of the set - those that saw DJ Lord and B-Real mix it up in Prophets Of Rage will have been nodding in approval - but hallmark classic Insane In The Brain isn't far off, and neither is a cheeky drop of House Of Pain's Jump Around to wrap things up. Rock music will always rightly dominate Download, but today has proven beyond a doubt that sometimes, a little variety can still be the spice of life.

If you're in any doubt over whether it was the right call to finally have Limp Bizkit headline Download for the first time - 23 whole years after they pulled out of topping the festival's very first edition - you need only take in the sheer number of red caps bouncing around Donington hours before the nu metal megaweights even arrive on stage.

Once they do, they waste no time - well, maybe a little, teasing Break Stuff right off the bat before Fred Durst halts proceedings to rile everyone up a bit more, guitarist Wes Borland dropping a few bars of the band's rowdy cover of Ministry's Thieves for good measure. Then Break Stuff hits for real, and it's instant bedlam; this is metal's ultimate party band, doing what they do best, in front of what is surely the biggest UK crowd they've ever played to.

Looking every inch the colourful characters that made them household names in millennial rock - Durst continuing his amusing but bizarre modern tradition of donning ridiculous wigs, Borland dolled up like some demonic Elden Ring rooster god - Jacksonville's finest dish out banger after banger, from Chocolate Starfish favourites My Generation, Hot Dog, Rollin' and Livin' It Up to deeper cuts like Gold Cobra opener Bring It Back and infectiously bullish rager Eat You Alive.

Bizkit's backdrop takes the form of a giant speaker system overlooking a collection of cassette tapes packing everything from Sepultura to Kraftwerk, a glistening LED screen at the back cranking out lyrics to each song like they aren't already coded to the DNA of just about every rock fan between the ages of 30 and 45.

And, on tonight's evidence, pretty much everyone else too; Gen X-ers are moshing with millennials while Gen Z kids are crowdsurfing past preteens on their parents' shoulders. That Bizkit are arguably as big as they've ever been is a minor miracle given how out of step they looked only a few short years into the New Millennium, but it's well deserved: they have as bulletproof a greatest hits catalogue as any band to make it big in metal, and they make a wise choice not to dip into the fun but unnecessary Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine covers that have often taken up valuable setlist space.

Not that we don't get some covers, of course. Faith goes off like a hydrogen bomb, while Behind Blue Eyes gets one of the loudest and most sincere singalongs of the whole day, hundreds of crowdsurfers going over as it reaches fever pitch only adding to the spectacle.

It's far from the only emotional motif of the day; much-missed bassist Sam Rivers gets a number of shout-outs, while some young fans getting to jump onstage to sing Full Nelson with Durst is a heartwarming touch.

It's all building to what seems like an unstoppable climax before an accident in the crowd results in a necessary but lengthy pause in the set. A fan is stretchered out, Durst looking shaken for a moment as he watches on, and for a second it seems like the show might end right there. "We could rip one more?" offers the frontman after collecting himself. Donington is in no two minds about whether to take him up on his offer, and while a second burst of Break Stuff is a leftfield way to finish up, it's ferociously effective: there isn't a soul stood still in the field as that final breakdown hits again.

Long overdue, but every bit worth the wait. Surely it won't be another two decades before Limp Bizkit headline Download again.

Since 2022, Mystic Festival has been housed in the confines of Gdansk Shipyard, the assortment of warehouses, train tracks and gigantic cranes lending the festival a post-Apocalyptic feel. But next year Poland's biggest metal festival is set to get even bigger, relocating to Polsat Plus Arena in Gdansk to increase capacity, making 2026 the fifth and final time we'll grace the coolest festival site we've ever seen.

There's no time for comisserating, however. Spread across four days, this year's Mystic lineup is a typically diverse affair with everything from death metal to thrash, sludge, prog and beyond.

Wednesday [June 3]

The first big discovery of the festival comes from DOLA, homegrown post-black metallers with a touch of Opeth intricacy. Nimble guitars give way to explosive, sludgy breakouts that bring to mind UK underground heroes Conjurer.

Next up are hotly tipped death metallers NECKBREAKKER. The DM wunderkinds supported Slayer last summer and chuck out nasty, hardcore-flavoured grooves like brutal candy. The stagecraft is a bit cliche bingo ("I want to see you make a circle!", though the intro "We're Neckbreakker and we're here to break your neck" is pretty great) but their relative youth makes it forgivable and the songs are killer besides.

It's not all death metal, mind. A.A. WILLIAMS is just a couple of days shy of releasing her spectacular third album Solstice, and her offering of yet more gorgeous, gothic-coded melody is a welcome change of pace for the day. Brooding and melancholic, the likes of Evaporate and Love And Pain have long established their captivating magic, and new songs Just A Shadow, Poison and Little By Little - making its live debut - happily maintain that same mystique.

ICE NINE KILLS might be the big headliner of the first night (and you can read our review here), but they aren't the only band with a bit of stagecraft at Mystic Festival 2026.

Closing out Wednesday are German anti-war troupe KANONENFIEBER. We got a glimpse at their insane live shows in January on the 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise, but closing the Desert Stage they show what they're capable of, their furious blackened death metal enhanced with blasts of pyro, billowing jets of gas and evocative WW1-era German soldier costumes.

Thursday [June 4]

You can always trust Jason Aalon Butler to bring a ruckus. LETLIVE. have barely played their first note when the singer heads out into the crowd, starting a moshpit with the (admittedly sparse, to start with at least) crowd. What ensues is one of the most electrifying performances of the weekend, a reminder of that band's brilliance that ends with Butler clambering into the scaffolding and screaming blue murder.

By the time BLOODYWOOD play the space has filled considerably. India's biggest metal sensation always prove well worth the hype, and - a bit of awkwardness aside when they stand around during Babymetal's feature on Bekhauf as it plays over the PA - their set brings an infectious sense of energy that sees huge dust clouds kicked up in the pit.

ANTHRAX have perfected festival sets. Coming on to Among The Living, they just kick out the hits with such velocity and enthusiasm that you find yourself headbanging and singing along like you've been swept up in some great thrash tsunami. There's only one variation in the set - new song For The Kids is kicked out to a politely indulgent crowd - but you just can't argue with Got The Time, I Am The Law, Caught In A Mosh et al.

By the same token, CAVALERA doing Chaos A.D. feels like an obvious slam dunk. They might be a few decades older, but Max and Iggor are still the architects behind some of the most aggressive and brilliant tunes of the 90s and the fact the crowd can't help but roar "fuck shit up!" (from GOAT-contender live album Under A Pale Grey Sky) as Refuse/Resist kicks off. What ensues is a reminder of just why the Cavaleras are considered metal royalty, pits breaking out throughout the crowd at such volume that nowhere is safe.

After a double thrashtravaganza, you'd hope MEGADETH would bring things home. Only, there's something... off about their performance. Just two weeks after being delighted at their return to furious form in the US, the journey across the Atlantic apparently sapping their powers as their performance feels toothless even with anthems like Symphony Of Destruction, Holy Wars... The Punishment Due and Sweating Bullets.

Thankfully, BLOOD INCANTATION save the night. One of the beauty's of Mystic is in just how much there is to do, and between death metal sets Thursday there's showings of All Gates Open: In Search Of Absolute Elsewhere, the documentary about the recording of the record which took Metal Hammer's album of the year in 2024. Hearing Absolute Elsewhere in full at Mystic just underscores how boundary-pushing and brilliant Blood Incantation are, a singular force who are propelling extreme metal in exciting new directions.

Friday [June 5]

If Thursday belonged to thrash, Friday is all about sludge and stoner metal. We'd probably be much happier watching EYEHATEGOD under a blazing sun, but then 'happy' rather defeats the point. The NOLA sludge legends burn through 1993's Take As Needed For Pain in full with a venomous vitriol that perfectly suits the downpours overhead, those low'n'slow rhythms so thick and harsh they're practically tar in your ears.

"I thought they brought the whole neighbourhood today!" CORROSION OF CONFORMITY's Pepper Keenan isn't wrong as he points out the sheer prevalance of NOLA bands on Friday's line-up, set to take double-duty with a set from Down later. But first, COC are here to reminder everyone that they've got a new album, and it kicks ass. New tunes Asleep On The Killing Floor, Baad Man and Gimme Some Moore sound killer, and fit in perfectly alongside the southern-fried crossover of Vote With A Bullet and Clean My Wounds.

COC aren't the only band feeling community spirit, however. Barely a month before they were due to play Mystic, BENEDICTION put out a statement that vocalist Dave Ingram had stepped away from the band. Rather than cancel, they drafted in former vocalist Dave Hunt, these days best known for his work in Anaal Nathrakh. Between DM blasts, Hunt enthuses about how touched he is that the crowd have turned up and been so excitable for the performance, undercutting the gruesomeness somewhat but giving us a lot of warm, fuzzy feelings.

It might be BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's long-overdue shot at headlining a festival, but Zakk Wylde happily shares the spotlight. Tributes to the Abbott Brothers and Ozzy Osbourne are plentiful throughout the group's performance, from the use of a Led Zep/Sabbath mash-up as their intro tape to big-screen tributes to the Abbotts (In This River) and Ozzy (Ozzy's Song) in the set that results in thousands of voices chanting "Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!" The No More Tears cover is a nice touch too.

How do you end a wet and riffy day? With some techno-enhanced Vikings of course! EIHWAR sit somewhere between Perturbator and Heilung, taking the spiritualistic folk of the latter and the danceable rhythms of the former to make something totally unique and fascinating. Naturally, it's a delight.

Saturday [June 6]

There's some residual stoner in the air of Mystic come Saturday. ACID KING reopen a vortex to Sabbathdom in a trippy, fuzzy set that sees them play through 1999's Busse Woods, the returning sunshine doing nothing to diminish the pervasive air of doom.

In a country with as strong ties to Catholicism as Poland, it probably shouldn't come as too much of a surprise when we hear from a local that members of the church have been quietly protesting the gig all weekend. They're probably best steering clear of HULDER. The black metal project might hail from the US but their name - taken from a Scandinavian forest creature - is a big hint that the group take their cues from Scandinavian black metal, inverted crosses flashing overhead as the group unleash wintry tones cut with folky melodies.

From one black metal maverick to another, GAAHLS WYRD has become a springboard for the multifaceted musical talents of its titular frontman. Corpsepainted and walking with an air of spacial dominion, Gaahl is utterly captivating to behold, making great use of the indoor space in the Sabbath Stage as his voice booms and he intones like he's summoning some eldritch being from beyond the veil.

How do you follow that? Well, with one of goth metal's most formative records played in full, of course. THE GATHERING are celebrating 31 years of Mandylion by playing a set heavily dominated by that record. The second Fear The Sea hits, the band's influence on decades of goth metal is undeniable, traces of their DNA popping up everywhere from Lacuna Coil to Within Temptation. It's a fittingly grand and melancholia-steeped end to another fantastic year at Mystic, bidding farewell to the Gdansk Shipyard as the festival continues to grow and evolve. Wherever it goes next, hopefully we'll see you there!

Blind Bird tickets for Mystic Festival 2027 are on-sale now.

Download isn’t just the biggest rock and metal festival in the UK - it’s hallowed ground. A spiritual successor to the legendary Monsters of Rock, Download’s 20-plus-year history has seen it bring together the great and good of rock and metal in a veritable Who’s-Who that has made many a career.

From booking reunited legends like Faith No More, Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine to “farewell appearances” from Black Sabbath, KISS and Aerosmith, Download has made its reputation on creating one of the most exciting and vibrant rock’n’roll experiences year-in, year-out.

Even when the festival calendar was decimated in 2020, Download didn’t just survive; it thrived, returning the following year with a 10,000 capacity test event titled Download Pilot, a triumphant celebration of live music that ushered in a return to normality. With its triumphant, double-Metallica-dosing 20th anniversary celebrations following two years later, Download's place atop the UK's rock and metal festival throne remains unchallenged. With the gates for Download 2026 now officially open, here are the best sets in the festival's history...so far.

Metallica – Scuzz Stage, 2003

At the first ever Download, rumours started to circulate that Apocalyptica's slot in the middle of the day on the second stage was going to be filled by metal’s biggest band. For once an on-site rumour proved to be true: Metallica stepped out and decimated a packed tent, before heading off into the distance. It was too much to believe for some. A shell-shocked Nathan Gray of Boysetsfire, the band directly on afterwards, asked: “Did Metallica just support us?” Yeah mate, they actually did.

Trivium – Main Stage, 2005

Trivium were basically kids when they were added as the opening act of Download 2005’s Main Stage. When they looked out at the empty field at 10.58, two minutes before their set was due to start, they must have felt a felt tinge of disappointment. It was a different story as they stepped out to start playing and were greeted by the sight of thousands of metal fans careering down the hill toward them. Matt Heafy and co then played the set of their career, instantly establishing themselves as metal’s most exciting new band.

The Prodigy - Snickers Stage, 2006

Anyone bemoaning the idea of The Prodigy playing a festival like Download simply hasn't seen The Prodigy. Billed opposite a main stage-headlining Guns N' Roses still in their 'Axl-and-friends' era, dance music's most abrasive firestarters brought so many punters to the tent that people were spilling out almost as far as the eye could see. Once the band arrived on stage, the place went ballistic: mosh pits immediately opened up, crowd surfers were everywhere and people were even climbing the pillars. Prodigy would return to play the (now outdoor) second stage once more in 2009, before headlining the whole festival three years later.

Machine Head – Main Stage, 2007

It’s impossible not to think that if Machine Head had carried on the momentum of their The Blackening-era career they surely would have gone on to headline Download. In 2007 they were arguably the best band in metal, and they turned up on Download’s Main Stage in devastating form, making even Slayer (yes, that Slayer) look ordinary courtesy of a pulverising seven-song set that culminated in a staggering rendition of Davidian.

 Slipknot – Main Stage, 2009

When the bill was announced for Download in 2009, Slipknot were a controversial choice for a headliner (yes, really!). Some suggested that they had yet to earn their place at the top table, despite a decade of near-perfect live shows under their belts. We all know what happened next: Slipknot at Download 2009 was one of those rare moments when a set went into legendary status mere minutes after it finished.

The highlights are almost certainly imbedded in your brain at this point; the four-song opening missive from the band’s self-titled debut, the mass sing-a-long that opens Duality and the insane reaction from everyone present, from the front of the stage all the way to the burger vans at the back going crazy. By the time they left with a venomous Spit It Out, Slipknot had Download in the palm of their hand, where they’ve kept it ever since, the idea that they would play Donington as anything other than headliner put very much to bed.

Linkin Park – Main Stage, 2014

For fans of a certain age, Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory is a landmark album, a record that introduced an entire generation to guitar music. Fourteen years after its release the band rocked up at Download having agreed to play it in its entirety. Their set pulled in one of the largest crowds in recent memory, and gave 80,000 people an unforgettable nostalgia trip, made even more poignant with the passing of frontman Chester Bennington a few years later.

Babymetal - Main Stage, 2016

After Download's organisers initially baulked at the idea of booking the sugar-sweet kawaii-metal sensations, Babymetal snuck onto the bill for a surprise appearance in the third stage tent with Dragonforce in 2015. They went down such a storm that they were brought back properly a year later, playing outdoors to a huge crowd, with an atmosphere that grew from curious to delighted as the show went on. Even some typically horrendous English festival weather couldn't dampen the fun, consolidating Babymetal's status as Download alumni forever more.

Tool – Main Stage, 2019

The seemingly endless wait for new material and some UK live shows from music's most enigmatic and mysterious band had gone on so long that many fans believed that there was to be no return from Tool. So, the anticipation that hung in the air on the last night of Download 2019 was palpable. Maynard James Keenan and co didn’t disappoint, using the video screens for their own psychedelic images and playing a set of transcendent, ethereal post-metal, the band turned a field in Leicestershire into a religious experience.

Skindred - Main Stage, 2021

Announced at short notice and featuring a British-centric lineup, the Download Pilot event was a more intimate but desperately needed version of the festival after the pandemic had KO'd the previous year's edition. It was an event full of emotional, heartwarming moments as UK metal fans were able to frolic in a field together once more, but few summed up the weekend better than Skindred's marvellous early evening set in the Sunday evening sunshine, a thunderous Newport Helicopter putting the cherry on the cake of a historic showing.

Spiritbox - Avalanche Stage, 2022

Almost two years after they became a viral sensation with Holy Roller, Spiritbox proved the buzz wasn’t purely digital when they packed out the Avalanche Stage tent in 2022. With a howl of “Cut down the altar”, the Canadians wasted no time in showing what they were made of; gigantic riffs, scream-along anthems and one of metal’s most commanding new frontwomen in Courtney LaPlante ensuring Spiritbox first UK show was the most legendary Download debut since Trivium played the Main Stage in 2005.

Evanescence - Opus Stage, 2023

16 long years since their last appearance at Donington, Evanescence drew an astonishingly huge crowd to the Opus Stage for a stunning, career-spanning set that dished out plenty from latest album The Bitter Truth, but still threw in enough all-time classics to make sure Amy Lee and her crew drew some of the biggest singalongs of the whole weekend. If ever there was evidence needed at just how important this band were to a whole generation of rock and metal fans, this was it.

Bring Me The Horizon - Main Stage, 2023

At Download's biggest weekend ever (literally: they had four bloody days), Bring Me The Horizon finally got the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold before them in proving once and for all that they had the chops to headline the UK's biggest rock and metal festival. They seized it in style, bringing the most grandiose, retina-singeing stage show of the weekend and a career's-worth of hits, underlining their importance to both the British metal scene and to the progression of heavy music in the 21st century.

Korn - Main Stage, 2025

In a landmark year that saw Green Day finally make their Download debut and Sleep Token historically headline a major outdoor festival for the very first time, it was Download's very own house band that ultimately stole the show. Making their tenth appearance at Donington, the godfathers of nu metal showed exactly why their first headline set on the legendary ground was long overdue, courtesy of an electric, bangers-filled party of a gig that had everyone from OG millennials to Gen Z converts bouncing around like it was 1994.

Download 2026 takes place this weekend at Donington Park, England

There’s no denying that Slam Dunk is the UK’s annual pop-punk pilgrimage; with Good Charlotte set to headline, this evening's Leeds edition will see thousands howling along to The Anthem. However, this year, the genre’s grittier cousin has also lured in a pack of rabid devotees – hardcore punks Knocked Loose are set to rig up their glowing crucifix come sundown, and the masses are ready to bark, spin-kick and soak up the chaos.

As the gates open, some punters are lured in by Beauty School’s bouncy, emo gloom emanating from the Main Stage West, but hoards of hardcore gremlins are beelining for Main Stage East. Today, the festival’s second Main Stage is a hardcore haven, kicking things off with Leeds’ own Pest Control. Fronted by the formidable Leah Massey, the crossover-thrash pack are here to serve up some “FUCKING HARDCORE” – and they mean it. They have fans surging round in wild circle pits in spite of the sweltering midday sunshine, effortlessly luring in idle stragglers to run full-pelt into the madness.

While fans may stray away from Main Stage East here and there – namely for Unpeople, the metallic brat pack’s brand of cheeky riffs and hip-shaking beats undeniably perfect on a sun-kissed, Slam Dunk summer camp afternoon – the stage is the designated spot for rough moshers today. Whether its riling in the face of Heriot’s wall of blackened, doom-laden death metalcore, or cowering in the presence of Dying Wish’s Emma Boster, Lost In The Fall seeing the frontwoman shapeshifting between angelic vocals and menacing, hellhound gutturals.

The area's set-up – dual left and right stages – seems to guarantee that the moshing is rarely on pause for long. And that only makes things more exciting for the bands, keen to keep the ball rolling. It’s something that heavy-hitting thrashers Guilt Trip absolutely revel in; in perhaps one of the most fun sets of the day, the hardcore crew muster up a cacophonous mosh party in the field, bucket-hat-clad Jay Valentine bounding around onstage as he goads fans to break yesterday’s (very alleged) record of 2,000 crowdsurfers during No Love Lost.

Then, Bury Tomorrow step up to the plate. Dani Winter-Bates is a UK metalcore hero for a reason; he’s one of the slickest frontmen in the game, both vocally and in terms of showmanship. As soon as he emerges, Choke sounding out across the crowd, he means business; “I want one pit over here, one over here, one in the fucking middle,” he demands, and Slam Dunk can’t help but follow his instructions.

Throughout the set, Winter-Bates stalks across the stage with intent, staring out into the crowd like a predatory animal. “I need carnage, I need chaos – don’t fucking stand around on me,” he yells as Villain Arc rumbles into life.

Malevolence follow, offering a similar burst of metallic excellence. Coming out to warning sirens and chants of “YORKSHIRE, YORKSHIRE, YORKSHIRE!", they plunge everyone straight into the Trenches. Frontman Alex Taylor barely even has to sing because the crowd is chanting the lyrics back with such gusto, keen to go as hard as they can to impress, knocking out circle pits galore and even a killer wall of death for Karma.

By the time the sun has set, everyone is more than ready to count some worms with Knocked Loose. Before the band themselves emerge, the misty glow of the You Wont Go Before You’re Supposed To cross hints at heaven – but, as Blinding Faith opens the set, the masses are reminded that these gut-wrenching tracks are utterly hellbound.

Across the field, fans are instantly in motion. A healthy pit opens in the centre as the rattling clang of Knocked Loose takes charge, while various parties mosh and growl amongst themselves – including a father and son having their own two-person pit to the side. It’s a sign that the visceral, abrasive force of Knocked Loose is for everyone – even if guitarist Isaac Hale’s pit calls of “VIOLENCE!!!” isn’t exactly PG.

The set also serves as the perfect way to round off the day’s celebration of hardcore, with Knocked Loose enlisting bands from throughout the day to feature on a run of tracks. God Knows sees Heriot’s Debbie Gough running out to holler and howl, before frontman Bryan Garris confirms that he’s dedicating the oncoming series of features to “All My Friends” – a track he goes on to play, with the help of Malevolence’s Alex Taylor.

Poppy’s feature in the mighty Suffocate is entrusted in the hands of Pest Control’s Leah Massey – a task she absolutely smashes. The grand finale of features comes in the form of Billy No Mates, which sees a surprise appearance from Loathe’s Kadeem France, as well as Static Dress’ Olli Appleyard.

After the climactic honouring of all the day’s delightful hardcore offerings, Everything Is Quiet Now comes as the final opportunity to scream and let loose – and fans delight in it. While festivals can sometimes stick to the beaten path, today’s scheduling of hardcore was bubbling with fresh blood. And the final rumble only serves as a reminder of how glorious and exciting the hardcore scene is right now.

This year's Memorial Day takes place on Monday, May 25 - and it's a day when retailers including Amazon, Walmart, BestBuy and Target take the opportunity to use the federal holiday to slash the prices across a range of products.

And with spring starting to make its way into summer, that can only mean one thing... festival season. With that in mind, I've picked out a selection of music festival and camping essentials that are on sale for Memorial Day.

My list includes a massive $370 saving on the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 portable power station at Amazon, down 46% from $799 to $428.99. It can charge multiple devices simultaneously and boasts a pair of USB-C ports, a USB-A port, a DC car port, and three pure sine wave AC ports, making it an essential bit of kit for your weekend away.

Another excellent deal is 25% off the ultra-portable JBL Clip 5 - a brilliant-sounding and robust Bluetooth speaker that has up to 12 hours of music playback from a full charge. And, as the name suggests, it can be clipped onto a backpack, tent pole or even a belt-loop. It's on sale at Amazon for $59.95 - down from the list price of $79.95.

• Best earplugs for concerts: Hearing protection, tested by music fans
• Best festival tents: Budget, pop-up and inflatable tents
• Camping essentials that'll make your festival more enjoyable

For all their prog majesty, Tool are above all else the same provocateurs who once trolled the church of Scientology. That means any performance by them isn’t going to adhere to usual standards or conventions, and the idea of putting on a “greatest hits” set is like expecting a whale to suddenly fly a plane. So naturally, as Sonic Temple's headliner for the final night of the festival, they surprise us by jumping straight into Stinkfist as opener.

From there, things get as weird as you’d hope. Rosetta Stoned is delivered in frantic gibberish, wails of “Holy fucking shit” and “I forgot my pen / shit the bed again” about the only parts we can reasonably decipher in Maynard James Keenan’s unhinged psycho-babble.

Beams of light spread across the stadium like some giant spacecraft descending, War Of The Worlds style, the trippy visuals projected onto screens around the stadium adding a general sense of otherworldliness. Where the other headliners of the weekend have been anchored around a magnetic star, Maynard James Keenan has no interest in the spotlight. An otherworldly presence crooning from the back of the stage, the musical jams of his bandmates afforded much more focus.

The first Tool show of 2026, there’s a genuine sense of anticipation before each song, nobody knowing quite what to expect. While rarities are in short supply, the band manage to touch on their disparate eras, with particular focus going to latest album Fear Innoculum and 2006’s 10,000 Days. Unsurprisingly, the decision to indulge some of their more meditative, pensive songs doesn’t completely blow everyone away. There’s more than a few mutterers asking where The Pot, Prison Sex or Lateralus are, and the crowd thins before the final songs. But those who stick it out are treated to some exceptional, mind-altering tones.

The bass on H. is so thick and powerful it feels like the band are trying to strike a resonance with a black hole, the stands rattling with each note struck. It’s so powerful, in fact, it causes some technical issues as they're forced to pause and switch equipment. “Too much rock for one Cab, Justin,” Keenan laments.

With the kind of visuals you’d expect on an inter-dimensional trip – psychedelically enhanced, of course – there’s no denying that Tool feel a breed apart from just about every other band on the Sonic Temple 2026 bill. It might not be exactly what festival fans were hoping for, but it’s another glorious effort from prog metals biggest provocateurs.

It’s been 34 years since Megadeth came tantalisingly close to landing a number one album in the US with Countdown To Extinction, only to fall at the last hurdle thanks to Billie Ray Cyrus. Justice finally prevailed for Dave Mustaine’s merry band of thrashers in January when their final, self-titled album topped the Billboard 200. Now the band are looking to go out on a high, their farewell tour stopping in for a massive slot on Sonic Temple’s Cathedral Stage.

We’ll admit, we had misgivings. Megadeth’s tour supporting Disturbed in arenas across Europe last Autumn was far from the most incendiary performances the band had put on, a killer setlist only doing so much to make up for sluggish energy. At Sonic Temple, they’ve found that divine spark again. There’s a grin on Mustaine’s face as he greets the crowd and introduces newer tune Let There Be Shred, the band flying off on some virtuosic old school thrash that brings to mind the frantic fretwork of debut Killing Is My Business.

The big anthems are, well, anthemic, Megadeth getting stuck into them with a zeal that in turn seems to egg on a fanatic crowd. Angry Again ups the groove, while Mustaine’s delivery on Sweating Bullets feels genuinely menacing and manic. During Peace Sells, the band are joined by mascot Vic Rattlehead, the grinning skull bopping and bouncing around the stage as the crowd howl the song’s iconic refrain in delight.

Perhaps the biggest criticism of Megadeth’s most recent output is that they've lost some of their fiery defiance that made them so formidable in the first place. Teeing up closer Holy Wars... The Punishment Due, Mustaine admits that the song was “written over 30 years ago at the start of the 90s about the Middle East. It’s still relevant today.”

It’s a biting remark that reminds us that they were always the most vocally active of the Big Four, and when the epic song gets underway with thrash metal suites and movements, you can’t help but feel that we’re losing Megadeth sooner than we’d have hoped. Still, it’s great to have them so triumphant again.

Thunder and lightning might delay the start of play by an hour, but when the Saturday of Sonic Temple starts the energy is all the more rabid for it. Snot get a massive turnout on the Altar stage and bodies fly over the barriers in a constant stream, the band’s bounding riffs and spring-loaded energy just what we need to shake off two days’ fatigue.  

Kicking off their set with Sway, Coal Chamber are bringing out the big guns early on. The churning bass lines and fault-line grooves bypass the brain to get bodies moving, and its as if the morning’s weather snafu never happened when the sun suddenly blazes out as the band stomp through Big Truck. By the time they finish on a crushing Loco – introduced by vocalist Dez Fafara as “a song we wrote in 1992 – long before any of these nu metal bands came about” - it feels like CC are long overdue their own reappraisal.  

Vindication seems to be the theme of the day on the main-stage. Black Veil Brides, Motionless In White and Bring Me The Horizon have all copped shit from gatekeepers in the past, but prove the haters wrong with respective triumphant sets. “A lot of people used to talk shit about us,” acknowledges Andy Biersack. “So we wrote this one for them – it's called Revenger.” The rediscovery of their metalcore roots certainly doesn’t hurt in making BVB’s set feel ferocious, new album Vindicate dominating a set that is punctuated with blasts of pyro and feels suitably massive for the big crowd the band draw. 

Kreator are already well-acknowledged as one of – if not the – best legacy thrash bands around in Europe, but word is slow making its way across the Atlantic. They might not pull as big a crowd as some of the nu metal nostalgia acts that’ve popped up on the Altar Stage, but the bodies that do show up go hard, sprinting about in a joyously hostile frenzy. 

The veterans have barely finished opener Seven Serpents when Mille Petrozza demands a wall of death, and the fact the stage stands on concrete does nothing to deter a massive pit breaking out, bodies clattering to the ground with joyous abandon as they thunder through a selection of modern thrash anthems – Hate Uber Alles, Enemy Of God, Violent Revolution – that thankfully sees their audience grow massively by the end of the set.  

With Bring Me The Horizon headlining the main stage, fellow British metalcore stalwarts Architects are clearly feeling fired up with their own big-league aspirations. Any worries their status as one of Britain’s best bands would be lost in translation somewhere over the pond are allayed by the absolute massive turnout the boys from Brighton greet.

More than that though, their audience is united in utter devotion, screaming and howling along to every song like their lives depend on it. The gentle intro to Elegy gives way to some serious propulsive energy, and the big screens surrounding the band lend a striking visual accompaniment to a set that feels genuinely massive. With absolutely colossal tunes like Doomsday and Animals dropping in the latter half of the set, you’d best believe we’re feeling some serious national pride as the final notes fade out and the crowd surges over to Bring Me The Horizon.  

There was a time Motionless In White were being eyed up as one of the bands who could someday headline a venue like the Historic Crew Stadium. The turnout for their mainstage performance suggests its still not out of the question. After an already-solid turnout for Black Veil Brides, MiW greet a bustling stadium that go utterly feral as soon as the band arrive.

We spot no less than five concurrent circle pits in the crowd, one long strip seemingly running around half the length of the stadium. At one point, we spot a man in a cowboy hat twirling another on his shoulders like he’s trying out for WWE. Feeding on that energy, MiW kick things off with the scurrying beats of Meltdown, delivering a buffet of thumping rhythms and anthems loaded with barbed hooks.

Clearly, the guys acknowledge the significance of being on main stage and pull out all the stops. Streamers are fired out at the end of Meltdown and gouts of flame punctuate the set even as the sun sets a punishing temperature overhead. “We are not finishing this set without each and every one of you suffering the worst Bangover ever,” Chris Motionless declares with a grin, clearly relishing the opportunity to incite absolute bedlam.

In cutting their metalcore foundations with nu metal, industrial, goth and a few miscellaneous spices besides, MiW chuck up some diverse sounds throughout their set. New tune Afraid Of The Dark has more than a whiff of the grandiose, sweeping epic energy of Gothenburg melodeath – sounding absolutely massive as a result – while the militaristic stomp of Rats being set against reedy synths brings to mind 90s industrial giants like Rammstein.

For all these comparisons, MiW don’t ever lose their own identity in the mix, their divisive swagger apparent in just about every song as a defiant “fuck you” to haters. Clearly, they’re having the last laugh and even the most ardent detractor would have to admit, their performance is massive.

If you’d asked 20 years ago, the only people who could genuinely have seen Bring Me The Horizon someday headlining a major US festival would be the band themselves. Their cocksure swagger might’ve once been dismissed as arrogance, but two decades’ worth of continual escalation to the point they comfortably pack out arenas and effectively re-shaped modern metalcore with 2013’s Sempiternal has done a lot to prove their ambition wasn’t unwarranted.

Now they’re here: Temple Stage headliners at Sonic Temple, greeting a near-packed Historic Crew Stadium with a crowd that easily rivals that of My Chemical Romance’s sold-out Thursday performance. And they absolutely crush it. Bring Me’s brand of theatricality might be more coded to post-modernism and video game culture than My Chem’s, but its no less effective.

The Metal Gear Solid-style codec conversations with Eve and M8 add a weird, surreal atmosphere to the band’s performance and make it feel like everything is part of some grand, anime-inspired sci-fi adjacent narrative, not hurt in the least by cameras that follow the band as they play and distort their images Matrix-style.

All that’s before we even get onto the show itself. “Are you ready?!” Oli Sykes snarls, the carpet of human flesh now making up the floor of the stadium breaking up into rapid moving cyclones as BMTH kick off with Darkside. For all that they’ve effectively graduated from the confines of metalcore, the hallmarks of that sound are all polished to an absurd degree in just about every song in the set. The House Of Wolves, Mantra, Happy Song and Shadow Moses are undeniable anthems and elicit some of the loudest sing-alongs we’ve heard all weekend.

Oli Sykes doesn’t dial back on the distinctly British banter when egging the crowd on - “If you won’t jump to this one, you’re a fucking knob.” “If you don’t move, you’re in the Epstein files. Nobody wants that!” - a subtle reminder Bring Me got to this point by not following anybody else and proudly displaying their own character.

The enormous production (streamers, pyro, dancers) is almost secondary to the sense this band have basically become not just the measuring stick of modern metal success, but the band the mainstream metal world has effectively been chasing for over a decade - and a nice guest spot from viral metal singer Maphra for Doomed shows they've still got their finger well on the pulse. A video reel of their past highlights just how far they've come to get here, surpassing just about every other British metal band not called “Iron Maiden”. By this point, that early arrogance is looking more like foresight.

If the Thursday of Sonic Temple was owned by emo, Friday is all about nu metal. At least so far as the Altar stage is concerned, Sonic Temple’s newest addition drawing a healthy crowd throughout the day. Mushroomhead bring the vibe with a big-drum thumping set that doesn’t quite dispel the Slipknot comparisons, but doesn’t suffer for it either.

If you just paid attention to the upbeat riffs and “na-na” melodies, Everclear would look like the perfect sunny festival band. But with a discography that explores drug abuse, heartbreak and childhood trauma, there’s always a dark bite to their songs. That doesn’t stop their set being an absolute delight. Art Alexakis might fall behind on faster tunes like Heroin Girl, but when Father Of Mine and Santa Monica bounce in the whole crowd chime in for a sing-along.

Every nu metal band had at least one big hit, and Powerman 5000 have two. The rest of their set is thumping throwbacks to when baggy jeans, tracksuits and backwards caps ruled the world, but the place goes off when Bombshell and When Worlds Collide come in back-to-back.

Edsel Dope is stumped. Walking out to what effectively amounts to a 21-gun salute of inflatable phalluses, he can’t stop from referring to them throughout Dope’s set. It adds to a chaotic atmosphere, and the Altar once again proves to be the hottest stage with the place going wild for Burn MF and the obligatory pop cover in You Spin Me Round.

“I hope you come back next time when we’re headlining main stage, bitch.” Paleface Swiss’s Zelli has the swagger of a star in the making. From bellowing bulldog barks to skittering, rapid-fire rapping and even a big, soulful melody on Everything Is Fine, he’s certainly got a magnetic presence and the big, energetic turnout of bodies flying overhead shows it might not be an empty boast that Paleface Swiss could someday tear their way up a bill like this.

“Sonic Temple are doing something special with Sublime today. If you crowdsurf, you win a Kia Sonata. Just speak to these lovely gentlemen in green.” Sublime might take the prize for the most chaotic set of the weekend. The veteran ska punks – now fronted by Jakob Nowell, son of original singer Bradley Nowell – might luxuriate in reggae beats and groovy basslines, but Jakob’s energy is pure chaotic brilliance.

On opener Date Rape, he’s sprinting around the stage singing frantically, constantly egging the crowd on with a big grin. A mid-set injury in the crowd pauses play, so he sits beneath a giant inflatable of Lou Dog – the Dalmation who became the band’s unofficial mascot in the 90s playing with his Rottweiler Melvin. Walking around site all day you can’t go more than a few feet without running into someone with a Sublime shirt on, so it was obvious they were always going to be a draw, but this weird set feels completely singular, more like a fun hangout with mates than your average festival set.

It’s amazing just how much Lorna Shore can achieve in just seven songs. Sonic Temple have pulled off something of a coup for deathcore fans in booking both Slaughter To Prevail and Lorna Shore in headline positions on the dual Citadel and Sanctuary stages. If this is a dry run for future festival headline appearances, LS have smashed the brief. 

The crowd is packed in tight for the band’s arrival, and their hour-long slot feels genuinely momentous. Dazzling as the patterns flashing up on screens around the stage are – casting the boys in hellfire, sparks and cosmic backdrops throughout the set, nothing stands out more than the sheer gravitational pull of Will Ramos. Strutting across a walkway at the front of the stage, Ramos’s utterly inhuman vocal range is put through its paces across a set that kicks off with a sense of grand, annihilating extremity on Oblivion.  

The next hour is all about showing off the grandeur of their sound, somehow managing to strike a balance between the sweaty, pummelling foundations of the genre and the more cinematic flourishes they’ve pushed that same genre to embrace. But while they’re helping elevate deathcore, they aren’t distancing themselves from the scene either. A guest appearance from Chelsea Grin’s Tom Barber during Sun//Eater offers a chance for Ramos to trade feral snarls and howls, while an appearance from Beautiful Child Of God’s Nick Chance on War Machine shows Lorna Shore are helping to spotlight emerging bands too. 

It all contributes to a sense that this Sonic Temple performance is something special for Lorna Shore, proof positive they’re ready to take on bigger stages and events. The main melody and guitar leads of Unbreakable taps into stadium metal grandeur against a flesh-flaying wall of blastbeats, while the sweeping riffs and symphonic underpinnings of Sun//Eater feel like they come from the school of Gothenburg melodeath with added nitro in their veins. 

For all the brimstone and bluster of their set, there are hints that Lorna Shore have their sights set on the big leagues too. Glenwood is an absolutely colossal tune, possibly deathcore’s first arena-sized anthem with chest-beating dramatic moments that lend themselves perfectly to the set.  

“That was some sad shit,” Ramos decides. “So in my opinion it only makes sense to have some absolute ass beaters.” Closing out on a vicious one-two of Prison Of Flesh and To The Hellfire – the song that introduced Ramos to the world at large – Lorna Shore emerge victorious. Biggest band in deathcore? Maybe. But why stop there? 

Madrid’s premier rock and pop festival Mad Cool returns to Iberdrola Music in the south of the city this summer (July 8-11), playing host to one of the key European rock bills of the year with Foo Fighters, Nick Cave and The Black Crowes just some of the highlights. And with European festivals proving a bank-friendly city-break option for many UK festival-goers, here’s five reasons to go stark raving Mad this year.

The rock

Setting out to even surpass a supreme 2025 line-up involving Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Iggy Pop, Refused and Bright Eyes, the Mad Cool 2026 people have pulled out around a decade of stops to put together one of the most formidable rock line-ups in recent Euro-fest memory.

Besides the Foos, The Black Crowes and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the likes of Pixies, Wolf Alice, The War on Drugs, Kings Of Leon, A Perfect Circle, Twenty One Pilots, Pulp and David Byrne head up the offering, and even the smaller poster print holds greatness in the shape of The Last Dinner Party, The Vaccines, Matt Berninger and Kasabian. Outside of the dedicated weekenders, it doesn’t rock much better than this.

The non-stop sounds

Like many festivals in the more scorchio bits of Europe, Mad Cool shuns the midday sun and starts letting off its steam around sunset. Which means there’s a whole lot of music to cram into the evening hours, hence its largely alternating two-main-stage set-up.

So there’s no standing around sinking into the mud between bands, just a short stroll via a margarita and cheek-paint shack from the Region of Madrid stage to the Orange stage for more instant world-class rock, or to one of the outer stages for local, rising or more ravey options. And there isn’t any mud anyway.

The megapints

The foodie menu at Mad Cool is impressive enough, with a plethora of local chefs and global bites on offer in the food courts (pro tip: fill up early to dodge the dinnertime queues). But crucial to the Mad Cool experience is the megapint – the one-litre buckets of beer that will see you through the longest of Crowes workouts. You don’t even have to miss Debaser to get one – just hail down one of the roaming beer roadies wandering around in the crowd and drain their back-barrel dry.

The casual carnival vibe

Madrid knows how to party, and Mad Cool is one of its wildest weekends. Yet there’s a relaxed sort of vibe to the festival – it’s not so crushed or overcrowded that you can’t get close to the bands, the arenas are wide and spacious and a gentle carnival atmosphere pervades the place.

The city

Luckily, for such a treat-stacked bill, there is a breather. Florence + The Machine headline the poppier Thursday night, so what better chance for the diehard rockist to head into one of the most vibrant cities in the world and check out the local scene?

There’s El Mercado de San Miguel in the city centre, a market stuffed with culinary wonder; there are cocktail bars galore across the city; and there is the boho Malasaña area just north of the centre, where the buzzing Madrid scene regularly kicks off in bars such as La Via Lactea and hangs out drinking street beers on Plaza del Dos de Mayo.

Tickets and hotel packages for Mad Cool 2026 are on sale now.

Jay Poom Euarchukiati might be the most anxious man in Thailand right now. The singer is a bag of nerves as he paces back and forth behind the main stage at Rock Alarm, frantically puffing on a cigar as excited cellists and violinists chatter around him. In a matter of minutes, he and his band, Defying Decay, will open the main stage of the 10,000-capacity outdoor festival in the Khlong Luang District, around 40km outside of Bangkok.

To mark the occasion, Defying Decay have brought a full symphony orchestra with them to enhance their polished, arena-ready metalcore. This is a big deal for everyone involved – and Jay is keenly aware of it.

“I’m just thinking about all the things that could go wrong,” he mutters, as much to himself as to Hammer. He’s defying the 36 degree heat in slacks, a longsleeve black shirt and a leather jacket, aviators and a large necklace completing the look of a stylish modern rock star. He certainly looks cool, even if his current mood is anything but. “It’ll be OK,” he adds unconvincingly, repeating it as he marches off to find his bandmates. “It’ll be OK…”

Soon it’s showtime, and as the band stride out, hordes of people rush towards the stage. The orchestra proves to be a masterstroke, making the seven-piece look and sound huge, their hooky anthems more bombastic than ever. There’s a hilariously botched attempt at a wall of death, fans completely missing Jay’s cue and instead opting to turn the giant pit that’s opened up in the middle of the field into a dance-off.

“I counted them in wrong,” he laughs as he comes offstage. “But we got a mosh pit at least!”

It’s a big deal for Defying Decay to open Rock Alarm, as it’s Thailand’s biggest dedicated rock festival. Asia is the world’s largest continent, so of course there are thousands of metal bands, but in the West we’re more likely to think of Mongolia’s The Hu, Taiwan’s Chthonic, Indonesia’s Burgerkill or Nepal’s Underside than any artist from Thailand.

We know there’s been a fanbase for decades. In 1993, Metallica played to 30,000 people in Bangkok – a big gig for any band, let alone a metal one. Head to Youtube, and you can see footage of the band riding elephants and handling snakes.

So, are we missing out on Thai metal because of cultural Eurocentrism?

According to Oak Phongpan Polasit, who co-founded Rock Alarm in 2018, there is a scene here, but it’s characterised by enthusiasm rather than by size or global reach.

“A lot of people might think the Thai scene is small, but it’s full of passionate people,” says Oak. “For a long time, there just wasn’t a proper space where everyone could come together. That’s one of the main reasons we started Rock Alarm. We wanted to give this scene a home.”

The festival itself is much like one you’d find in England or mainland Europe, though on a smaller scale: four stages, booze and food stalls. There are individual merch booths for each band playing, giving a more intimate feel to proceedings.

Highlights include the eccentric but captivating prog metal of The Darkest Romance, frontman Max conducting at least a third of the set from halfway through the crowd, alongside the juddering metallic hardcore of Oblivious and propulsive alt rock of Bomb At Track. All are greeted like returning heroes and play to packed-out stages, often with impressive light shows and pyro.

“We’re seeing a new generation of bands with crazy creativity and bigger ambitions,” Oak notes. “Production quality is improving everywhere. The Thai scene is definitely levelling up.”

We talk to some festivalgoers. “It’s so good to have a festival like this here,” beams Pim, a 22-year old in an Underoath shirt.

The Florida metalcore heavyweights will be closing the main stage later, and this year marks the first time the festival has welcomed a handful of Western bands. Everyone we talk to today is excited for this development. “I was too young the last time they played Thailand, in 2012,” Pim notes. “I’m excited!”

Oak’s goals for Rock Alarm are ambitious. He wants a festival that can go toe-to-toe with its international counterparts, but that continues to champion the best of the country’s rock scene.

“My hope is that Rock Alarm becomes a platform where Thai bands can stand side by side with international acts on the same stage, equally respected,” he explains. “I’d love to see stronger collaboration from every side: government, private sector, fans, local and international artists. If we build a solid foundation together, the rock and metal scene here can grow sustainably and get the recognition it deserves.”

The following day, Hammer meets up with Defying Decay’s Jay for a tour of Studio28, nestled in the Saphan Sung district of Bangkok, around 20km outside the city centre. He’s looking far more relaxed today and rocking another stylish ensemble, strolling over to greet us in a smart black shirt and suit trousers combo. Yesterday was one of the biggest gigs his band has played in their homeland, and he’s relieved everything went to plan.

“I'm quite happy with it,” he says calmly. “It was a weird set for us to play, because we were playing with an orchestra for the first time. It was a bit unusual for me.”

Studio28 was set up in 2014 by a group of moneyed locals from the Thai rock scene, and was one of the first independent venues of its kind in the country. Alongside the studio itself, there’s a state-of-the-art, 300-square-metre rehearsal space and an adjacent vinyl pressing plant – the only one in Thailand, owned by Jay’s uncle.

In the studio, we meet Shane Edwards, an Australian producer who worked on Defying Decay’s new studio album, Synthetic Sympathy, and is here to give us a listen. His diverse portfolio includes Aussie punks Hellions, Brit indie darlings The Libertines and pop icon Christina Aguilera.

Shane reiterates what Oak told us about the Thai metal scene: it’s not about size, it’s about people getting involved because they want to. “Thai bands are organised and hungry,” Shane explains. “Metal is so, so small here. You could just make pop rock and have a much more comfortable career.”

After a blast of some new Defying Decay tunes, we jump in a car with Jay, slowly snaking our way through Bangkok’s infamously savage traffic, towards the centre of the city. We chat about the similarly sluggish progress of Thai metal, a scene Jay has been immersed in for decades. He agrees with Shane that people aren’t making bank from it, and running on passion alone isn’t necessarily sustainable.

“In Thailand, one thing is for sure: there’s just not much money to be made in the metal scene,” he sighs, as cars, buses, mopeds, tuk-tuks and trucks almost spilling over with goods bob and weave around us. “A lot of the local Thai bands come and go. Not many bands stay around long enough to do anything.”

He name-checks Oblivious and posthardcore OGs Ebola, formed in 2006 and 1996 respectively, as two examples of Thai bands that have stayed the course, but clearly, there are serious challenges here. While metal has had a presence in Thailand for decades – aside from Metallica, Black Sabbath played in 1995 – native bands have always struggled to maintain momentum beyond playing local shows around Bangkok and nearby Pattaya.

The language barrier is one issue – English is commonly spoken in Bangkok, but most of the local bands Hammer watched at Rock Alarm sang in Thai. While the likes of Rammstein, Babymetal and The Hu have shown that you don’t need to sing in English to grow audiences in the West, such cases are rare, and Thailand’s own music scene doesn’t have many in-roads for bands willing to drop their mother tongue.

“If you want to be successful in Thailand, you probably want to be signed to a big label,” Jay explains. “The biggest labels here do not have a single band who sings in English. In Bangkok, English is fine, but if you go outside it and you don’t sing in Thai, they wouldn’t accept you.”

Defying Decay have attempted to buck the trend. Sixteen years in, they’re relative scene veterans by this point, and are one of the few Thai metal bands to have made it outside of Southeast Asia, having toured the UK, Europe and North America. But theirs is a rare story. Jay comes from a wealthy family and has been able to invest in Defying Decay’s journey. They’ve still struggled to build long term momentum, but it’s a bonus he readily acknowledges most Thai bands don’t have.

“It's a lot harder, for sure,” he says. “Who's gonna offer a Thai band that no one knows a festival slot, and fly everyone to go play? You can’t even drive to anywhere in Southeast Asia. It’s not like Europe or America, where you can get a van. Even if we’re just gonna play in Singapore, we gotta fly.”

Finally, we reach our destination: the banks of the Chao Phraya river, flowing right through the heart of the city and past iconic landmarks such as the fantastical-looking Grand Palace – the former official residence of the king – and the famous Wat Arun Buddhist temple.

As we hop in a speedboat for a cheeky evening cruise, Hammer asks Jay about one of the more promising things to happen in the Thai music industry. In 2024, the government introduced the Music Exchange initiative, providing financial support for artists that have been booked to play festivals abroad. It’s a start, but it overlooks the fact that touring, rather than occasional festival appearances, is essential to economies like metal.

“They don’t support tours because they don't understand touring or the metal scene,” Jay tells us. “They don’t get that you’ve got to play many shows to make an impact. They only care if it’s a big festival.”

Our brief James Bond experience wraps up and Jay bids us farewell, so Hammer takes a stroll through some busy market streets, dodging mopeds and cooing tuk-tuk drivers along the way. We have one final stop on our metal tourism weekender: Immortal Bar, Bangkok’s destination dive for metalheads.

Entirely outside, largely unsheltered and taking up what is essentially a cramped alleyway in the Phra Nakhon district, there’s a local metal covers band named Mönkey Head playing as we arrive. Dozens of locals and tourists are here, grinning, cheers-ing and headbanging in the sticky evening heat as Mönkey Head smash out enjoyably ramshackle covers of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Motörhead, the sound of bass drops from the nearby party street of Khaosan Road throbbing away in the background.

Despite the challenges facing the Thai metal scene, Immortal has stood for almost thirty years, and we manage to grab owner Lakfah ‘Fah’ Sarsakul to find out how.

“You don’t build a metal venue for profit alone,” Fah states flatly. “If profit is your only motivation, you won’t last. Metal, for me, is not just an occupation. It is conviction. It is loyalty. It runs through my blood and into my bones.”

It’s a sentiment that metalheads of every nation can rally behind, but in Thailand, it’s one you truly have to live by if you want to survive. “I have fallen more times than I can count,” Fah sighs. “Financial pressure. Doubt. Physical and mental fatigue. There were nights when everything felt like it might collapse.”

It’s a story echoed by many bands in Thailand: funding, geography, language and infrastructure are just some of the hurdles artists here are having to overcome. But this is a scene stuffed with passionate, dedicated metalheads, determined to see Thai metal recognised on the international stage. Be it places like Immortal keeping the scene alive at its grassroots or Rock Alarm booking Western bands to help create a bigger buzz, no one is giving up.

“More Asian bands are appearing on major festival lineups,” Fah says. “That gives me hope. I truly hope Thai bands will stand on those stages more often in the future. We understand it will be difficult. But metal was never built for the easy road.”

For more on Rock Alarm, head to the official website. Defying Decay’s new album, Synthetic Sympathy, is out now

A director of UK-based festival Slam Dunk has stepped down from his role after he was accused of sexually assaulting an actress on multiple occasions.

Jenny Miller claims in a since deleted social media post that one of Slam Dunk's directors sometimes paid her to dance for him and that on one occasion he sexually assaulted her after providing her with "cocaine" which caused her to pass out.

Miller, who describes herself as a showgirl and actress, says there were multiple other sexual assaults. She also posted screenshots of text conversations between herself and the man she accuses of the assaults.

Miller's statement did not name her alleged attacker, however it was posted alongside a picture of Ben Ray, the festival's founder. It has been reported that she deleted her posts reluctantly on the advice of police.

A statement released by the festival says he "strongly refutes" the claims but adds that he has stepped down from his role.

The full Slam Dunk statement reads: "We are aware of allegations published yesterday relating to one of our directors. We take these allegations seriously and understand that they may be distressing and hard to process for our community.

"Our Slam Dunk fans, staff, and artists are, as always, our top priority. While he strongly refutes these allegations, the director in question has agreed, in consultation with the board, to step down from Slam Dunk operations while this matter is ongoing.

"Slam Dunk remains committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all employees, partners and customers. Our values and culture are fundamental to how we operate, and we are committed to upholding them.

"It would be inappropriate for us to comment further on an ongoing legal matter.

"However, we promise transparency and honesty to our Slam Dunk community and will provide updates when it is appropriate to do so."

Miller's claims were posted on her Facebook and Instagram accounts and included a picture of Ray.

Her statement includes details of alleged sexual violence which may be disturbing to some readers.

Miller says: "This man sexually assaulted me multiple times on separate occasions and raped me while I was passing out from the coke he provided me.

"I am in the process of pressing charges against him for all the trauma he gave me. He was my friend and I trusted him. He would pay me to dance for him coz he was stripper-obsessed and I was broke, but the rules are do not touch me ever.

"When I was passing out, begging him to stop and get off me, he pulled my knickers to the side and went down on me. I wasn't strong enough to get him off of me.

"I would tell him repeated to get the f*** off me and he wouldn't and then he would try harder.

"The man is vile. I told his wife, now ex-wife, what he did to me and what he was doing behind her back. She was doing IVF at the time to try and have his babies.

"I became close friends with him in the strip club because he was offering me a job to work for him as a stripper at his festival for rockstars in the VIP and he wanted to open his own strip club. He also knew a lot of my friends in bands so I trusted him, but he's a predator and rapist and everyone should know."

Fred Durst wants to set up an alternative to the popular Californian festival Coachella. The Limp Bizkit frontman revealed that he's been working on an alternative in a response to a post from rapper Lil Wayne on X.

“It’s truly a humbling experience when events like Coachella and the Grammys come around and like clockwork, I’m uninvited and uninvolved,” Lil Wayne wrote.

In response, Durst wrote, "Let’s start our own experience gathering and our own acknowledgement event to welcome all of the uninvited - I’ve got a couple [of] ideas I’ve been working on for quite some while now - happy to elaborate if ever interested - sending good vibes."

Limp Bizkit are a popular wishlist act for many Coachella attendees, but have never appeared at the festival since its inception in 1999. They have played at Woodstock '99, Welcome To Rockville and Aftershock in the US, in addition to outdoor European dates at Download Festival (2009, 2024, 2026), Rock am Ring and Rock im Park (2009, 2026), Pinkpop, Big Day Out, Hellfest and Graspop Metal Meeting.

This summer the band have several more festival dates in Europe and North America scheduled - full details below.

Machine Gun Kelly's new single Fix Ur Face features Durst and will be released tomorrow (April 21).

Limp Bizkit live dates 2026

May 31: Tallin Unibet Arena, Estonia
Jun 03: Krakow Tauron Arena Kraków, Poland
Jun 05: Nürburg Rock am Ring, Germany
Jun 07: Nuremburg Rock in Park, Germany
Jun 11: Hradec Králové Rock For People, Czechia
Jun 12: Derby Donington Park Download Festival, UK
Jun 15: Athens Plateia Nerou, Greece
Jun 18: Dessel Graspop Metal Meet, Belgium
Jun 20: Clisson Hellfest, France
Jun 23: Monchengladbach SparkassenPark, Germany
Jun 24: Berlin Parkbühne Wuhlheide, Germany
Jun 27: Oslo Tons of Rock, Norway
Jul 03: Viveiro Resurrection Fest, Spain

Jul 10: Ottawa Lebreton Flats Bluesfest, ON
Jul 17: Cadott Rock Fest, WI
Jul 18: Tinley Park Summer of '99 and Beyond Festival, IL
Jul 19: Mansfield Incarceration Festival, OH
Sep 19: Louisville Louder Than Life festival, KY
Oct 02: Sacramento Aftershock Festival, CA
Oct 11: Nashville The Truth, TN
Oct 12: Nashville The Truth, TN

Find Limp Bizkit tickets.