Kicking off Friday on the Dogtooth stage, Headwreck were the perfect declaration of intent for what Download is increasingly becoming. The Brisbane quartet blend electronic, hip-hop, nu-metal and pop influences into something chaotic and distinctly their own, and they feel like a band completely built for this festival’s more progressive direction. Opening with ‘Filet-O-Fish’ told you immediately that they weren’t taking themselves too seriously, which only made them more fun to watch. With feral, chaotic energy pouring off the stage, Headwreck were clearly having the time of their lives. Their latest single ‘Raindrops’ hit with pounding grooves, huge guitar tones and an instantly infectious chorus, exactly the track made for a sweaty tent at Download. Seeing Headwreck jerseys scattered through the queue and packed in against the barrier was proof that this lot have been grinding hard and leaving a mark on the UK. If this is what Download looks like at 1pm on a Friday, the festival is very much keeping up with the times. See our interview with the band here.
Atlanta trio Silly Goose describe themselves as a “rap rock nu-metal hip-hop fiesta extravaganza”, and their Download set on the Avalanche stage proved exactly that. There was something deeply nostalgic about it for anyone who grew up on nu-metal, yet Silly Goose‘s modern, genre-blending spin on the sound meant the younger crowd were just as at home in that tent as the veterans. The band have built their reputation on guerrilla pop-up shows, and that same anything-goes spirit translated brilliantly to a festival stage. ‘Live It Up’ got the whole crowd jumping and screaming about ‘rockin’ with the goose’ within seconds, and from that point there was not a single person standing still. For the closing track ‘Bad Behaviour’, Jackson even jumped off the stage entirely to help catch crowdsurfers at the barrier. The whole set felt like being inside a music video, and that ending was practically cinematic.
Paleface Swiss‘ utter carnage throughout their set was enough to satiate any naysayers who insist that Download has become too soft over the years. As modern deathcore/metalcore royalty, the band openly loathe the beatdown label. Yet one look at their pits at the Opus stage very much contradicted that, the sight of Cookie Monster moshing with Elmo summing up the violently delightful chaos perfectly. Marc ‘Zelli’ Zellweger himself is something of a walking contradiction too, equally capable of screaming his guts out and crooning his heart out, whilst newcomer drummer Luigi Paraventi was an absolute skull-rattling force throughout. Zelli took a moment between songs to jokingly complain about only being allocated one free meal a day at the festival. “Selling 100,000 tickets but not being able to afford more than one f*ing meal, and I’m a sassy little b** when I’m hungry!” he protested, before getting the entire crowd to scream the lyrics to ‘Nail to the Tooth’ back at him. Despite the band’s played-up aggravation, it was obvious that all moshers present were having a delightful time. See our interview with the band here.
Being at the barrier for Vianova felt like a privilege, and one very much earned by getting there early. Berlin’s finest are impossible to pin down: metalcore, R&B, electronica and a prog approach to time signatures all smashing into something that has absolutely no right to work as well as it does. Frontman Alex Kerski walked out in his trademark fluffy ushanka and orange sunglasses (a nod to the cover of debut album Hit It!), immediately clocking those in the know amongst the crowd with a grin: “I see the hats, I know you guys know the words!”. Their UK headline tour earlier this year had fans turning up in full Vianova cosplay too, and the Dogtooth crowd was no different. Launching straight into ‘Squier Talk’, the whole band was giving it everything they had despite being dressed up in sweaters and slacks inside a tent that felt like a sauna. Vianova‘s eclectic set of heavy riffs alongside singalong choruses and jazz interludes was yet another example of how the Dogtooth stage is not one to be dismissed.
Pendulum were a welcome change of pace, a chance to take a breather to have a dance break on the hill and let the drum and bass wash over you after a day of pits. They’ve long since proven that the Download community are perfectly accepting of all genres, and the packed Apex stage made that abundantly clear. The rave vibes in broad daylight were ridiculous fun, right up until Rou Reynolds from Enter Shikari walked out for the ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ remix, at which point said hill was promptly abandoned in favour of the pit. A whole field of alternative people from all ages and backgrounds, united by clapping simultaneously to one of the most iconic songs of its era, is a sight that never gets old. This surprise appearance summed up exactly why Download is such a special weekend.
Download hasn’t seen progressive metalcore group Periphery since 2019, and they made the wait feel worth it. The set was tight and heavy, with the instrumental and vocal work landing with real melodic precision rather than showing off for its own sake. Impressive too, given one of their three guitarists was missing due to family matters. They opened with ‘Mr. God’, one of the heavier cuts from new album A Pale White Dot, before ‘Everyone Dies Alone’ showed off frontman Spencer Sotelo’s vocal range and set the tone for a set balanced between brutality and emotion. Deeper cuts throughout gave old-school fans something to chew on too, proof this was never going to be a lazy greatest-hits run-through. Their set was an absolute masterclass in what progressive metal can be when it refuses to sacrifice heaviness for technicality, or vice versa.
German electronicore outfit Electric Callboy kept the dance party going at the Apex stage. Having built their reputation on comedic songs and absurd music videos, they’re by far one of the most outrageously fun live shows in heavy music. The five of them brought the non-stop energy, having pyro firing up directly in front of them without so much as a flinch as they went through various costume changes and showed off their ridiculous dance moves. Zero self-seriousness and an infectious vibe that somehow made a field full of exhausted metalheads dance against their will, there is no such thing as an Electric Callboy sceptic once the set starts. They are, in the most authentic sense possible, one of those rare bands that transcends the ‘serious metalhead’ barrier entirely. And if you weren’t partying by the time they closed with ‘We Got the Moves’, you’re lying to yourself.
By the time Limp Bizkit actually took the stage, Download had been gripped by Bizkit fever all day. There’s something fitting about watching one of nu-metal’s most enduring 90’s icons finally headline this festival, a band that helped define the genre’s commercial peak decades ago and somehow still feels essential rather than nostalgic. A fake countdown clock pranked the crowd with a deliberately filthy-looking optical illusion, a cheeky gimmick only this band could get away with. What followed wasn’t quite the chaos everyone expected, though. The screens cut to a tribute to former bassist Sam Rivers, who passed away last year, alongside the band’s late friend Dougie Miller. Seeing a grief-stricken Limp Bizkit is a rare thing, and yet they still pulled it off without losing an ounce of their usual mayhem.
From there it was business as usual, in the best way. They teased the crowd mercilessly with the opening riff of ‘Break Stuff’, Fred Durst mockingly waving it off with a “You guys aren’t ready for that yet,” before Wes Borland dropped a few bars of Ministry‘s ‘Thieves’ as a tantalising detour. When ‘Break Stuff’ finally properly erupted, it felt earned. Red caps went flying everywhere, and anyone who’d brought a camping chair into the front section quickly discovered that sitting down during a Limp Bizkit set simply isn’t an option. What stood out most, though, was how few of the people losing it around us actually looked like metalheads, undeniable proof that Bizkit’s appeal has always stretched far wider than the genre they’re filed under.
Durst kept circling back to one line throughout, “Let’s do this s*** like it’s 1999!”. Download obliged wherever it could, ripping through ‘My Generation’, ‘Livin’ It Up’ and ‘Bring It Back’ back to back. The screens stayed mostly plain black with lyrics scrolling for the actual songs, but flipped to absurd memes the second a silly interlude like ‘Tainted Love’ or ‘Cars’ kicked in. The whole event played out like a violent, drunken karaoke session, especially with the fever dream outfits to match: Durst cycling through wigs, and Borland dressed like a goth Mortal Kombat character come to life.
‘Hot Dog’ brought Lauren Sanderson out for a guest spot (Durst featured on the remix of her single ‘Come Say Sum’ earlier this year, so the pairing made perfect sense) and it landed as a genuinely touching collision of generations. Her appearance hammered home just how universally loved this band is in 2026, given how widely mocked they were when they started out. That theme kept building: four fans, all teenage girls, were pulled up to sing ‘Full Nelson’ alongside the band, whilst deeper cut ‘Dad Vibes’ had the whole field instructed to bust out their worst dad dancing. Then came the George Michael cover, ‘Faith’, which fit the karaoke-party energy of the whole set perfectly. A field of grown metalheads gleefully reclaiming a cheesy 80’s pop song while moshing and crowdsurfing to it all at once, this was basically Download distilled into three minutes flat.
Things slowed right down for ‘Behind Blue Eyes’, Durst inviting anyone who’d ever lost someone to crowdsurf in their memory. This was an oddly tender moment amid all the havoc, before the pace snapped straight back up with ‘My Way’, bringing the surfers right back into the pits to go even harder. As always, because once is never enough, they closed the whole night out with a second full run-through of ‘Break Stuff’. The crowd was sent home on a manic, euphoric high that somehow never feels like a cop-out no matter how many times you’ve seen them pull the doubling-down move out.
By the time the set wrapped, the field was an exhausted mess of metalheads trudging back up the hill, completely wrung out. If there’s one thing Limp Bizkit know how to do, it’s tire an entire festival crowd into the ground. On the strength of this set, 23 years after pulling out of headlining Download’s very first edition, they’ve more than proven they deserved the top spot all along.
