Mad About Rock

  As Everything Unfolds, Tropic Gold, TheCityIsOurs and FOXHAUNT confirmed Novacaine Festival has revealed the first wave of artists for its 2026 edition, signalling a major step forward for the fast-rising UK alternative event. After a hugely successful debut on Saturday 4 October 2025, Novacaine Festival quickly established itself as a new platform within the UK alternative music scene. The inaugural event was headlined by The Five Hundred, with main support from Bleed Again, alongside a diverse line-up including DACRA, Night Thieves, Reckoner, Broken Empire, and local rising artists Reanimate, Our North, Dead Demons and Ocean Thieves. With the 2025 event coming close to selling out, the festival’s mission was clear from the outset: bring together established touring bands and emerging talent from across the UK while delivering an uncompromising live experience for fans. Now, Novacaine Festival returns on Saturday 28 November 2026, raising the bar once again. Headlining the event...

  All Points East and Outbreak Fest announce Deftones will be joined by special guests Interpol, as well as AFI, Salem, Mannequin Pussy, Blawan (live) and Ecca Vandal. Previously announced acts include IDLES, Amyl & The Sniffers, EsDeeKid, JPEGMAFIA, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, Basement, Wisp, Deafheaven and Show Me The Body, with more to be added. Tickets are on sale now. Visit allpointseastfestival.com . Multi-platinum GRAMMY® Award-winning Sacramento band Deftones are set to headline the event following a stellar 2025 that saw them release their tenth studio album, private music, as well as a sold-out global arena tour. Now on their EU & UK tour, the Deftones renaissance is in full swing, with The Guardian describing them as “alt-metal veterans”, giving them a glowing 5 stars. Tomorrow, Deftones will touch down in London for their major O2 show. There’s no doubt that Deftones performance at All Points East presents Outbreak Fest will be a must-see for anyone looking to immerse t...

  We’re excited to announce 22 new band additions and a venue update for Mangata Festival 2026, taking place on Saturday 5 September 2026 in Nottingham. With five stages spread across three city-centre venues, this is shaping up to be the biggest edition of Mangata Festival yet. We’re pleased to confirm that Mangata Festival 2026 will once again feature five stages, working closely with Rescue Rooms, Rock City, and The Tap & Tumbler. Rescue Rooms will host the Main Stage, with the Red Room stage upstairs, located at Masonic Place, Goldsmith Street, Nottingham (NG1 5LB). Just a few minutes away, Rock City on Talbot Street (NG1 5GG) will host the Beta stage and the Black Cherry Lounge stage. Around the corner, the Tap & Tumbler at 33 Wollaton Street (NG1 5FW) will host our fifth stage, which will be free entry with no ticket required. On the Rescue Rooms Main Stage, joining previously announced Raised By Owls, Red Method, and In Search of Sun, we’re thrilled to welcome our ...

  With Halloween around the corner, BLOODSTOCK has some early treats to share, by way of some fiendishly good bands to announce! No tricks here. Hot on the heels of the recent reveal of special guests BODY COUNT, today BLOODSTOCK can tell you another 10 bands who’ll be treading the boards at Catton Park next summer, and if you’re quick, you might just manage to snap up the last of the standard weekend tickets before the box office goblin swoops in with the giant sold out stamp. Striding onto the Ronnie James Dio main stage on Sunday, will be the mighty BLACK LABEL SOCIETY . Led by the inimitable, master storyteller Zakk Wylde, do they need any more introduction? Warm up your necks in advance headbangers, you’ll need it. Not ones to be intimidated by that hefty gut punch, Friday sees prime deathcore dealers FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY join the bill. The Sophie Lancaster stage is no slouch either. Thursday welcomes back Birmingham’s previous Metal 2 The Masses winners, boisterous lads MANTIS...

  With less than two months to go until the mighty return of Download Festival, DLXXII has unleashed its ‘Beyond The Bands’ offerings, giving Download-goers an even more exciting experience onsite with brand new food, drink, wellness and sport options. Taking place on 11-15 June 2025 at the hallowed grounds of Donington Park, Download will be headlined by Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn. You can buy the last remaining tickets here: www.downloadfestival.co.uk. Brand new for this year’s DLXXII are the Mercian Axe brewery bar where you can find locally brewed beers, the Hair Of The Dog pub complete with roof terrace and beer garden, and brand new arena bar The Iron Harp. Our Low & No bar, Bar Zero returns, as well as the Raven Records’ pop-up vinyl store, which also offers alcohol-free options, coffee and heavy metal talking therapy. For the first time, Download will see live blacksmithing workshops, new immersive experience Darkfield Séance and a Heavy Metal Sports Day. There w...

  Download Festival is bringing the noise to Brighton next month at The Great Escape with its very own stage under the famous city seafront arches at The Volks. Spanning three days of heavy hitters, rising alt-stars and future Download favourites, the stage will spotlight the best of the new wave – all primed for bigger things. Catch chaos-ready sets from Mouth Culture, Twenty One Children, Karen Dio, Zetra, Vower, James and The Cold Gun, BEX, Jayler and more across Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 May. Whether you’re scouting your next favourite band or want a taste of what’s to come at Donington at DLXXII, this is your chance to get up close and loud as the festival season kicks off. The Download stage at TGE highlights the festival’s ongoing commitment to championing new music. Artists like Sleep Token made their mark at the festival in 2018 and now headline Download 2025 – a testament to the platform and progression the festival supports. Download also partners with Kerrang! Radio on...

  2000trees Festival can announce over 45 new bands and acts for the line-up of this Summers much anticipated (and now officially the 'Best Medium Festival', winning the accolade three years in a row at the UK Festival Awards) live event. Bands announced include Scottish 2 piece and 2000trees Festival firm favourites VUKOVI, who are truly part of the soul and fabric of this festival, having played its smallest stage to now playing 3rd from top on the main stage. Joining them include deep, soulful and enthralling punk duo from Birmingham, Big Special, and Irish garage punk band Sprints (who like VUKOVI have become a MASSIVE favourite of the festival, moving up the stages). On top of these we can also announce Welsh post-hardcore legends Future of The Left, exciting UK dance punk rockers SNAYX, indie punk rock 5 piece Panic Shack, Australian/Norwegian metal pop favourites Blood Command, and 3 of the most exciting new UK bands right now with Vower, Meryl Streek and Unpeople. All o...

  There’s a brand-new date that needs to be added to the festival calendar. NOVACAINE FESTIVAL 2025 makes its debut in Sheffield, England, on Saturday 4th October. The event promises to be an electrifying day of music, creativity, and community. NOVACAINE’s goal is to support and showcase new music and foster a sense of community and discovery, making it the perfect destination for music lovers looking to explore new sounds in an intimate setting. Debuting at the legendary Corporation in Sheffield, NOVACAINE FESTIVAL 2025 will feature a curated line-up spanning from cutting edge rock to engrossing metal. Novacaine Festival 2025 Line Up Includes: The Five Hundred (Headliner) Bleed Again (Sub-headliner) Night Thieves Fates Hollow Reanimate Ocean Thieves Saints Among Us Broken Empire Our City Fires Dead Demons. Novacaine have a Spotify playlist that includes tracks from all artists playing at the festival. Check it out, here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6pWwHqMa1UX16XmzA4VtLr ...

  Today the highly anticipated line-up is revealed for the first ever edition of Forever Now, a monumental new one-day festival for passionate music lovers, taking place at legendary venue The National Bowl, Milton Keynes on 22 June 2025. A true celebration of alternative culture, the event will explore the cultural phenomenon of the dark side of creativity, featuring many of the greatest pioneers of new wave, post-punk, psychedelia and alternative rock. From electronic innovators Kraftwerk to punk icon Billy Idol and alt-rock legends The The, Death Cult, Johnny Marr, The Psychedelic Furs and The Jesus & Mary Chain, the festival will be a unique gathering for fans of post-punk music, fashion and literature, with a line-up unlike any other in the UK. Forever Now is more than just a festival—it’s a vibrant homage to the creativity and countercultural spirit born from the late 70s and early 80s that remains just as influential to present day culture. From the fashionably dark to...

  Initially beginning as a celebration of hardcore and punk, Manchester’s Outbreak Fest has built a major platform to the UK’s consistently thriving counterculture, while also providing a rite of passage for major touring acts across the world such as Death Grips, Earl Sweatshirt, JPEGMAFIA and more to lay waste to stages in Britain. After announcing their plans to come to London for the very first time, Outbreak Fest today announce initial line ups and locations for their London and Manchester 2025 weekender events. Tickets on sale HERE from this Friday 29 November. Starting with a one-day event in London’s Victoria Park as part of LIDO Festival series on the 13th June, this will be the biggest outdoor event led by hardcore acts that the UK’s ever had. London will play host to a varying line up that continues to push Outbreak’s ethos of boundary-breaking music from across the counterculture; from contemporary icons to burgeoning stars of the future. In London, hardcore crossover ...

  Download Festival, the greatest rock and metal festival of all time, returns for its 22nd edition, reborn and recharged in 2025 as DLXXII. Announced today are three first-time headliners—Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn—alongside over 90 more colossal names spanning the full spectrum of rock, metal, punk, emo, hardcore, alternative and classic rock. This year’s festival will take place on 13-15 June 2025 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire. General tickets are onsale at 9pm on Thursday 14 November at www.downloadfestival.co.uk . For the first time in Download Festival’s history, next year’s edition will showcase a trio of headliners who are entirely new to topping the main stage. This exciting milestone underscores Download’s unwavering commitment to delivering a fresh, groundbreaking lineup year after year, giving fans even more reasons to be part of this unmissable experience. Also announced today are UK and international heavyweights Weezer, Sex Pi...

  Norwich, England - Slay Promotions announce the full line up for the debut ‘SLAYFEST’ on the 24th and 25th May 2025 In association with Plug Studios, Mosaic Music and UK Thrasher, Slay Promotions have assembled two stacked days of Heavy metal talent from across the country at Voodoo Daddy’s Showrooms in Norwich Organiser James Morgan said: "I'm so pleased to be able to offer this excellent line-up to Norwich and proud to be a part of the vibrant metal scene that Norwich has to offer. I hope that SlayFest 2025 is the first of many to come and that people enjoy attending the event as much as I have enjoyed creating and promoting it. Thank you all so much for your support and just generally being awesome metal loving individuals." Saturday Line Up features Midlands Heavy Metal Stars ‘Fury’, Norwich Metallers ‘Uridium’, Essex Alt Metallers ‘Chemiqueen’, London thrash tinged metalheads ‘War Grave’ Birmingham heavy hitters ‘Kensei’ with the special guest slot being filled by ...

  It’s showtime! In honour of it being Halloween week, BLOODSTOCK was going to treat you to a spooktacular vampire pun. But it sucks. So let’s creep it real with some more bands joining the bill, because we all know that you ghouls just wanna have fun. And in case you missed the fangtastic news about more weekend tickets being released, read on for further details and mark your calendar for 9am, November 5th, for that’s when they go on sale! No tricks! Hot on the heels of the monstrously good news about MASTODON joining the bill last Friday, here’s another 15 bands to bewitch you… BLOODSTOCK is pleased to welcome thrash-lovin’ Norwich metal maestros SHRAPNEL , innovative Canterbury doomsters FAMYNE , and Danish blackened death/doom metal merchants KONVENT to the Ronnie James Dio stage on Friday. Emerging from Germany’s extreme metal void with a fresh take on all things black/death, THE SPIRIT are added to Saturday’s bill. Sunday’s lineup now includes atmospheric, dark symphonic m...

  2000trees Festival can today announce five (yes, that is FIVE) main stage headliners for its 2025 event. For the first time in the festivals history, all of the main stage headliners have been announced at the same time, and announced nine months ahead of the event. On Saturday the 12th July, making their 2000trees Festival debut, we have Canadian legends (ie The Only Band Ever) Alexisonfire. Formed in 2001, in Ontario Canada, Alexisonfire are truly one of the great rock bands of their generation, and everyone at 2000trees Festival is besides themselves with excitement at the prospect of this stunning band closing out our 2025 event. From George of Alexisonfire - "Alexis is very excited to be playing 2000trees next year. Let it be known, by the time we are done playing there will be significantly less trees." Joining them on the main stage across the weekend will be four bands, with three of them making their 2000trees Festival debuts, and all utterly fantastic. On Thursda...

  Following 2024's sell-out success, Mangata Festival has partnered up with SickSet Media to announced the first wave of bands for the 2025 edition of the festival. This includes four headliners, with one more to be announced! Taking place in Nottingham across five stages and three venues, 2025's Mangata Festival is proving to be a leading force in the alternative music world for the year, showcasing some of the best and brightest acts from across the UK. We welcome the finest in modern British Metal - The Raven Age to The Rescue Rooms. Exploring beautiful soundscapes on The Red Room stage we have Blanket delivering a masterclass of Post Rock / Shoegaze goodness. Hitting up the Ghost stage with Esoterica, delivering their unique brand of ethereal, heavy prog metal intermixed with melodic moments. Closing out The Tap n Tumbler we have Eschalon, described as a visual and auditory onslaught, Eschalon's presence is undeniable; from their striking visuals to their dynamic soun...