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...

  Monday 23 March 2026: With less than three months to go, Download Festival has revealed the thrilling line-up for its ultimate playground, District X. Featuring the likes of Five, Electric Six, Dick & Dom, The All-American Rejects, Creeper, MODESTEP, Bat Sabbath, TokenGrass and all sorts of other wild and wonderful delights, District X promises to take Downloaders to another dimension once again. Taking place from 10-14 June 2026 at the legendary Donington Park, Download Festival continues to re-define the traditional festival experience. Weekend camping tickets have now sold out, but final remaining weekend arena and day tickets are available now at www.downloadfestival.co.uk . This year, iconic 90s boyband Five will live up to their lyric “Five bad boys with the power to rock you” by playing Download Festival for the very first time and bringing their high-energy hits like ‘Slam Dunk (Da Funk)’ and ‘Everybody Get Up’ to Donington Park. Five won’t be the only act bringing a...

  Monday 23 February 2026: Download Festival, the greatest rock and metal festival of all time, has today added 14 artists to its already stellar line up for its 23rd edition in 2026. The new additions to the DLXXIII line up include A Day To Remember, THE PRIMALS, Daughtry, Creeper, Hot Milk, DECESSUS and more. Download Festival will take place on 10-14 June 2026 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire. Day tickets are now available at www.downloadfestival.co.uk . Announced today are Florida pop punk heavyweights A Day To Remember, Final Fantasy XIV’s official band THE PRIMALS (performing outside of Asia for the very first time), Creeper, Daughtry, Hot Milk, Silly Goose, Marmozets, BAND-MAID, Stampin’ Ground, Frozemode, Conjurer, Annisokay, Private School and DECESSUS, the Santiago death metal band fronted by the current Miss World Chile, Ignacia Fernández. The new additions join an already gargantuan line up headlined by Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses and Lin...

  Monday 3 November 2025: Download Festival, the greatest rock and metal festival of all time, returns for its molten hot 23rd edition, reborn and recharged in 2026 as DLXXIII. Announced today are three monumental headliners, with their only UK shows in 2026 - Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses and Linkin Park – with 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 10-14 June 2026 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire. Tickets onsale now at www.downloadfestival.co.uk . In 2026, Download XXIII will host a trio of legendary headliners: nu-metal icons Limp Bizkit – headlining Download for the very first time - on Friday, hard rock royalty Guns N’ Roses on Saturday and the mighty Linkin Park performing at Download for the first time since the band reformed in 2024 with lead singer Emily Armstrong. With this holy trinity of headliners and a mammoth undercar...

  Award-nominated independent rock and metal festival, Takedown Festival, has today announced the next wave of artists for its 2026 edition. The festival returns to Portsmouth Guildhall on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th April 2026, once again delivering a packed lineup of heavy music to the south coast. Newly confirmed acts include Mouth Culture, the alternative rock Leicester collective known for their anthemic, high-energy chaos, and Zetra, the shadowy London duo bringing their unique brand of shoegaze-soaked metal theatrics. Both will take to the stage on Saturday, alongside Lastelle. On Friday, South Of Salem and Asomvel join the bill. This year’s event will be headlined by PRESIDENT, marking the masked collective’s first ever festival headline slot. Having quickly gained a reputation as one of heavy music’s most exciting and unpredictable new forces, their Takedown 2026 performance promises to be a defining moment in their rise. Also topping the lineup are Phil Campbell and the B...

  More than 75,000 fans descended on Donington Park this week for an abundance of unforgettable moments at the most anticipated Download Festival ever. Across five sun-drenched days, the site was alive with energy as the Download community came together once again to celebrate the best in rock, metal and alternative music. This year’s festival marked a new chapter, with all three headliners – Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn – taking the top slot for the first time. From chart-topping legends to fast-rising newcomers, the line-up reflected the ever-evolving sound of the scene and the diverse tastes of today’s audience. With packed crowds, electric atmospheres and standout performances across all stages, Download 2025 delivered a week to remember. The Humans of Download returned to Donington to soak up a packed programme of music and entertainment across the Arena and District X. Green Day headlined on Friday with a high-octane, hit-filled set. Sleep Token followed on Saturday, de...

  Hammerdown Festival returns to Brighton, UK, on Saturday, July 19th, and Sunday, July 20th, 2025, for two days of diverse rock and metal. We caught up with the festival director, Harry White, to learn more about the festival's origins, the 2025 edition, and its future. So, going back to the beginning, how did you come to form Hammerdown Festival in 2014 and what inspired you to do this? Is it something you always planned on doing? I had seen the big festival lineups like Download, Sonisphere and Bloodstock, and it all looked amazing. Not only did you get to basically go on a camping holiday for a week, but you also got excellent value for money… rather than spending £60 seeing your favourite band with 2 supports, you could spend £200 and see 30 or 40 bands! One year at Download, I pushed myself to see as many bands as possible. I saw 52! You can’t beat that. So for me, it seemed like the dream way to see all my favourite bands in one place. I’d always used online templates to “ma...

  The annual ‘Night Before Uprising’ returns to the city's favourite grassroots venue, FIREBUG, on Friday 23rd May. This year's ‘Night Before Uprising’ will be a showcase of the incredible, talented roster of Church Road Records. The evening will be celebrated with three extended sets from some of their top talent. Performing throughout the evening will be… GIANT WALKER Headlining the evening are GIANT WALKER, a Progressive Rock band from Newcastle. Their music encapsulates the ever changing emotions of loneliness and provide relief in their soothing and uplifting melancholic melodies. If you are a fan of Karnivool, Deftones and Radiohead then do not miss Giant Walker. Check out their latest single ‘Silhouettes’: FORLORN Returning to Uprising after their awe-inspiring set on the main stage at Uprising 7, we are thrilled to welcome Forlorn to the ‘The Night Before Uprising’. Fresh and armed with their debut album ‘Aether’, expect a sonically pleasing performance, full of inte...

  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...

  Hammerdown Festival formed in 2014, and ran from 2015-2018 years before the covid pandemic. In 2022 the festival re-established itself, working over the next few years with names such as InMe, Skarlett Riot, South Of Salem, Esoterica, Thecityisours, Fort Hope and many more. After a successful year at Brighton's legendary Concorde 2 in 2024, the Hammerdown team decided to scale things up even further, moving the event to the 850 capacity Chalk, with a second stage opening for the first time, downstairs in brand new venue Dust. Hammerdown has always prided itself on providing new, up and coming bands the opportunities to play on bigger stages alongside more established artists. For 2025, Hammerdown has brought NWOBHM legends Tygers Of Pan Tang and Demon to Brighton, alongside established contemporary bands like The Raven Age and Dream State. As well as this, the festival hosts other top talent such as Fort Hope, Raised By Owls, The Five Hundred, In Search Of Sun, Neonfly and more, ...

  Download Festival have confirmed that London-based heavy metal record shop, coffee shop and alcohol-free bar Raven Records will have a pop up at this year’s festival, which will feature a curated selection of metal music, merchandise, a wide range of alcohol-free drinks, and metal-inspired coffee. In addition to the record shop, coffee shop and bar, Raven Records will also host a full events programme, including Heavy Metal Therapy meetings (mental health peer support), Satanic Recovery meetings (secular addiction recovery support), Download’s best battle jacket competition, battle jacket meet ups and sewing workshops, Slam Poetry competition and workshops, a late night DJ and much more. This will be the first time a record shop features on the Download Festival roster, and the first time addiction recovery and mental health peer support will be provided for festival attendees. Founded in 2023 by Chloe Marlow and Ben Dean, Raven Records has quickly built a reputation for reimagin...

  The much loved and award winning ARCTANGENT Festival returns this summer in August, and can today reveal another host of amazing acts for the event. Starting off with huge ATG fans favourite, the Leicester born, instrumental post rock band Maybeshewill, critically acclaimed Scottish and American mathcore band Frontierer, and recently reformed Welsh post hardcore band Mclusky (who are releasing their new album 'The World Is Still Here and So Are We' in May through Mike Patton's Ipecac label). Joining them in this announcement and in August are Irish post-rock (with a side order of electronics) from County Wicklow, God Is An Astronaut (as an exclusive UK show), hugely exciting (and recent Kerrang! cover stars) Atlanta Georgia sextet The Callous Daoboys (as a UK exclusive festival show), and a few HUGE silent disco sets from Nordic Giants, AK/DK, Yard and JOHN CXNNOR (performing an exclusive Doom Rave DJ-set). On top of the bands, the brand new ARCTANGENT Festival App has no...

  With less than three months to go, Download Festival has revealed its thrilling line-up for District X – Download’s renowned festival within a festival. Featuring iconic pop legends Vengaboys, special DJ sets from festival favourites, intimate acoustic performances, electrifying secret sets, new quizzes, live podcasts, comedy, and unique entertainment experiences, District X promises to take Downloaders into another dimension. Taking place from 11–15 June 2025 at the legendary Donington Park, Download Festival continues to redefine festival experiences beyond the main arena. Last remaining weekend tickets are available now at www.downloadfestival.co.uk . District X expands the Download experience with entertainment running around-the-clock, creating another dimension that sets Download apart. Offering a wide range of activities beyond the music, from immersive performances to interactive events, it ensures festivalgoers have something to enjoy at any hour. This year’s diverse pr...

  Download Festival, the greatest rock and metal festival of all time, is now only 100 days away. With the countdown now truly on, celebrate this year's festival with our round up of Download By Numbers. This year’s festival will take place on 13-15 June 2025 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire. Tickets are available now at www.downloadfestival.co.uk . DOWNLOAD BY NUMBERS 22 years of Download Festival 9 stages across the site, offering an array of entertainment across the weekend 120+ artists, from headliners Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn on the Apex Stage, to new talent on the Avalanche and Dogtooth Stages, to DJs and secret sets in District X 90,000+ fans set to descend on Donington Park 100,000 expected mosh and circle pit steps per person 30,000 Download t-shirts in production 6000 new Download patches in production 5000 members of crew needed to build the site in 20 days 3690 barrels of beer and cider being brewed 3000 Download rubber ducks in p...