Download 2026

[foolee]

2 hours ago, Andre91 said:

Curveball act to be Scooter in the Avalanche tent. 
 

2027 headliner that’s never played before either Blink or NIN. 

Agreed on the curveball. 2027 never played has to be one from Foos, Blink, NIN & Bon Jovi. 

 

2 hours ago, RedJosh said:

Had a look at the poster and I reckon we have 2x second stage headliners and 1x third stage headliner left to be announced.

I'm guessing bands fall as follows:

 

Main Subs - Bad Omens, Cypress Hill and Trivium

 

Second Headliners - Architects

 

3rd Main - Electric Callboy, Halestorm and Ice Nine Kills

 

4th Main or Second Subs - Babymetal, Pendulum and The Pretty Reckless

 

4th Main or Second Subs - Black Veil Brides, Behemoth and Mastodon

 

Avalanche Headliners - The All American Rejects and Feeder

 

Dogtooth Headliners - Cavaleras Chaos A.D, Static-X and Blood Incantation

 

I think Trivium are going to headline 2nd stage. I can see Halestorm subbing GNR too, maybe a top 3 of GNR, Halestorm & The Pretty Reckless for the Saturday. Day tickets would fly. Baby Metal 3rd and EC 4th potential an option but I see both as 3rd down so maybe one of them on the Saturday 3rd. 
 

2 hours ago, OllieJ77 said:

Thoughts on logo bands and placement?

Here’s mine, I’ve also added a few logo slots who I think are likely to take the last slots. 

[RedJosh]

30 minutes ago, foolee said:

I think Trivium are going to headline 2nd stage. I can see Halestorm subbing GNR too, maybe a top 3 of GNR, Halestorm & The Pretty Reckless for the Saturday. Day tickets would fly. Baby Metal 3rd and EC 4th potential an option but I see both as 3rd down so maybe one of them on the Saturday 3rd. 

If Halestorm were subbing main they would be on the first line of the poster under the headliners. Mainstage subs are coming from that list - Bad Omens, Cypress Hill, Trivium and Architects - or are yet to be announced acts.

[Andre91]

8 minutes ago, RedJosh said:

If Halestorm were subbing main they would be on the first line of the poster under the headliners. Mainstage subs are coming from that list - Bad Omens, Cypress Hill, Trivium and Architects - or are yet to be announced acts.

Yeah, Halestorm would be on that top row if they were subbing, I think. I can see them being third down on GNR day. 

[astrotwatter]

1 hour ago, partypirate said:

Depends on your taste. If you like the more heavier/extreme side (like me) then Dogtooth is great.

There's not many bands I'd miss Linkin Park for, but Blood Incantation right now might be one of them.

[northernangel]

4 hours ago, RedJosh said:

Had a look at the poster and I reckon we have 2x second stage headliners and 1x third stage headliner left to be announced.

I'm guessing bands fall as follows:

 

Main Subs - Bad Omens, Cypress Hill and Trivium

 

Second Headliners - Architects

 

3rd Main - Electric Callboy, Halestorm and Ice Nine Kills

 

4th Main or Second Subs - Babymetal, Pendulum and The Pretty Reckless

 

4th Main or Second Subs - Black Veil Brides, Behemoth and Mastodon

 

Avalanche Headliners - The All American Rejects and Feeder

 

Dogtooth Headliners - Cavaleras Chaos A.D, Static-X and Blood Incantation

 

Baby Metal aren't playing 4th down or subbing second, they played the 02 last time just this year. We're thinking bands are going to play lower than they are because while plentiful they aren't that big all of them. Pendulum won't be 4th down main either, they were 3rd down last year on a much more stacked lineup and they have go popularity back for sure.

 

BVB, Behemoth, TPR and Mastodon are all option for 4th main/second subs. 

 

Bad Omens, Architects, Cypress Hill as subs. Trivium, Pendulum, Baby Metal is the guess for second stage but it Electric Callboy could be. I think INK looks better as 3rd on main. 

 

 

4 hours ago, OllieJ77 said:

Thoughts on logo bands and placement?

 

Architects have to be Saturday. Trivium second stage Sunday would be great as can be at the front of main early.

3 hours ago, OllieJ77 said:

Main sub on Saturday then. I don’t buy that theyve accepted second stage headliner 

 

Me neither

3 hours ago, RedJosh said:

I think they are going to headline second against a portion of the GNR set with full production.

Also GNR won't have anyone as said elsewhere against them so you definitely need need someone who wouldn't need a bit of darkness to benefit as you barely get it before a headliner with a standard 1.5hrs.

[partypirate]

57 minutes ago, astrotwatter said:

There's not many bands I'd miss Linkin Park for, but Blood Incantation right now might be one of them.

Now that’s one clash I don’t need!

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

Architects are a bit of an odd one considering they can only play Saturday. Logic says they would sub again, but they’d be a really odd choice to sub Guns n’ Roses. 
 

Their placement on the poster after the other 3 would also suggest they aren’t subbing, and we know they’re precious about their placement on lineup posters 🤣

[northernangel]

57 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

Architects are a bit of an odd one considering they can only play Saturday. Logic says they would sub again, but they’d be a really odd choice to sub Guns n’ Roses. 
 

Their placement on the poster after the other 3 would also suggest they aren’t subbing, and we know they’re precious about their placement on lineup posters 🤣

 

To be honest with how Download setup with a no clash headliner, they are still playing before Guns anyway and the sub itself is always playing too early which someone has to do. Im unsure why a sub would want to play that early myself which is also why the likes of The Prodigy will never do it. That's also how Cypress Hill who really should be 3rd down get away will it because they actually start between when a 3rd and sub would. The only one out of them all that makes a little sense is Cypress Hill but none of them are a before Guns band which should just be a rock band. None of them apart from Cypress fit before Bizkit either. In fact they are a whole set of subs that I'd have never put before those headliners and they are a bit too metal!, there is a lack of a mix. I think other festivals around Europe have booked bands similar to play in around them with others below them not making it look a bit odd. 

[BrutalLegend]

So we are ruling out A Day To Remember playing? No slots for them now is there, hopefully get a UK arena tour instead.

[BrutalLegend]

Also Three Days Grace & Breaking Benjamin definitely out? 

[BingusBongus]

13 minutes ago, BrutalLegend said:

So we are ruling out A Day To Remember playing? No slots for them now is there, hopefully get a UK arena tour instead.

Think ADTR might end up being on The Offspring show in London next summer.

 

Still hoping there's a chance they make Download, there's (in my opinion) still room for one or two huge bands, but I'm just not sure.

[kale]

hey so interesting thing that I've seen a few people mention now is that is there possibly going to be a fourth day added?

 

the dates on the poster accompany for a fourth day and also there was that weird leak on ticketmaster a while back aswell that said 4 days??

 

possible unreleased thursday headliner?

[andyrhodes24]

7 minutes ago, kale said:

hey so interesting thing that I've seen a few people mention now is that is there possibly going to be a fourth day added?

 

the dates on the poster accompany for a fourth day and also there was that weird leak on ticketmaster a while back aswell that said 4 days??

 

possible unreleased thursday headliner?

No chance after three day tickets have already gone on sale. It was mentioned on here there’d be licensing issues etc as well following poor organisation the other year.

[Andre91]

Scooter in the Main Arena on the Thursday because they want to avoid a repeat of the Vengaboys situation. The whole arena doesn’t have to open up, just the Second Stage, for example. Keep the other stages fenced off. That’s what I’m thinking. 

[ThatDazFella]

Raised by Owls are spot on here lol, worth a watch if you haven't seen it:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CbeDfx3LK/

[Siddey1994]

28 minutes ago, ThatDazFella said:

Raised by Owls are spot on here lol, worth a watch if you haven't seen it:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CbeDfx3LK/

They need to get these on the Dogtooth, absolute top lads.

[DomDom1984]

36 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

Scooter in the Main Arena on the Thursday because they want to avoid a repeat of the Vengaboys situation. The whole arena doesn’t have to open up, just the Second Stage, for example. Keep the other stages fenced off. That’s what I’m thinking. 

 

This is what I think too. The wording is a bit weird so this would fit.

[northernangel]

2 hours ago, BingusBongus said:

Think ADTR might end up being on The Offspring show in London next summer.

 

Still hoping there's a chance they make Download, there's (in my opinion) still room for one or two huge bands, but I'm just not sure.

ADTR being on that is unlikely, chances are it would have been announced as a double deal at the time as they both play same slots at events. I would like to see JEW on it

[rock_on]

There's no way they get a license to open the arena on Thursday after the complete shambles that was 2023.

[Andre91]

5 minutes ago, rock_on said:

There's no way they get a license to open the arena on Thursday after the complete shambles that was 2023.

It’s totally different. 2023 was a full day of music. I’m sure there’s ways to open a small section of the arena for a couple of hours only. 

[rock_on]

8 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

It’s totally different. 2023 was a full day of music. I’m sure there’s ways to open a small section of the arena for a couple of hours only. 

 

Wasn't the biggest issue traffic in 2023? Having anything the Thursday in main arena is going to cause traffic issues with people who normally turn up to camp from Thurs/Fri turning up on Wed/Thu instead. The only way I can see it working is opening the campsite on Tuesday but we know from the dates they aren't doing that. If they have booked Scooter I'd have them opening main on the Friday/Saturday.  

[Andre91]

2 minutes ago, rock_on said:

 

Wasn't the biggest issue traffic in 2023? Having anything the Thursday in main arena is going to cause traffic issues with people who normally turn up to camp from Thurs/Fri turning up on Wed/Thu instead. The only way I can see it working is opening the campsite on Tuesday but we know from the dates they aren't doing that. If they have booked Scooter I'd have them opening main on the Friday/Saturday.  

They don’t need to open camping a day early. Opening the arena for one act for a couple of hours, who would have played the village anyway (like the Vengaboys), is completely different to 100,000 people all turning up at the same time because there is a whole other extra day of music. Scooter isn’t going to pull in the same amount of people Metallica did. 

Edited November 5, 2025 by Andre91

[rock_on]

Pulling the all headliners are UK exclusives branding seems a bit daft when Download headliners are almost always UK exclusives - it's part of the deal. When was the last time a Download headliner did another show in the UK the same year?

[TWY2911]

4 minutes ago, rock_on said:

Pulling the all headliners are UK exclusives branding seems a bit daft when Download headliners are almost always UK exclusives - it's part of the deal. When was the last time a Download headliner did another show in the UK the same year?

 

Makes sense to include it on the poster for marketing purposes so people know it's the only way they get to see them this year

[northernangel]

I dont think they are going to open the second stage just for Scooter one day earlier. The mount of people that would jump on a extra day ticket for that would be crazy. Scooter did Dramland Margate and has done a tour with Cardiff, Newcastle and Wembley Arena with Aberdeen too. They are monumentally bigger than Vengaboys and any act that would play the doghouse by a country mile. Even comparing them to vengaboys is silly.