Download 2026: A New Era
Linkin Park Return to Donington With First Ever Female-Fronted Headline Set
Something big is shifting at Donington Park, and this time, it’s not just the amps rattling the hills.
For the first time in Download Festival history, a female-fronted lineup will headline the main stage, with Linkin Park returning to the spotlight — carrying the weight, legacy, and fire of a band whose music raised a generation. Add Limp Bizkit finally stepping into a long overdue headliner slot, and Guns N’ Roses bringing the iconic swagger — and DLXXIII is already shaping up to be one of the most talked-about years the festival has ever seen.
This isn’t just a reunion of sounds. It’s a full-circle moment for anyone who ever scribbled lyrics in their exercise books, stitched patches onto their denim jackets, and lived on MTV's Headbangers Ball and Kerrang! Let’s break it down.
SUNDAY HEADLINER — LINKIN PARK (WITH EMILY ARMSTRONG)
There’s no way to talk about Download 2026 without acknowledging one thing: Linkin Park are back, and they’re going to be stepping onto the main stage with new vocalist Emily Armstrong. And yes — whenever a band welcomes a new voice, especially after losing an absolute titan such as Chester Bennington, comparisons are inevitable. But here’s the truth — it works.
Armstrong isn’t imitating — she isn’t even attempting to replace anyone. She brings her own presence, her own rawness and emotional depth. This lineup truly honours the band’s history without being limited by it — a living continuation of the bands legacy, still evolving and still hitting harder than most bands could ever dream of.
Expect a setlist that hits Hybrid Theory and Meteora deep — the songs that defined adolescence for millions — but delivered with a fresh edge that proves Linkin Park are not just a relic in the nu-metal museum, but very much alive and still musically nuclear.
This will be the band’s first Download headliner in 12 years, and their first since the reboot, making it one of the festival’s most significant bookings in over a decade.
FRIDAY HEADLINER — LIMP BIZKIT (YES, FINALLY)
You heard that right — the dads of nu-metal, the kings of chaos, and the soundtrack to countless regrettable teenage decisions are finally headlining Download Festival. On Friday, Limp Bizkit take the stage in what feels like the moment many of us have been waiting for longer than we’d care to admit. They’re riding a strange and exhilarating second wind: selling out shows, carving up TikTok, and turning “Break Stuff” into the anthem of “trying my best but the world keeps testing me.”
Expect circle pits the size of small nations, the crowd roaring “IT’S JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS!”, and a show that doesn’t aim to be serious — it just aims to be stupidly, beautifully fun. It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s overdue. And absolutely nobody is ready — which is exactly why it’s perfect.
On a sombre note, the band will be performing without bassist
Sam Rivers, who tragically passed away at the age of 48 on October 18, 2025. His death was confirmed via the band’s social channels, and as of now, there’s no official word on who will fill his place for the Download set — a reminder that even the loudest celebrations carry traces of loss and legacy.
SATURDAY HEADLINER — GUNS N’ ROSES
The legends return. Slash, Duff, Axl — the lineup that clawed its way back from collapse and reclaimed its rightful place in rock history. You already know what this set will feel like before a single note hits: the opening snarl of “Welcome to the Jungle,” the stadium-singalong of “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Nightrain” rattling the ground under your Doc. Martens, and “November Rain” swelling out over Donington — hopefully under ominous storm clouds, to complete the prophecy: The Return of “The Monsters of Rock.”
Guns N’ Roses last headlined Download in 2018, but this time it feels more significant. We’re living through a time where our heroes are no longer untouchable. And with Ozzy leaving us earlier this year, it’s a sobering reminder that the bands we grew up with are aging. The posters we blu-tacked to bedroom walls might be sun-bleached now. But somehow, that makes this hit harder, not softer.
Linkin Park returning. Limp Bizkit finally taking the crown. And Guns N’ Roses closing out the night like gods on a mountaintop — we’re ready to gather and pay homage.
THE REST OF THE BILL — CHAOS, CULT VIBES & MORE NOSTALGIA
Download 2026 isn’t just about the big three though.
The rest of the bill is stacked with artists that hit every corner of rock, metal, punk, deathcore and literally everything in between:
- BABYMETAL returning to baptize the fields in glitter and blastbeats
- Cypress Hill bringing the stoner-rap-meets-moshpit crossover we didn’t know we needed
- Mastodon delivering prog sludge perfection
- Architects representing modern UK heaviness at its peak
- Trivium doing what Trivium always do — uniting everyone
- Black Veil Brides, Halestorm, Tom Morello, The Damned, The Chats, Royal Blood, The Offspring, and more
And yes — Dogstar (Keanu Reeves’ band) is billed to appear. Does that mean Keanu Reeves at Download? Yes. Yes, it does. Somewhere out there, across the temporal void, a 14-year-old us just screamed.
Download 2026 isn’t going to be just another year at Donington. It’s going to be one that future festival kids will look back on and say;
“I wish I had been there.”
