Download Festival / A Sensational Saturday

Saturday at Download Festival proved once more to be the glorious middle point of the UK’s biggest heavy music festival. The weather continued to be phenomenal, with only a few sunburns starting to creep up here and there. But with a lineup that good, there was nothing to complain about as the beer flowed and the horns held high.

Download Festival – 14 June 2025

Words: Paul Monkhouse (& Monty Sewell)

Photography: Ryan Hildrew

The day starts with a bang, young Leeds combo Artio is hugely impressive in Dogtooth before a quick trip across to Avalanche to catch the incendiary ball of punk energy that’s Bex fill the stage with numbers it’s impossible not to dance to. Having fought and beaten cancer, for Venus Grrrls singer/guitarist G.K., seeing a heaving tent for the band’s set must have seemed especially sweet, and certainly the band grabbed the opportunity with all they had.

Over on the Opus stage, there was a much more traditional sound of hard rock and metal as hotshot six stringer Sophie Lloyd brought her own brand of thunder. Backed by a razor sharp band, this was a display of old school muscle and flash, the guitarist equally striking cranking out the riffs or unleashing a fiery solo.

Joined by vocalists Nathan James and Marisa Rodriguez the short set got to the point straight away, rambunctious instrumental opener Battleground a statement of intent. Won’t You Come, Fall of Man and Do or Die rushed by in a widescreen and heroic blur, a cover of Enter Sandman thrown in that got the morning crowd fist pumping.

Bastardane - Download Festival - 14 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk
Bastardane – Download Festival – 14 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk

Bastardane proved themselves well worthy of a progressive rock crown on the Dogtooth stage. We got a taste of multi-instrumental genius with lead vocalist and drummer Castor Hetfield thrashing through each song with a metal-fuelled dexterity. We hope the guys will be back over this side of the pond soon, as they return to their homesteads in L.A.

The glorious madness of Kim Dracula followed, the Tasmanian putting on a show as wildly inventive as it was entertaining, numbers like My Confession and Make Me Famous seeing circle pits raise clouds of dust.

With the brutality of Hatebreed spitting flame on eviscerating form with Proven and To the Threshold, the contrast of Poppy bringing her irresistibly kinetic pop metal gave a solid core of melody to the muscle as Anything Like Me and new way out soar.

That’s part of the wonder of this latest iteration of Download though, the reflection of these disparate styles sitting next to each other providing proof that there’s truly something for everyone and the modern rock fans ability to embrace such a wide range something that’s arguably shown by other, more tribal, gatherings.

Palaye Royale are another fine example of this, the Paul Weller encouraged outfit embracing so many different eras and filtering it through their own lens to bring something that touches equally on garage rock as it does glam. Coming on like Bowie meeting The Stooges, they’ve become festival favourites and with propulsive bangers like Hang On to Yourself and You’ll Be Fine their continued rise to MCR levels is pretty much assured.

Jinjer - Download Festival - 13 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk
Jinjer – Download Festival – 13 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk

Jinjer were an incredible tour de force of nature that once again redefined the meaning of ‘locked-in’. Vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk punches through each number with a range so vast and powerful that the whole arena is brought to her feet at the Apex. There is simply no denying the show Jinjer bring.

Already an arena filling band, Shinedown come to Download knowing the pressure is on given their second from the top of the bill on the Apex stage but confident in their powers. Certainly, it’s a full blooded and swaggering performance, singer Brent Smith and drummer Barry Kerch’s twenty-four years together and guitarist Zach Myers and bass player Eric Bass’s eighteen years in the outfit proving rock solid chemistry.

It’s impossible to argue with the huge sound of Cut the Cord, Enemies and Sound of Madness, the band making use of the whole of the giant stage and the sound enough to rattle windows in nearby Derby.

Blending sheer power with their knack of penning huge hooks, there’s few bands other than fellow Floridians Alter Bridge that can match them and they’re rightly regarded as part of the newer generation to take on the mantle of world shaking acts that have put rock and metal truly where it belongs as an unstoppable force.

The Darkness - Download Festival - 14 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk
The Darkness – Download Festival – 14 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk

Representing this side of the Atlantic, the Opus stage saw the welcome return of The Darkness and the long anticipated debut of the Sex Pistols, each bringing the best of British in their own inimitable ways. Wildly different in style, it was impossible to deny the raw excitement that each brought, each sporting a songbook filled with more classics than most bands achieve in multiple lifetimes.

Artfully juxtaposing their sugar rush addictive big riffs and choruses with oh so tongue in cheek humour, classics Get Your Hands Off My Woman, Growing On Me, Love Is Only a Feeling and I Believe In A Thing Called Love stand tall and proud alongside newer favourites like Rock and Roll Party Cowboy and the arch Queen flavoured The Longest Kiss.

Few frontmen can come close to the bare-chested Justin Hawkins, a man half circus ringleader and half wild eyed rocker as he has the audience eating out of the palm of his hand and with brother Dan on guitar, the ever suave Frankie Poullain on bass and human dynamo Rufus Taylor on drums they’re stronger than ever.

Throwing in an unseasonal Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) to sweeten the pot, this was how to do witty, eccentric and electrifying classic rock and no-one does it quite like The Darkness. Long may they reign.

Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter - Download Festival - 14 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk
Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter – Download Festival – 14 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk

The rebirth of the Sex Pistols has been one of the most satisfying events in music in decades, their ability to once again catch the zeitgeist of rage against a society ruled by career politicians and the super-rich a wonderful full circle moment.

For those who have witnessed the band recently, the presence of Frank Carter now fronting the outfit has undeniably once again stoked a mighty fire that was fast slipping on previous reunions with the snarling John Lydon.

Holidays in the Sun, Pretty Vacant, Bodies, Silly Thing, God Save The Queen, Liar and Anarchy in the U.K. came and went in a rush of adrenaline-fuelled blasts, songs that once seemed so dangerous and wild becoming anthems but still retaining their spiky power.

Bonafide legends, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock and Paul Cook may have been playing these songs for close on five decades but the Pistols remain the greatest punk band of all time and with Carter now with them, who knows what further promise the future holds. Arguably, along with Black Sabbath, the most important band in the history of music to play Download, this was something special that will be talked about for years to come.

Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter - Download Festival - 14 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk
Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter – Download Festival – 14 June 2025. Photo: Ryan Hildrew/MetalTalk

The return of Kittie is another welcome presence in music, the Canadian quartet as feral as they ever were and with the critically acclaimed Fire album last year loudly announcing their presence back on the scene an overflowing Dogtooth saw them in full flight.

Spit and Mouth Full of Poison flayed the skin off of anyone within reach and newer numbers like Eyes Wide Open and Vultures were as ferocious as anything heard on site the whole weekend, Morgan Lander’s vocals able to caress or eviscerate with equal aplomb.

Whilst a somewhat controversial choice to some, the prescient booking of Sleep Token to headline Saturday night was a master stroke, the band more than worthy of topping the bill after selling out two nights at the cavernous O2 in Greenwich in a blink of an eye.

With a stage set that looked like a derelict cathedral and a stunning lightshow, the cross genre giantkillers staked their place in Download lore with a set that blended its metal, ethereal r&b and lush electronica elements in a heady mix that demanded worship and devotion.

The soundtrack to the apocalypse, Emergence, Caramel and Thread the Needle were some of the many highlights in a show that felt as much a filmic and theatrical immersive experience as it was a concert.

Whilst the mystique of the band remains very much intact as part of their unmistakable aura, there’s so much more substance here than masks and secret identities. Quite where they go from here is anyone’s guess but you get the distinct feeling that multiple sold out dates at Wembley Stadium aren’t far in their future.

Sleeve Notes

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