After two days of pre-arena extracurricular activities, Download Festival was finally set to open its hard-rocking gates to heaven as the punters queued up in their throngs. The sun had pitched itself high long before the crowds began to make their way down the hill and into the crevices of metal-mania. The day was filled with everything glorious a festival could offer. And we aren’t just talking about the much-welcomed aeroplane-style suction toilets placed all around the site.
Download Festival – 13 June 2025
Words: Paul Monkhouse (& Monty Sewell)
Photography: Ryan Hildrew
Having arrived a little late this year, seeing Opeth crushing it on the Opus stage was a very welcome sight, the Swedes’ blend of heavy prog hitting hard despite being out of their natural environment of dark halls and numbers like Master’s Apprentices and the epic Ghost of Perdition burning brighter than the sun.
Karen Dió stormed the Avalanche stage with a hard-knuckled bite into each song as she claimed the beckoning rock podium as her own. The day had barely begun, but Dió’s punk-fuelled anthemic set was already highlighting Friday as a winner, showcasing her knack for an undeniable talent-laced presence amongst the many.
Over on the Apex stage, the bounce of Jimmy Eat World and Weezer was infectious, both bands having a number of killer anthems, but the latter’s stage presence felt a little flat at times. The focus on the songs was a little more, and audience interaction would have certainly lifted things.
There was no such trouble for Within Temptation, the outfit on fiery form as the performed an arena style show like their very lives depended on it, We Go To War, Stand My Ground and Mother Earth all sounding titanic, Sharon den Adel a commanding figure, her voice a thing of wonder and new keys player Vikram Shankar a very welcome addition to the band as he adds classy layers into their already impressive sound.
Whilst the Dutch titans of symphonic metal were causing earthquakes just around the corner, the massively overspilling Avalanche stage witnessed their own seismic event with the presence of family favourites McFly stamping their credibility on their booking this year.
Determined to hit as hard as possible, this was a rock show without any shadow of a doubt and from opener Where Did All The Guitars Go? Onwards, it was a lesson on how to truly entertain and work a crowd.
Mixing the hits with snatches of covers of Rage Against The Machine, Bon Jovi and Metallica amongst others, the sugary goodness of their pop smashes brought feel-good anthems with an undeniably rough edge that was perfect for the crowd. An unsurprisingly big triumph for the quartet, they did things their way and more than justified their place on the bill.
With a giant inflatable hand holding a hand grenade to replicate the cover of the American Idiot album, Green Day showed exactly why they’re the biggest punk band on the planet right now. Opening with the titular track, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool weren’t interested in taking prisoners and their incendiary blend of spiky anthems and social commentary hit hard.
Expanded to a six-piece to bring extra sonic layers, this was a career-spanning set that had something for everyone from the early head-cracking Basket Case through to the anthemic Wake Me Up When September Ends. An extremely emotional moment comes when, as the lyrics “here comes the rain again” ring out above the thousands, the skies open up for just a few minutes, showering the audience in the most perfectly timed bout of rain.
Making their thoughts on the current occupier of the White House plain by encouraging the crowd to revive the chant “you fat bastard” and calling their government fascist, age has certainly not mellowed the outfit and they remain utterly electrifying.
Closing with Good Riddance (The Time of Your Life), their long overdue appearance at Download was an undoubted triumph and set the bar high for the rest of the weekend.
For those not at the Apex stage, just at the top of the hill there were also extraordinary displays of musicality in Dogtooth, the arena’s smallest stage often holding some of the biggest talent. Earlier that evening Alcest entranced the packed tent with their heady blend of black metal and shoegaze, the French combo pouring everything out during Protection and Le miroir, the disciples and newly converted equally enraptured.
A hard act to follow certainly but Eivør then put in an absolutely stunning display of her ethereal folk blended with so many other elements, her set the finest thing this writer witnessed all weekend and closing number Falling Free incandescently jaw dropping.
It was just down to Apocalyptica to close the evening with their own unique take on Metallica, the cellos and showmanship punching just as hard in their own way as Hetfield and Co had done on the Apex stage some two years previously.
