LIVE REVIEW: Download Festival 2025 – Saturday

Photo Credit: Matt Higgs


With one scorcher of a day down and minimal rain in sight, Download Festival enters its second day of celebrations, with a slew of bands taking to the stages before another brand new headliner, this time from a band who’ve been around less than a decade, but have made their presence felt not only across the scene but the entire festival, weaving flower garlands into the sound tower and a pop-up merch shop. But before that, there’s another barrage of quality bands to get through.







STATIC DRESS – Apex StageStatic Dress live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: James Bridle

Rumours have been swirling of an 11am secret set by TRIVIUM on the Opus Stage – not helped by Matt Heafy goading and trolling on Instagram – but that doesn’t stop a dedicated core turning out for STATIC DRESS‘ slot opening the Apex stage. They’re a little late starting but once they get into the swing of it, their blistering post-hardcore certainly chases away any lethargy from the pits, and the occasional blast of pyro sears the air. It’s a stellar showing from the Northern rabble rousers.

Rating: 9/10

LOATHE – Apex StageLoathe live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Danny North

LOATHE have a tall order to follow STATIC DRESS, and coming onstage nearly 15 minutes late doesn’t help them. They quickly win the crowd over though, their blend of crushing riffs and ambient passages getting pits moving and arms waving. Kadeem France is on remarkable form too, commanding the crowd with ease as they make the most of their early slot and the crowd kick up huge dust clouds in response.

Rating: 8/10

SPLIT CHAIN – Avalanche Stage

With some clear sound issues in the beginning, this did not stop SPLIT CHAIN from delivering a set that no band of just two years should be able to pull off. Playing all their biggest tracks for the loyal fans in the tent; the pits immediately erupted as the two steppers took to moshing as the band gave it their absolute all. Possibly the only thing that could make it better would maybe be the possibility of stage diving to really bring in the bands true post-hardcore elements, which naturally isn’t possible on such a big tent. Regardless, SPLIT CHAIN made for a set that should cement them as a frequent Download Festival band.

Rating: 9/10

POPPY – Apex StagePoppy live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Danny North

Forever enigmatic, forever entertaining. POPPY gives an incredibly entertaining set that relied heavily on her latest album Negative Spaces to give the crowd one of the stand out performances on an already stacked line up on the Apex Stage today. From pop-rock to metalcore, the short set had pretty much everything that kept the intrigued crowd on their toes. A robot voice drove the narrative of the show before POPPY began talking to the crowd as she demanded enormous mosh pits to the likes of Concrete, V.A.N and They’re All Around Us, skipping around the stage without breaking a sweat, all the while screaming the lyrics towards the audience in the intense afternoon heat.
Album review



Rating: 8/10

PALAYE ROYALE – Apex StagePalaye Royale live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Todd Owyoung

It has taken PALAYE ROYALE eight long years to reach the Apex Stage of Download Festival, so the Vegas brothers are out to make the most of their biggest UK crowd to date. Opening with Showbiz from their most recent album Death Or Glory, leading man Remmington Leith is clearly in his element, his natural showmanship shines on stage as he commands the audience from the get go, at one point crawling across the stage toward the crowd in a move reminiscent of Gerard Way‘s iconic 2011 Reading performance (if you know, you know). The band are undeniably electric on stage, and despite the heavy focus on their more recent material, they still find time for fan favourites Mr Doctor Man (including a breakdown into THE DOORS‘ People Are Strange), You’ll Be Fine and No Love In LA. While on stage, the band also confirmed an upcoming UK tour in November, to the feverish excitement of the crowd. Closing out with For You and ending their time on stage with a heartfelt thanks to the fans and a reminder for those who can to call their moms, it was an emotional rollercoaster outing for all.
Album review



Rating: 9/10

MOTHICA – Avalance Stage

Over on the Avalanche Stage and making her Download Festival debut, rising alt-pop star MOTHICA is greeted by a very busy tent and raucous cheers even when she’s line checking. After an early rendition of her remix of BMTH‘s Can You Feel My Heart, she quips about “new hair-a, new era… They definitely all say that” before introducing an unreleased song off her as yet unannounced next album. It leans more into rock than before, its melodies as melancholic as ever. She admits it’s her first show after going to rehab last year to get sober, and it’s a particularly poignant affair and there’s minimal signs of stage rust. Instead, it reintroduces MOTHICA to the world, ready to take it on once more, and ends on a surprise note as she plays an exuberant cover of SMASH MOUTH‘s All Star bidding somewhat tongue in cheek to be on the Shrek 5 soundtrack.

Rating: 9/10

ANAAL NATHRAKH – Dogtooth Stage
Album review

Anaal Nathrakh live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Gobinder Jhitta

At odds with the glorious sunshine, ANAAL NATHRAKH‘s furious, grinding extremity casts an evil pall over the Dogtooth Stage. Forward! lives up to its name, industrial samples backdropping driving riffs and sledgehammer drumming. The crowd lap it up, chaos engulfing the front sections as limbs fly and a dust cloud is kicked up by the pit. There’s a smattering of rarities that have seen either minimal or no plays on UK tours before as well as the crowd favourites, and it marks why the band became such a vital force in UK extreme music. Here’s hoping we see more from them sooner rather than later.
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Rating: 8/10

THE DARKNESS – Opus StageThe Darkness live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Todd Owyoung

If you wanted some flamboyant cheesiness and even a christmas song, a set by THE DARKNESS over on the Opus Stage was the one for you. As always, this was a show that was just fun. A short but sweet set that contained songs old and new. Unfortunately the show itself is plagued by sound issues as it fell foul to the wind where the sound at times struggled to make its way across the crowd who at times could frustratingly hear SHINEDOWN‘s performance over THE DARKNESS. Nevertheless, Justin Hawkins and co kept their cool to keep the audience entertained, particularly with the ever enjoyable and legendary track I Believe In A Thing Called Love which saw the crowd in absolutely fine voice, fruitfully and humorously attempting to match Hawkins’ falsetto but to no avail.

Rating: 7/10

SYLOSIS – Dogtooth StageSylosis live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Carolina Faruolo

It barely needs saying, but SYLOSIS are great. An undersung titan of UK heavy music, they’ve grown into riff-slinging masters of their craft and today’s set on the Dogtooth only reaffirms that. Opening with the scorching Pariah into Empty Prophets, it begs the question how it’s been allowed that they haven’t graced Donington for ten years. The start of a rainy spell drives more and more people into the tent, filling out an already busy space. Josh Middleton sounds imperious, possessed of a commanding bark as well as his prodigious riffcraft, culminating in a set that batters, bludgeons and is an anthemic love letter to heavy fucking metal.
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Rating: 9/10

SEX PISTOLS – Opus StageSex Pistols live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Andrew Whitton

Despite the pouring rain, the Opus Stage area overflows with fans eager to catch the group current frontman Frank Carter describes as “the greatest punk band of all time”. There’s no denying their lasting legacy, and with Carter at the helm, they have a new lease on life it seems. It was a somewhat slippery start, with Pretty Vacant having to be restarted multiple times as Carter attempted to perform from the middle of a giant circle pit. This is a move he quickly admits was likely not the wisest given the relentless rain and sloped field, but the crowd sing along just as eagerly every single time. The legends of punk power through their 17 song set covering off Holidays In The Sun, E.M.I and their infamous cover of My Way to name but a few. As a rainbow crosses the sky, Carter takes a moment to appreciate the beauty of it and, when challenged on this, we’re treated to a brief but characteristic rant about rainbow flags and Palestinian flags being the most punk things possible in 2025. The punk icons close out with a lyrically updated Anarchy In The UK before the crowd make their way in droves towards the Apex stage for SLEEP TOKEN. The fiery set and enduring onstage chemistry of the legendary Cook, Jones and Matlock mean this felt like a truly authentic and blistering SEX PISTOLS performance, and one we’re sincerely glad we got to witness.

Rating: 8/10

SLEEP TOKEN – Apex StageSleep Token live @ Download Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett

As soon as the gates opened for the festival, it was quite obvious that this was going to be SLEEP TOKEN‘s weekend. An astronomical rise over the last couple of years has seen the anonymous quartet have an astronomical rise from playing small stages at Download Festival to headlining it. You can feel the anticipation, the hype and the excitement filtering through the crowd the entire weekend as the band delivered a headline that is sure to go down in history on the hallowed turf. As soon as the curtain drops and the incredible staging revealed, the crowd are instantly transported to the world of Arcadia, with staging so immersive you genuinely believe you are there yourself. Opening on Look To Windward, Donington are treated to career-spanning hits both old and new. The Offering, The Summoning and Alkaline were all met with the same joy, but it was all the new songs that stood out.

Emergence pummels, Caramel helps the crowd share in the frustrations of the band while Damocles tugs on the heart strings. For a band that says absolutely nothing to the crowd throughout a show, by the sheer presence they command on stage is captivating. That’s particularly true of mastermind and frontman Vessel, whose form hulked around the stage as he gives the performance of his life and displays his humorous dancing style to boot. He commands such a presence, you almost feel like he is not of this earth as you become more and more immersed in the world of SLEEP TOKEN. If they pull out all the stops like this for a festival headline set, then whatever comes next is going to be truly special. Forget arenas, stadiums beckon to play host to future sacred moments in time, and we cannot wait.

Rating: 9/10

Words: Will Marshall, Alex Morgan, Ed Walton, Ben Blissett

And that wraps up our coverage of the Saturday of this year’s Download Festival! Keep posted to Distorted Sound as we bring you our coverage of Sunday’s action!

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