Download Festival is bringing absolute chaos back to Donington Park in 2026, and it’s going to be one for the ages. Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses, and Linkin Park will headline the festival across three massive nights — all playing their only UK shows of the year.
The legendary rock and metal gathering will once again take over Donington from June 10–14, 2026 for its 23rd edition, and this year’s line-up feels like a generational summit between icons and innovators.
The Big Three — A New Holy Trinity of Donington
Limp Bizkit are finally getting their moment as Download headliners after stealing the show in 2024. Expect an explosion of nostalgia and chaos when Fred Durst and DJ Lethal take the Friday night main stage with a tribute-charged performance following the tragic passing of bassist Sam Rivers earlier this year. Durst described him as “pure magic… the pulse beneath every song, the calm in the chaos.” This one’s going to hit hard.
Guns N’ Roses return to top the bill for the third time on Saturday night. Slash recently admitted the Vegas Sphere is “not really rock and roll friendly,” but Donington? That’s their church. The band are rumoured to be eyeing new material, with Slash teasing that “everybody is thinking about it.”
Linkin Park round out the weekend with a Sunday night headline slot — their fifth in Download history, but the first with Emily Armstrong up front. The band are deep into their world tour for From Zero, their 2024 comeback album and the first since Chester Bennington’s passing. This set is more than just a show — it’s a rebirth.
The Line-Up — Heavy, Wild, and Wildly Diverse
Beyond the headliners, Download 2026 is stacked with a dizzying mix of legacy acts, genre-benders, and new blood ready to tear the park apart.
Here’s the Download 2026 line-up so far:
Limp Bizkit – Guns N’ Roses – Linkin Park
Ankor
Architects
As Everything Unfolds
AS IT IS
Ash
BABYMETAL
Bad Omens
Behemoth
Black Veil Brides
Blood Incantation
Bloodywood
Boundaries
Bush
Catch Your Breath
Cavalera
Corrosion Of Conformity
Cypress Hill
Decapitated
Die Spitz
Dinosaur Pile-Up
Dogstar
Drain
Drowning Pool
Ego Kill Talent
Elder
Electric Callboy
Feeder
Gatecreeper
Halestorm
Headwreck
Hollywood Undead
Holywater
Ice Nine Kills
Imminence
Ivri
James And The Cold Gun
Kublai Khan TX
Lake Malice
Lakeview
Landmvrks
Last Train
Letlive.
Lowen
Magnolia Park
Mammoth
Mastodon
Melrose Avenue
Mouth Culture
Nasty
Native James
Nevertel
P.O.D.
Palefeace Swiss
Pendulum
Periphery
Pussyliquor
Rain City Drive
Return To Dust
RØRY
Scene Queen
Self Deception
Set It Off
Silent Planet
Slay Squad
Sleep Theory
Snot
Social Distortion
South Arcade
Spineshank
Spitting Glass
Static-X
Story Of The Year
Sweet Pill
Sweet Savage
Tailgunner
The All-American Rejects
The Plot In You
The Pretty Reckless
The Pretty Wild
Thornhill
Those Damn Crows
Thrown
Tom Morello
Trivium
Tropic Gold
TX2
Unpeople
Vianova
Wayside
We Came As Romans
Zero 9:36
That’s a wall of names spanning eras, scenes, and sounds — from Cypress Hill’s smoke-filled hip-hop chaos to Trivium’s shredding precision and BABYMETAL’s genre-melting spectacle.
The Spirit of Donington Lives On
After a monumental 2025 edition headlined by Green Day, KoRn, and Sleep Token, Download isn’t just maintaining momentum — it’s evolving. Festival boss Andy Copping spoke earlier this year about keeping the event alive by adapting to new trends:
“The festival will die if we don’t move with the times,” he told NME. “We’ve got to give bands a chance to grow. The Dogtooth and Avalanche stages exist to show people that there’s always something new coming through. Thankfully, these bands step up — and they deliver.”
And with Download Festival 2026, that spirit feels louder than ever.
Tickets, Dates, and Everything You Need to Know
📍 Where: Donington Park, Leicestershire, UK
📅 When: June 10 – 14, 2026
🎟️ Tickets: downloadfestival.co.uk
This is the crossroads of every era of heavy music — nu-metal anthems, classic rock chaos, modern metalcore, and everything between. Don’t sleep on this one.
