Having a sunburnt, pregnant wife tagging along, we got in a touch later than hoped on the Saturday. However, we made it in for most of the amazing As Everything Unfolds on Opus, and what a way to start our day! The alt rock/metalcore rising stars owned the massive stage right from the jump, proving that they very much deserved to be up there. It’s crazy too, as they were originally supposed to be on the much smaller Dogtooth stage later on, but swapped with Drowning Pool because their flights were delayed. It proved to be a fantastic decision on both counts, as I think AEU got heaps of new ears and exposure from this move. Seeing ‘Gasoline’ live was awesome, as it’s become honestly one of my favourite tracks from this year so far. But the whole set was amazing, and the band played their asses off throughout!
Over to the Dogtooth tent for the first time of the weekend, we saw proggy, middle-eastern infused metal band Lowen. By far the quirkiest band for us of the weekend, it was damn interesting to watch. They were all insanely talented musicians, and I loved the video and images they had playing behind them, really adding to the atmosphere of it all. While it’s not typically my sort of style in a live environment, I had a good time watching them and have listened to them a few times on track since coming home. They are well worth seeing if you are into this side of metal music, and would honestly go down a storm in the European market! Nina has such an interesting voice and she fronts the band spectacularly, while the rest of the band back her up and make their wall of sound absolutely massive. They definitely have a new fan in me!
Over to the Apex stage, we caught emo-metal legends Black Veil Brides. The last time I saw them properly was here back in 2012. Back then, they were so hated they were getting bottles and mud balls hurled at them. The metal world has softened on them since then, and we’re fairly receptive to the band this time around! The crowd for them was pretty massive, and the front half were hanging on every note. However, something about it just didn’t land for me. Maybe it was because we were a touch further back and, for as big as the new main stage is, it isn’t very loud. Or maybe it was because they did a setlist primarily consisting of new tracks, bookended by a few classics. It’s not exactly a bad thing, and their fans certainly seemed to enjoy it, but it didn’t hook me in for too long, despite how talented the band all are.
Because of that, we instead headed over to see our friends, the mighty Those Damn Crows. It had already been too long since we’d last seen them, it being the very start of 2025. They were excellent at Winters End and, to the surprise of I’m sure no one, they were also excellent here! The bands sound and energy is built for huge festival stages like this at this point, and they put on the set to prove it. From ‘Find a Way’ to ‘Sin on Skin’, their awesome, extensive back catalogue was on full display. My only slight complaint is that we didn’t get much off their recent chart-topping album, God Shaped Hole. However, that was most likely because they didn’t have a huge amount of time. It just means that they’ll have to do a headline tour soon as well as the Shinedown support, so we can see a full set… Shane is a truly excellent frontman, getting the crowd going as well as coming across genuinely sincere and likeable. And the rest of the band played their asses off throughout, just as they always do. Another fantastic set!
Speaking of fantastic sets, Drowning Pool were up next. After their set-switch earlier in the day, they were now packed into the smaller Dogtooth tent, and I’d rarely seen a crowd as big trying to watch a band in there! The last time I’d seen the band was at Rescue Rooms when I was just a teenager, so to say I was hyped would be an understatement. Especially with the recent re-addition of Ryan back at the front! He sounded better than he has in a few years too, I know he seemed to be struggling a little last time we saw him with Soil. We’ll get the elephant in the room out of the way first: they only had time for four songs. However, those four songs were all excellent, and brought me back to my youth in a big way. A Sinners-full set of the heaviest hitters from that album, and the crowd hung on every note. As a big ‘Mania X8 guy, ‘Tear Away’ will always be a huge song for me, and they played it amazingly on Saturday. Then, of course, sending the crowd home in a frenzy from the massive ‘Bodies’ was absolutely the right call, it being the main reason most were near that tent to begin with. I’m really hoping this means that they’ll be back sooner rather than later, and hopefully finally start getting more of the love they deserve in the UK. Too short, but an excellent set!
As we left the tent, we managed to catch the back half of Babymetal’s set. It once again wasn’t the first time we’d seen them, and while I once again enjoyed previous sets, this was by no means a bad one! We came over from the solos of ‘METALI!!’ onwards, and got treated to four more excellent songs after that! While I do still think Callboy do ‘RATATATA’ better live, it’s still a lot of fun to hear, especially two days in a row. And the one-two punch of ‘Headbannggerrr!!’ into ‘Road of Resistance’ to close was awesome! The trio put on such an amazing, energetic show between them, while they are backed by some truly awesome musicians, playing some incredible stuff. If you haven’t seen them live already, they are an absolute must!
After a brief changeover, Trivium took to the stage. The band have been a powerhouse live for over 20 years now, so it’s no surprise that this was also a storming set. Matt’s vocals are somehow better and more powerful than ever, and the bands cohesion and talent individually and as a group is incredible. You can really tell they still all really enjoy playing together. It was a classics/anniversary tour-heavy set, with the likes of ‘Gunshot to the Head’, ‘Dying in your Arms’ and ‘Down from the Sky’. As an almost life-long Trivum fan, it certainly tickled that itch. However, we had seen a similar set before. And, incase anyone hasn’t heard, I LOVE their last two albums, and to only get ‘Catastrophist’ off them was a little sad. Still, I get it, it’s a festival, so play the ones people know. I know they mentioned a tour for ’27, hopefully it’s near the release of their upcoming album and we get some stuff off it live this time! However, it’s a minor gripe really, as I did enjoy their set a hell of a lot! Each song was excellent and played to perfection. If I was down in the pit it would have most likely been one of my favourite sets of the weekend, no question. One of the best live metal bands around today!
We then took a slow stroll over to Opus to see the black metal legends Behemoth. I’ve recently become a fan of them on track, and my god did they blow me away here! Everything about it, from the sound to the production to their live skill was impeccable, and made them feel MASSIVE. They fully owned the stage, and made an incredibly solid case as to why they’re headliners in Europe and at the likes of Bloodstock. The setlist was perfect, too. Whether it was the heavy-hitters from the bands magnum opus, The Satanist, the title track from their latest album or even a cheeky Bathory cover, it was all so damn good. They made it feel like their darker genre of music belonged at a typically lighter festival, and most definitely turned some heads. Nergal is a fantastic frontman and conducted his brutal symphony to perfection.
After a short pause, Opus headliners of the day Architects took the stage by storm. The crowd were raring to go right from the offset, and the set proved that the band could arguably be headlining the festival as a whole the next time they’re there. The crowd were so into it, in fact, that the opening half was rather stop start due to those pesky pits getting a little too hairy and security intervening. ‘Blackhole’ and ‘Impermanence’ in particular were a pain, but both restarted and went just as hard afterwards. I’ve seen some saying that Sam [Carter] didn’t handle it very well, but if anything it just revved him up to go even harder the rest of the set. Even with it being the most stop-start set of the weekend, it just goes to show how much the Download crowd love the band, and how hugely popular they have become.
The setlist was rather perfect for me, too. Being Sky Earth heavy was amazing, as I LOVE THAT ALBUM. ‘Blackhole’ when it was finally played fully, was a particular highlight, but opener ‘Elegy’, ‘Seeing Red’ and the Florent Salfati-featuring ‘Brain Dead’ were all just as awesome. And, we still got some of the very best of their back catologue between. From ‘Deep Fake’ to ‘Gravedigger’, ‘Black Lungs’ to the touching Tom tribute of ‘Doomsday’ and now-perennial closer ‘Animals’ it was all SO GOOD. Hell Sam’s voice even held up a lot better live than I expected it to from recent clips, and he is such a good frontman these days. His and Adam’s lows combined still itch my brain in the best way. They were one of my most anticipated bands of the weekend and they certainly didn’t disappoint!
On the way out of the arena, we caught a couple of songs from mainstage headliners Guns n’ Roses. Now, I’ve seen them three times before since their reunion, I knew what I was getting into. Still, hearing Axl murder some of my favourite minutes in all of music in the close of ‘Coma’ still hurt just a little. We caught that, a big widdly solo from Slash (expected) and then watched ‘Sweet Child O Mine’ from the back. It was exactly what I expected it to be. A slightly thinner crowd going nuts for one of the four songs from the three plus hour set that they actually wanted to see. The band are still pretty tight; Slash still noodles with the best of them, even if his technicality is slipping now that he’s *checks notes* SIXTY. And Axl was… also present. I don’t want to clown too hard on the guy as he is a legend and performs long-ass sets on the regular at his age, it’s no mean feat. Heck, he still has the energy of a toddler… he just also has the voice of one. Still, I know plenty of people who enjoyed it and got some nostalgia out of it, and good for them! They still put on a great show, no matter their sound, and are truly one of the biggest bands ever. It’s just not for me any more, nothing will top that first show back for me. I am, however, jealous of those who got to see them do ‘Dead Horse’ live, I do love that song!
