Heading to Download 2025? Our pick of the acts throughout the days before the headliners hit the Apex stage
Will we see you for a little dance at these sets taking place at Download 2025?
- Download Festival is imminent - we repeat, Download Festival is imminant.
- The huge alternative metal festival this year boasts headliners Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn.
- But making his way back to Donington Park for the first time since 2004, Benjamin Jackson shares who he’s going to see asides from the headliners in 2025.
This will be my first Download Festival as a music journalist – a prospect that, when I last set foot at Donington Park 21 years ago, was pretty much a pipe dream.
And yet here I am, going through the packing checklist to ensure what I can bring and what I shouldn't for the first time in two decades, seeing the site transformed from its initial beginnings into one of the premier rock festivals in the world today. (One of them, before Bloodstock fans come after me.)
It seems fitting to be going this year, though; discussions with other like-minded (née: older) fans seem to believe that this year the festival is going for a bit of a nostalgia trip: those bands we used to watch frequently on Kerrang! TV or Scuzz/P-Rock that we would flock in our youth to check out at shows or festivals are doing the rounds this year. But festivals aren't just a time to check out your favourite acts – it’s a chance for some musical discoveries.
At least that’s how I’m treating it as I kill time between headline acts – but curiosity has taken hold of me, so here’s what I am planning on seeing during this year’s festival and, hey, who knows – maybe I’ll see you in the crowd?
Who are we going to see at Download Festival 2025?
Thursday
Arriving on Thursday, most of the time is going to be spent setting up camp for the next few days, getting a lay of the land, and hopefully meeting some of you lovely metal fans as we take in the sights and sounds.
But fair is fair – how can I possibly miss out on seeing Vengaboys (The Doghouse, 22:30) performing this year as revellers continue to arrive on site? When asked by my editor what metal fans thought of Vengaboys performing – akin to Daphne and Celeste at Leeds and Reading all those years ago – I think I summed it up well:
“A bop is a bop, regardless what style of music it is.”
I’m not wrong, am I?
Friday
Not quite the early start, owing to how much fun I plan on having seeing Vengaboys overnight, but Friday starts with heading to The Avalanche Stage to catch Karen Dio (12:50), the Brazilian artist formerly of Violet Soda. Having had Sick Ride as an earworm since its release in 2023, it’s a chance to finally watch the performer live.
Then it’s indulging early into what is set to be a day of nostalgia for this forty-something rock fan, with