Download 2026 line-up announced
Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses and Linkin Park set to headline Donington Park in June 2026, with 94 names now filling the first poster
The 23rd edition of the country’s biggest rock festival stakes a claim to its best bill yet – with Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses and Linkin Park leading an expansive roster for June 2026, all three playing their only UK shows of the year at Donington.
Limp Bizkit’s elevation to headline status carries extra weight: having frequently appeared at Download festival across the years, they have never before closed the night. Guns N’ Roses need little introduction – returning to Download for the first time since 2018 for their third stab at the top slot. And Linkin Park, a band whose evolving legacy spans alt-rock, nu-metal and rap, headline for the fifth time, but the first since their relaunch with both Emily Armstrong and Mike Shinoda at the helm.
Beyond the big three sits a cadre of mainstage heavyweights. Bad Omens, Cypress Hill, Trivium, Architects, Electric Callboy and Halestorm will surely command huge crowds, backed by a roll-call of rock’s finest including Ice Nine Kills, BABYMETAL, Pendulum, The Pretty Reckless, Black Veil Brides, Behemoth, Mastodon, The All-American Rejects, Feeder, Cavalera, Static-X and Blood Incantation.
The rest of the roster reads like a tour of subgenre lineages, surprise sets and future headliners. Those billed include Ash, Bush, Hollywood Undead, Tom Morello, Social Distortion, Periphery, Sleep Theory, Silent Planet, Drowning Pool, We Came As Romans, Die Spitz and ANKOR – and if that’s not enough, we can even add John Wick to the list as Keanu Reeves brings his bass to Dogstar. And even that’s but a fraction of the more than 90 acts now announced.
This year’s reveal is particularly bold given the festival’s ever growing ambitions. While recent editions experimented with cross-genre bookings, 2026’s roster looks, for the most part, unashamedly metal.
Download 2026 is set for 10–14 June at Donington Park, in its familiar hinterland, and the festival organisers describe this line-up as a “statement of intent”. This, then, is a living, fire-breathing celebration of what rock and metal looks like in 2026.