Download 2025

[Andre91]

Good a time as any, eh? 
 

APEX: My Chemical Romance / Sleep Token / Turnstile 

OPUS: Five Finger Death Punch / Malevolence 

 

APEX: Iron Maiden / Sabaton / Trivium 

OPUS: Spiritbox / Lorna Shore

 

APEX: Ghost / Greta Van Fleet / Gojira

OPUS: Don Broco / Neck Deep 

 

Sleep Token, Spiritbox, Malevolence and Lorna Shore will all go over the top on their next releases. 

[NorthernSoul52]

I'd be delighted with that. Really feel, if they are on the circuit - and I reckon they will be - Ghost will be knocking on the door of top spot. I'd argue they might have been in the mix for 2024 if they had not played this year.

Iron Maiden on a greatest hits tour, My Chemical Romance with the possibility of new material in the can? Yes please.

[panda97]

On 11/9/2023 at 10:22 PM, Andre91 said:

Good a time as any, eh? 
 

APEX: My Chemical Romance / Sleep Token / Turnstile 

OPUS: Five Finger Death Punch / Malevolence 

 

APEX: Iron Maiden / Sabaton / Trivium 

OPUS: Spiritbox / Lorna Shore

 

APEX: Ghost / Greta Van Fleet / Gojira

OPUS: Don Broco / Neck Deep 

 

Sleep Token, Spiritbox, Malevolence and Lorna Shore will all go over the top on their next releases. 

Before I opened the thread those were the 3 headliners I would have predicted, would be shocked if at least 2 of them aren't there

[FloopFiller]

Considering Download’s track record, I can’t see Ghost getting the headliner gig until at least the album after next despite them being the obvious next bump up. 

[rivalschools.price]

13 hours ago, FloopFiller said:

Considering Download’s track record, I can’t see Ghost getting the headliner gig until at least the album after next despite them being the obvious next bump up. 

To be fair they have had BMTH headline for the first time this year and QOTSA and Fall Out Boy for next

[OKMess]

14 hours ago, FloopFiller said:

Considering Download’s track record, I can’t see Ghost getting the headliner gig until at least the album after next despite them being the obvious next bump up. 

Not sure Ghost will do Download '25, I can see them doing a big arena tour first, but I could definitely see them headlining in '26. 

My pick for '25 is MCR, Iron Maiden, Foo Fighters. 

[FloopFiller]

28 minutes ago, rivalschools.price said:

To be fair they have had BMTH headline for the first time this year and QOTSA and Fall Out Boy for next

BMTH have been huge for ages and it took Download far too long to give them a shot at headlining, and QOTSA and FOB are both certified festival headliners already, whereas Ghost are only just making that step up, so naturally Download won’t take the punt until further down the line.

You’d like to think that after this years headliner mess that Copping would’ve learnt a lesson and would get them headlining ASAP to get them in rotation, but he’ll probably just book Slipknot and Maiden again instead and then whine the next year that everybody turned him down again. 

[OKMess]

8 minutes ago, FloopFiller said:

BMTH have been huge for ages and it took Download far too long to give them a shot at headlining, and QOTSA and FOB are both certified festival headliners already, whereas Ghost are only just making that step up, so naturally Download won’t take the punt until further down the line.

You’d like to think that after this years headliner mess that Copping would’ve learnt a lesson and would get them headlining ASAP to get them in rotation, but he’ll probably just book Slipknot and Maiden again instead and then whine the next year that everybody turned him down again. 

Download needs to implement the policy of At least one British Headliner and At least one first time headliner every year. 

It might mean having a weaker day or giving a band a bump up who arn't quite there but it would keep the festival fresh and keep the headliner pool big. Maybe they could add a fourth day with a pilot quality lineup semi-regularly to ensure they meet the criteria. 

[Spiral_Low]

39 minutes ago, OKMess said:

Download needs to implement the policy of At least one British Headliner and At least one first time headliner every year. 

It might mean having a weaker day or giving a band a bump up who arn't quite there but it would keep the festival fresh and keep the headliner pool big. Maybe they could add a fourth day with a pilot quality lineup semi-regularly to ensure they meet the criteria. 

Disagree about the first part. But I have said for awhile now we need another festival, either a 1 or 2 day thing. A sort of mid tier between Bloodstock and Download where bands can headline to 30000-40000. Rather than being tagged on to Download this could be at Knebworth or MK Bowl in July. Would be a good way to promote bands into bigger slots. 

[OKMess]

18 minutes ago, Spiral_Low said:

Disagree about the first part. But I have said for awhile now we need another festival, either a 1 or 2 day thing. A sort of mid tier between Bloodstock and Download where bands can headline to 30000-40000. Rather than being tagged on to Download this could be at Knebworth or MK Bowl in July. Would be a good way to promote bands into bigger slots. 

Sonisphere this year with BMTH, Tool, Judas Priest and Parkway Drive. All around this summer and not doing DL. 

[Spiral_Low]

48 minutes ago, OKMess said:

Sonisphere this year with BMTH, Tool, Judas Priest and Parkway Drive. All around this summer and not doing DL. 

I do miss Sonisphere and that would make a lot of sense. It's problem though was it that it was trying to compete band wise with Download whilst having a capacity of 60000. Download gets 70000-90000 average fest and more when it gets likes of Metallica. Hence why I want a fest aimed at like the 40000 mark where bands that would sub or do second stage at Download could headline. Bloodstock is only 20000 atm. 

[OKMess]

Yep, definitely agree. Lower price point too like £200 for two and a half days of music and 4 nights camping included. 

Again, looking at bands available and not at download this year:

Friday: [Covers bands headlined by Cancer Bats doing Bat Sabbath]
Saturday: Judas Priest, Greta Van Fleet, Extreme 2nd Stage: Pendulum
Sunday: Parkway Drive, Limp Bizkit, Enter Shikari (presuming they don't get announced for Download). 2nd Stage: Alice Cooper

[JimMacVeigh]

This is more just an out the box prediction, but with Trivium and Bullet with big 20 year album anniversaries coming in 2025, I’d not be totally opposed to them co-headlining on the Friday. Both bands get 75/80 minutes each, both play through the albums, few big hits tacked on at the end…I think people would enjoy it a lot. 
Whack two BIG headliners on the Saturday and Sunday, then that could help cover all bases. 
 

I don’t think it’ll happen (but both will possibly play), but that’s just an idea that popped into my head. 

[foolee]

Ghost / My Chemical Romance / System of a Down

[FloopFiller]

MCR on the leaked When We Were Young lineup:

 

[NorthernSoul52]

You can never tell with trajectories, of course, but I do hope Ghost get the nudge.

On 11/13/2023 at 5:24 PM, OKMess said:

Download needs to implement the policy of At least one British Headliner and At least one first time headliner every year. 

Not sure it does, but it does mean picking my brains. One newbie and one British.

2025: Ghost / Iron Maiden / My Chemical Romance
2026: Parkway Drive / Muse / Tool 
2027: Sleep Token / Bring Me the Horizon / System of a Down

[OKMess]

6 minutes ago, NorthernSoul52 said:

You can never tell with trajectories, of course, but I do hope Ghost get the nudge.

Not sure it does, but it does mean picking my brains. One newbie and one British.

2025: Ghost / Iron Maiden / My Chemical Romance
2026: Parkway Drive / Muse / Tool 
2027: Sleep Token / Bring Me the Horizon / System of a Down

2028: Electric Callboy/Biffy Clyro/Metallica

[Andre91]

49 minutes ago, OKMess said:

2028: Electric Callboy/Biffy Clyro/Metallica

Callboy are more of a fad than the others.

[sacred shape]

1 hour ago, Andre91 said:

Callboy are more of a fad than the others.

Hard agree. Love them and they put on a great show, but don't see them being as big as they are now in five years

[panda97]

Do we think we will ever see any of the big names that get thrown around every year but never come to fruition

ACDC, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam etc

I just feel like it is such a no brainer in terms of "new" headliners (obviously ACDC not new) and widening the pool without taking the risk on poor ticket sales

With Reading and Leeds heading ever further away from rock music, I feel there is a void that Download can capitalise on by diversifying a little more 

 

[FloopFiller]

10 minutes ago, panda97 said:

Do we think we will ever see any of the big names that get thrown around every year but never come to fruition

ACDC, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam etc

I just feel like it is such a no brainer in terms of "new" headliners (obviously ACDC not new) and widening the pool without taking the risk on poor ticket sales

With Reading and Leeds heading ever further away from rock music, I feel there is a void that Download can capitalise on by diversifying a little more 

 

The only way the likes of Green Day and Foos are gonna happen is if Download relaxes its proximity clause and allows bands to do both their own shows and Download in the same year. If they don’t then there’s very little incentive for those bands to do it as they’re literally just losing money.

AC/DC is probably unlikely as they’re all about the few shows for mega paydays now and it took Download completely bending over backwards for them last time. Can’t see that happening again.

Pearl Jam just don’t seem to fancy doing strictly metal festivals so unless they change their mind on that then it seems like a dealbreaker. 

[Spiral_Low]

50 minutes ago, panda97 said:

With Reading and Leeds heading ever further away from rock music, I feel there is a void that Download can capitalise on by diversifying a little more 

 

They are literally doing that with the 2024 fest and are getting a massive backlash. 

[panda97]

12 hours ago, Spiral_Low said:

They are literally doing that with the 2024 fest and are getting a massive backlash. 

I mean, if they had Green Day instead of Fall Out Boy or Foo Fighters instead of QOTSA then the lineup would be looked at considerably more favourably

I would say the majority of the backlash has been the quality of the lineup in relation to the high ticket price rather than booking less heavier bands

Metal just isn't popular enough currently to sustain a festival of this size, especially with Bloodstock to better cater to those needs, the reason the headliners have been so stale and repetitive is because there just aren't enough new metal artists big enough to shift the amount of tickets needed to headline a festival of this size

Either the festival continues the current strategy and has to inevitably scale down in size once the big names drop off, or they adapt to current trends and capitalise on some of the market Reading and Leeds has abandoned. Metal can and will still be prominent. It's just foolish to continue closing themselves off to a wider audience.

[Spiral_Low]

2 minutes ago, panda97 said:

I mean, if they had Green Day instead of Fall Out Boy or Foo Fighters instead of QOTSA then the lineup would be looked at considerably more favourably

I would say the majority of the backlash has been the quality of the lineup in relation to the high ticket price rather than booking less heavier bands

Metal just isn't popular enough currently to sustain a festival of this size, especially with Bloodstock to better cater to those needs, the reason the headliners have been so stale and repetitive is because there just aren't enough new metal artists big enough to shift the amount of tickets needed to headline a festival of this size

Either the festival continues the current strategy and has to inevitably scale down in size once the big names drop off, or they adapt to current trends and capitalise on some of the market Reading and Leeds has abandoned. Metal can and will still be prominent. It's just foolish to continue closing themselves off to a wider audience.

Have you considered that perhaps Download has done so well for so long because of the metal? Whereas Reading and Leeds has had to pivot towards pop and hip hop to keep the teenagers going. Indie bands from the 2000s just don't cut it anymore. 

[NorthernSoul52]

3 hours ago, Spiral_Low said:

Have you considered that perhaps Download has done so well for so long because of the metal? Whereas Reading and Leeds has had to pivot towards pop and hip hop to keep the teenagers going. Indie bands from the 2000s just don't cut it anymore. 

It has, it has, and it's always going to be the spiritual home of hard rock and heavy metal. But at the same time, FOB have been there before, and have clearly done their apprenticeship as a headline option. If the twenty-one headliner struggle was serious, they obviously felt credible.

But yeah, if Avenged Sevenfold was, say, Foo Fighters? Obviously a stronger trio of headliners then, but also not exactly metal too.