It may not be the extravagant announcement some fans had hoped for, but Download Festival just revealed 14 more fantastic bands for this years roster, including A Day To Remember and Daughtry. They join a packed billing with three massive headliners over three days of live music in June.
Download is the biggest rock and heavy metal festival in the UK by attendance, averaging between 75,000 and 80,000 visitors across the site hosted on the Donington Park racecourse. Originally named Donington Monsters Of Rock, it ran under that pseudonym from 1980 to 1996. It was revived and modernised in 2003 as Download, aiming to capture the attention of fans of heavier music both young and old. This year marks the 23rd edition of the event, following up from last year’s success boosting British masked sensations Sleep Token to a headliner slot alongside Green Day and Korn.
So far 2026’s billing has already generated a lot of excitement with its top 3 bands alone. Limp Bizkit headline the festival for the first time on the Friday, Guns ‘N’ Roses make their third appearance on the Saturday, and Linkin Park’s Sunday set will be their fifth headline appearance, and first at Donington since lead singer Chester Bennington passed away in 2017. Further down are current popular names like Bad Omens and Electric Callboy, as well as less-conventional Download bookings like Cypress Hill and Scooter.
With just shy of 100 acts already confirmed in the first reveal in November last year, Download organisers teased a new drop of names with a Valentine’s day “save the day” card on social media, hinting that something was coming on the 23rd of February. Today they revealed the new additions, mostly aimed at beefing up the lower rungs of the bill and laying out the stage splits for the week.
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No doubt the most popular announcement will be Ocala, Florida’s A Day To Remember, known for their exceptionally infectious brand of pop punk laced with metal and hardcore punk. Following on from 2025’s ‘Big Ole Album Vol. 1’ they set out on a tour of the UK and Europe last summer, including headlining the year’s Slam Dunk Festival in both Hatfield and Leeds. They will top the Opus Stage on the Sunday night.
Next up is Daughtry, the hard-rock vehicle of former-American Idol phenom Chris Daughtry. They’re currently on tour in Europe with Alter Bridge, playing 5 dates in the UK between the 25th of February and the 5th of March. Daughtry slot in just below Halestorm on Friday’s Opus Stage schedule.
Other noteworthy names include the return of UK goth-rock band Creeper, also on Friday’s Opus list, and the pairing of punky English groups Marmozets and Hot Milk on the Avalanche Stage for Saturday. A wild card selection is the first European appearance of Final Fantasy XIV composer Masayoshi Soken’s band The Primals, who will be playing live versions of the game’s acclaimed score on the Friday. The full list of acts announced today looks like this:
• Daughtry – Friday- Opus Stage
• Creeper – Friday- Opus Stage
• Silly Goose – Friday- Avalanche Stage
• Band-Maid – Friday- Dogtooth Stage
• Stampin’ Ground – Friday- Dogtooth Stage
• The Primals – Friday- Dogtooth Stage
• Hot Milk – Saturday- Avalanche Stage
• Marmozets – Saturday- Avalanche Stage
• Frozemode – Saturday- Avalanche Stage
• Conjurer – Saturday- Dogtooth Stage
• A Day To Remember – Sunday- Opus Stage
• Annisokay – Sunday- Dogtooth Stage
• Private School – Sunday- Dogtooth Stage
• Decessus – Sunday- Dogtooth Stage
A new batch of Download Festival 2026 tickets are available here, with 5 day camping options sadly sold out. You can keep up to date with the festival on their website and social media channels, before their gates open from the 10th to the 14th of June.
