By now, you should have read our first two days of coverage.
If not… why not?
Unfortunately, it is time for our last day of arena coverage, and to say that Sunday was a spectacular day would be the understatement of the year.
I’m now back in the day job listening to the Sunday bands on repeat, especially Ice Nine Kills and Bloodywood.

Now, i’m not personally much of a Røry fan, i’ve never really hit it off with her music, however her main stage set was very impressive. The set came with a lot of emotional weight as Røry dedicated songs to their late recording guitarist Miles Kent, and discussed the overwhelming achievement of being the oldest women to play on Downloads main stage after a life of hardship, but was kept surprisingly fun by a good selection of music that was enjoyable for both fans and newcomers alike.

Following on from Røry and keeping up the theme of perserverance were New Delhi legends Bloodywood. I caught Bloodywood a couple of years back when they first played the Apex stage at Download, and thought they were phenomenal then. They’ve evidently gone from strength to strength since then, and with the addition of their latest album Nu Delhi, these legends have only strengthened an already powerful set list. The crowd for Bloodywood were insanely committed and to say the energy was indescribable would be putting it lightly. From the opening song Dana-Dan through to Babymetal collab, Behkauf, and onto closer Machi Bhasad, the pits were a non stop flurry of chaos, swelling and bouncing in a way that was as awe inspiring as the bands own impassioned set. These guys should one hundred percent be penned to headline Download Festival in the future.

Slowing us back down a little after Bloodywood, were Rock n Roll icons The Pretty Reckless. Having just witnessed utter carnage thirty minutes prior, the chance to slow down with some attitude laden sing alongs was more than appreciated. Front Woman Taylor Momsen skipped and danced her way around the stage, playing with the crowd at every opportunity in a way that made you feel as much a part of the show as the actual band was, and the evident much more lighthearted fun that was being had by everyone in the band was a wonderful reprieve from what was going to be a very metalcore main stage for the day.

But now back to the metalcore.
Ice Nine Kills. Probably one of the bands that I was most keen to be at the front of. The theatrical style of their performances may not be everyones cup of tea, but for the other people that love Ice Nine Kills, theres nothing that comes close. Watching the band act out references to horror classics, and even behead the Download Dog, is such a joyous experience when coupled with a set full of anthemic chorus’s that you can’t help but sing every word to. Within two songs the crowd surfers had started up, and from then on in it was a non stop stream of people riding the wave to INK’s biggest hits. People loved every second, and in between helping the masses over the barrier it was impossible not to scream out every word of every chorus. What did surprise me most about this set though, wasn’t the introduction of Reel Big Fish’s brass section, but an unexpected cover of Linoleum by Nofx, and as a massive fan of the legendary punk band, this was an absolute treat to listen to. Throw in performances of The Laugh Track, The Great Unknown and The American Nightmare and you have one of the best sets of the entire weekend.

At this point we’re getting ready for Bad Omens on the main stage, considering the gap between INK and Bad Omens is about an hour long, the crowd is packing in big time. The standing space is getting increasingly smaller and the sun is starting to beat down just a little bit.
Then the music starts. This felt like one of the most heavily anticipated sets of the day behind Linkin Park. Bad Omens has a phenomenally committed fan base and the moment they came out this was made extremely evident. Every single person surrounding me knew every word without fail, arguably I was a little out of place, and quite grateful for the fact that apparently I recognised a lot more songs than i expected. This said, the set list was so well polished. The Death of Peace of Mind sounded utterly massive and I, as a six foot man, have never felt so small with the amount of people on shoulders and raising their hands for the hit tune. Great pacing, fun lighting and a smattering of pyrotechnics made for a lot of fun. The only criticism I had for the set was that they were so well received I barely got to watch any of it for the amount of crowd surfers that were in need of catching and pushing onwards over the barrier. Maybe this gripe is slightly hypocritical of me, seeing as the opportunity was taken to send our camp mate on her first crowd surf as Bad Omens wrapped up their set with Dethrone.

With my back officially broken from the amount of people that went over head (honestly guys, it was near enough 5 straight hours of catching and lifting people) it was agreed by the Rampage entourage that we needed something a bit more relaxed, a bit more party, a bit more Scooter. Thats right, we made our way over to the rave legends themselves in the avalanche tent where all our favourite Scooter sayings were being brought to life. Scooter did play in Birmingham a couple years back, and having experienced the absolute hype that they brought back then, Scooter was considered one of our essentials, and they just do not disappoint. After a day of moshing and being cooped up in massive crowds, theres nothing quite like a german anglophile asking you “how much is the fish?” Before some absolutely filthy techno kicks in. For a band that couldn’t have seemed less like it belonged on the Download lineup, Scooter could not have been more at home. This said, I feel like this set should have been in the doghouse for the extra space and to avoid clashing with Linkin Park.

Which sadly, does bring us to our last act of the weekend.
Linkin Park.
Their first Download since the passing of Chester Bennington. Probably the set with the most anticipation all round. This was many peoples first opportunity to see Linkin Park since they came back with vocalist Emily Armstrong.
Its worth noting that this is also the first time a band fronted by a woman has headlined download festival. We’re breaking all new ground today in terms of equality.
Linkin Park started off extremely strong with The Emptiness Machine, a song that really allows Emily to showcase what the new version of Linkin Park are capable of. But then the set kind of falls flat. Now its liable that this is due to where we stood up the hill, as Emily did make the decision to pass off some singing duties to the crowd, which from the perspective of the Rampage crew was a pretty poor decision as we actually thought the set had just stopped as we couldn’t hear a thing. But it did kick back in eventually and we realised that everything was in fact all good.
We did find as well that the original Linkin Park songs that were done with Chester just did not feel like they hit right with Emily as a vocalist, which is a shame really, as many of those who turned out were clearly excited by the prospect of their favourite songs being played again. The entire mid section just felt like it was missing something. Am I stating the obvious here? Yes, probably. Is this a topic that has been discussed in great detail since the return of Linkin Park? Most definitely. But it warrants saying that if they want to really make the most of their resurgence, Linkin Park ought to lean much more heavily into what Emily is good at. In this case the newer songs made with her in mind which sounded absolutely brilliant and still maintained the familiar LP energy that fans know and love.

This said, the set was by no means a failure, whilst it was a bit less captivating in the middle than had been hoped, the final third of the set was absolutely immense. Now, we did say that Emily didn’t do the greatest job with the old songs, but it will be conceded that finishing off with some of the biggest songs in rock (What I’ve Done, In the End, Numb etc.) was an absolute triumph and the perfect way to round out Download 2026. With everyone singing along. Feeling the emotions. Feeling an absolutely immense moment.