By now we’ve all had some time to sleep, freshen up, and prepare ourselves for a return to a reality I suspect most of us would rather not go back to. With this in mind its probably about time that we give you a little reminder of what a mega time you had this weekend.

2026 was a sold out year, and you could tell. From the moment we got in on Friday the grounds were packed, tens of thousands of people ready to start enjoying themselves, ready to lose their minds to the heavier side of music. And the most amazing thing? The weather stayed reasonable all weekend. Enough sun to call it good weather, and enough cloud and wind to make it comfortable for a cheeky little mosh here and there.

The Rampage experience began with Scene Queen, a band the ladies in our camp were desperate to see, and after watching Scene Queen rip open the main stage, its very easy to see why. Their brand of bimbo/barbie themed female rage had the early birds bouncing straight off the bat, to an array of popular songs, setting a high bar for the acts that were to follow.
That high bar, however, just was not high enough, as our next main stage act was San Diego outfit P.O.D. who put out a phenomenal set of big hits starting with Boom, and ending with Alive and a dedication of the song to guitarist Marcos’ new born daughter. Its arguable that P.O.D. were worthy of a slot higher up the billing, as despite there not being a major production behind them, the bands energy, especially that of frontman Sonny Sandoval, was through the roof making them an absolutely captivating band to watch.

At this point, we’re two bands in. The day has been started unbelievably well, and if the opening we’ve had so far is anything to go by, its going to be an utterly stellar day. Our third band of the day was Hollwood Undead. 21 years of experience were put to good use as classics such as Undead and Everywhere I Go mixed tidily with more recent additions. Hearing Another Way Out was a nice surprise in the setlist, and I personally would have loved to hear even more from their Notes from the Underground album. That said, a rendition of Sweet Caroline and the iconic Bullet filled out Hollywood Undead’s set perfectly and had absolutely every British emo singing along to every word.

So now we’ve had three bands on, the intention was to try and move to another stage and catch some of the smaller acts, however the Apex stage offerings were so unbelievably good. it was impossible to tear ourselves away. Pendulum took to main stage as the fourth act of the day, and despite being a drum and bass band, once again proved they are more than fitting at the UK’s biggest rock and metal festival. The crowd by now was warmed up and ready to rave and a surprise appearance from Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds for a remix of Sorry You’re Not a Winner topped the set off perfectly. Pendulum’s more dance themed vibes led smoothly into Electric Callboy’s utterly infectious techno laden metalcore set where remixed covers of Sum41, Blink 182, and Drowning Pool were slipped in between absolutely massive rave metal bangers, and after a brief stoppage for an emergency, the German rave metallers kicked it all back off with a new song from their upcoming album. My only request for this set would have been that Ratatata brought out BabyMetal as both bands played the collaboration over the course of the weekend, but not together, which I think would have been a nice touch.

Our penultimate band for the opening day of Download 2026 were West Coast Hip-Hop legends Cypress Hill. A group that was arguably a little out of place on this years line up. At this point we were all danced and moshed out so opted to take them in from a slight distance with a bit of food. Cypress Hill put on a stunning set that drew a massive crowd, and listening to them from a distance I was massively surprised by just how many songs I recognised as someone who only really knows two of their hits. While they are a Hip-Hop band, Cypress Hill definitely felt right on Download’s main stage, having helped define rap rock over the years as well as being a massive rap name, the group are more than capable of fitting their sound to a crowd that’s desperate for guitar riffs. And really who better to put on before Limp Bizkit than such a legendary act as Cypress Hill?

Which brings us to Limp Bizkit. The first of our headliners for the weekend. The headliner that potentially brought the most anticipation with it. The group that tore down Woodstock 99. Aging has not stopped these nu-metal icons from slowing down in any way, if anything its actually pushed them to give even more. Fitting Break Stuff in as early as possible you can clearly see this is going to be one of the most intense sets of the day. The crowd is moving like one mass. Wes Borland is dressed in a… whatever it is that Wes Borland is dressed in. Fred Durst is giving a performance like he’s still in his twenties. The band is exactly how you want them to sound. With how massive they sound it would be easy to think that their set is business as usual, but this is their first download appearance since the death of bassist and founding member Sam Rivers. And on top of that just days before their set Limp Bizkit’s camp lost another member when their truck collided with a house causing the death of their driver Dougie Miller. Limp Bizkit make it very clear that the entire set is dedicated to both of these men, and put in so much energy from start to finish, providing an absolutely phenomenal tribute in their name. With a cameo from Lauren Sanderson and a mega showing of Full Nelson where four members of the crowd were pulled up for backing vocals, absolutely nothing could stop the behemoth that had been unleashed at this point. Hits such as My Way, Eat You Alive and the cover of George Michaels Faith sound as good now as they did when they came out. And no Limp Bizkit set would be complete without Rollin’ to get everyone dancing along. Round it out with a run back of Break Stuff and you have everything you could possibly want from Limp Bizkit’s first headline slot at Download.

The Friday is complete, everyone is buzzed. Day one is a success of the highest order.