As those Limp Bizkit sized headaches began to subside, the rumbling noise from the turf of Donington rolled out nice and early on Saturday for yet another day full of riffs and good times.
Kicking things off for us were a band who'd clearly drawn quite a lot of intrigue given the size of the crowd over on the Dogtooth Stage so early in the day. Lowen (10/13) are a Metal band formed by Nina Saeidi, the daughter of refugees of the Iranian Revolution. The result is an enchanting blend of noisy big riffs with traditional Middle Eastern sights and sounds layered over the top. Some of the theatrics went over the heads of what was essentially a very casual festival crowd but musically it was top notch. Nina's vocals alone pierced through and there's no doubt that next time Lowen are on tour they've won over a host of new fans here.
After a short stroll to the bar and back, next up were the crushingly crushing Conjurer (10/13). Talk about blowing away those Friday night cobwebs - they had necks aching all over the tent by the point they'd finished. The set was of course short given how early in the day it was but in turn that did make things feel a little disjointed at times. Likely the outcome of a band trying to do as much as they could in the 25 minutes given to them.
Ambling down the hill towards the Main Stage, Black Veil Brides (10/13) had attracted a large crowd as they took everyone through tracks old and new. They're a band who have put in the hours at this festival, working their way through the line-up over the years. This set in the blazing sunshine to a large crowd on the Apex felt like a small moment of triumph for them and you could quite clearly see how much it meant to Andy Biersack leading the line. They've always been an act embroiled in theatricality and, whilst it has toned down compared to when they first came out of the blocks, it does still have its place on stage. The issue they've not quite been able to shake is the fact that it feels overly rehearsed. Yes big theatrical bands need to balance the stage element to the finest detail but there shouldn't be a point where you can feel that's the case. If they're going to stride further up the bill they need to find a way to shake that.
Back up the hill and to the Dogtooth again for the veterans Drowning Pool (11/13) who delivered what everyone in the tent would agree ended up being one of the moments of the festival. Their set was due to happen earlier in the day on the Opus Stage but due to travel issues there needed to be a swap around. Many spilling across the turf around all sides of the tent probably wished it had remained on one of the big outdoor stages as they drew a crowd at capacity and much, much, more. The downer here was the fact they only had a 25-30-minute set, which with the odd bit of crowd banter and tuning between songs only led to four tracks. They completely understood the task set before them though as they simply stuck to the four most popular tracks off of their wildly popular debut record - Sinner, Pity, Tear Away and of course Bodies. The crowd sing along to the latter two songs out of those four was truly deafening. Fair play to the band, after two days' worth of travel issues they still got themselves there even for as short a set as this.
On to our first foray over to the Opus Stage on this day and another veteran act in Bush (11/13) doing their thing. Bush are an interesting band in that their popularity here in the UK sits at a different level compared to our cousins in the US but one thing is for sure, they've got their diehards. The crowd started thin but towards the end of their set it was a mass of people. A double whammy of Machinehead and The Land Of Milk And Honey to start the set will do that. Towards the end Gavin Rossdale expressed his joy at playing at Donington again before some close quarters crowd participation for Flowers On A Grave.
With a quick hop, skip and a jump over to Apex, sub-headliners Trivium (11/13) threw themselves in to their hit-heavy set. There are bands who are just built to for festival sets and Trivium do it better than most. The anticipation was very high for this set, after a clamour to the Opus Stage very early doors last year for an expected secret set which didn't materialise and then a headline set for the ages at Bloodstock - you could see why the crowd was as huge as it was. They're in confident form at the moment, no better amplified than opening with Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr - an ever-nostalgic thing at Download after their famed 2005 debut. The set was very strong indeed, with the band able to cover no less than seven of their past records across the setlist. It didn't quite hit the mad heights of their show at Bloodstock last year - many were perhaps expecting this to be the kind of set to elevate them to a future headliner spot but walking away it didn't *quite" feel like they'd done what Korn and Limp Bizkit did in the past 5/6 years where a gigantic sub-headliner slot almost forced Download's hand bumping them up. Trivium are Mr. Consistency at festivals and today was no different.
Looping back round to Opus, what followed for us was a set we considered to be one of the stand-out performances across the whole weekend. Behemoth (13/13) are delightfully brilliant live. In the era since the release of The Satanist back in 2010 they've been unstoppable and today's set at Download is just another notch on their big satanic belts. Opening the set with Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer there was just this immediate sense that the band weren't fucking about. The theatrics were out in force as well - from huge statues depicting Jesus on a cross but upside down (obviously) to Nergal's little costume changes to ALL of the fire, albeit none of it came at a level which hampered the pace or flow of the show - they've simply got this down. The ever popular since it's release Bartzabel gave the crowd the opportunity to have a bit of a chant-along as did parts of The Shit Ov God. One of our highlights of the set was spotting two of the camera handlers give each other a look, a raise of the eyebrow and a wide-eyed glare just before the latter of these really kicked in to gear. A barn-storming cover of Bathory's The Return Of Darkness And Evil was a surprise late on before the ever-present Chant Of Eschaton 2000 closed things out. Brilliant from start to finish, we only wish they had longer. Their tour with Dimmu Borgir at the end of the year simply can not be missed.
Next up is a story of two headliners as we'll run down splitting time between Apex and Dogtooth. Usually the ability to split your time off to check another band during a main stage headline slot would mean missing most of the allotted time but given the fact Guns N' Roses (11/13) had three hours and a half locked in, it came as no issue at all. More of that later. To the legends of the game then and the first big surprise - they came on early! A set time as long as they had and they whipped every bar and toilet queue into an absolute frenzy as Axl screamed "YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?" about ten minutes before they were due to hit the stage. The narrative of them always being late is severely outdated these days but you couldn't help but raise a wry smile at the cheek of them choosing to do this. A few early highlights in the set included Bad Obsession, Mr. Brownstone and You Could Be Mine - each one causing a huge sing-along from the GNR faithful. The debate around Axl Rose and his vocal abilities in 2026 remain ever present and it is true that each show has become a little bit of a lottery as far as that is concerned, but tonight at Download he wasn't bad at all really. It's perhaps a conscious decision that a lot of the tracks earlier on in the set contain a heavy presence of vocals in a lower register and Duff is probably doing more than ever from a supporting vocalist perspective. Slash was Slash, brilliant and more.
As the epic crescendo of Civil War hit a high point in the set, we took a short stroll back over to the Dogtooth stage to check out another of the evening's headliners. A very, very, different set indeed, Blood Incantation (13/13) delivered one of the most punishing sets we've ever seen at Download. Technically on a different planet to so many of their peers on the line-up, the band grabbed the attention of everyone in that tent by the throat and smashed out a full play-through of the excellent Absolute Elsewhere record in absolutely blistering fashion. If you've ever checked this record out before you'll already be familiar with the jaw-dropping intricate heaviness - all of which took on another level live. There were die-hards of this band front-to-back but there were also plenty of casuals who were looking to catch an alternative to GNR - either way all will have felt the same come the end, and that is the fact that they were exposed to something truly special that Saturday night. If you get the chance to see Blood Incantation live, whether at a festival or their own show - just go. We promise.
With our brains firmly rattled by the brilliance before us on the Dogtooth Stage, we returned back to the Apex to check out the final hour or so of Guns N' Roses. As took a spot further up on the hill this time, the band seemed to be midway through a glorified jam session which had outstayed it's welcome. There were a lot of yawns, crossed arms and people ambling about the food stands. From accounts on the ground it sounds like the portion missed during the Blood Incantation interlude largely consisted of these drawn out jams tagged on to a round of covers. Snapping the entire field back in to gear, Slash hitting those opening notes for Sweet Child O' Mine changed the momentum entirely. What followed was a run of Don't Cry, November Rain, Nightrain and Paradise City to close things out. In reality that's an almost untouchable run of songs to crack out as your closing 30 minutes or so. Probably not as good as their show in 2018 right at the start of the reunion, but a good show nonetheless.