Download Festival Announcement: 14 More Acts Land — But Dates, day splits and a string of surprises leave questions for ticket-holders
The Download Festival Announcement widens the bill with 14 further acts, a move that shifts the calculus for fans, campers and local services even as core scheduling details remain unclear. For anyone weighing travel and tickets, the additions change who you’ll see and when you might need to be there — and they also raise questions about the event’s length and the newly revealed day splits.
Download Festival Announcement flags uncertainty while expanding the bill
Here’s the part that matters: the new wave of names broadens the musical mix, introducing pop-punk, Japanese game-backed metal, a viral death-metal performer and underground heavy acts — all of which affect lineups, crowd composition and ticket demand. The real question now is how those additions interact with conflicting schedule information in the public material provided.
Who’s been added (full list from the announcements)
Festival organisers have announced 14 additional acts that will be performing. The names listed in the available coverage are:
- A Day To Remember
- The Primals (also stylised THE PRIMALS in some mentions)
- Creeper
- Daughtry
- Marmozets
- Hot Milk
- Silly Goose
- Band-Maid
- Stampin' Ground (also listed as Stampin’ Ground)
- Frozemode
- Conjuror
- Conjurer (a different spelling appearing in coverage)
- Annisokay
- Private School
- Decessus
Expectations for the bill were already high: other acts confirmed across the coverage include Scooter, Pendulum, The Pretty Reckless and Cypress Hill.
Lineup context, notable surprises and production notes
The event is repeatedly described as a metal gathering at Donington Park in Leicestershire with headliners listed as Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Guns N' Roses. One passage notes Limp Bizkit is making its first appearance as a Download headliner. Additional headliners and big names cited across the material include Cypress Hill, Trivium, Bad Omens, Halestorm, Architects, Babymetal, Electric Callboy and Ice Nine Kills.
There are two standout novelty items in the new additions: The Primals are described as a Japanese heavy metal band officially endorsed by Final Fantasy and said to be performing songs linked to the game franchise. Separately, Decessus is linked to Ignacia Fernández — identified as Miss World Chile and noted to have gone viral last year after winning Miss World Chile 2025 and showing off ferocious death-metal vocals; coverage says she will be performing with her band Decessus.
Festival booking leadership is identified by name: Kamran Haq is named as chief booker and is described as presenting the second announcement as adding depth and diversity to DLXXIII, noting that some acts will be playing for the first time outside Asia and that there are further planned surprises. Commentary in the material states tickets are selling quickly and remaining tickets are limited.
Dates, day splits and ticketing — contradictions and confirmed items
The scheduling information in the provided coverage is inconsistent and therefore unclear in the provided context. One set of details places the festival at Donington Park from 10–14 June and describes it as a five-day event that starts on 10 June. Another set states Download 2026 takes place June 12–14 and notes that day splits for the festival were officially announced, with day tickets put on sale from the Download website. These two date presentations conflict; the available material does not resolve which is definitive.
Other local and related headlines appearing alongside the coverage
The material also contains a batch of other, locally focused headlines and developments published in the same context. These include references to a Rutland family-run attraction reopening for the 2026 season; a promoted how-to-ticket item marked as an affiliate link; planned new sections for Melton’s Girlguides; a Rutland writer and actor launching a new musical with a poem honouring a popular comedian; ambitious plans for 1, 200 new homes in Castle Donington; Ashby Town Council seeking an artist for a £10k mural on a Costa wall; the arrest of Lord Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office and a mention of Peter Mandelson being led away from a Camden home; and a report that at least 25 National Guards were killed in violence after the death of a Mexican drug lord.
Key takeaways:
- The new additions widen genre reach and will shift crowd makeup and scheduling priorities for festival planners.
- Two different date ranges appear in the available information (10–14 June and June 12–14); this remains unresolved.
- The Primals’ Final Fantasy endorsement and Ignacia Fernández’s viral profile introduce crossover interest from gaming and pageant audiences.
- Organisers are signalling limited remaining tickets and additional surprises, which could drive a late surge in demand.
What’s easy to miss is how much the presence of gaming-linked and viral social-media acts changes the festival’s audience mix — this is not just another slate of metal bands, it’s a deliberate broadening of appeal. If you’re wondering why this keeps coming up: those choices affect scheduling, staging and who ends up buying which ticket types.
The real test will be an official consolidated schedule that reconciles the different date ranges and confirms day splits; until that appears, attendees should treat published timing as subject to change.
