Download Festival XXII: Partying in the Sunshine with Green Day, Weezer (Day 1)

A key date in the UK rock calendar, June saw the grounds of Castle Donington race track open once again to the rock masses as Download Festival returned for five days of entertainment and music showcasing the cream and diversity of the alternative rock and metal scene.

With camp pop favourites the Vengaboys amongst some of the entertainment highlights prior to the weekend kicking off proper, there was plenty to keep early arriving Downloaders entertained until the gates to the main arena and stages opened for 3 days headlined by pop-punk giants Green Day, the mysterious collective known as Sleep Token and nu-metal heavyweights Korn.

Looking across four stages, whether you like the Saturday night headliner or not, there is plenty of alternative musical flavours to pick from and, as we did in 2023 when we discovered Japanese anime-rock crew SiM, maybe find your surprise of the weekend. Speaking of SiM, two years later the band are back promoted to the Apex Stage and what a way to start. A musical cocktail as hot as the sun beating down on the festival, their eclectic mix of ska, metalcore and anime is just how Download Festival XXII needed to start.

Our new find of this year was Ohio electronic rock band Starset, who promised cinematic anthems and certainly delivered with the likes of “Brave New World,” lighting up the second stage, accompanied by huge jets of flames and epic sci-fi meets cinematic meets modern metal bangers, which proved a big hit with the Download crowd.

Haley Roughton, vocalist with rising modern metallers gore. has every right to have a shit-eating grin plastered across her face. Her band are smashing through the likes of “Sepsis,” and bodies are flying over the barrier on a packed Dogtooth stage. It’s a sight to behold and one that Roughton and her bandmates won’t forget for a long time to come. Equally popular a few hundred yards across the site are Australian electronic metalcore squad Northlane whose huge, metallic hooks and crunchy, moshy sections whip up a dust pit under a sunshine more akin to their homeland than a UK June Download Festival.

Blackpool rock lads Boston Manor are one of those bands who can fit on any of the UK rock festivals ,and their brand of jarring emotion rock demonstrates why they’re a massive hit on the main stage at Download. Equally as popular on the main stage are Chicago punk rockers Rise Against, whose gritty, politically-charged punk rock outbursts lose none of their ferocity as the temperatures rise a degree or two. Things are a little more chilled over on the second stage as Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy smiles as he recalls his very first visit to Download Festival and treats the crowd to a hazy set of classic rock from his more than impressive catalogue.

An early evening visit to the Avalanche Stage saw Japanese metalcore maulers Crossfaith doing exactly what you expected from them. The chaos of early Slipknot, the pulsating beats of The Prodigy and, in keyboards/samples man Terufumi Tamano, a dangerous air of unpredictability in where he will end up next. It’s been a while since these Japanese lads have been over to the UK, and here at Download, this musical Molotov cocktail showed us exactly why we’ve missed them.

As we head to the final hours of the first day, it’s a nostalgic trip as Rivers Cuomo brings his slacker rock favourites Weezer to the main stage and under the early evening sun, their alt-rock wares go down a treat with this sunburnt main stage crowd. Speaking of going down a treat, the reaction to pop-punkers Busted last year justified their addition, but would the same affection be afforded to McFly? Of course it was. Again, there was no room around the tent when the band took to the stage, and by the time the band were bouncing through “Where Did All The Guitars Go?”, even that guy in the Iron Maiden t-shirt was nodding along.

So day one of Download Festival XXII comes to an end with pop-punk superstars Green Day making their goofy, politically-tinged debut at Download Festival. It’s hard to believe that a band with a catalogue as colourful and game-changing as that owned by Green Day have never set foot on the Castle Donington soil. On the Friday night that all changed as, from the moment the band skittled into “American Idiot” and through a set laden with multi-million selling pop-punk hits, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool, had conquered these hallowed grounds.

Download Festival returns from the 10th-14th June 2026, keep updated on all the news here.

Check out Graham Finney Photography’s Photo Gallery from Day One here…

Download Festival XXII @ Castle Donington (Leicestershire, UK) on June 13th, 2025

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