Download Festival XXII: Korn, Lorna Shore, Spiritbox Wrap Up an Unforgettable Weekend at Castle Donington (Day 3)

We reach the final day of Download Festival XXII, but what a weekend it has been. We’ve had controversial headliners, punk rock legends, household names and the stars of tomorrow from across the rock and metal scene. It’s been an incredible weekend of music and, headlined by nu-metal superstars Korn, the final day promises to be the best yet.

“This one is called ‘Putrified Body Fluid’,” howls Christoffer Bach Kofoed, vocalist with Danish death metal youngsters Neckbreakker. It’s barely eleven AM, and already there is a circle pit in the Dogtooth stage as bodies pinball around to this glorious onslaught of old-school Euro death metal. Over on the main stage, running times have gone to pot, although the app is updated quickly to reflect this, meaning we still manage to grab a few minutes of Swedish modern metal bruisers Orbit Culture, who will be back this Autumn for Damnation Festival and their own UK headline tour with Gaerea.

A band who are no stranger to the Download crowd are Scottish metallers Bleed From Within, who are simply crushing it over on the Main Stage. Scottish flags are spotted in the crowd in amongst the bodies flying around the pit while, onstage, the Scots are tearing through their set like a band who very much belong on stages this size. Over on the Avalanche Stage, Amira Elfeky has an almost angelic voice but the devil inside her screams ‘let me fucking hear you Download..’ A Tik-Tok sensation, the singer has a huge future ahead of her as a sold-out European tour demonstrates.

There is so much love around the place for the return of hardcore lads The Ghost Inside. Opening with an emotional “Avalanche”, the feeling is returned as the band and crowd throw as much passion into this set as each other. Over on the main stage, there is just as much love shown for the Ukrainian tech-metal juggernaut known as Jinjer. Obviously, vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk is the focal point of this band, stalking the stage with menace, but her bandmates are no slouches as they pummel through the likes of “Green Vortex” with jaw-dropping precision.

Forming from the ashes of Fever 333, the Avalanche stage was the place to be as House of Protection made their UK debut. Crunching guitars and pulsing beats rattle around the tent as guitarist/frontman Stephen Harrison lasts barely a song before he’s headfirst into the pit with his mic and guitar, leading an exhilarating circle pit in one of the most explosive sets of the weekend. Over the years, Download Festival has had many iconic moments, but watching Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell performing “Them Bones” with Better Lovers vocalist Greg Puciato alongside him must rank as one of the most iconic.

Last time Spiritbox graced the stage at Download Festival, they were making their debut UK appearance on the Avalanche Stage. Their rise to the top since then has been meteoric and, judging by the size of the crowd for their main stage performance, that rise shows no signs of slowing down. An immense performance which, even when viewed from the top of the Ferris Wheel, sounds absolutely flawless. While their sound may be absolutely savage, there is no ignoring the fact that symphonic deathcore stars Lorna Shore are a huge deal. Their performance on the Opus Stage is both brutal and epic, and with their recent single “Oblivion” setting the pace for their upcoming new album, you feel that this is a band that is yet to reach the pinnacle of their greatness.

On the other hand, you have Steel Panther, who follow that with exactly what you expect from Steel Panther. The joke is the same. There are boobs, strippers, cringeworthy banter and very little in the way of filters. There’s no doubting that the likes of “Eyes of a Panther” are entertaining, but how they’re still pulling off the same joke after twenty-five years is absolutely baffling. Thankfully, we have Welsh metallers Bullet For My Valentine over on the Apex stage to take us into the home straight. Performing their life-changing Poison album, vocalist Matt Tuck reveals his pride at performing on the Download stage and as eighty thousand people join them in singing a rousing “Tears Don’t Fall”, it’s hard to dispute that they don’t deserve their time in the spotlight.

And so to the end. Five days of music and entertainment boil down to this one last band. Over three days of music, we’ve seen everything from punk rock to metalcore, glam rock to deathcore, but hearing frontman Jonathon Davis screaming “Are You Readddddyyyy?” in a field of people ready to lose their minds, it feels like it has all been building up to this monumental moment. A long time coming for the Bakersfield nu-metal outfit, this is their time in the spotlight and, as they storm through a set of genre-defining classics like “Shoots & Ladders” and “Here To Stay”, Korn sign off Download Festival XXII with an uncompromising, relentless set that silences anyone who claimed the boat had sailed for the band to headline this festival.

Download Festival returns from the 10th to 14th June 2026. Keep updated on all the news here.

Download Festival XXII @ Castle Donington (Leicestershire, UK) on June 15th, 2025

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