FOMO’s hidden gems at Download 2026
Words/Photos: Chloe Michelle
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Download Festival this year has pretty much completely sold out! If you were lucky enough to grab yourself a ticket, then we’re here to help you with your schedule for the weekend.
Photo: Chloe Michelle Photo
Friday
Lake Malice are duo from Brighton who bring the energy to the stage any time we’ve seen them. They’re described as heavy-metal meets hyper-pop. We recommend starting with tracks such as ‘Scatterbrain’, ‘Blossom’ and ‘Mitsuko’. They’ll be playing over on Dogtooth Stage.
Caskets are a four-piece from Leeds who have been crushed the scene lately. They’re described as post-hardcore mixed with alternative metal and the occasional electronic. Another band we’ve been keeping an eye on here at FOMO, and are super excited to see they’ve made the line up on the Opus Stage.
Saturday
Set It Off will be heading back over to the UK from Florida a couple of times this year. They’ve recently been releasing music on their own under no label and have been doing incredibly well. The fans of Cody, Zach and Max will be up against the barriers of Opus Stage when they arrive, I’m sure!
Mouth Culture recently completed a successful UK tour and now the trio will be hopping onto the Avalanche Stage at Download Festival. They’ve been releasing modern fresh tracks that also provide slight nostalgia. They’re actually one band I discovered through Tik Tok myself as they’re very active online; we love to see it!
Sunday
Tom Morello doesn’t technically count as a hidden gem but one of our readers says that a quarter of Rage Against The Machine is better than none, and we couldn’t agree more. And if you didn’t know that is who this is, now you do and you are very welcome. He’ll be playing over on Opus Stage.
Dinosaur Pile Up passed through on a UK tour recently, and we managed to catch them; and now we want to see them again. You can catch them over on the Avalanche Stage.