It’s Takeover time once again! The annual event that helps to kick off the party at Download Festival every year have just confirmed the full line up for the 2026 Takeover.
Originally an event that came out of the Download message boards on the festival website, this tradition now continues every year. Thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers, hundreds of bands are assessed from submissions and shortlisted. From there, the shortlist is whittled down until the final line up is decided and we now have the Takeover line up for 2026!
Headlining this years’ Takeover are South West folk punks Black Water County. With a big reputation for being a brilliant festival band and bringing a very good time, Black Water County are an excellent choice to finish the Takeover party in 2026.
Taking the stage just before Black Water County are Bristol rockers Rxptrs. Another band with an excellent live reputation and a vocalist who can just about do it all in the shape of Simon Roach, Rxptrs promise a full force performance in the Doghouse!
DeadWax are next up and are bringing something different to the rest of the Takeover 2026 line up. DeadWax are not a band you could pigeonhole into a sub-genre, with frontman Jake Milburn spitting bars at 50 miles an hour, backed up by riffs, samples and an impressive rhythm section. One for the nu metal fans out there, with an extra scoop of drum n bass for good measure.
Before DeadWax, Kent hard rock meets heavy metallers Pryma will be hitting the stage. With ample festival pedigree including playing Bloodstock a couple of years ago, Pryma will be bringing some hard hitting riffs and a flair for the dramatic – at least if their music videos are anything to go by!
Second up for this years’ Takeover are Welsh goth meets nu metal duo Celavi. Proudly bi-lingual, Celavi are making waves by being one of the first alternative artists to record songs in Welsh. They are racking up achievements and accolades around their use of their co-native tongue, which you can read about here on their website.
Opening up the 2026 Takeover are 40,000 Leagues. Manchester melodic metallers with a heavy dose of Trivium worship going on – but we mean that in a positive way! They’re going to make sure the Takedown kicks off in the most shredful way possible.
You can enjoy all of these bands in the Doghouse from 4pm on the Wednesday of Download Festival 2026 as part of the extensive District X entertainment across the weekend. Weekend tickets for Download 2026 are now sold out. If you are still on the hunt for a weekend ticket, try Ticketmaster resale or Twickets.
All of the Takeover bands join an enormous line up for 2026 topped off by Limp Bizkit, Guns ‘N’ Roses and Linkin Park. For the latest on the main festival line up, please check out the latest line up news here. Rock Sins will have extensive coverage of Download 2026 and we hope to see some of you there!
