Review
Review
It’s back-to-back hits as Limp Bizkit (finally) headline Download Festival
Fred Durst and co.'s first visit to the Apex Stage went off in triumphant style
It’s impossible to go more than a few seconds without seeing a red baseball cap at Donington Park today. Perched atop the heads of people of all ages, it’s a glorious sight that can only mean one thing: Limp Bizkit are in town.
With festival goers descending upon these hallowed grounds for Download’s 23rd year, this is Fred Durst and co.’s first time actually topping the bill, after being scheduled to headline the festival’s inaugural event back in 2003. They might have been forced to pull out back then, but this time they’re ready to party, and the Apex Stage is more than ready to join in with whatever antics they have in store.
The level of excitement is clear simply from seeing the sheer number of bodies packed into the field prior to the arrival of the nu-metal icons. Everywhere you turn there are baggy jean shorts with chains dangling over the pockets, caps turned so that the peaks face backwards, and every person beneath them is almost vibrating with energy.
Before the chaos begins though, we take a moment to commemorate the loss of bassist Sam Rivers and the band’s friend Dougie Miller, the message “we love you forever” plastered across a large screen at the back of the stage. It’s there that the tone for the evening is set, as Durst confirms when he steps onstage and declares: “We are all here to celebrate life and celebrate music”.
That’s precisely what the tens of thousands gathered here plan to do, and what better soundtrack can you ask for? Kicking off with some of the hardest hitters in their catalogue, the brilliantly anarchic ‘Break Stuff’ and ‘My Generation’ get the blood pumping nicely, whisking everyone into a time machine and transporting them back to their rebellious teenage selves.
Every bit of that rage and adrenaline-fuelled finger-pointing is encouraged by the astonishingly dressed Wes Borland, an enigmatic black and gold outfit covering him from head to toe as he riles up the crowd with a guitar in hand.
Rattling through back-to-back hits, from the expletive-loaded ‘Hot Dog’ to the raw power of DJ Lethal-led rager ‘Take A Look Around’ and the swagger of newer cut ‘Dad Vibes’, the lyrics to every song appear behind them in block capitals across a huge screen. There’s no excuse for anyone not to be belting out every word, but it’s fair to assume the majority don’t need any prompting, bodies flailing around as each syllable seems to be shouted louder than the last.
Any semblance of sanity is swiftly tossed aside by the time we get to the dance-ready ‘Rollin’’, but not before a rendition of the band’s cover of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ pulls on a few heartstrings with Durst’s request to crowdsurf for those we have lost.
The sentimentality is wholly heartfelt, but abandoned as things come to a perfect close with another run through of ‘Break Stuff’, bookending the evening in style. Smiling faces everywhere you turn as one last burst of energy surges through the field, it’s a reminder that this has been a long, long time coming.
It’s 2026, and Limp Bizkit are finally Download Festival headliners. What a way to make it happen.
Photo by Katja Ogrin/Getty Images
