Takedown Festival is a celebration of rock and metal based at Portsmouth Guildhall. This year, the event had been extended to 3 indoor stages, held over Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening. With a bar in each room, and a lot of warm and friendly staff at the venue, getting in and around the venue was clear and easy, with plenty of quieter spaces for those who might need a break from the noise. With 3 stages and a wide range of acts playing, it was impossible to see everything, but the schedule did make it easy to plan for those who had specific acts that they wanted to see.

A big shoutout to Sophie K and Yasmine Summan from the We Wear Black podcast who did an incredible job of comparing the Laney sponsored main stage and keeping everyone hyped through some long days! The we are TRXSH stage was a smaller stage in the standard Guildhall bar/restaurant, with the other ground floor room being a slightly larger stage sponsored by Metal for Good charity.

Friday Night Highlights

The festival kicked off with a bang on Friday night, headlined by the Kris Barras Band. Former MMA fighter turned rock star, Kris brought an intense energy to the stage. Other notable acts were Bad Touch bringing the classic rock vibe and Thuum who kicked off the We are TRXSH Stage with a  bang.

Saturday Shenanigans

Whilst Friday felt like a real teaser to the weekend, Saturday was an onslaught of incredible performances from some bigger known acts.

The main stage heralded some headline-worthy performances from Welsh alt-rockers Dreamstate, Seething Akira and The Bottom Line, to name a few, as well as actual headliners Elvana, the Elvis-fronted Nirvana tribute band, who brought a great crowd, familiar with stages at Download and other larger festivals. Their energy brought a fun if somewhat unusual vibe to the headline spot, covering classics such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Come As You Are” in their unique and eclectic style.

A particular personal highlight was the performance from Seething Akira, a band made up of different styles of people and different styles of music that come together to make not only great music but an incredible live performance – probably the most energetic of the whole festival. Finishing up with singing Happy Birthday with a caterpillar cake for singer Kit Conrad was a particularly nice touch!

Jessie Powell, who fronted Dreamstate, gave a high-energy, crowd-pleasing performance, mixing beautiful melodies with guttural roars. Songs like “White Lies” and “Primrose Path” resonated deeply with the audience whilst the band brought a real performance to the stage.

I really enjoyed sets from both The Bottom Line with plenty of dancing jumping and spinning, and self-proclaimed “dad rockers” The Hurt Process. Both band brought big energy to a relatively small but high energy audience for the mid-afternoon main stage. Fort Hope really proved their worth, with their post hardcore/ pop punk style, making use of the space on the big stage.

On the side stages, there was a lot to get involved with, including UK metalcore legends Acres, who delivered a high-energy set that left everyone in awe. It wasn’t just a case of blasting out heavy riffs, but the interaction with the crowd had mosh pits and crowd surfing galore!

Also tearing up the smaller stages were bands such as InVisions, with their melodic metal and Glass Graves bringing raw brutality – Takedown certainly had something for every metal fan, no matter what your preference of subgenre.

Takedown has a real range of ages, from young metalheads to old rockers who have been “there and done that”, and as is often the way with the metal community, there was a friendly and inclusive vibe. The venue itself, Portsmouth Guildhall, really feels at the heart of the area, and whilst many people travelled afar to come to the event, it somehow kept that “local community” vibe.

Takedown Festival 2025 was an unforgettable experience with a cracking line-up of up-and-coming to mid-level rock and metal bands. Having heard great things of the sold-out 2023 Takedown, I had been looking forward to what the festival had to bring, and the diversity of music and excellent venue really did deliver. However, perhaps due to lacking a couple of bigger names, it was a big disappointing that there wasn’t a bigger audience there, especially for the main stage, which often felt very quiet with little more in the audience than the supporting stages. I hope to see another Takedown in 2026 and perhaps a couple of larger acts to add to the incredible roster that will draw the crowds away from the spring sunshine.

Website: takedownfestival.com
Facebook: facebook.com/takedownfestivalUK
Instagram: instagram.com/takedownfestival

Photos and Words by  JLawrence Photography (@JLawrence_MusicPhoto)