Takedown Festival is a melange of heavy music – a celebration of rock, metal, punk and the alternative scene, held at the historic Portsmouth Guildhall. Takedown 2025 was a great festival with a long list of fantastic small and midsized bands. However, with no “headliner” names to draw in the crowds, it often felt a little quiet. 2026 came back with a bang – the mysterious yet somehow massive new name in alt music, President headlined the show. 2026 was anything but quiet!
Photo courtesy of Lizzi Kenyon from the crowd
Appearing out of nowhere in 2025, the mysterious President brought us mask-wearing anonymity combined with a mix of metalcore and electronica. Headlining Takedown festival is the start of a big year for the band, playing their single “Fearless” live for the first time. The sound in the venue was flawless and epic, and whilst the band’s stage performance was relatively “low energy” due to the dramatic style that they bring, the incredible lightshow brought the whole performance together in something that was truly captivating.
A number of songs in, I leant across to my friends and joked that must have run out of songs – at which point the band blared out a seamless cover of Change by Deftones. A truly epic moment that brought the venue together in a sing along!
Day 1 – Friday Evening
An evening that was supposed to be headlined by Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons. But, with the unexpected passing of front man and Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell, I was worried that it might have had a sombre feel, or worse, have no mention at all. However, the organisers gave an emotional tribute, and a minute of noise, for a night of heavy music that really felt was a celebration of a great man.
As with last year’s event, Takedown saw me bouncing from stage to stage to cover as much as I could, whilst still taking in the atmosphere – here are those that I managed to get to see:
First up, on the middle sized “Metal for Good” stage – alt-rockers The Fear brought plenty of nu-metal energy. I took a quick stop to enjoy some of Welsh riff legends, King Kraken on the smaller Total Rock Stage. Heading over to the main Kerrang stage – relabelled as the Phil Campbell stage for the Friday night – Asomvel burst out with their loud, heavy metal and punk style. A very powerful and energetic performance, it was great to see an already busy crowd.
With an already classic rock and heavy metal vibe, Devere brought pure 80s heavy metal, complete with sleeveless leather jackets and cowboy hats. South of Salem changed the tone with their theatrical style of emo horror rock, bringing on cheerleaders and LED lit coffin lids – it was not just heavy music but a fusion of old school glam rock theatrics and modern day metal style.
Ready for a break, I went to catch Dendera, however, due to technical difficulties with the sound their set was over half an hour late. I managed to grab some food, and get back to hear the end of what was a fantastic set. They were then followed by a pretty quick change around for InMe, who have been touring playing White Butterfly in full. Always full of passion, this was a particularly emotive set with the show marking 1000 days of sobriety for front man Dave McPherson.
Finaly, replacement headliners Therapy? took to the stage for a set that showed how this band is still smashing main stages 35 years after they started in Larne, Northern Ireland.
Day 2 – Saturday
Saturday lunchtime started my day with raw metalers Waterlines. Their raucous metalcore style blends modern electronic with oldschool nu-metal. Of course, it’s metalcore, so photography was limited to whatever flash of light we could find! Moving to the Bar Room and Slackrr were bringing a completely different vibe, with their fun/serious heavy pop-punk vibe. As if to prove the point of diversity of music, Zetra then stood up to the main stage for their dark, industrial rock that felt like Sisters of Mercy had been taken over by Rammstein.
A few of us hung around the main stage for Lastelle, who were promoted from a side stage last year – and with good reason! Lastelle’s mix of harmonic tone and heavy riffs made them one of my highlights of the festival. Finishing with “Breathe me in”, their catchy 2025 song had the crowd singing along to the chorus in unison.
I then had enough time to catch some Mould on the smaller Total Rock Stage, with the event really building up speed and the rooms starting to get really busy. Back on the main stage was the much more indie band, Mouth Culture who’s confidence and energy really shone through a polished set.
I then headed over to see Saint Agnes, who I had seen in their early days many years ago, and I was excited to see how far they had come. Whilst wrestling with a lot of issues from and audio tech point of view, the band were determined to give it everything – and boy did they manage! Despite the sound problems, this was one of the top performances of the festival, with their intense stage presence, dirty and hard hitting sounds and catchy songs.
With the delays on the previous stage, I was please to still catch As It Is, who are in an emo resurgence of strength. Starting with their newer songs, they then switched to some of their harder earlier work.
The young and energetic Bex had no problem commanding the stage – having seen her open for the Nova Twins tour few weeks ago, this was no surprise. The British musician is self-styled and has her own unique sounding electro-punk that really stands her out, not just with individuality, but also with how down to earth she is.
Back to the main stage for the experience that is Wargasm. I thought is was brave of Sam Matlock to compare the audience to a Southampton crowd at the Portsmouth Guildhall to rile up the crowd, but the experience of a band that has been there and done that showed as they pumped even more positive energy into an already fairly wild crowd. This is probably the 5th or 6th time I have seen the band in the last few years, and it is clear that they know who they are and what they want to be – and this just comes out with pure style and performance.
With just a short time until the headline act, we headed over to the side stage to see THE HARA. The “alternative indie” band very much has goth and metal vibes, and guitarist Zack Breen got into the mosh pit and was the eye of the circle pit! This set was a lot of fun, though for the less rough and ready it was difficult to get away from the moshing.
Takedown Pros
I heard from a number of people that the tickets were worth it just for the last few acts on Saturday, so the whole event was a bonus for the price – realistically how are you going to see this many great acts for so little?!
Variety – there really is an incredible choice of genres, ready for people with a wide range of tastes, whether that is for the extreme metalhead, or those looking for a lighter emo/pop-punk vibe.
App to schedule your day – the app really is very useful and easy to use, helping you to maximize your day!
Security – in general, the security was extremely friendly.
Takedown Cons
Food and drink
A couple of extra food options would be great – the Pizza van was a nice addition and an extra couple of options would really add to the experience.
Band popularity
It’s often difficult to gauge interest in bands with so many acts there – this inevitably meant there were some acts on larger stages that seemed a little quiet, whilst smaller stages on occasion were a one out – one in policy due to being so heavily crowded. Realistically, there is little that anyone can do on this, but more of a note for the future that if you are desperate to see someone, get in there early!
Major delays and issues due to sound
Whilst its hopefully obvious to appreciate the fast turnaround of bands and their equipment, it must be said that there were a number of audio issues on both of the smaller stages. Struggles with getting audio feeds connected, monitors working levels right caused a number of delays, sometimes in excess of half an hour. Also, simple things like having the click tracks coming through the PA system for multiple songs, as well as going through over half a set without any bass were hard not to notice. The issues were a shame, especially for the bands affected who often lost audience members, and for people who’s schedules were thrown out, but overall it went pretty smoothly.
Takedown 2026 Summary
Its fair to say that organisers Sarah and Kai, and their whole team, should be extremely proud of the incredible event that they have put together. The quality of the lineup and the overall organisation being one thing that should be applauded. But for me it is much more than this – the vibe at Takedown is one of inclusivity and celebration, with alternative people from every generation gathering to enjoy the show. I’m not sure how they do it, but Takedown feels like a really warm and happy place to be. Also, a big shoutout to Jorden Bell who had to heard the unruly cats of 70+ needy media people, but somehow manage to keep us organised and get round to see everyone. Well done to everyone involved with Takedown and I look forward to what 2027 brings.
Website: takedownfestival.com
Facebook: facebook.com/takedownfestivalUK
Instagram: instagram.com/takedownfestival
Photos and Words by JLawrence Photography (@JLawrence_MusicPhoto)
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