Rock and metal has been far from a man’s game for a long time.
But some habits have been harder than others to break – Download Festival and its predecessor Monsters Of Rock have had to wait until 2026 for a female-fronted band to headline the festival.
Linkin Park took that title on Sunday night, and it was a stunning performance.
There has been a lot of noise around the rights and wrongs of the band continuing following the loss of Chester Bennington, but it’s not Emily Armstrong’s fault that the band decided to play on – and at this festival she played a blinder.
In a storming set, she gave classics such as Numb and Papercut a new life. In Overflow, from the one Linkin Park album she has been part of, her harmonies dovetailed beautifully with those of fellow lead vocalist Mike Shinoda.
The festival got under way on Friday in Donington Park, Leicestershire, with Cypress Hill one of the acts to grace the main stage.
Over the years, Download has pushed the boundaries with the genres it includes, and the Californian hip-hoppers were as much at home here as any of the more traditional fare on the bill.
