Takedown Festival 2026 proves once again that Portsmouth Guildhall is the beating heart of British alternative music: two days of tributes, triumphs and absolute chaos
Words & photos by Day Rutherford (@dayshootsphotos) & Alia Thomas (@aliathomasphoto) | April 07, 2026
Portsmouth Guildhall doesn’t do things quietly, and neither does Takedown. For two days, the South Coast’s finest independent festival turned the city into a pilgrimage site for everyone who has ever found themselves at home in a mosh pit, singing too loud, standing too close to the speakers. This year carried extra weight, with the shadow of Phil Campbell’s passing looming large over Friday before the day transformed into the kind of raw, joyful celebration that only rock and roll can pull off, and Saturday delivered a masterclass in why the British alternative scene has never been in better hands. Grief, chaos, technical difficulties and all, Takedown 2026 was everything it needed to be and then some.
Friday
As far as independent festivals go, none have quite the name that Takedown has. From its roots in Southampton to the move to Portsmouth Guildhall, the festival brings the very best from the alternative scene, and this year, its third in its new home, is no exception.
There’s no way we can avoid talking about a sense of something missing from the Friday line-up. With Phil Campbell sadly leaving us, Kai and Sarah, the festival organisers, put together a tribute befitting the rock icon, and for a solid minute the room was filled with as much noise as possible to pay respects to the legend.
There were also two giant boards emblazoned with both Phil’s photo and the Motörhead logo for fans to leave their condolences, memories, or just to well wish the family throughout the day.
But with that being said, the whole day felt more like a celebration rather than something sombre, with the Kerrang! Stage being renamed for the day as the Phil Campbell Stage.
First up, Kill The Lights bring that early ’00s metalcore sound to Portsmouth. We aren’t reinventing the wheel here, however the band are extremely polished and deliver a perfect opening set for the day.
Asomvel then come up with a set of balls-out rock, with stacks of Marshall Amps reminiscent of the glory days of stadium rock, much akin to Motörhead. Speaking of Motörhead, they deliver a blistering rendition of “Born To Raise Hell.” They are rough, they are ready, and they are exactly the kind of band to pay homage to the late Phil Campbell. You boys did him proud.
South of Salem brought their mix of goth rock to Portsmouth Guildhall. From the opening of “Vultures,” which commanded the crowd with their dark charisma, through to the closing sing-along of “Jet Black Moon,” South of Salem gave a high-energy set tinged with that ’80s sleaze.
The Wildhearts. Let’s be honest, tonight was a celebration of all things Wildhearts. After Ginger’s health news it was either going to go one of two ways: it was going to feel like going through the motions, or it was going to be The Wildhearts at their very best. That is exactly what we got.
We got the odd hit or two, but tonight was Ginger giving us the set he wanted to play, and by god I’ve never seen them sound better. It’s rowdy, it’s loud, it’s The Wildhearts, and it was Ginger at his absolute best.
Therapy? were brought in to fill the headline spot at the 11th hour. The Irish trio are old hands at this by now, drawing from over 30 years’ experience and material spanning from Troublegum to their latest release Hard Cold Fire.
Opening with a blistering cover of Joy Division’s “Isolation” and airing “Rain Hits Concrete” for the first time since 2010, this is a set for the deep cuts. Therapy? have been a staple in the alternative scene since the early ’90s, and if tonight’s set is anything to go by they’ll continue this long into the future, a band so ingrained in the alternative scene finally getting the flowers they deserve.
And like that, day one is done. It was loud, sweaty, and singing into the night. As far as opening days of festivals go, this was an excellent way to pay homage while making sure the night still rolled on at full force.
Saturday
After a night of what can only be described as the best kind of chaos, Portsmouth woke up to the buzzing excitement of day two of Takedown Festival on Saturday. With a lineup of some of the best up-and-coming rock and metal acts around, this was with good reason.
Kicking off the day were the smaller Metal For Good Lens Stage and Total Rock Cafe Stage with Monochrome and Overgrown respectively. Monochrome brought the heaviness to kick things off with their metalcore , and Overgrown bringing an air of nostalgia with a sound reminiscent of early 2000s grunge/nu-metal with clear inspiration from the immersive sounds of Deftones with some killer riffs intertwined throughout. Starting things off on the Kerrang! Main Stage was rising stars, Artio.
Following Monochrome on the Metal For Good stage was Waterlines. The room was packed out for the self-proclaimed “Northern Dirtbags” who’ve only been making music for the last 3 years, and it was clear to see why. The room erupted as Waterlines sprung into action with their single, Sinister, followed by the first track of their WDGAF Vol I album, Prey. What came next was slightly unexpected, certainly for those of us who were new to the band, when vocalist Benji Mars questioned, “who here is over 28 and had an awkward challenging stage in high school?” Much of the crowd cheered, and following this, he stated “this one’s for you”, with the band proceeding to play a brilliant cover of Ultrabeat’s ‘Pretty Green Eyes’ which went down exactly as they’d hoped. On the Total Rock Cafe Stage we had the fast paced pop-punk trio, Slackrr, who always put on an enjoyable show.
Back on Main Stage it was British rock duo, Zetra, taking to the stage. With the room still light on the audience at this point, it was a more low key vibe in the room, however, with their infamous makeup, and their sounds of gothic heavy metal with a shoegaze twist, their presence made up for it. They certainly know how to command a room.
One of our ‘must-see’ bands of the day was Lastelle. The band who are currently in the middle of their UK and EU tour supporting Casey popped down to play a cracking set at Takedown. Last year Lastelle played the Metal For Good Stage, but this year, they took their rightful place upon Main Stage. The quartet from Oxford are always solid crowd-pleasers with their atmospheric post-hardcore sounds, giving a heaviness that hits just right for a lot of people, mixed with some beautiful melodic sounds. Playing songs like Pine, Changes with the Seasons, and Bring Me In, they encouraged quite a crowd for this time of day.
Profiler have been drumming up quite a following the last year or so, and it’s easy to see why. The room was full, and the energy was wild. Their genre bending sounds of nu-metal, grunge, alt rock, give a nod to the 90s and early 00s. With frontman Mike Evans bouncing around the stage and the heavy sounds of the band ensuing, it was hard not to move with him. There’s no doubt that if you didn’t come into the room as a Profiler fan, you would have left as one.
As It Is have made a serious comeback over the last year. Last year they did a re-release their debut album, calling it, Never Happy Ever After X, with collaborations from the likes of Holding Absence, Artio and Mallory Knox, amongst some other incredible artists. They then did a run of UK shows, released a new single, Lose Your Way & Find Yourself, which went down a storm, and have been making waves ever since. Today we find them on the Main Stage at Takedown with a crowd of avid fans singing along to songs new and old. With a mix of their more lighter sounds in the form of latest single, Marilyn, and older fan-favourite, Dial Tones, we also got to hear some heavier sounds from their earlier days in the form of The Fire, The Dark and The Wounded World which was a nice contrast to the emo/pop-punk sounds sounds of the newer material. In the midst of the set, vocalist Patty Walters welcomed his friend Kate onto the stage for a short choreographed dance in the middle of It was a great performance all round from the band from Brighton, and enjoyed by all.
On the Metal For Good stage, some technical difficulties were encountered earlier on with Saint Agnes, meaning Mason Hill fans were unfortunately waiting 20 mins longer than expected for their set to start, which caused delays throughout the day. However, the Scots emerged and set the stage alight with their presence and epic sounds. The band have only recently come off tour and you could tell they were in a good flow. With a brilliant performance, full of energy, they deserved a fuller room.
Next on our watchlist was the impressive duo, Wargasm. With their tagline stating “Angry Music for Sad People” you can easily imagine what to expect. If you’ve never seen a Wargasm set, we highly recommend you change that. The energy from the duo is second-to-none. They don’t hold back. As much as this was Wargams’ first time at Takedown Festival, Sam pointed out that he wasn’t a stranger to the festival, having played in his previous band back in the day when the festival was held in Southampton, where he enjoyed bringing a little of the competitive nature between the two towns into the room stating that Southampton knew how to throw it down. With that, the band continued with their energising set and riled up the audience into creating a circle pit for the majority of the set. Playing songs like Pyro Pyro and D.R.I.L.D.O the band, and the crowd, showed each other what they were capable of.
With the buzz for tonight’s Main Stage headliners ever increasing, the smaller stages had the great opportunity to get the crowds riled up ready for the big finale. Unfortunately, again due to technical difficulties earlier in the day, the Total Rock Stage was suffering from delays too, and when they finally emerged on stage, The Hara vocalist, Josh Taylor, explained with clear frustration (understandably) that they were going to have to cut their headline set short. With that, the band threw themselves into an incredible set playing a number of songs from their latest album, The Fallout. The band have built up quite a fanbase over the years and it showed from a packed out room. However, at one point, Taylor asked for a circle pit from the crowd and unfortunately the rise to the occasion was slow, but one particular crowd member showed real willingness to get something going, which gained a lot of respect from the band and encouraged guitarist Zack Breen into the crowd to build it up further. Despite the shorter set, the Manchester trio played like they always do – with a lot of passion and a lot of energy.
As the sets of The Hara and Graphic Nature finished on the side stages, everyone made their way to the Main Stage auditorium for the festival finale. The festival this year had sold out, which was a different story to last year, and amongst other reasons, there was a big reason why this may have been. No-one wanted to miss President playing their first ever festival headline set. President formed around a year ago now, and what a whirlwind year that has been for them. An EP, headline shows in London, and festival appearances already, and now, their first ever festival headline slot. Following in the mystery of the likes of Sleep Token, we’re unaware of their real identities (although this could be debated as some singalongs of Busted’s Year 3000 emerged from the back of the auditorium for a small number of fans behind us during the interlude prior to the encore…) but the band pursue to keep their identities hidden and play up to the narrative of their world.
Prior to their arrival on stage we were met with a huge pink neon cross at the back of the stage, and the Ike for President Advertisement played. It’s somewhat jolly tone, quite contrasting to the actual sounds of President. After this, the band walked on stage, finishing with The President himself, and the show kicked off with the sounds of Fearless, followed by Dionysus. After a short interlude, the music continued with Rage and Angel Wings, and a brilliantly epic cover of Deftones’ Change (In The House of Flies). This was a definite crowd-pleaser. Following on from this we had Conclave before another interlude where this time the band headed off stage as the audience waited in anticipation for the encore. Only having one EP out certainly makes it easier to expect what’s coming next. After a few minutes, President walked back on stage to finish off a cracking set with the live debut of Mercy, which couldn’t have had a better reception. Next up was Destroy Me, before yet another short interlude and the ultimate finale, In The Name Of The Father, where the whole room erupted, singing along to every word. Many in the seated areas got up onto their feet for this one. They couldn’t have ended it in a better way, and what an end to an incredible day it was.
Takedown has always been an incredible festival for showcasing some brilliant talent in the rock and metal scenes, and this year was no exception. With only being the second year of it spanning 2 days, this year really was bigger and better than ever, and honestly, it might be hard to top it. We look forward to seeing who they bring to the South coast next year, bringing Portsmouth alive with the sounds of heavy riffs, and plenty of mosh pits.
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