Ten Bands You Should Check Out At Takedown Festival 2026
Taking place Easter weekend (April 3rd and 4th) at the Portsmouth Guildhall, Takedown Festival is an award-winning independent alternative music festival. This year’s lineup features a wealth of bands taken from across the alternative rock and metal spectrum including headliners Therapy? and President.
I’m excited. Are you excited? You should be, because the line-up is immense. Across the two days you can also see the likes INME, The Wildhearts, Gnome, South of Salem, Vexed, Wargasm, As It Is, Saint Agnes, King Kraken, Mouth Culture, Carsick, Waterlines, The Bottom Line, Slackrr, Zetra, BEX, Graphic Nature, Mould, Lastelle, and more.
So many bands, that heart-breaking clashes are inevitable, and tough decisions will have to be made. Especially as Takedown has gone the ‘something for everyone’ route.
Are you a little unfamiliar with the line-up though? Not sure who you should see? I can help with that. Here are ten bands that I think you should be checking out over the two days.
Pick up tickets here.
I’ve chosen three bands from the Friday of the festival and purposefully avoided the obviousness of Therapy? and The Wildhearts. I feel like they’re a given, whereas lower down the bill, you’ll find up and coming underground bands with tons of banging tunes and strong live reputations.
One such band is King Kraken, still riding the release high after dropping their phenomenal album, ‘March of the Gods’, last year. The hard rock band have played up and down the country since and become one of the most talked about live performers in the scene. They are unmissable, but so are South of Salem, a band well and truly on the rise. The head banging inducing anthemic metallers are famously fun, famously raucous, and famously good to watch. I suspect they will be one of the most talked about bands of the weekend.
Finally, for Friday, it’s Stone Soup, and the opportunity to experience some genre-bending hard rock as the festival gets underway. They’re the perfect band to help kickstart Takedown, offering up an addictive mix of blues, stoner, grunge, psychedelia, and prog metal.
Over to Saturday then, where a fuller day makes the choices a lot tougher, but it’s a positive problem to have. When there are so many great bands on offer that choosing seven more to recommend becomes an issue.
So, let’s begin with a couple of bands I’ve already seen live this year.
Vexed are one of the heavier bands on the bill, delivering a riotous showcase of alternative metal/metalcore, and earlier in the year they dominated the Black Heart in London. A great band on record, but an even greater band live.
I also think that applies to The Hara, who have had a great 2026 already. Releasing their well-received album ‘The Fallout’ in January and going on an extensive tour to support it all over the country. The alt-rockers epitomise cool, and I suspect their sizable fanbase will only increase come Takedown.
Lastly, but certainly not least, it’s Lastelle, who I also saw live this year. Be prepared for tears. That’s all I’m going to say.
On to something a bit different though. It’s Waterlines and here, movement is encouraged, be it violently pitting or wildly dancing. Everywhere this band goes, they leave people buzzing and I reckon this is going to be one of the other most talked about sets of the weekend.
How about one of the festival’s heaviest bands? Graphic Nature’s nu-core set is going to be carnage, and I can’t wait. On the opposite end of the scale, it’s Zetra and I am really looking forward to experiencing their soaring synth-heavy rock sound up close.
Finally, it’s President. The Saturday headliners.
It had to be though, didn’t it? It’s all about curiosity for me, especially as the hype around the ‘mysterious’ band is only increasing. I will admit to having mixed feelings on their studio output, but I am more than happy to have my mind changed by seeing them perform live. The potential for a mind blowing and game changing set is there and that is why they’re a must see as far as I’m concerned.
