TAKEDOWN FESTIVAL Announce THERAPY? as New Friday Headliner
Takedown Festival has announced Therapy? as the Friday night headliner for the 2026 edition. The announcement comes after Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons had to withdraw from the line-up due to an ongoing medical condition.
Speaking on the announcement, Kai Harris of Takedown Festival Ltd shares:
As you will have heard, Phil Campbell has sadly had to withdraw from this year’s event. Phil’s health and family comes first of course and we are sure you will join all of us at Takedown Festival in wishing him a speedy recovery.
Kai Harris continues to mention:
We are super grateful and beyond excited to announce a band very dear to our hearts that will be filling Phil Campbell & The Bastards sons very large boots. The very first band I saw at a big venue 34 years ago, purveyors of the finest bouncy riffage and hooks to die for, the mighty… THERAPY?
The festival returns to Portsmouth Guildhall on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th April 2026, once again delivering a packed lineup of heavy music to the south coast.
Alongside the new Friday night headliners, Therapy?, the festival has also announced Grumble Bee, the UK-based alternative rock project of multi-instrumentalist Jack Bennett – known for blending gritty emo-dark-pop-rock with introspective lyrics. Also joining the lineup are the successful applicants of the Amplead: Apply To Play scheme: Blacklight Vice, Monochrome and Stone Soup.
Headlining this year’s festival on Saturday night are PRESIDENT, marking the masked collective’s first-ever festival headline appearance. Having rapidly established themselves as one of heavy music’s most compelling and unpredictable new forces, their Takedown 2026 performance is set to be a landmark moment in their rise.
PRESIDENT top an already huge line-up that includes the likes of WARGASM, As It Is, Graphic Nature, Mouth Culture, Vower, Zetra, Artio, Saint Agnes, The Hara, Bex, Profiler, Tropic Gold, The Wildhearts, InMe, and Mould, plus many more.
FRIDAY (03 April 2026)
Kerrang! Stage
Therapy? / The Wildhearts / South of Salem / Asomvel / Kill The Lights
Total Rock Stage
Gnôme / Wall / Gurt / King Kraken / Stone Soup
Metal For Good Stage
InMe / Grumble Bee / Devere / The Fear / Blacklight Vice
SATURDAY (04 April 2026)
Kerrang! Stage
President / Wargasm / As It Is / Mouth Culture / Vower / Lastelle / Zetra / Artio
Total Rock Stage
The Hara / Bex / Bottom Line / Mould / Carsick / Pavé / Slacker / Overgrown
Metal For Good Stage
Graphic Nature / Mason Hill / Saint Agnes / Tropic Gold / Profiler / Vexed / Waterlines / Monochrome
Tickets for Takedown Festival 2026 are on sale now via takedownfestival.com
After an eight-year hiatus, the legendary festival made its triumphant return in 2023 with headliners Sleep Token and Skindred. Relocating from its Southampton University roots to the larger Portsmouth Guildhall, Takedown has re-established itself as one of the most important fixtures in the UK rock calendar.
Capping off an incredible comeback year, Takedown Festival was nominated for Best Small Festival, Best Metropolitan Festival, and the Grassroots Festival Award at the 2023 UK Festival Awards.
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