RXPTRS on their first Download Festival set: ‘It felt like coming home’
RXPTRS perform on the Doghouse Stage at Download Festival 2026 as part of The Takeover.
RXPTRS had barely stepped off the Doghouse Stage when they were already struggling to process what had just happened.
Their first-ever performance at Download Festival had brought a packed tent, crowd surfers and their first experience of playing with pyro. Speaking to Festpod’s Neill Wilkinson and Arran Prime moments after leaving the stage, the Bristol band summed it up rather more emotionally.
“It felt religious, man,” they said. “That felt like coming home.”
“They are our people. I’ve been on the verge of tears since I left the stage.”
Fortunately, another band member was ready with a response.
“On the verge of tears until the pyro dried it up.”
From a Bristol pub to Download
RXPTRS were one of the bands selected to perform at Download through The Takeover, giving emerging artists an opportunity to play at one of the biggest rock festivals in the world. Their route to Donington, however, began somewhere considerably smaller.
At Christmas, the band organised a secret show at their favourite local pub in Bristol. Fans had to follow clues to discover where the gig was taking place, while RXPTRS filmed the night largely for the fun of it.
The footage was later sent to The Takeover team. Apparently, it helped seal their place at Download.
“We like to constantly be giving to the community,” they explained. “They’re what makes us.
“At Christmas, we did a secret show where people had to find clues in order to get to the show. We filmed it for a laugh.
“We actually sent it to the Takeover team. Apparently that’s what sealed it. Apparently they loved it.”
The irony was not lost on the band. RXPTRS had previously played bigger venues and supported established artists, but it was a show in their favourite Bristol boozer that ultimately helped bring them to Download.
“Of all shows as well, it feels pretty special that it was that one,” they said.
“We’ve played big shows and supported some great acts, but it was the fact that it was our favourite little boozer in Bristol. That little dive bar is the one that got us to Download.”
Earning a place at Download
The opportunity provided by The Takeover clearly meant more to RXPTRS than just adding another festival appearance to their calendar. The band spoke about friends and former touring partners who had previously appeared through The Takeover, including The City Is Ours, Cabin Boy Jumped Ship, Defences and Exist Immortal.
“Everybody speaks so highly of it,” they said.
More importantly, The Takeover provided RXPTRS with a route onto a major festival without necessarily having the industry machinery normally associated with reaching one.
“It’s not easy to get on a festival this big,” they said. “You need a booking agent or an in. We don’t have that.”
They quickly added, laughing: “We’re on the market, everybody.”
Arran told the band that appearances like this did not happen by accident. Years of work had taken RXPTRS from their Bristol local to a stage shared, across the weekend, with artists they had grown up admiring. It was an achievement nobody could take away from them.
“We know not a lot of people get to say that,” the band replied. “We wear that like a badge of honour.
“It’s not sunk in yet at all. The adrenaline, the heart is still going like crazy.”
Pyro, crowd surfers and melted trousers
There was another Download first waiting for RXPTRS on the Doghouse Stage - pyro.
Lots of it.
The band had never performed with flames before and quickly discovered just how hot festival stage effects actually are.
“I thought I was gonna get permanent PVC trousers, just melted,” one member joked.
The heat was enough to make singing difficult.
“It takes your breath away,” they said. “I was trying to sing and I was like, ‘I can’t breathe. This is so hot!’”
From elsewhere in the Doghouse, the audience’s reaction was considerably more comfortable. Arran had watched part of the performance from the back of the tent, where he found people singing every word, heads moving throughout the crowd and a steady supply of crowd surfers heading towards the stage.
“You had more crowd surfers than I’ve seen all weekend so far,” he told them.
For RXPTRS, it was the sort of response that made immediately walking back onto the stage seem rather appealing.
“I want to go again,” they said. “Let’s do it again.”
Fortunately, performing on Download’s opening night brought another advantage. Their work was finished, leaving the rest of the festival available for considerably less responsible pursuits.
“Now we get feral.”
More RXPTRS music is coming
Before disappearing into the festival, RXPTRS also gave Festpod a small hint about what was waiting behind the scenes.
The band had live dates yet to be announced and what they described as a “whole host of new music”. Details, unfortunately, were staying firmly locked away.
“We’re just waiting for the right time to release,” they said.
There was apparently enough unreleased material to create another problem entirely - deciding what eventually makes it into their live show.
“It’s difficult enough choosing a setlist now, but with the amount of songs that we’ve got, it’s gonna be really fucking difficult to choose our setlists in future.”
For the moment, future setlists could wait. RXPTRS had played Download Festival.
Judging by their reaction after leaving the Doghouse Stage, once was not going to be enough.
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