Sykes himself remains an enigmatic, magnetic presence at the heart of it all, one moment nonchalantly striding across the stage dishing out the most hilariously, bluntly British stage patter ('If you stand still you are a very special kind of knob head'), the next down on all fours, screaming his guts out. Even Oli Sykes' mic stand looks epic, a horned, Giger-esque monstrosity that presumably owes a debt of influence to a certain Jonathan Davis.

Over the course of two highly entertaining hours we see lashings upon lashings of towering pyro, confetti cannons, dancers, stilt walkers and even beach balls, all lapped up by a crowd that only gets bigger and bigger (and more excited!) as the show goes on. Playing over multiple, flashing tiers and backed by an immersive backdrop that looks like it came from a Ghost stage 20 years in the future, Sheffield's finest really have gone all out.

It's fun, it's out there, and it's the first indicator that Bring Me The Horizon haven't held back with building a show to match their new headliner status.Īnd what a show it is. 'Download, are you ready for the greatest night of your life?' questions an unsettling, computer-generated AI lady who pops up over the main stage screens, introducing a conceptual through-line for the show that eventually ties together Terminator-esque themes of tech running wild with shady cults and weird mutant beasties. There can be no doubt, then, that it's the perfect opportunity for Bring Me The Horizon to finally headline Download for the first time this is years in the making, and while the crowd is initially noticeably thinner than the gargantuan mob that turned up to see Metallica last night, the atmosphere is one of excitement, expectation and celebration.

Featuring a main stage stacked with exciting, young, British bands, it's a potential signifier for the future of the festival, particularly with so many of rock and metal's heritage acts beginning to slow down or bow out completely. Today might just be Download's most important day for quite some time. Oli Sykes live on stage at Download Festival

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