The Best Punk, Rock and Metal Festivals
Stick on your battle jacket, raise your horns to the sky, and open up the pit at these incredible rock, metal, and punk festivals in 2025.
Skiddle Staff
Last updated: 4th Feb 2025
If there’s one thing you know as a fan of heavier tunes, you’ll know festivals are the best. Surrounded by some of the kindest people you’ll ever meet and the sounds of distorted guitars, it’s heaven on earth.
Some of the most celebrated and longest-standing punk, rock, and metal festivals boast gorgeous lineups this festival season. Covering just about everything from math-rock and post-rock to pop-punk, nu-metal, doom, crust punk, thrash, metalcore, death, prog, and beyond, this year's wealth of quality options is mindblowing.
So, to help you choose your fest(s), we've gathered some of the best headbanging, horn-throwing, and mosh pit-encouraging festivals. Find them below!
When: Friday 13th - Sunday 15th June 2025
Where: Donington Park in Derby, England
2025 lineup: Sleep Token, Green Day, Korn, Weezer, Spiritbox, Bullet For My Valentine, Lorna Shore, Jimmy Eat World, Within Temptation, McFly, The Darkness, Cradle Of Filth, Meshuggah, Jinjer, Poppy, and more
The UK’s spiritual home of rock and heavy metal, Download Festival is the premier live music event for metalheads, punks, and rockers alike.
The annual gathering welcomes performances from some of the biggest names in the game, and this year, they’ve angled their lineup to feature more modern giants for the headline slots. Elsewhere on Download’s lineups, you can find just about every heavy genre including metal, punk, hardcore, rock, alt-rock, death metal, metalcore, nu-metal, and everything in between, with a splash of electronic music to top it off.
Known for its super friendly atmosphere, if you go to Download alone, or even in a group, you’ll likely end up with plenty of new mates and the photos and numbers in your phone to prove it.
Hellfest Open Air Festival
When: Thursday 19th - Sunday 22nd June 2025
Where: Clisson in Pays de la Loire, France
2025 lineup: Korn, Muse, Linkin Park, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Electric Callboy, Knocked Loose, Jinjer, Cypress Hill, A Day To Remember, Within Temptation, Spiritbox, Lorna Shore, Sun O))), and many more
One of the champion metal festivals that always sells out in seconds, France’s Hellfest is back again. This year, they’re doing things a bit differently, securing more rock bands for headline slots. But that doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten about metal, hard rock, punk, and hardcore.
The monstrous metal Mecca is renowned for its fantastic sound quality, brilliant atmosphere, and seriously impressive lineups featuring around 160 bands across six stages. It’s always been one of the best heavy festivals; we can’t see that changing anytime soon.
With all this in mind, it’s no surprise weekend tickets have sold out. But that doesn’t mean you can’t snag a resale ticket from someone who can no longer go… keep an eye out for resale tickets!
When: Friday 29th - Saturday 30th August 2025
Where: The Foundry in Torquay, England
2025 lineup: TBA
Winner of Best Metropolitan Festival 2024 and Best Micro Festival 2023, Burn It Down, on the other hand, is a much more intimate affair than Hellfest. Bringing rock, punk, metal, hardcore, and emo talent to venues in Torquay, Burn It Down puts you in the pit for the genres’ smaller acts.
In 2024, the festival happened in The Foundry, Attic, and Apple & Parrot, all within a three-minute walk of each other. Wargasm, Creeper, Caskets, Enola Gay, Alt Blk Era, Graphic Nature, Kid Bookie, Black Gold, and Lake Malice played last year, to give you an idea of what to expect.
Soak in the English Riviera’s pretty beaches with clear waters and palm trees before heading to the venue for some wholesome chaos.
Find tickets for Burn It Down Festival
When: Thursday 7th - Sunday 10th August 2025
Where: Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England
2025 lineup: The Damned, Public Image Limited, Millencolin, The Undertones, The Exploited, Peter Hook & The Light, UK Subs, The Selecter, Bad Manners, Elvana, The Meffs, The Lovely Eggs, and more
Of all UK punk festivals, Rebellion is the largest in the UK, attracting thousands to Blackpool for four days of jamming. Set indoors so you don’t have to worry about rain, the festival hosts new punk bands, legendary bands from yesteryear, and a splash of other alternative sounds across up to seven stages.
Outside the tunes, there’s the literary festival which has seen John Lydon, Rat Scabies, Glen Matlock and more in the past, the Punk Art Exhibition, and Rebellion Radio with interviews and the festival’s highlights to sink your teeth into.
Rebellion is a super family-friendly festival and children under 12 go free, so if you’ve been desperate to introduce the kids to some banging tunes, this is the perfect festival for it.
When: Thursday 19th - Sunday 22nd June 2025
Where: Dessel in Belgium
2025 lineup: Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Korn, Spiritbox, Lorna Shore, Motionless In White, Powerwolf, Jinjer, Flogging Molly, In Flames, Dream Theatre, Thrice, Deafheaven, Hot Milk, Hatebreed, Apocalyptica, and many more
Known for its great organisation, crowd surfing, ace lineups, and quality sound, Graspop has long been considered one of the greatest metal festivals.
Boasting a wide variety of music, - including hard rock, punk, metal, death metal, black metal, and hardcore - you’ll find bands on stage until the early hours of the morning, Graspop is revered by heavy music fans across the continent and beyond, with around 60,000 making the pilgrimage to the Belgian field each year.
It’s one of those festivals where you’ll definitely make a friend or two (although to be fair, that’s most rock-leaning festivals anyway). But the excellent organisation is definitely a strong point and somewhat common in European festivals.
When: Saturday 24th / Sunday 25th May 2025
Where: Hatfield Park in Hatfield, England / Temple Newsam in Leeds, England
2025 lineup: Neck Deep, Electric Callboy, New Found Glory, A Day To Remember, Alkaline Trio, The Used, Twin Atlantic, Kid Bookie, Hot Mulligan, Graphic Nature, Wargasm, Knuckle Puck (performing Copacetic), and more
If songs about pizza, loving your friends and hating the town you’re from have your heart, Slam Dunk is the one for you.
Slam Dunk was born in The Cockpit music venue in Leeds, beginning as a club night for fans of alternative music, such as punk, pop-punk, rock, emo, and metal. Now a huge annual, two-part event, Slam Dunk has become one of the most sought-after live music festivals for pop-punks, rockers and metalheads.
Over 50,000 fans make the journey to one of the festival's two homes every year to witness performances from a wide selection of established names, upcoming talents and everything in between. As the champ of pop-punk festivals, it’s one for fans of the genre to consider.
When: Wednesday 21st - Sunday 25th May 2025
Where: Catton Park in Derbyshire, England
2025 lineup: Iggy Pop, Manic Street Preachers, Fat Dog, Yard Act, The Sisters Of Mercy, The Mary Wallopers, Nova Twins, Divorce, The Lovely Eggs, Dream State, CMAT, and more
This multi-award-winning family-friendly fest goes down in the heart of the National Forest. Bearded Theory has earned itself countless awards including some that recognise its programme for kids, its decent toilets (massive win, we all hate festival toilets), best grassroots, and best small festival.
There’s an award-winning bar and a free, award-winning free children’s village, and you can even bring your own alcohol into the arenas! Bearded Theory stays smashing it as it takes feedback from its attendees and does what it can to make those changes, be it for the lineup or the festival as a whole.
Rock am Ring & Rock im Park
When: Friday 6th - Sunday 8th June 2025
Where: Rock am Ring - Nürburgring in the Eifel region, Germany / Rock im Park - Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany
2025 lineup: Bring Me The Horizon, The Prodigy, Sleep Token, Slipknot, Korn, Rise Against, Idles, Biffy Clyro, Spiritbox, Deafheaven, Powerwolf, Soft Play, Polaris, Weezer, and more
What was originally planned as a one-off event has now grown into one of Europe's biggest and most adored rock festivals, if not the world's.
Launched back in 1984, this German festival has become so popular with the global rock and metal scene that its organisers created the sister event Rock im Park. Welcoming up to 150,000 devoted music fans across both events over the same weekend, ticket holders can expect to mosh day to night to some of the greatest punk, metal, and rock acts the world has to offer.
ArcTanGent Festival
When: Wednesday 13th - Saturday 16th August 2025
Where: Fernhill Farm in Bristol, England
2025 lineup: Karnivool, Melvins, Between The Buried And Me (two sets incl. Colours in full), We Lost The Sea (two sets, Departure Songs in full and greatest hits), DVNE, Alpha Male Tea Party, Sugar Horse, Vessels, Rolo Tomassi, and more
An award-winning independent music festival based on a farm on the outskirts of Bristol, ArcTanGent is one of Britain's most progressive live music events, created with fans of technically challenging rock music in mind. In fact, the festival describes itself as the UK’s only fest dedicated to the very best music from the worlds of math-rock, post-rock and noise-rock.
Back in 2018, the festival won the Best Small Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards. That same year, the fest was shortlisted for the Best Lineup Award. Not bad at all.
Regularly hosting over 70 of the best mosh-inducing bands and artists, the festival welcomes thousands of music lovers each year, routinely selling out. We can't wait to see how this year's edition goes down.
When: Thursday 7th - Sunday 10th August 2025
Where: Catton Park in Derbyshire, England
2025 lineup: Gojira, Machine Head, Trivium, Mastodon, Emperor, Ministry, Fear Factory, The Black Dahlia Murder, Lacuna Coil, Kublai Khan TX, Paleface Swiss, and more
Bloodstock has been providing its devoted following with four days of some of the darkest, heaviest, and most chaotic music known to man since its unholy inception back in 2005.
Set upon the grounds of Derbyshire's Catton Park, the festival welcomes 20,000 metal and punk fans each year, presenting a mammoth lineup of over a hundred prominent international acts over four stages.
Alongside performances, Bloodstock also has a signing tent for you to meet your favourite bands and get a picture with them. Head to Bloodstock Open Air this year, put your horns to the sky, and open up the pit.
When: Saturday 14th - Sunday 15th June 2025
Where: BEC Arena in Manchester, England
2025 lineup: Knocked Loose, Alex G, Slowdive, Danny Brown, Deafheaven, Drug Church, Have A Nice Life, Denzel Curry, Maruja, Sunami, Militarie Gun, Feeble Little Horse, Sunny Day Real Estate, and more
With a stacked lineup, Outbreak Festival brings an absolutely monstrous selection of emo, rock, hardcore hip-hop, and more to the moshing Mancunian masses.
Since its launch in 2011, the festival programme has grown to include skateboarding, art and photography exhibitions, record and zine fairs, a marketplace, talks and panel discussions, and cracking street food. Built to celebrate counterculture and underground music, Outbreak Festival is truly one of the best about.
And if you live in the south, Outbreak also comes to London's Victoria Park on the 13th of June with a very similar lineup.
When: Wednesday 9th - Saturday 12th July 2025
Where: Upcote Farm in Cheltenham, England
2025 lineup: Kneecap, Paris!, Taking Back Sunday, Coheed and Cambria, Alexisonfire, La Dispute, Kid Kapichi, GEL, Lake Malice, Bambie Thug, Million Dead, Imminence, and more
2000trees shines a light on over 80 emo, punk, rock, and metal artists. The award-winning fest is adored by fans of hard tunes and strong moshpits, thanks to its cracking lineups, welcoming atmosphere, and relatively cheap tickets.
More on the medium-small end of the scale, 2000trees welcomes around 15,000 fans to the farm, where they can enjoy huge, mosh-worthy tunes or acoustic vibes. Trees also prioritises sustainability, going on to be nominated for the UK Festival Awards’ first Transport Impact Innovator Award in 2023.
With that "everyone's welcome here" metal vibe, checking out 2000trees is a great shout. Head over, enjoy the tunes, make some mates, and make this festival season one to remember.
When: Wednesday 30th July - Saturday 2nd August 2025
Where: Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
2025 lineup: Guns N' Roses, Machine Head, Gojira, Papa Roach, Saltatio Mortis, Mastodon, Within Temptation, Apocalyptica, Saxon, W.A.S.P, Katatonia, Fear Factory, and more
Wacken Open Air became one of Europe’s biggest heavy metal festivals after winning the hearts of metalheads worldwide with its stellar lineups, passionate crowds, and immaculate sound.
Wacken tries to ensure the bands they book cover as many styles of hard rock and metal as possible, and this year will be no different with punk, death metal, nu-metal, thrash, metalcore and more on its lineup. A cracking festival and one that’s going down in a country known for its brilliant beer, Wacken is a belter.
Unfortunately, this means W.O.A 2025 is sold out. But we couldn’t exclude it in our roundup, that would be blasphemous. Still, you can keep an eye out for resale tickets or make a note to keep an eye on the fest for the 2026 bash.
Roadburn Festival
When: Thursday 17th - Sunday 20th April 2025
Where: Tilburg in The Netherlands
2025 lineup: Sumac & Moor Mother, The Body & Dis Fig, Thou, Chat Pile, envy (performing A Dead Sinking Story and a modern era set), Altin Gun, LustSickPuppy, Oranssi Pazuzu (performing Muuntautuja), Xiu Xiu, and more
Tilburg's annual Roadburn Festival has attracted a myriad of scene-defining artists and thousands of fans from all over the world since 1999. While Roadburn focuses on heavy music, it’s far from uncommon for them to welcome rock, alternative hip-hop, and electronic too.
Known for championing underground artists whose music pushes the boundaries of genre and art, the boutique festival hosts live shows across multiple venues, with the city's renowned 013 music venue usually at the festival's epicentre.
Creating a platform to facilitate more unique and challenging live setups and performances, the event's mission is to provide its audience with an unforgettable, immersive, once-in-a-lifetime live music experience.
When: Wednesday 11th - Saturday 14th June 2025
Where: Pannonia Fields in Nickelsdorf, Austria
2025 lineup: Korn, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Electric Callboy, Spiritbox, Knocked Loose, Iggy Pop, Lorna Shore, Flogging Molly, Idles, Dream Theatre, Jinjer, Biffy Clyro, and more
One of the largest rock festivals, each year Nova Rock welcomes 55,000 rock and heavy music fans through its gates to mosh out to some of the biggest names in the game.
Alongside the tunes, there’s loads to get up to. Attendees get a discount on PODOBEACH lido admission, but there’s plenty on on-site too. Last year, the fest had a roller disco, a silent disco, rides, and cocktails - we’re talking half-litre mojitos. Nova dishes out breakfast every day including pastries from a bakery around the corner. There’s also Grill & Chill where you can barbecue your food for free and then kick it in a hammock.
Tied together by excellent sound, fantastic stage designs, and a cracking atmosphere, Nova Rock is a brilliant four-day event for any fan of heavier tunes.
Euroblast Festival
When: Friday 26th - Sunday 28th September 2025
Where: Essigfabrik in Cologne, Germany
2025 lineup: TBA
Euroblast is a progressive festival that books over 40 bands each year. Going since 2008, the festival emphasises community and putting its attendees onto new upcoming bands.
The fest does its best to ensure minimal clashes - if you went to last year's event and tried hard enough, you could've seen every single band perform. Small and indoors, and with a welcoming atmosphere, don't worry if you can't get a mate to come along with you, you'll definitely make friends there in moments.
2025's lineup hasn't been revealed yet but last year saw sets from Northlane, Caligula’s Horse, Novelists, Mnemiс, Chaosbay, Vower, Ten56, and more, to give you an idea of what to expect. Finally, they usually have some afterparties going so you can hang out with the new mates you just made.
When: Friday 4th - Sunday 6th July 2025
Where: O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, England
2025 lineup: Carpenter Brut, Zeal & Ardor, GHØSTKID, Normandie, Intervals, David Maxim Micic, Pintglass, Future Palace, Floya, and more
If you want the mosh without the mud, consider RADAR Festival. Winner of Best New Festival in 2022, RADAR was born of a passion for progressive music and community in 2019.
The fest considers “progressive” to mean anything interesting and boundary-pushing so if that’s where your tastes lie, it’s definitely a festival to watch. Stage One at this indoor fest is all about showcasing the biggest acts over a world-leading PA, while Stage Two is usually for the heavier and up-and-coming bands.
Alongside the music, RADAR has a music and video game market and masterclasses from some of the musicians who'll be performing. If you’ve been to Euroblast and enjoyed it, know that RADAR was inspired by it.
When: Friday 18th - Sunday 20th April 2025
Where: multiple venues in Manchester, England
2025 lineup: The Menzingers, Dillinger Four, Strung Out, Los Fastidios, Smoke Or Fire, The Restarts, Talco, Death By Stereo, Single Mothers, Oi Polloi, Belvedere, Faintest Idea, and many more
MPF is one of the best UK punk festivals, winning Best Small Festival last year. Now celebrating its tenth year, they’re taking over seven city centre venues to showcase over 120 bands.
Simply creating the festival so that people could enjoy the bands they love and bands they've never heard of while providing those bands with a space to play for their friends and strangers, MPF developed a strong following among punks.
Take the celebration of the UK’s DIY scene,, mixed in with international acts for good measure, and add that to the festival’s fans saying it feels like a “family reunion,” and you can see why it has such a loyal following.
Resurrection Fest
When: Wednesday 25th - Saturday 28th June 2025
Where: Plaza Fuente Nueva in Viveiro, Spain
2025 lineup: Judas Priest, Korn, Slipknot, Jinjer, Eagles Of Death Metal, Skindred, Seven Hour After Violet, Northlane, Angelus Apatrida, Municipal Waste, Crucified Barbara, Crossfaith, and more
What’s better than enjoying your favourite bands with other like-minded fans at one of the best metal festivals? Answer: all of that plus reliable, sunny weather. This brilliant music festival in Spain brings music fans together to enjoy live music across the rock, metal, and punk scenes over four sunny days.
This year will see the festival’s 20th edition, while also celebrating 35 years of Judas Priest’s Painkiller and Slipknot’s 25th anniversary. Resurrection is already looking ace but what makes it even better is that it’s a bit of a beach festival.
Near some of the best beaches in the region, you can make your festival experience extra special by camping on Area Beach or getting a shuttle over for the morning! Waking up to stunning views and the sound of the sea gently lapping up on the sand will surely soften the hangover each morning.
When: Saturday 8th - Sunday 9th November 2025
Where: BEC Arena in Manchester, England
2025 lineup: Perturbator, The Haunted, Pig Destroyer, Warning (performing Watching From A Distance), Wiegedood (performing The DDHRG Trilogy), Stampin' Ground, Hellripper, Meryl Streek, Gaerea, and more
Damnation is Europe’s biggest indoor extreme music festival. Going down in winter, you can head out to some outdoor fests in summer and have this bad boy to cheer you up when the post-festival/winter blues kick in.
Since it’s in Manchester, there are plenty of decent transport links. And tickets, despite their cracking lineups, are a bargain, with payment plan options available. Damnation never relies on the headliners to do the heavy lifting, instead ensuring the entire lineup is banging from top to bottom.
33 more bands including headliners - who’ll be performing across three stages - are still to be announced but it’s already shaping up to be a highlight in the metal festival calendar.
Find tickets for Damnation Festival
When: Thursday 2nd - Sunday 5th October 2025
Where: Discovery Park in Sacramento, California, USA
2025 lineup: TBA
The UK has Download, Germany has Wacken, France has Hellfest, and the west coast of the US has Aftershock.
Around 40,000 descend on Aftershock each day for hard rock, metal, punk, hardcore, and bands from across the heavy spectrum that may result in whiplash due to excessive headbanging. Proceed with caution.
As it’s in October, we don’t have a lineup yet. But last year, they had Iron Maiden, Slayer, Slipknot, Motley Crue, Disturbed, Judas Priest, Evanescence, Halestorm, Seether, Dropkick Murphys, Architects, Cypress Hill, Lorna Shore, PUP, Bob Vylan, High Vis, Touche Amore, Ho99o9, and so many more. So you can be certain it’ll be diverse, hard-hitting, and a mix of big names and up-and-comers.
Thanks to the rock, metal, and punk scenes that make everyone from all walks of life feel comfortable and accepted, no matter which you choose, we’re sure you’ll have a cracking time and even make some friends for life.
Find loads more festivals now on Skiddle. Or check out the best indie fests, dance fests, hip-hop fests, house and techno fests, and trance fests, if you fancy checking out some danceable fests too.
Check out our What's On Guide to discover even more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.
Header Image: Hellfest Open Air Festival / Facebook.com
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