Download Festival booker says headliner Sleep Token ‘deserves to be elevated’

Just a year after breaking out with their 2023 album, Take Me Back to Eden, Sleep Token has now officially reached festival headliner status.

The “Granite” rockers top the bill for England’s 2025 Download Festival — self-described as “the U.K.’s premier rock festival” — alongside veterans Green Day and Korn. Speaking with NME about making Sleep Token a headliner, Download booker Andy Copping shares, “It was seeing their meteoric rise over the last two years that made me think, ‘This is a band that deserves to be elevated.'”

“I think it’s important for the festival to bring new bands through to headline,” Copping says. “Back in the day, I did it with Slipknot. I did it with Avenged Sevenfold and Biffy Clyro. In 2023 we did it with Bring Me the Horizon. Now, every one of those bands across the world is perceived as a festival headliner.”

“That’s what I felt this time with Sleep Token,” he continues. “It feels like we’re the first major festival that’s taken the bull by the horns and gone, ‘OK, it’s time. It’s Sleep Token’s moment.’ I know it’s going to be amazing for them, amazing for the festival and amazing for the fans.”

Download 2025 takes place June 13-15.

Just a year after breaking out with their 2023 album, Take Me Back to Eden, Sleep Token has now officially reached festival headliner status.

The “Granite” rockers top the bill for England’s 2025 Download Festival — self-described as “the U.K.’s premier rock festival” — alongside veterans Green Day and Korn. Speaking with NME about making Sleep Token a headliner, Download booker Andy Copping shares, “It was seeing their meteoric rise over the last two years that made me think, ‘This is a band that deserves to be elevated.'”

“I think it’s important for the festival to bring new bands through to headline,” Copping says. “Back in the day, I did it with Slipknot. I did it with Avenged Sevenfold and Biffy Clyro. In 2023 we did it with Bring Me the Horizon. Now, every one of those bands across the world is perceived as a festival headliner.”

“That’s what I felt this time with Sleep Token,” he continues. “It feels like we’re the first major festival that’s taken the bull by the horns and gone, ‘OK, it’s time. It’s Sleep Token’s moment.’ I know it’s going to be amazing for them, amazing for the festival and amazing for the fans.”

Download 2025 takes place June 13-15.