The Primals will bring together gaming and live music at Download Festival 2026

Around for over a decade, Final Fantasy XIV is now present on multiple platforms, but it hasn't been available on all from the beginning. While it entered the PlayStation 3 and Windows worlds at the end of August 2013, it needed almost one year to hit PlayStation 4, and it only made it to macOS in late June 2015. PlayStation 5 gamers got it at the end of May, 2021, while the Xbox Series X|S version came out in the last part of March, 2024. Leaving the story and gameplay aside, this game is also worth checking out for the music, which carries Masayoshi Soken's signature and involves a heavy metal band formed by the sound director himself in 2014.

The Primals had their first album out in 2018, with two more studio releases after that, in 2020 and 2022. In addition to these three albums, The Primals also released two live recordings and are now getting ready for their first show outside Asia. The Primals will perform in about three months at Download, one of the UK's most popular festivals.

According to Square Enix, "The appearance at Download Festival in 2026 marks the first time the band has performed a standalone concert outside of Asia or the much-anticipated Global Fan Festival events that take place around the world. Joining the history books alongside some of the most iconic artists from across the rock and metal world, THE PRIMALS will bring their trademark energy, musical variety and a show quite unlike anything before seen at the festival."

Download Festival 2026 starts on Friday, June 12, the day when The Primals will hit the Dogtooth Stage, and ends Sunday, June 14. The three headliners are Limp Bizkit, Guns n' Roses, and Linkin Park. Other big names on the list are Halestorm, Architects, Behemoth, The Pretty Reckless, Mastodon, Scooter, Baby Metal, Static-X, and at least one dozen more.