The Meffs Shake the Avalanche Stage at Download XXII with Ferocious Punk Set

Download Festival, Donington 13th June 2025

WORDS / IMAGES DAVID BROOME

The Meffs

Download XXII—one of the crown jewels of the UK’s rock calendar—is a colossus of a festival. With over 100,000 attendees and hundreds of rock, punk, and metal bands spread across half a dozen stages, it’s a sensory overload of heavy music and raw energy. Among the chaos, I’m here to see The Meffs—the Essex-based punk duo of Lily and Lewis.

They’re playing the Avalanche Stage, one of the festival’s more intimate (but far from small) venues, with a capacity in the low thousands. Today, they’ve packed it out. The crowd is buzzing well before the first chord is struck, with die-hard fans crowding the front, already bouncing during soundcheck.

The Meffs reappear moments later and launch straight into "Broken Britain, Broken Brains." Lily’s custom Gordon Smith Classic-T sounds absolutely huge—power chords roar out of the speakers while Lewis’s drums thunder with precision and fury. “Around and around we go,” Lily shouts, her vocals dripping with urgency. Next up is "Deathwish"—a perfect slice of punk: three minutes of rage, melody, and infectious defiance.

How the hell do two people make this much noise? I ask them after the show whether the duo format is a long-term plan. Any interest in becoming a three-piece? They laugh. “Only bass players ever ask us that,” they reply. From the sound of it, The Meffs are sticking to their two-person formula, taking inspiration from bands like Soft Play who’ve made it work to great effect.

Back in the pit, the crowd is growing ever more frenzied. Arms and legs begin to fly over the barriers. Security are on high alert, but the mood is nothing but electric.

Short, sharp political messages are woven into the songs. The Meffs don’t shy away from calling things out. “Not so much partisan,” Lily explains, “just pointing out what’s right and wrong.” She adds, “If you can’t use this platform to show the difference between the two, you don’t deserve the platform.”

Their set mixes material from earlier EPs and their current Frank Turner–produced album, What a Life. Before "Everything’s Gone", Lily jumps down to the crowd and commands a mosh pit to open up. The audience complies without hesitation. The energy surges as the pit swirls and chaos reigns—in the best possible way.

A cleverly jagged, twangy riff kicks off "Clowns," the final song of their short but blistering set. They leave the stage to raucous applause, clearly having made an impression.

When I catch up with them afterward, both Lily and Lewis are buzzing. This show was a big deal for them. They’ve played Download before, but on a much smaller stage. “We didn’t even have a backdrop last time,” Lewis laughs. This date has been circled in the calendar for a while.

So what’s next? “More touring,” they tell me. “A few UK dates, then off to Europe for the summer festival circuit, and back to the UK for autumn shows.” It’s a relentless schedule, but they clearly love it. The Meffs thrive on stage—and the live energy they generate has helped them build a fiercely loyal fan base in record time.

Punk is back—and The Meffs are at the front of the charge.

Set List:

1/ Broken Britain, Broken Brains

2/ Deathwish

3/ Fight

4/ So Modern

5/ Stand Up, Speak Out

6/ Breath

7/ Everything’s Gone

8/ Clowns

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