In surely one of the year’s most anticipated concert moments thus far, mysterious, masked new band PRESIDENT officially hit the campaign trail today (June 13th) with a debut performance at the UK’s Download Festival.
The band’s mid-day appearance on the Dogtooth stage, described by Download organizers ahead of time as the group’s “inauguration,” was preceded by months of intrigue, including a series of cryptic posts presenting the band’s rubber-masked leader and the springtime reveal of their first two singles: “In the Name of the Father” and “Fearless.”
Indeed, both of those dark and anthemic rockers made it into the band’s five-song setlist, along with three yet-to-be-released new cuts (check out the full setlist below, courtesy of Setlist.fm). Throughout, the sartorially suited-up but still incognito PRESIDENT singer sung hard and delivered a few between song speeches to the crowd. The rest of his cabinet, in black masks and outfits with pink armbands, rocked the stage with heavy riffs.
While the band’s frontman technically unmasked himself in the “Fearless” video, many fans had speculated that this had been a fakeout. The past few months of online discourse has also led to wild speculation of a possible connection to Sleep Token, who themselves headlined Download the night before (June 12th).
You’ll find fan-shot footage from PRESIDENT’s debut show up above and down below.
PRESIDENT’s next show is their sold-out “inaugural headline rally” at London, UK’s Garage on July 30th, which features an opening set from heavy dream-pop group Zetra.
As previously reported, PRESIDENT teamed up with Revolver for their first-ever physical release, a limited-edition two-song 12-inch featuring “In the Name of the Father” and “Fearless,” which near-immediately sold out.
PRESIDENT 6/13/25 setlist:
Fearless (live debut)
Dionysus (new song)
Rage (new song)
Destroy Me (new song)
In the Name of the Father (live debut)