Slam Dunk Festival 2024: In Review

Photo: Slam Dunk Festival | Al Wilkinson

Slam Dunk returned to Hatfield and Leeds this year and in typical British summertime fashion, two very contrasting days with the south enjoying the warm summer sun whilst the heavens opened in Leeds causing the wellies to be brought out – or in a lot of revellers cases, sticking with the trusty vans.

The lineup was as stacked as ever and the task then sets in who to see – come along as we slide our way through the mud filled fields of Leeds’ Temple Newsam to catch the very best this years festival had to offer from the Key Club to the main stage and all in between.

Photo: Slam Dunk Festival | Eddy Maynard

With the early news of As Everything Unfolds being moved to a well deserved later set, it opened up the free time to check out other bands in and around that slot time. Up first was a trip to the Key Club Stage where Canadian’s, Arms Length took to the stage for their Slam Dunk debut – received very well with a big crowd considering it wasn’t even lunchtime, many of whom knew each song word for word.

Hopping away from the outdoor elements to the tent to catch one of the most talked about newcomers to the scene right now – Taylor Acorn is building her very own platform and judging by the crowd in the Kerrang! tent, she’s quickly gaining pace. A short set packed with songs that got the crowd on side as her energy was relentless throughout and showed that a bigger stage slot should be on the horizon. Debuting recent single ‘High Horse’, her dedicated followers sang it word for word as if it had been out for months – the grin across her face from start to finish just emphasised what this meant.

Time for an early two stepping workout now as it’s back to the Key Club stage to catch some UK hardcore with Guilt Trip. The rain had caused some serious mud around the area but this was never stopping any pits or some serious two steps. The group brought the energy to Yorkshire and then some and the early slot never halted any action from the crowd. The set was filled with nonstop hard hitters including the rare outing for ‘Guilt Trip’, taken from their 2016 ep ‘Unrelenting Force’. Encouraging the crowd to give more and more, a circle pit the width of the stage emerges for set closer ‘Thin Ice’ rounding off what was one of the sets of the day.

Photo: Slam Dunk Festival | @samcorphotos

As Everything Unfolds come to Slam Dunk on a great run of form having kicked off 2024 with some big dates. Leeds saw them move up the bill only hours before their scheduled set and deservingly so – from the Key Club to the sweaty Kerrang Stage, this set had all the ingredients to be something special. As they enter the stage to a sea of fans packed into the tent, things get going strong with ‘Slow Down’ straight into ‘Hiding From Myself’. Charlie’s vocals are seriously going hard and the insane growls are received exactly how they should be with the banging of heads and the opening of several pits. ‘Flip Side’ comes next setting up the first circle pit of their set – it’s quite fitting to have Monster sponsor the festival because the energy during this slot and all day has been right up there. The crowd remain glued to every move and the biggest singalong comes for biggest track ‘Ultraviolet’, again comes the crushing vocals from Charlie. Despite the short set, they close off with ‘On The Inside’ and this slot has shown exactly why the band deserve to be on the big stage – even before now the history of the band has been on another level and it’s time to start seeing them taking to main stages.

Photos: Kcorra-Mia

Against The Current made their Slam Dunk debut this year and it’s a surprise they haven’t done so sooner as they packed out the Kerrang tent to deliver a set full of fan favourites, powerful new singles and their huge League Of Legends soundtrack “Legends Never Die”.

Photos: Kcorra-Mia

Photo: Slam Dunk Festival | Al Wilkinson

Something that’s been great to see is the return to the festival circuit for Pale Waves. Teasing the release of new music, it’s a welcome appearance to a festival not so far from their hometown. Probably the busiest the tent has been all day showing the excitement this band still brings. The thing that’s always stood out with Pale Waves shows is the meaning behind the band and what they mean to the fans – they give so much into what they love and support and it’s reciprocated back by each adoring fan. Today’s set was a chance to give a sneak peak of what’s to come as they debut new song ‘Perfume’ that’s being teased daily by the band. The classics of ‘Television Romance’ & ‘Eighteen’ raised the volume that bit more as the tent unites for an incredible sing along. The anthem for the gays as ‘She’s My Religion’ receives the biggest reaction of the set, a sea of pride flags emerge and the placed is bathed in colour – this is the type of fun and unison I associate with this band, it’s just incredibly special to witness. Concluding with newer material but one that comes in so hard it feels like it’s been around for a long time, ‘Jealousy’ gets the crowd moving one last time and rounds off the set in a perfect way. It was such a good feeling to see this band back on stage again and performing to the level they left off with and more – it kicks starts the beginning of another exciting chapter in this bands big career.

Photos: Kcorra-Mia

US pop punk giants State Champs performed their seminal record “The Finer Things” in full for the first time this side of the pond after they celebrated it’s 10th birthday last year. The record is jam packed with bangers and State Champs classics that had the crowd singing from start to finish. This was the bands fourth time playing Slam Dunk and 10 years to the day since their very first appearance and we can imagine this definitely won’t be their last!

Photo: Slam Dunk Festival | Al Wilkinson

Set It Off made a triumphant return to Slam Dunk, this year on the GoPro stage to deliver their rnb/pop/rock/emo/pop-punk hyrbid sound to the masses, and boy did it go down a treat. Their infectious on stage personalities combined with some huge sing-a-long anthems made for a super fun 30 minutes and made it clear that Set It Off are still at the top of their game.

Photo: Slam Dunk Festival | Soph Ditchfield

Mallory Knox returned to the live arena for the first time since 2019 and the first time in 7 years with original frontman Mikey Chapman. If you thought that all that time off would have left them a little rusty you’d be sorely mistaken as they entered the stage as if no time had passed at all. Their experience and confidence as a band showed as they commanded the stage, even powering through some technical sound issues to deliver a set packed full of sing-a-long anthems that saw the crowd belt out every lyric – even through the audio stoppages. It was great to see them all back on stage together and fully embracing the music again and you could see how much it meant to both them and their fans.

Photo: Slam Dunk Festival | Soph Ditchfield

US pop rock kings Waterparks brought their headline show to the Kerrang! tent with a 16 song set packed with crowd pleasers from their back catalogue as well as a healthy dosage of newer material from their 2023 album “INTERLECTUAL PROPERTY” and latest single “SOULSUCKER”. Frontman Awsten Knight sure knows how to control a crowd and had an outfit to match his rockstar persona as they went through their sing-a-long filled set.

Photos: Kcorra-Mia

I Prevail were stuck down with the issue of being without singer Brian Burkheiser prior to this weekend due to the recovery process of surgery due to illness, but in true I Prevail style, the band carried on and promised to stick to the commitment for their fans and the festivals meaning that Eric & Dylan would now be on double vocal duty. With the change in lineup, the question was then asked what kind of set we’d receive – the opening of ‘There’s Fear in Letting Go’ followed by ‘Body Bag’ set the tone for what we were in store for – the task is then set for the pit crew who have the mission of moshing in nothing but mud. They did it and fair play to them because even at the back standing still came with its challenges. The eras tour sets its sights on the UK soon and today is far from a Taylor Swift gig but it was a pleasant surprise to see the addition of ‘Blank Space’ make a rare appearance and to see a field of alt fans in unison singing to Taylor Swift was quite a special vibe. Eric then pointing out that the first part of the song was for the fans and what came next was for the band – the dirtiest growl you’ll hear all weekend brings the set back around to the chaos that it was. The selection of songs was picked to perfection and fit well with the bands setup tonight – ‘Choke’ and ‘Judgement Day’ cause more mayhem in the crowd while the wholesome sing along to ‘Hurricane’ gives fans a breather in movement at least before more pits and crowd surfers take over for the closing of ‘Bow Down’ and ‘Gasoline’. Despite the challenges that were set, the band overcame and produced one of my favourite sets of the day and probably one of the best I Prevail sets I’ve witnessed.

Photo: Slam Dunk Festival | Soph Ditchfield

Now onto the main stage headliners and what would be a bittersweet moment as You Me At Six take to the Slam Dunk stage for the very last time. The band have a long history with the festival having first graced the stage way back in 2007 so it felt very much appropriate for their last UK festival show to be at Slam Dunk and in Leeds where it all began. The five piece fully understood the assignment that came with this show though as they opened with the absolute classic ‘Save It For The Bedroom’ before running through song after song of fan favourites spanning their almost 20 year career. There were some welcome surprise additions as well with The Blackout’s Sean Smith coming on to sing ‘The Consequence’ and the appearance of anthems such as ‘Liquid Confidence’, ‘Jealous Minds Think Alike’ and ‘Always Attract’. ‘Underdog’ and ‘Beautiful Way’ see out the set to rapturous applause as the emotion of the occasion sweeps across the field from the band to the crowd. It was a true celebration of one the UK’s brightest stars and a tribute to the impact they have had on the alternative music scene for the best part of two decades.