Slam Dunk North’s 20th anniversary brought sunshine, nostalgia and an absolute abundance of reasons to be happy to be alive, if a little sunburned. While the main stages were doing their thing, the real magic of Slam Dunk has always lived further down the bill, where the crowds are tighter, the sets are shorter and the energy is almost offensively good. Here’s what we caught across the stages at Leeds.
Read about the Main Stage acts here.
Youth Fountain kicked things off with the pressure of opening the entire festival, and handled it with ease. Positioned close to the festival gates, their classic rock-punk formula was exactly the right prescription, not too heavy, not too soft, just enough to shake the travel fatigue off and get the weekend started properly.
Beauty School took on main stage west duties representing Yorkshire, and there’s something special about a local band playing to a local crowd. Their mission to modernise the classic rock sounds of the 90s and early 2000s hits harder than you’d expect, familiar enough to feel like home, fresh enough that it doesn’t tip into pastiche. One to catch on their next tour run.
Over on the tent stage, Call Me Amour came with a warning: do not stand near the scaffolding. Vocalist Harry spent as much time in the crowd and climbing the stage rigging as he did on the actual stage, delivering lines mid-climb with confidence that makes you question your own life choices. Having previously seen them support Mallory Knox, it’s clear the energy hasn’t dimmed one bit, if anything it’s escalated, and the crowd were already moving before the first song was done.
Dead Pony were one of the highlights of the entire weekend. Opening with ‘Eat My Dust’ from their new EP, that guitar riff intro announced something serious was about to happen, and it delivered. ‘Everything Burns’, a track inspired by Batman and the Joker, is exactly as unhinged and brilliant as it sounds, and ‘Rainbow’ carries a weight that feels more relevant with every passing month, a song about being comfortable in your own skin that keeps finding new meaning. The vocals sit on the lighter side but the guitar and drums hit hard enough to carry the whole tent. Dead Pony are the real deal, and a main stage slot in their future feels inevitable.
Madina Lake are one of those bands that remind you why Slam Dunk exists. Opening with ‘Never Take Us Alive’, yes, the one from Dirt 2, bonus points if you know, the dopamine hit was immediate and thoroughly unearned in the best possible way. ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Here I Stand’ followed, Nathan crowd-surfing as though no time has passed. Bucket list: ticked.
Angel Dust arrived with the sole intention of making you spin kick a stranger, and succeeded. Short, sharp, riff-heavy chaos delivered with the confidence of a band who’ve done this a hundred times and would happily do it a hundred more.
A made a triumphant return with their first album in twenty years, Prang, and proved they haven’t lost a step. Opening with ‘Foghorn’, a certified 90s throwback, before working through the ages, they just knew what the audience needed. ‘Starbucks’ and ‘Something’s Going On’ both landed exactly as expected, and the latter getting Sam Smith of Nothing to join on vocals was a wild bonus. For the record: ‘Nothing’ is on V Rally 4, which is how at least one person in this crowd discovered the band, and that’s beautiful.
The elder emos among us owe Hawthorne Heights a debt that can never fully be repaid. A short set, but ‘This Is Who We Are’ into ‘Ohio Is for Lovers’ is all you need. Some bands got people through genuinely dark times, and there was a palpable warmth in the room that went beyond nostalgia.
Goldfinger rescued the ska-punk contingent from what had been a noticeably ska-light lineup, and launched into ‘Spokesman’, ‘Superman’ and a ceiling-raising cover of ’99 Red Balloons’, complete with an armada of actual red balloons, with the help of what appeared to be a brass section borrowed from Reel Big Fish. A shorter set than deserved, possibly due to technical issues, but they packed everything that mattered in. Yes, they’re on Tony Hawk. Yes, they’re also in Burnout Revenge and Gran Turismo 3. The cultural footprint is enormous.
Saosin had been on the bucket list since their Slam Dunk announcement, and having caught them supporting The Plot in You last year, seeing them on a much larger scale was something else entirely. ‘Sleepers’ opened before ‘Collapse’ turned the room into controlled carnage, and if you need reminding, ‘Collapse’ is on Burnout Paradise, another data point in the long history of these bands soundtracking our adolescent gaming sessions. New single ‘Starting Over Again’ sits comfortably alongside the classic material, which is high praise.
Taking Back Sunday brought a special occasion with them: the 20th anniversary of Louder Now, played in full and in order. ‘Liar (It Takes One to Know One)’ and ‘MakeDamnSure’ hit as hard as ever, and ‘Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut from the Team)’ at the close was the cherry on top. The fact this is also in Tony Hawk, Saints Row 2 and Fortnite, meaning you can technically Fortnite dance (emote) to Taking Back Sunday, is information that lives rent free in the brain.
Motion City Soundtrack were the personal highlight. Ten years since their last UK appearance, and the feeling of finally seeing them live is genuinely difficult to put into words. There’s a particular magic to a band that can pivot from ‘Say It Out Loud’ to ‘Capital H’ to ‘The Future Freaks Me Out’ without it ever feeling inconsistent, because lyrically and emotionally it all makes sense. Synthesiser player Jesse Johnson is operating on a different plane of existence and deserves his own feature. ‘My Favourite Accident’ closed things out. Burnout 3 and Saints Row 1, since you asked.
Sublime brought historic weight to proceedings. The first ever UK shows for a band whose third album, released months after original vocalist Bradley Nowell’s death in 1996, sold over seven million copies and remains one of the best-selling reggae albums ever recorded. Bradley’s son Jakob fronting the band alongside the original members is a complicated, moving thing to witness, and ‘Santeria’, ‘What I Got’ and ‘Doin’ Time’ landed accordingly. New single ‘Until the Sun Explodes’ sounds like it could have come from the same sessions, which is either eerie or fitting depending on how you look at it. Probably both.
Closing the entire festival, Knocked Loose delivered exactly what everyone came for and probably feared slightly. Heavy, angry, pits and pyro from the first note, with health and safety working overtime. Photographers were limited to one song per group and required a wall of security between them and the stage, which tells you everything you need to know about the controlled chaos unfolding in front of them.
Slam Dunk’s smaller stages delivered everything they always do: discovery, nostalgia, chaos and the occasional existential moment in a sweaty tent. Roll on next year.
