FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Slam Dunk Festival 2022
The weather’s getting warmer, the day’s are lasting longer, and Slam Dunk Festival is back in action. If we didn’t know better, we’d say nature is healing. Taking over Leeds and Hatfield for two-days of pop-punk, post-hardcore, and everything in between, there’s five stages to sink your teeth into and get partying. Taking place over the June bank holiday, celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee in style.
The announcements have been coming thick and fast, so we wanted to go through every stage and give you a run-down of what to expect, and who to check out if you ever feel overwhelmed by the impressive amount of choice, so let’s get to it!
Dickies Stage
Don your sleeveless denim, grab your skateboards, and get on down to the Dickies Stage at Slam Dunk for a North American punk party. Canadian pop-punk titans SUM 41 finally bring their bag of hits to Slam Dunk, having previously been booked to headline last year’s festivities. After the past two years, classic bangers Fat Lip, In Too Deep, and Still Waiting will bring some of the sing-alongs of the summer.
Celtic kings DROPKICK MURPHYS co-headline the stage alongside SUM 41, whilst THE INTERRUPTERS will unveil new album In The Wild. Skate-punk pioneers PENNYWISE will go Straight Ahead and light The Fuse with their ferocity, whilst THE VANDALS bring a little cowpunk comedy to proceedings.
If you like your punk heavy, there’s plenty for the hardcore fans with HOT WATER MUSIC, STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO, THE BRONX, and THE SUICIDE MACHINES rounding up the Dickies Stage lineup.
Unnamed Stage 1
This could be anywhere in the world, but ALEXISONFIRE have chosen Slam Dunk Festival 2022 for their first outing on our shores of new album Otherness. Alongside tracks from their first album in 13 years, bangers like Accidents, Boiled Frogs, Young Cardinals will get the pits circling.
Raising the stakes and getting your hearts pumping will be post-hardcore champions BEARTOOTH, COUNTERPARTS, and THE AMITY AFFLICTION, whilst THE USED and SILVERSTEIN show up for those teenage emo sing-alongs you’ve been dying to let out.
Sludge-punk legends CANCER BATS will cause a Psychic Jailbreak during their set, whilst electrocore mob ELECTRIC CALLBOY play their first shows since changing their name. And opening up proceedings will be genre-hopping synth-popper CASSYETTE.
Rock Scene Stage
Always home to pop-punk royalty from all over the world, this year’s Rock Scene Stage lineup is no different. Wrexham’s finest and festival favourites NECK DEEP turn Slam Dunk 2022 into their very own Sonderland, so get ready to be In Bloom as they kick up the roots for their first UK festival headline set.
Warming up the floor for them is American pop-punk’s elder statesmen, THE STORY SO FAR and THE WONDER YEARS; the latter of which is practically Slam Dunk‘s house band. If your throat wasn’t already feeling the sing-alongs already, KNUCKLE PUCK and KENNY HOOPLA will throw caution to the wind for sets that’ll have you bouncing off the wall like a ball.
And if that wasn’t enough, opening the stage will be some of the scene’s most exciting bands: HOT MILK, MEET ME @ THE ALTAR, and BEAUTY SCHOOL.
Unnamed Stage 2
If Slam Dunk has given us anything over the years, it’s stages jam-packed with genre-defying artists. Playing their first festival show since becoming a duo, and their first Slam Dunk sets in five years, DEAF HAVANA will take tracks from new album The Present Is A Foreign Land for a spin.
If your boyfriend’s got beef, tell him we’re all vegetarians and we’re not scared of him cause crunkcore duo 3OH!3 are heading back to our shores. Joining them are American pop-rockers SET IT OFF, as well as THE SUMMER SET, for their first UK shows in five years following last year’s reunion.
Leading Slam Dunk’s Australian pop-punk invasion will be STAND ATLANTIC, YOURS TRULY, WITH CONFIDENCE and BETWEEN YOU & ME. If you’re not ready to sing, scream, and mosh your way through these sets, you better get ready to go down under.
Elsewhere on the stage, pop-rock rapper MOD SUN brings the MGK vibes, whilst PUNK ROCK FACTORY spark up the jukebox with their punk rock covers party and France’s very own CHUNK! NO, CAPTAIN CHUNK! Start a riot with their pop-punk-meets-post-hardcore mash-ups.
The Key Club Stage
If you’re heading to Slam Dunk to discover the next big thing, look no further than The Key Club Stage. Headlining this hotbed of talent is London’s dynamo duo NOVA TWINS, who bring their twist on rap-rock and grime-punk to Slam Dunk as they take new album Supernova on its victory parade. Joining them will be Nottingham’s pop-punk heartbreakers AS DECEMBER FALLS, folk-punk troubadours BEARS IN TREES, metalcore newcomers CASKETS, and dark-pop provocateur DEATHBYROMY.
That’s not all, there’s plenty to stick your teeth into on The Key Club Stage. If you’re here for some audible therapy, HOT MULLIGAN, MOM JEANS, and SPANISH LOVE SONGS have got the emo songs at the ready, whilst emo-rappers LIL LOTUS and SMRTDEATH get us dancing our sadness away.
IN HER OWN WORDS, THE FLATLINERS, and POINT NORTH offer up their fresh takes on pop-punk and post-hardcore, whilst TikTok sensations MAGNOLIA PARK and grunge-pop upstarts PINKSHIFT present the future of alternative music. Rounding everything up is Slam Dunk’s resident firestarter MC LARS.
Slam Dunk Festival 2022 promises to be the party of the year. We’re stoked to sing our hearts out and get the blood pumping all day and night. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for our review if you can’t make the date, and if you can, then we can’t wait to join in having a fantastic time!
Slam Dunk Festival North will take place on Friday June 3rd 2022 at Temple Newsam and Slam Dunk South will take place on Saturday June 4th at Hatfield Park. Tickets are available now and can be purchased here.
For more information on Slam Dunk Festival like their official page on Facebook.