FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Slam Dunk Festival 2024
Nobody does bank holiday weekends like Slam Dunk Festival. Just as the British weather suddenly starts to spark up and let the sun shine, the touring day festival delivers you the holy trinity: bands, bevs, and the beginning of festival season. Back for its annual bank holiday bonanza at Hatfield Park and Leeds Temple Newsam, Slam Dunk brings you five stages jam-packed with Grade A pop-punk, ska, metalcore, and more to dive into, so here’s everything you need to know about this year’s supersized bill.
Slam Dunk Stage
Slam Dunk Festival are no strangers to nostalgia – they love an excuse to stir up the teenage angst still boiling up inside us. Pop-punk legends THE DANGEROUS SUMMER and rising stars AS DECEMBER FALLS kick things off, before GLASSJAW frontman Daryl Palumbo celebrates the 20th anniversary of dance-rock side-project HEAD AUTOMATICA’s Decadence.
If that wasn’t enough, WE THE KINGS will have you screaming “check yes, Juliet” before MALLORY KNOX’s exclusive reunion shows drop classic bangers like Lighthouse and Wake Up. STATE CHAMPS are taking it back to 2013, as they finally play The Finer Things in full in the UK, BOYS LIKE GIRLS deliver a pop-punk masterclass as you fetch some scran, and the legendary THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS let you in on their Dirty Little Secret with their first UK shows since Slam Dunk Festival 2014.
If you haven’t sung your heart out enough by the time 8:50pm swings by, don’t worry, headliner’s YOU ME AT SIX’s final ever UK festival sets will have you putting your vocal chords through their paces with more anthems than Slam Dunk has food stalls.
GoPro Stage
Add a little hot sauce to your day with some of Slam Dunk Festival’s heavier acts on the GoPro Stage, with future stage headliners AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS and CASKETS creating havoc before you’ve even sunk a pint.
If emo-tinged post-hardcore is your cup of tea, THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS have you covered, before SET IT OFF start the synth-punk party. Post-hardcore heroes THE BLACKOUT continue the comeback trail and prove we can have nice things by playing 2009’s The Best In Town in full, before THE GHOST INSIDE and ASKING ALEXANDRIA deliver metalcore masterclasses straight from America.
Welsh legends FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND welcome HOLDING ABSENCE’s Lucas Woodland to the fold as guest vocalist for what’ll be a twice-in-a-lifetime experience, before I PREVAIL pack out the pits to send you home happy.
Kerrang! Stage
This year’s Kerrang! Stage is a crystal ball into Slam Dunk Festival’s future – seriously, you wouldn’t be surprised if at least half this stage goes on to headline one day. There’s a whole bunch of rising stars you won’t want to miss, such as synth-rockers ARTIO, pop-rockers HONEY REVENGE, emo-country pop-punker TAYLOR ACORN, and genre-bending alt-rocker RØRY. Then you’ve got two candidates for sets of the weekend from chart-invading grime-punks BOB VYLAN and synthy pop-rock superstars AGAINST THE CURRENT. PALE WAVES add the indie anthems, and PALAYE ROYALE bring the theatrics, before headliners WATERPARKS have everyone singing along — and if that’s not an audition for a main stage headline slot, then we don’t know what is.
Monster Energy Stage
It wouldn’t be Slam Dunk Festival without a whole day’s worth of punk and ska in the schedule, and this year’s Monster Energy Stage delivers the goods. Slam Dunk favourites SNUFF start the day off, reggae-tinged ska-punkers BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE stomp their way through all the hits, whilst MAD CADDIES and THE SKINTS prove why both U.S. and U.K punk can co-exist.
British two-tone legends THE SELECTER will educate the masses, before THE BOUNCING SOULS have all your souls, er, bouncing. Slam Dunk go-to’s PENNYWISE and GOLDFINGER will bring both the circle pits and the sing-alongs to proceedings, before THE INTERRUPTERS finally headline a Slam Dunk stage, in a set that’ll have you skanking as much as screaming your heart out.
The Key Club Stage
The Key Club Stage is a Slam Dunk Festival staple, the festival wallpaper if you will. It scratches an itch for all the different genres the festival caters to on a single stage, so if you like all-you-can-eat buffets, this one’s for you.
Emo alt-rockers BEAUTY SCHOOL and ARM’S LENGTH go back-to-back to get you warmed up, before hardcore punks GUILT TRIP and ONE STEP CLOSER get the slam-dancing in session. If you like your hardcore, it doesn’t stop there — New York veterans H20 and political punks STICK TO YOUR GUNS carry on the festivities before post-hardcore heroes LA DISPUTE and supergroup L.S. DUNES dial up the ante. If you hadn’t already got genre-hopping whiplash, emo-punks MOM JEANS are here to help, followed by headliners and Slam Dunk Festival royalty THE WONDER YEARS, who probably have sing along of the day in the bag already.
Slam Dunk Festival 2024 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!
SDF South will take place on Saturday May 25th 2024 at Hatfield Park, Hatfield and SDF North will take place on Sunday May 26th at Temple Newsam, Leeds. Tickets are available now and can be purchased here.
For more information on Slam Dunk Festival like their official page on Facebook.