Festival Review: Slam Dunk Festival 2018 - Midlands

After the many months seeing announcement after announcement the day finally came, to head to arguably the biggest metropolitan festival in the U.K. at the minute, Slamdunk Festival. We ventured to the Midlands date of the festival programme which sat on the final day of the late May bank holiday, to witness the new emerging talent, the fan favourites and some of rock music’s greats.

Our day started off with Chicago five-piece, Knuckle Puck. They kicked off proceedings on the Jägermeister mainstage with a set full of energy and charisma, after postponing their 2017 Europe tour due to the importance of the bands mental health, Knuckle Puck came to the U.K. with a bang and gave the Slamdunk crowd a set to never forget. Performing tracks from their newest release ‘Shapeshifter’ mixed in with old tracks from their first studio album released in 2015, ‘Copacetic’. The perfect way to kick off a stage which looks to produce energy all day.

Knuckle Puck are back on tour in the U.K. in October with support from Tiny Moving Parts and Movements.

Moving outside into the glorious sunshine to the Rocksound Breakout Stage it was time to witness one of the current hottest new bands in the scene at the minute, The Faim. The Aussie band performed all three of their Spotify releases which had an amazing reception with the crowd screaming every word, with only three tracks officially released and playing many more unreleased tracks in their set The Faim showed a glimpse of why they are destined to be the next big thing.

After a slick set by The Faim, we stayed put at the Rocksound Breakout Stage for Holding Absence, another band who are making huge waves in the music scene. The Welsh five-piece’s set was a rollercoaster of emotions, performing their slow poetic tracks such as ‘Everything’ transitioning into heavy hitter, ‘Heaven Knows’ which you’ll see yourself punching the air and finger pointing. A band with this type of range is rare to find, which puts Holding Absence onto a pedestal of their own.

Being one of the main bands on everyone’s setlist to see, we headed to the Jägermeister stage to catch State Champs, with the recent releases of their new singles ‘Mine Is Gold’, ‘Crystal Ball’ and ‘Dead and Gone’ from the upcoming new album ‘Living Proof’, State Champs performed a mixture of old and new tracks from their wide discography. The energy never stopped throughout their set, opening with ‘All You Are Is History’ and finishing on ‘Secrets’. ‘Living Proof’ is out on June 15th

Once State Champs were finished it was time to head across to the Signature Brew stage for pop punk partiers, Trash Boat

. Kicking off their set with the fast paced and upbeat track ‘Tring Quarry’, the crowd provided the energy with no hesitation. The tracks off ‘Nothing I Write You Can Change What You’ve Been Through’ came thick and fast which resulted in Frontman, Tobi Duncan hopping onto the barrier mid song and embracing the rammed Signature Brew stage crowd. An emphatic set of finger pointing, crowd surfing and all-round tunes closing on the lead single off their debut album, ‘Strangers’.

Heading back to the Jägermeister stage the crowds were getting bigger and busier, which was exactly the scene ready for Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes set. The strobes flashed and the band walked on stage, seconds later Frank Carter followed in his faux fur leopard print jacket, he embraced the crowd’s cheers and launched straight into ‘Juggernaut’. Midway through the first track Frank exclaimed that he wanted to go for a walk, this led to him standing on the crowd’s hands and finishing the rest of Juggernaut, even including a trademark crowd handstand. Once back on-stage Frank exclaimed, “That’s how you start a fucking show off”. Many crowd surfers and circle pits later, Frank hopped back into the crowd and ordered the crowd to produce the biggest circle pit Slamdunk has ever seen, the crowd produced a circle pit from the photo pit barrier up to the sound desk with Frank in the middle. Once back on stage for the second time, The Rattlesnakes finished a triumphant set on crowd participation friendly track, ‘I Hate You’. Frank Carter and his Rattlesnakes had just well and truly smashed the speculations of them putting on a performance to never forget into next week.

With a swift change-over on the Jägermeister stage it was now time for PVRIS, subbing the rock legends, Good Charlotte they had a lot to live up to and boy, did they do that! With a showcase of energy and two drummers PVRIS gave the Slamdunk crowd everything they needed. Playing a mixture of tracks off their two albums never let the energy go and had the mainstage crowd immersed in their set, finishing off their set with upbeat track ‘My House’, they gave the crowd a show to cheer about.

The Slamdunk branded stage banner was lifted up to reveal the huge letters ‘GC’ which meant it was time for this year’s headliners, Good Charlotte.

Good Charlotte took to the stage to a room full of cheers and headed straight in with first track ‘The Anthem’, as a headliner it’s their job to put on a show to never forget and that’s just what they did, with streamers firing up over the crowd on the first drum beat of ‘The Anthem’. Exclaiming throughout they would take the crowd on a ride through their history, they sure did that with playing tracks from their latest album ‘Youth Authority’ and newest single ‘Actual Pain’ mixed in with the classics from albums, ‘The Young and The Hopeless’, ‘The Chronicles of Life and Death’ and their self-titled debut album, ‘Good Charlotte’. As expected Good Charlotte played the floor fillers, ‘The Young and the Hopeless’, ‘The River’ and ‘I Just Wanna Live’. Finishing off their blast from the past of a set with ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’, put the icing on the Slamdunk 2018 cake and crowned another year, which has proven once again why Slamdunk is one of the best metropolitan festivals in the U.K.

Words by Jake Hasledine and Photography by Ami Ford