Festival Review: Slam Dunk Festival North - Temple Newsam Park, Leeds 2022
Another summer has rolled around, another festival season is upon the world and it’s time for the pop punk kids to get back out to Temple Newsam. For the second time since its 2020 hiatus, this is Slam Dunk Festival; and this year belongs to the new kids in town.
Kicking off the afternoon at the Jagermeister Stage is rock soloist Cassyette. Someone who has been making waves since 2020, the Essex rocker made her debut at the festival this year and brought her everything and more.
Performing her big breakthrough hit ‘Dear Goth’ to open with, she got a crowd gathering in no time to hear her brand new take on the alt sound with newer tracks such as ‘Behind Closed Doors’ and her latest single ‘Sad Girl Summer’. After rising through the musical ranks and being supported in her career by the likes of Frank Carter, Cassyette knows this is still only the beginning and she’s heading for bigger and better things yet.
If this performance is anything to go by, then Cassyette is looking to be a regular Slam Dunk face for years to come.
Moving over to the Rock Scene stage now for one of the most exciting pop punk acts from across the water, Meet Me @ The Altar.
Another Slam first for the weekend, the band praise themselves for being an all-girl group and being the heroes they wish they had growing up. Someone to represent the less represented sections in the rock community, and that is what they became; especially with the powerful performance of their single ‘Hit Like A Girl’.
There would possibly never be a happier mosh pit than what’s found at a Meet Me @ The Altar gig. There were people of all genders, all ethnicities, all walks of life just living and breathing the fresh punk tunes blasting from the stage and it was a refreshing sight to see.
Pop punk has never been so open and accepting, and that is the way Slam Dunk needs to stay.
Following on, making their return to the festival after three long uncertain years, is Manchester’s Hot Milk.
Bringing the power to power pop, the group got the crowd’s energy higher and higher with no end in sight. Playing through their older hits such as ‘Wide Awake’ and ‘Candy Coated Lie$’ - the latter of which was released around their last appearance at Slam in 2019 - and playing the more recent releases from their latest EP including ‘I Think I Hate Myself’ and ‘I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I’M DEAD’, it just puts into perspective the success the northern outfit have gained with their bouncy, emotional, greatly relatable punk sound.
Keep them coming. The music and the Slam Dunk appearances; keep them coming.
Over at the Key Club Stages, it was time for another international debut in American sensations-to-be Magnolia Park.
Making waves on social media with their fun and carefully carefree pop punk and calling people out for their preconceived notions of POC in the pop punk community, they along with Meet Me @ The Altar are working to make pop punk the biggest, friendliest, safest community one could ever find themselves in - and the audience was full of smiling faces and bouncing moshes.
Bringing their viral hit ‘10 for 10’ to a British crowd for the very first time felt like a full-circle moment for the fans and the band, and was one of the standout tracks of the set. However, their seemingly impromptu cover of Fall Out Boy’s ‘Sugar We’re Goin’ Down’ cannot go unmentioned as it was what bonded fans and non-fans in that audience through the adoration of that classic pop punk and emo feel.
Next time they bring themselves to the UK, head over to a show or two and buy some merch. Travelling from America costs, let’s help them out.
The Rock Sound Stage is where to be as the afternoon continues, as it’s time to welcome Mod Sun to the festival.
It’s been over a year since his album Internet Killed The Rockstar dropped and he brought the new-age pop punk tunes to Slam. Opening with the single ‘Karma’, he commanded the crowd as everyone was singing, chanting and even screaming the lyrics back at him with their own feelings and their own strength coming out.
Mod Sun paid tribute to the people in his life and his friends in the industry, including artist Machine Gun Kelly and his fiancé and collaborator Avril Lavigne. He ended the show performing their duet ‘Flames’, asking the audience to sing loud enough for her to hear it across the pond.
There are many criticisms of the new uprising of pop punk, but Mod Sun should never be included in these criticisms. One hard working, talented person who deserves the praises he works to gain.
Staying at the stage for Australian alt act Stand Atlantic, here to celebrate the recent release of their new record.
Releasing their newest album f.e.a.r. only a month prior, they were more than ready to get those songs out to the UK fans. And they were ready.
Playing new tracks such as ‘deathwish’ and ‘pity party’, they put in their practice and their hearts and souls into making this the best performance they could, and the fans were eating it all up. After demanding the biggest possible circle pit, the crowd didn’t disappoint as the big space brought everyone together in a mass of chanting voices, delighted cheers, and sweaty squished bodies in the alternative aerobic known as moshing.
Congratulations to Stand Atlantic for possibly forming the craziest pit of the day, and it’s not even close to ending yet.
Following them was one of the most anticipated sets of the day: Set It Off.
It’s been over three years since the band last played in the UK - over 1140 days, they counted - and they have faced postponement after postponement after unfortunate postponement. Ready to bring their 2022 record Elsewhere to the UK masses, this was just a taste of what to expect on their November tour. That taste made everyone want more.
Bringing their new singles ‘Skeleton’ and ‘Projector’, they still kept with the classics; including their Duality hits ‘Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’ and ‘Why Worry’, and even tracks from their 2019 record Midnight, bringing back memories of their last UK leg for those who did and did not attend.
This time's the charm for Set It Off and their new neon take on life. Bring on the winter!
Back at the Key Club Stages for the bittersweet stylings of Bears In Trees.
Another act of the day who found their mainstream success through their delightfully uplifting and pure image on social media, they managed to fill the tent with fans of all ages singing along to their own trademark acoustic ukulele-featured alternative.
Bringing themselves to the show, telling stories and showing their joyful sides between and during songs, they were one of the most pleasing sets of the day. Happy and lighthearted, but not afraid to get real about friendship, grief and mental illness.
More than pretty faces making pretty TikTok videos, Bears In Trees are launching themselves higher and higher and staying humble while doing so. They deserve every stream, every penny, every ticket sold.
Ending the night in the purest pop punk style, in a manner that is fitting too well for Slam Dunk, is the leading example of pop punk living forever. Canadian punk legends Sum 41.
Taking the stage with a giant devilish friend behind them, they storm on with their All Killer No Filler hit ‘Motivation’ and it only gets better from there. Within moments, a mosh pit opens and frontman Deryck Whibley starts pulling out the “mosh pit songs” to keep it going. He’s living for the mosh; everyone is, and it’s a gorgeous sight to behold. People of all ages, going mad, dancing and bouncing and slipping and falling. This is what Slam Dunk is about.
After announcing the band’s latest project, a double-album release which features the classic pop punk sound and the more recent hard rock sound, he gives the crowd what they were waiting for. He gave them the hit everyone needed to hear. This was ‘In Too Deep’.
Bonding the family Whibley lovingly labelled the audience of hundreds in front of him, this is what everyone waited for all day. Through the fun of the other bands, this song from this band was all they waited for. Life now feels complete for the old school kids who blasted this anthem in the skate parks back in the day.
2022 is only halfway through, but as festivals return for the first time with full certainty of going ahead, this feels like the most confident start of the season. With homegrown bands, to rising stars around the world, to living legends in the community, this is the best welcome back to festival season anyone could ever dream of.
Bring on Slam Dunk 2023!
Words by Jo Cosgrove
Photography by Hayley Fearnley
