Festival Review: Slam Dunk Festival South 2023
With queues of cars infesting Hatfield, and anxious crowds surrounding the gates, everyone was ready for Slam Dunk — but was Slam Dunk ready for everyone?
First up, after the traffic had been traversed, came Youth Fountain. With the day before being Canadian Tyler Zand’s first ever UK full band show — having toured acoustically prior, as with Cory Wells back in October — Slam Dunk had a UK festival exclusive, seeing the popular emo punk’s repertoire with the pounding drums it deserves: particularly closers ‘Deadlocked’ and ‘Blooms’. The band were all smiles, with the full outfit still being such a new thing, as they tore up the Key Club stage to the passionate pit’s delight, already surging in circles and making the security sweat as they surfed over the barrier. Not bad for barely-noon on a sunny Saturday.
Having also played a set of Slam Dunk warm-up shows, next up on the list were Californian rockers Movements. Opening with ‘Third Degree’, the band were quick to wow the hundreds crammed into the Kerrang tent, lead singer Patrick Miranda singing and shouting his heart out. ‘Barbed Wire Body’, recently released ‘Lead Pipe’, from their upcoming album ‘Ruckus!’, and ‘Colorblind’ all followed, with the darkened tent providing the perfect backdrop for the chaotic light show flailing behind them; but it was the old favourites that got the biggest reactions, particularly the explosive, angst-fuelled anthem ‘Full Circle’, the crowd-fissure forming ‘Skin To Skin’ and closer ‘Daylily’, filled with slow-burning, crowd-screaming rage. Let’s hope the new album brings a bigger UK tour!
Back to the Key Club for Emarosa, then; with lead singer Bradley Walden roasting himself to death in a letterman jacket, while the crowd slowly seared in the beaming sun, it was time for some funky fun. The band seemed larger than life, electronic reverb and jazzy bass lines accompanying Walden’s smooth vocals and giving each track a significant depth; flashes of falsetto, bursts of horns, and some sexy sax, then, made a delightful garnish. Fans might not have been rocked to the core — though the nearby Jagermeister stage, with the fantastic seeyouspacecowboy unknowingly serenading the Key Club with their thunderous drums, sure sliced up the quiet moments — but a proggy, pop punk itch they might not have even know was there was sure scratched, with songs like ‘Givin’ Up’, ‘The Past Should Stay Dead’ and Emarosa’s own cover of the iconic ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ providing the perfect soundtrack to a sweltering Slammy.
Spanish Love Songs came up next, their side of the tent positively rammed with passionate fans waiting to see the band’s first UK show (bar the instantly-sold-out show at The Lexington the night before) in three years — and instantly, the wait paid off. Launching into ‘Routine Pain’, the opener to 2020’s ‘Brave Faces Everyone’, the tent reverberated with cathartic, vitriolic, anguished cries from a mixture of fed up 20-somethings and fed up previously-20-somethings; ‘Self-Destruction (As a Sensible Career Choice)’, ‘Routine Pain’ and ‘Kick’ all followed in quick succession, all stand-outs from BFE. In fact, most of the set was made up from cuts from Brave Faces Everyone — the duo of ‘Losers 2’ and ‘Losers’, and album closer ‘Brave Faces Everyone’ rounded off the set, bar the newly released ‘Haunted’. Nothing wrong with that, though - the acerbic, accusatory album is the perfect blend of political pop punk and jolly nihilism.
Bring on September, and their tour with Hot Mulligan!
Boston based Fireworks, having only recently reformed, were a nice sight when they were first added to the Slam Dunk line-up, with Slam Dunk 2015 being their last UK shows — though with the fantastic ‘Higher Lonely Power’ releasing back on January 1st, it didn’t come as too much of a shock. Racing over to the other side of the tent, then, was an easy decision; and, as the gentle opening to the ear worm of an anthem (and a mouthful of a title) ‘I Wanna Start A Religion With You’ kicked in, with David Mackinder crooning over the top of the surprisingly mellow track, and ‘Arrows’ saw the crowd explode into movement, the excitement was understandable. With the six piece spanning the length of the stage, everything was movement, and sound, and chaos; and, although there was the occasional technical hiccup, the time flew by, the mixture of sing-alongs and serenades easily capturing the hearts of those watching. Unsurprisingly, not everyone knew them — disappearing for a few years will have that effect — but there was enough knowing nostalgia on display to show exactly what the band meant, and now means once more, to so many people.
A fantastic set, and one hopefully tinged with the promise of eventual UK headline shows?
A short break for some food and some rest eventually led to Charlotte Sands over on the Key Club. Striking an unassuming figure on the small stage, it would be easy to miss her for what she is — a star in the making. A blend of rock, pop-punk, and just a dash of mumble rap characterised one of the gems of the festival, a singer still on the cusp of greatness, making a splash to the fans in the know. Jumping, leaping, and striding across the stage, her energy-filled anthems — the frantic ‘Lost’, the acerbic ‘Dress’ — had the crowd, otherwise grasped firmly in the midst of the late-oafternoon lull, up and bouncing. And, although the crowd may not have been the biggest of the afternoon, it was sure up there for passion; near constant screams of excitement competed with the actual songs for sound wave supremacy, often times winning. But it was the soft ballads - namely, ‘Alright’ — that really made the set; heartfelt and emotional; ‘Alright’ felt both raw and arena ready in a way few songs can claim to be, with Charlotte herself threatening tears. As good as you could hope.
17:30. Amazon Stage. Three thousand, one hundred and thirty-one days later — the Welsh rockers, ‘Kids In Glass Houses’, gone for way too long, had returned. With an understated stage — retro looking amps, lined with blue, and a simply piece of album artwork reflecting ‘Smart Casual’ — and a debut album turning 15, the four troubadours, dressed in some slick and smart blazers, were less Kids In Glass Houses and more Teens In Glass Houses; and yet, the infectious, youthful exuberance remained. As they blasted hit after hit, throwback after throwback, it didn’t take long to remember what exactly so many people had found so endearing: just how much fun they were all having. With a set made up of hits both old and older, it felt like the five of them had never left, with songs as infectious and addictive as ever. Not even technical glitches could hold them back: although some songs saw the vocals cutting in and out, the smiles splitting their faces - perhaps a little more weathered, a little less naive - beamed at their adoring audience, all singing and screaming in return. For a first show, after a gap as old as some of their original fans’ children, it was a hell of a set; their just announced tour in September can’t come soon enough.
A brisk and breezy walk to The Key Club gave rise to Maggie Lindemann; having transformed from beautiful ballad siren to pop-punk titan in the making, the hype around Maggie Lindemann, particularly after her set as main support for Pvris earlier in the year, meant this might be the final chance to see her on a small stage - and it wasn’t long before the crowd understood why. Pervading bass emphasised her candid lyrics, while the band’s instrumentals surrounded her in a cocoon of energy; each track became a wall of force, buffeting the crowd into a frenzy. Flitting between emotional crooning and electronic echoes, each song took on a life of its own, though none more so than ‘I’m so lonely with you’, the two melding seamlessly into a powerhouse of a track. Keep an eye out for her in future — a fantastic set denotes someone destined for bigger and brighter.
Meanwhile, emo heroes Escape The Fate wasted no time in ripping up the Knotfest stage. Flailing hands down the front felt more like someone drowning, gasping and grasping for help, than a simple gig goer; it’s testament to the Las Vegas rockers’ longevity and the passion of their fans that, across the tent, it felt almost normal. With soon-to-be eight albums to pull from, the set felt like a condensed version of their greatest hits: ‘Issues’, ‘Lightning Strike’, ‘Broken Heart’, ‘H8 MY SELF’ from the upcoming ‘Out Of The Shadows’ all flew by, the crowd loving the smorgasbord of a discography they were being given. It was the final few tracks that made the set though, with some old favourites making an appearance — namely, the epic ‘This War Is Ours (Part III: Guillotine)’ or the sing-along anthem of ‘Ashley’, the latter of which saw an equal number of screaming fans and camera phones; that’s when you know a track’s a favourite.
Considering they’ve been going for almost two decades, their set proved, once again, that they’ve still got it.
Now the day was hitting the onset of the end, it was time for the various headliners of the night, and first in this regard was Creeper. Having just released a new single and announced a new album, it was time for a new creative direction; instead of the wedding dress that Hannah Greenwood had worn on tours of not-so-ancient past, the first sight of Creeper that the crowd were greeted with was a crazy, bloody, disembodied simulacrum of Will Gould’s head, and what followed was forty minutes of theatrical, vaudevillian, intense insanity.
The set was somehow a perfect blend of everything that had come before: there were your standard sing-along classics in ‘Down Below’, ‘Cyanide’ and ‘Annabelle’, bursts of emotion in Hannah’s ‘Crickets’ or the emotional ‘Misery’, with Will in particular threatening tears, and even a beautiful proposal between two fans who’d flown over from America! The highlight, though, was nee single ‘Cry To Heaven’, precise amounts of cheesy, ‘80s inspired nostalgia with the signature Creeper sound fans know and love — seemingly lyrical references to Rocky Horror Picture Show and Alice Cooper, instrumentals reminiscent of John Carpenter, and all tied up with a frontman looking like the spit of Michael Emerson. It’s a staggering thing to somehow be the omniscient narrator, the doomed side kick, the charming front man, and the unsettling antagonist all at the same time but Gould carried it off with panache and pizazz alike. Their tour in November should be something special indeed.
Saying that people were excited for Yellowcard’s return on the Kerrang stage would be an understatement. As Creeper finished, and people started to turn around to face the other side of the tent, everywhere was carnage — people practically clambering over one another to get as close to the barrier as possible. And, although the set-up of the Kerrang tent that the far side was comparatively sparse all day, it didn’t take long for that to fill too; with Yellowcard being the sole reason some people bought the Slam Dunk tickets in the first place, given that it was their first (barring the intimate Camden show the night before) UK show in many years, no one wanted to miss it. So, as William Ryan Key and co. took to the stage, humility and pride warring across their beaming faces, the roar was deafening. But it wasn’t just any ol’ Yellowcard show — it was Yellowcard playing Ocean Avenue in full for its 20th anniversary.
This meant that, from the first pluck of Sean Mackin’s violin, it was go time: From ‘Way Away’ and ‘Breathing’ to ‘Believe’ and ‘Back Home’, everyone knew exactly what was coming; even the appearance of title track and seminal single ‘Ocean Avenue’, clocking in as track three, was eagerly expected. Each song was masterfully, lovingly delivered by the foursome and echoed by each and every emo and pop-punk aficionado in the tent, and the set could not have gone down better — though, with a new EP set for release in the next day or so, a new tour might still win.
As fantastic a day as Slam Dunk always is, there comes a time where it must come to an end. For 2023, that happened at about 21:00, as the revered raconteurs, the verbal virtuosos, the genre jumping geniuses of Enter Shikari take to the stage for their second time headlining Slam Dunk, though their first time headlining a sold out Slam Dunk!
Enter Shikari are, second only to their music itself, known for their production; Slam Dunk 2023 took that, all the expectations, and set them ablaze - literally, opening as they did with ‘(pls) set me on fire’! Multicoloured sparks raining down, blasts of multi-coloured streamers, and festival-spanning lasers cutting above the crowd were, not only par for the course, but merely the start to the auditory and visual journey of the next hour. Never mind pretty lights, there were entire stories displayed behind the songs: as 3-D avatars scrambled to free themselves from the ‘Labyrinth’, as fans were led through an exhibition of their albums so far during ‘Interlude 1’, at the close of ‘Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour…’, as neon figures writhed in glowing agony during ‘It Hurts’, and as haywire ECGs blared across the stage during ‘Anaesthetist’, every song felt like it’s own distinct entity. Every song felt unique… but none more so than ‘Bloodshot’.
‘Bloodshot’, arguably the fan favourite of the four singles released for ‘A Kiss For The Whole World’, was something else. You would be hard pressed to forget the three~ minute performance piece preceding it — Rou Reynolds delving in one of the light boxes before ripping it out, as if stung, with a holographic copy of his hand following suit, before falling in, drowning, writhing, gasping for air and hammering for escape, was at worst unexpected and at best mesmerising — or the unsettling, hypnotically swaying watches on the back wall; all this before the song even started, which itself saw blinding lasers firing across the crowd and streaks of lightning scarring the backdrop. It was phenomenal.
Elsewhere, appearances of Wargasm for Heavy Music Award winning single ‘The Void Stares Back’, Cody Frost for the quickfire round — the seven minute, adrenaline firing, heart thumping mash up that Shikari are known for, the current iteration of which features ‘Havoc B’, ‘Bull’, ‘The Last Garrison’ and the 2023 version of ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’ — and an appearances from Rou and his trusty trumpet to belt out ‘Ode to Joy’ were icing on the cake; so, when the end came, ‘{The Dreamer’s Hotel}’ concluded, and fireworks lit up the sky, it felt almost unnecessary. Stunning, and distinctly unexpected, but Enter Shikari are already enough.
If this is what they had planned for Slam Dunk, their arena tour in February should be jaw-dropping.
Slam Dunk 2023 wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. Food vendors were no way near plentiful enough for the crowds they attracted, accessibility was sometimes a little lacklustre, and the Kerrang tent, filled with weird and wonderful vacuums of people, felt ever-presently packed and empty. All this was before you even got onto the site - people were sat on the dual carriageway outside for multiple hours, as the stop start gridlock only grew, and that’s still nothing on some of the issues faced trying to get out at the end of the night. Some stages ran ahead of schedule, some behind, and some were plagued with sound and technical issues all day; by all accounts, particularly the ‘Dickies’ stage.
But in terms of a lineup? In terms of individual performances, and the actual spirit of the festival? Unparalleled — organisation aside, it’s safe to say Slam Dunk outdid themselves this year.
The only thing left to say: bring on 2024!
Words by James O’Sullivan
Photography by Sam Strutt
