Festival Review: Slam Dunk Festival North // Temple Newsam - May 2025
Another year, another weather-confused bank holiday weekend, and another great set of artists from across the country, across the globe, and across the entire rock genre. Slam Dunk Festival has arrived in full force, and down in the grassy grounds of Leeds' Temple Newsam, hundreds upon thousands have made the annual pilgrimage for another day of food, drinks, heavy sounds and good vibes.
Nearing the festival's 20th anniversary, not even the splashes of rain and the roaring of wind could distract from the talent that took to the stages this Sunday. Following on from a tremendous opening day in Hatfield, it was time for the north to play up a healthy competition.
Opening the day for many was Brighton's rising stars Lake Malice. Making their set the official wake-up call of the Sunday attendees, it was all screams and cheers to get the energy flowing.
Leading the set with her holographic-donned back-up dancers, frontwoman Alice Guala was the face and voice of the event. Knowing how to command a crowd and get everyone bouncing, Guala spared no time in demanding her adoring fans to sing back, dance along, and even commanded a mosh pit. For a Sunday morning, to bring such a level of enthusiasm is an achievement in music or otherwise, and she should be proud of being able to greet the early rising crowd and get their day kick-started.
The duo’s setlist acted as a retelling of their career so far: with singles such as their early work in ‘Blossom’ and ‘Bloodbath’, and more recent releases such as ‘Stop The Party’ and ‘Scatterbrain’, their last couple of years were on display for fans and non-fans alike. It was a great introduction to this still brand new band in the scene, and gave the range of what to expect with Lake Malice to what to hope for in their future.
The day has truly begun.
Welcoming the afternoon in style on Main Stage East was South Wales’ own Dream State. An exciting group in the scene, they have spent the past decade getting to a point they can be fully proud of their career at; and it looks like this weekend was that point.
They opened and closed the set with their loudest and proudest words of their appearance, stating how good it feels to be independent in music again. No management, no record label, just themselves and their wants and needs to be the best band in the world. Being a fully independent act and being able to play at one of the greatest festivals in the country is no short feat and is worth celebrating; it could be what inspires that curious music lover to check out this intriguing new label-free act.
Filling the Key Club stage to capacity and beyond, Ohio punks Heart Attack Man were one of the surprise hits of the festival weekend.
With ten years and four full-length albums under their belts, slowly and surely have the three-piece been stretching their talents beyond the United States, and the attendance for their mid-afternoon set is proof that whatever they are doing is working. Especially upon the release of their latest record Joyride The Pale Horse earlier this year.
Highlighting this sparkling new record at the festival, with tracks such as ‘Laughing Without Smiling’, ‘Spit’, and ‘The Gallows’, it was obvious this was going to be a fan-favourite release. Being brought to the public only a month prior, the fans wasted no time learning the words and the songs front and back, and that shows a great testament from their fan base about their dedication and admiration.
Give them a few more years and a few more albums, and they would be definite main stage contenders in the future of Slam Dunk.
When one thinks of Slam Dunk Festival, they think of one word: pop-punk. The silliest but catchiest rock genre to ever exist, and one that is all about having fun while feeling every feeling in the emotional rainbow.
The genre is older than the festival itself, but will always find new life in younger generations. For the slowly dominating Gen Z crowd, that new life comes in the form of Noahfinnce. A YouTube-raised musician who lives in black, white and pink, he champions his diverse life over any needs to fit in with mainstream society and makes this obvious in his art.
There are two constants with a Noahfinnce show: his tongue-in-cheek pride of his neurodivergence, and his extremely overt distaste for transphobic mouthpieces in the press. With songs showing these themes off such as ‘SCUMBAG’ and ‘3 DAY HEADACHE’ - a majority of which taken from his 2024 record GROWING UP ON THE INTERNET - the young Brit has a way of sending his messages from the mic to the masses where they are sure to set in and trigger a thought, a new opinion, or with enough power, a movement.
Another solo star to watch on the rise is Delilah Bon. A Yorkshire-born artist with anger in her mind, in her heart, and most notably, in her voice.
Refusing to hold herself back when it comes to societal issues surrounding sex, race, sexuality and gender, she has become a voice for the voiceless in this new-wave of riot girl punk. Her record, Evil Hate Filled Female was even named after a sexist comment she received on social media as a reaction to her bold and brave personality. She brings this energy to every stage she graces, and Slam Dunk Festival was no exception.
She got the tent shaking, the fists pumping, and the women and girls in the crowd chanting along to Bon’s no-holds-barred lyrics. With memorable tracks such as ‘I Wish A Bitch Would’ and her synonymous single ‘Dead Men Don’t Rape’, this was a moment for the girls, the gays, and the trans community.
And that wasn’t implied. It was insisted. As it should be.
25 years in the music industry is always a cause for celebration, and when it comes to The Used, there is no other place to celebrate this milestone than across the pond and especially at the Slam Dunk grounds.
Being the third and final part of a live commemoration for their 25th anniversary, the Utah natives closed out their own time in the UK with a bang by performing their self-titled debut record in full. The record that kicked off both their careers and many fans’ emo phases, it was a once-in-a-lifetime treat for their die-hards and their day-ones. Playing some of their biggest singles that originated from this record such as ‘Buried Myself Alive’ and ‘The Taste of Ink’, this was a set that the younger discoverers and elder emos would not miss for the world.
Time stood still for this phenomenon and the flashbacks played with the loudest and most thrilling soundtrack. The Used are never going away, never taking a break, and may just be immortal.
There is a small collection of British rock acts that are near synonymous with the yearly festival. The ones who found their feet there, the ones who got their big break there, and especially the ones who made it their home over the years.
When it comes to As It Is, Slam Dunk is a holy land of sorts. That’s why when the hiatus-bound band announced their return to the stage for the tenth anniversary of their record Never Happy Ever After, it was only right that this return would happen on the grandest punk stage there is in the country.
It was more than the performance of an album in full, by one of the most important bands in the scene. It was a party. It was a ball. It was every kind of social celebration possible.
With special guests joining them onstage, inspired by the record’s re-release, it showed that As It Is will never go away and never die. They are back now and forever. There are no happily ever afters if the story never ends,
At most shows, especially festivals, they save the biggest blast for last. They close the day with their most memorable band, and one that has been making the most waves in the industry. Throughout the 2020s, that title would fittingly go to Germany’s own Electric Callboy.
The group that first hit the headlines due to their failed nomination for the Eurovision Song Contest, it’s been all rise and no fall for the European rockers. With their catchy riffs, chant-worthy choruses, and their camp and comedic aesthetics, this was going to be the headline act that gathered the highest population of the crowd.
Wowing with a mix of covers from the likes of Sum 41, Linkin Park and Backstreet Boys; alongside original field-filling tunes such as ‘We Got The Moves’, ‘Hypa Hypa’, ‘Pump It’, and the collaborative effort of ‘RATATATA’. Speeding up and slowing down. Taking moments to be serious, and taking breaks to poke fun with the crowd. Timing was the key for a successful Electric Callboy set and no foot stepped out of place, and no word was said it in the wrong time.
Being a comic relief on an increasingly cold Sunday evening was what the northern festival-goers needed, whether they knew it or not. That means Electric Callboy are owed a massive thank-you from the British population for keeping the morale up for those final moments of the night.
Closing out the Kerrang stage for the night and for the weekend, another Slam Dunk staple since their first appearance back in 2019. A favourite in the northern half of the country, the band reinventing rock and roll for a newer, younger, hungrier and angrier generation. Enter Manchester maniacs Hot Milk.
Teasing their upcoming record Corporation P.O.P., the group made their purple-tinted presence as the darkness set in and it could not have been a better time of day for them. As they played, their crowd grew and grew - healthily competing with main stage headliners A Day To Remember, who were also playing at that same time at the other end of the field. When a still-on-the-rise homegrown punk act can pull people’s attention at the same rate as a long-term American staple in modern punk music, that is something to not take for granted. Music is magical, and the fans and listeners make all that difference.
Commanding their audience to join them for the choruses of their bigger hits such as ‘BREATHING UNDERWATER’, ‘Wide Awake’, ‘Split Personality’ and ‘PARTY ON MY DEATHBED’, it’s all about shouting and screaming and moshing and dancing when it comes to a Hot Milk gig. Even the lower, slower, more emotional moments can’t kill the razor-sharp vibes that co-vocalists Han Mee and Jim Shaw build up together and break down together.
Closing with a classic in ‘Glass Spiders’, the end was embraced and the night grew quieter once the song came to its end. With A Day To Remember continuing on the route out of the festival grounds, the mood was mellow but not gone; at peace but not in silence.
The end was here. Almost. Nearly.
As the sun was setting and the stars were shining, another successful year had come and gone in almost a blink.
Slam Dunk is approaching its 20th anniversary, which they had been advertising all weekend will be the focus of their 2026 iteration. It leaves one to wonder, how will they pay tribute to their own history as a leader in the UK punk scene? Who will be invited to this unique commemoration next Spring, and how will this stand out against all other years that have come and gone before?
All anyone can say or think is, bring on 2026.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
Photography by Katie Probert
