Once again Slam Dunk Festival lived up to its name of been one of the biggest and best alternative one day festivals in the UK right now. This festival has come so far since its days at Hatfield’s University of Hertfordshire. Now at Hatfield Park for the second year running, the sun was shining and you could really see the smiles on everyone’s faces glow. This year there some changes to the stages and tents which I think worked really well as Cruel Hand kicked off the festival in heavy style on the Key Club Stage as the right stage was full of sweaty fans in a big top style tent.
The Bombpops opened up the Punk in Drublic stage in style as they produced a real ska feel to the festival. The Fearless Arms overlooked the Monster Energy stage and it had that great pub feel to it and was run by Fearless Records. Liverpool pop punks WSTR opened up the Monster Energy Stage as they come on to the 1975’s Give Yourself a Try and already fans started to gather for their performance.
They stated with Promiscuous and carried on with the catchy set playing Tel Me More and one of their latest hit Bad to the Bone. Eastbound & Down was a fantastic edition to the set as was The Latest which included a bit of their recent cover of All American Rejects’ Give You Hell. WSTR finished on Crisis and although it was a fairly small set, it was certainly worthwhile watching them perform.
WSTR’s Sammy Clifford, Photo by Zane Dusa, https://www.instagram.com/bandupsest/
Despite it starting to rain a little, Anti Flag put on a superb show at the Punk In Drublic Stage and the whole area was just rammed full of fans. There political stance on their songs certainly attracted a big chunk of the festival. We caught up with bassist Chris Baker as talked about the festival and more!
Boston Manor and As It Is then ruled the Monster Energy Stage as Knocked Loose and Tiny Moving Parts certainly got the festival into that alternative feel over at the Impericon Stage and Dickies Stage. It was then time for what everyone was looking forward to and that was the secret set at The Key Club Stage and that band was titled Y3K (Year 3000). Now as the Leeds Festival was on a day before, the majority of festival goers knew already it was Busted and that certainly created a lot of buzz throughout the early afternoon. Despite Busted being a little later to their secret set they played all the classics including Air Hostess, What I Go To School For, Crashed The Wedding and to finish Year 3000. It was great to see young and old fans watching this and tent was packed full of super fans.
Press To MECO then had to follow up on Busted’s performance on the left side of the tent and these three lads certainly gave them a run for their money. Despite only performing six songs, the trio started with Familiar Ground and then the amazing If All Your Parts Don’t Make a Whole which left us without any choice but to slow dance. Itchy Fingers, A Quick Fix and the brilliant Affinity all then took place as they finished on Here’s to the Fatigue. Press To MECO certainly get bigger and better each time I see them perform and this was no exception.
We then caught Waterparks next on the Monster Energy Stage was which was one hell of a performance.
Lead singer Awsten Knight brought his yellow hi-vis jacket to tie with the theme of the band’s latest single Turbulent. They kicked off with a classic with Blonde as you could just tell from the start the band was just enjoying themselves and they are at their element at festivals. Not Warriors and Dizzy then followed which was great before a lovely version of Lucky People that included a snippet of an unreleased song played before the chorus.
Stupid For You and latest song Turbulent finished as lost of mosh pits and started to occur. They finished on Tantrum but that certainly didn’t lead to any everyone was just so pleased to them perform. Simple Plan then followed Waterparks on the Monster Energy Stage as everyone was jumping around and some reliving their childhood. They performed the likes I’d Do Anything, Jump, Summer Paradise as beach balls were thrown into the crowd as well as the brilliant I’m Just a Kid. Simple Plan finished on Perfect was actually was a perfect way to end their set.
Real Friends and Shvpes performed on Marshall Stage and Key Club Stage respectively as The Interrupters, Millencolin and Lagwagon all got the Punk In Drublic Stage alive. Neck Deep were next on the Monster Energy Stage as Welsh pop punks came on to The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy.
They started with Motion Sickness which really got the crowd going as they performed 14 songs over 55 minute set which was great to see. Gold Steps triggered lots of crowd surfers as their cover of Ednaswap’s Torn really got the crowd singing along.
After they performed Kali Ma, lead singer Ben Barlow told the crowd to get moving after a failed attempt of a circle pit for Happy Judgement Day. Then Neck Deep performed the brilliant What Did You Expect from their first release Rain In July which was amazing to see and a personal favourite of mine. Citizens of Earth and the heavy Don’t Wait followed as Creeper’s Hannah Greenwood joined them on stage.
When announcing Neck Deep’s next song, Ben called it January despite the name famously being called December which was a fun idea. The brilliant In Bloom then followed before they performed Queen’s We Will Rock You which was epic. They finished on Can’t Kick Up The Roots and Where Do We Go When We Go which was an amazing way to end their set and saw Ben invade the crowd.
With weather doing what it likes to do, a rainbow then shined across the festival as famous musicians such as Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds was enjoying themselves.
Microwave performed at the Key Club Stage as Story of The Year also killed their set at the amazing Jagermeister Stage. We caught up with Microwave’s Nathan Hardy as spoke about the festival and more!
New Found Glory then performed at the Monster Energy Stage before heading off back to the US, as they performed five covers in true New Found Glory style. The first of which was a real crowd pleaser and it was Survivor’s Eye of The Tiger which was made famous of course in the Rocky film franchise. They then performed a couple of originals including Understatement and Selfless. New Found Glory then performed This Is Me which was a cover from Keala Settle which again was made famous in a film, The Greatest Showman. Other originals included Dressed To Kill before their played arguable their most famous cover Sixpence None the Richer’s Kiss Me which certainly got lots of fans excited. New Found Glory also performed Idina Menzel’s Let It Go made famous on Frozen which pretty much confirmed the theme they were trying to go for. Another really interesting and great cover was Huey Lewis and the News’ The Power of Love which featured JR from Less Than Jake and Chris Rhodes of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This allowed just one last song from New Found Glory which was of course the ever popular My Friends Over You was which was a perfect way to end an entertaining set to say the least!
Plain White T’s performed the Marshall Stage as they performed their ever poplar Hey There Delilah which was really a special moment for the festival. IDKHOW finished the Key Club Stage off amazingly as NOFX and Bullet For My Valentine were both clashing the main act on the Monster Energy Stage on the Punk In Drublic Stage and Jagermeister Stage respectively. That main at on the Monster Energy Stage was of course the brilliant All Time Low. As they said during the set they were going to give 2019 a rest for shows so it was very special to see this band perform of what could be only the second time in 2019. Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson, Alex Gaskarth and Zack Merrick all came on to The Beachboys’ Wouldn’t It Be Nice as thousands of fans started to freak out. Right from the start fans began to sing as they started with Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t) and quickly on to Everything Is Fine.
Alex then claimed that the band are the masters of weather a double rainbow appeared. As they made lots of jokes in true All Time Low fashion, the band sang Wightless which was a special moment for us and everyone watching. There was plenty of crowd surfing too with Backseat Serenade. Another special moment was when Waterpark’s Awsten came on stage to sing Break Your Little Heart with the band was which really nice to see and they are all clearly good friends.
All Time Low was also celebrating ten years since the release of their album Nothing Personal and played a number of songs from that album including Keep the Change, You Filthy Animal and A Party Song (The Walk of Shame). Despite a little technical hitch the performance was truly great Jack filmed some of the performance for his mum Joyce which nice and hilarious at the same time. The band revealed that they are working on a new album so it was nice of them to share that with their fans and to reward them they played a new song titled Getaway Green which actually sounded like classic All Time Low and plenty of fans got into it straight away with Alex joking that more people got the words right than himself. Then that special moment happened that happens on most All Time Low gigs as the band got plenty of fans to come on stage and they all performed Time-Bomb. They finished on Kids in the Dark which was great before the encore. All Time Low performed the brilliant Lost in Stereo and their ever popular Dear Maria, Count Me In which was amazing to hear and see.
So after that incredible set the festival had one more treat left as the fantastic Modestep provided a DJ set at the Impericon Stage. Despite the festival finishing earlier this year to allow fans to get home on time, Modestep went on to around 11pm and was the perfect party to end a great day out. Check out a gallery of the day by Zane Dusa, https://www.instagram.com/bandupsest/
