Slam Dunk is one of my highlights of the year and the 2022 lineup included a number of bands that I had never seen before, such as Yours Truly, Stand Atlantic and Set It Off and some favourite bands that I really enjoyed seeing again (Neck Deep and Hot Milk). It was a brilliant day on the Friday of the Jubilee weekend in great company and decent but expensive alcohol.

Yours Truly

To begin the day, the Australian based pop-punk band, Yours Truly, performed a varied setlist including: ‘Circles’ (one of their 2019 singles), a few songs from their debut album, ‘Self Care’ (released in 2021) including ‘Siamese Souls’ and ‘Funeral Home’, their new single, ‘Hallucinate’ and they finished with their single, ‘High Hopes.’ Since Slam Dunk, I have been listening to Yours Truly more often. Yours Truly is made up of: Mikaila Delgado (vocalist), Teddie Winder-Haron (guitar) Lachlan Cronin (guitar), and Bradley Cronan (drums). The four piece band’s fast paced, sharp, sonorous, scintillating sound is memorable and they were a fun start to the day.

Hot Milk

I first saw Manchester based four piece band at Slam Dunk 2019 and really enjoyed their catchy music despite not knowing any of their songs at the time. The rising, alternative band consists of: Hannah Mee and Jim Shaw as the co-vocalists and guitarists, and Tom Paton on bass and Harry Deller on drums This year’s Slam Dunk was my third time seeing them, but my first time experiencing a lot of their exciting, upbeat songs!! In addition, it was the longest set by them that I had experienced. Right from the opening song, ‘I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I’M DEAD’ with Hannah Mee running onto the stage, their set was full of energy!! ‘Bad Influence’ continued the fast pace with a complimentary combination of the instrumentals with shared vocals between Hannah Mee and Jim Shaw. Two of my favourite recent pop-punk songs, ‘Candy Coated Lies’ and ‘Glass Spiders’ were my highlights of the set. Recently released ‘Teenage Runaways’ was an exciting feature and ‘Split Personality’ led to a finish with a speedy tempo. Hot Milk was my favourite band that I saw at Slam Dunk and I look forward to hopefully seeing them again.

With Confidence

Performing on the main stage during the middle of the day, ‘With Confidence’ played a fun and enjoyable set to listen to while out in the sun. I particularly liked experiencing ‘What You Make It’, ‘Moving Boxes’ and ‘Voldemort’ live. They have catchy songs that are easy to sing along to even if you do not know them that well and with an entertaining pop-punk beat that can be associated with the summer.

The Summer Set

I was not that familiar with The Summer Set before Slam Dunk, but I had listened to a few of their songs. They have a classic pop-punk sound in which their songs can easily be sung along to. Opening with ‘Figure Me Out’ a song about being too pop for punk and too punk for pop, I immediately approved of the pop-punk genre representation and I like the lead singers strong American accent voice. ‘The Boys You Do’ and ‘Juke Box’ were equally upbeat songs. ‘All My Friends’ was also a noteworthy song about friends thinking that their friends should be together. ‘Boomerang’ and ‘Lightning In The Bottle’ at the end of the setlist were my favourite songs from the set because they were a lot of fun to sing along to and memorable.

Stand Atlantic

Australian based Stand Atlantic were one of the bands that I was most looking forward to!! Their third album, ‘f.e.a.r’ is one of the albums that I have been hooked on this year. Opening their set with their quick song from their second album, ‘Pink Elephant’, ‘Jurassic Park’ was an ace start. ‘doomsday’ features instrumentals that create a sense of urgency as though there is an apocalypse and translates exceptionally live in addition to being an excellent album opener. ‘dumb’, one of my favourite songs from their new album was then played in which Bonnie lead singer performs lyrics about feeling misunderstood and fed up. ‘Wavelength’ followed by ‘Hair Out’, two other particularly well written songs followed. ‘Death Wish’, ‘Hate Me (Sometimes)(my favourite ‘Pink Elephant’ song) and ‘molotov’ (off ‘f.e.a.r’) were solid ends to the setlist and I hope to see Stand Atlantic again!!

Set It Off

Set It Off opened with ‘Killer In A Mirror’, a song that has regularly featured on some of the playlists that I have created. I had not seen them live before so I was pleased when they performed this anthem of a single. ‘Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’ was also a great song live out of their older songs. Due to having recently released the album ‘Elsewhere’, they mainly played new songs including: ‘Skeleton’, a slower song about feeling vulnerable, ‘Dangerous’ (a fun and fast song), and ‘Projector’, a song about having difficulties with those who are not easy to get on well with. ‘Why Worry’ was also a brilliant song to sing along too out of their 2014 songs. I would recommend seeing them live.

Neck Deep

Neck Deep are one of my all time favourite bands and I like how they advertise being generically pop-punk, but continue to release music that sounds authentic and fresh while remaining true to the roots of their genre. It was fantastic to see them headlining a stage after having featured on the Slam Dunk lineup several times. They opened with their newest song, ‘Shut the f**k up’ (live debut), which I do not feel is a stand out single of theirs, but was still good to be the first audience experiencing it live. However, I really enjoyed experiencing ‘Lowlife’ for the first time off the ‘All Distortions Are Intentional’ album. Following on from ‘Lowlife’ was ‘Motion Sickness’, a ‘Peace and the Panic’ song with a quick beat that is always great live. ‘Citizens of Earth’ was excellent to experience, I really like the apocalyptic lyrics about being in a wasteland and an eight ball saying that the world isn’t looking great; the sense of urgency and panic always translates well live. ‘What Did You Expect?’ from ‘Rain In July’ (2014) also featured in the set and it was good to experience an older song of their’s. In the middle of the set, some classic slower songs were played including: ‘December’ and ‘Part of Me’, which I feel have some especially well written lyrics about parting with someone and holding onto their memories. At the of the set, ‘Can’t Kick Up The Roots’ and ‘In Bloom’, some of the most popular pop-punk songs from the 2010s that follow the stereotype of wanting to leave your hometown and feeling as though you need to grow up. Overall, the setlist was particularly varied across their albums and Ben Barlow (lead singer) was dynamic and moving around the stage throughout the time.

Sum 41

Sum 41 performed some well known classics. As a band who have changed their genre from pop-punk to becoming a heavier metal sounding band later on, their stage design linked to their more recent metal songs with a fiery Satanic design and fire around. Derrick Whibley (frontman) has confirmed that there will be a new Sum 41 album released this year called ‘Heaven and Hell’ with the Heaven side featuring pop-punk songs like their earlier roots and the ‘Hell’ side featuring heavier songs. Their setlist similarly featured a good mixture of their pop punk roots and their heavier songs. Starting off with ‘Motivation’ from their well known pop-punk album, Fat Lip (2001), they attracted attention for their main stage set. This was then followed by ‘The Hell Song’ a favourable song from their strong follow up album ‘Does This Look Infected?’ I have not followed Sum 41 closely, but I felt that there was a strong variety of their songs and that it could be appreciated by a wide range of fans and those who are not fans but had come to experience the festival. In addition to ‘In Too Deep’ and ‘Fat Lip’ being brilliant live, it was excellent to have ‘Underclass Hero’, and ‘Walking Disaster’ as part of the set (songs that I feel are underrated). ‘Still Waiting’ was a fast end to the set with a tempo increasing in pace for the instrumentals to match the lyrics.

I am excited for going to Slam Dunk Festival again and what I liked about this year’s lineup was being able to see bands that I had never seen before as well as some favourite bands again.