Gig Review: Slam Dunk Festival (North), Temple Newsam, Leeds 25/5/19 (by Richard Mair)

Slam Dunk, a fixture on the Leeds and North punk scene for many a year, made its leap from the city centre where it’s been based since its inception to Temple Newsam this year (which to people of a certain age will always be home to Leeds Festival before it turned into a drug fuelled pop music monstrosity at the other great park in Leeds, Brahman). Consequently, I was happy for Slam Dunk to make the move to such a venue and despite the mid-afternoon downpour I think it worked. Navigating stages was much easier, no massive queues anywhere (apart from the toilets by the Punk in Drublic stage it seemed – maybe us older punks have bladder control issues?!?) and a wide variety of food stalls which, although more expensive than the obligatory Wetherspoons quick bite, covered cuisine from across the globe!

The first band we headed for whilst enjoying a beer was the Bombpops. Needless to say they are the perfect pop punk band to open the festival; the crowd lapping up their endearing and anthemic tunes in the sunshine. With a set list containing fan favourites “Dear Beer” and “I Can’t”, the band easily win over casual listeners and both Jen and Poli more than making the female voice heard on a male dominated stage!

Next up, Anti-Flag bring their political discourse and melodic punk arsenal to bear on an expectant crowd; their backdrop of an upturned Stars and Stripes greeted with cheers when unveiled. They bulldoze through the set with gusto opening with “Die for the Government”, and closing with “Brandenburg Gate”. The highlight was undoubtedly “Fuck Police Brutality” which generated numerous middle finger salutes from the passionate front rows.

My girlfriend loves ska and on mentioning that the Mad Caddies were playing was desperate to go; and they did not disappoint. In fact they take to the stage at the sunniest part of the day meaning that real festival vibe takes hold of the crowd with lots of early drunken dancing exploding around the Punk In Drublic stage. Despite complaining about the lack of sound on the stage monitors, the band sound sublime from the pit; which must be attributable to how much of a well-oiled live machine they are. Personal highlights are the tracks off of Duck And Cover and Quality Soft Core (“Road Rash”, “Monkeys” and “Goleta”) and the flawless cover of Propaghandhi’s “Nation States”. But what makes them so good live is how good a frontman Chuck Robertson is – casually dancing around the stage like a camp George Michael, bantering with his band mates and looking effortlessly cool; he remains one of my favourite front men to watch because it’s obvious he loves doing what he does and it’s that infectious you can’t help but be swept along. The Caddies producing one of the best sets of the day with ease!

After spending a good few hours at the Punk in Drublic stage, we made the first of two visits to the Dickies stage. Now, to be fair, I could have stayed here all day and had a mint time; however there were other bands I was desperate to see having never seen them before so Saves The Day and The Get Up Kids had to miss out (I’ve a feeling some of my friends would disown me for that decision given how iconic both groups are). Anyway my reason for heading to this stage, was Scranton duo (with full band) Tigers Jaw. I genuinely can’t describe how much I love this band and a set that can only be described as containing all the hits was truly wonderful. Their emotionally charged songs getting fists in the air from the get go. Opener “Favourite” is a wonderful dancey singalong tune which sets the tone for their set, followed by “The Sun” – the epic, fast shout along anthem that opens their self titled album. Inevitably it goes off; fists and bodies collide, whilst both Ben and Brianne look on in amazement at the scenes unfolding in front of them. After such a massive double salvo “Frame You” is a welcome change of pace; one of their most straightforward rock songs, it allows everyone a bit of a breather to enjoy watching the band. This is followed by “Follows”, another banger from their last album Spin (and I would argue massively underrated – they should have been huge on the back of that one!). It’s another big singalong with its refrain of “Breathing in slow, breathing out and letting go” shouted back at the band with such gusto it’s both life affirming and deafening. Its followed by another fan favourite “Hum”, a sombre song that lets the band’s vocal harmonies shine; it’s the calm before the storm as the next 5 songs bring joyous chaos. Starting with the frenetic, melodic “Guardian”, its chorus eliciting a gigantic response from the crowd. Whilst the refrain remains one of my favourite pieces of music of recent years, hardcore beat down-esque it’s the epitome of what true emo is. After this it’s the first of their big three from their self-titled, “Chemicals”. The bodies literally flying whilst many a sore throat ensued, it’s the kind of song you have to sing along with like its last song you’ll ever hear. Brienne dedicates the next song to her best friend before taking us through the gorgeous “June” (the crowd singing the keyboard parts eliciting smiles and laughter from the stage). Closing the set off, the trio of “Plane vs Tank vs Submarine” unleashes even more carnage; the opening lines of “Lie to me, like you used to” again almost deafening! “I Saw Water” generates a similar response as crowd surfers rain down on the front rows. The final song “Window” closes a truly wonderful set by a truly wonderful band in a special way. If I thought it was hard to top the Caddies, Tigers Jaw have done it and some – they were one of the main draws to Slam Dunk for me and again didn’t disappoint.

Next up we had the two heavy bands I wanted to see. First up, the Cancer Bats. I haven’t kept up with these guys since they put out their third album Beats Mayors, Scraps and Bones in 2010. However, this didn’t take away from my enjoyment of them and, having seen them before and how great they are live, they certainly didn’t disappoint. The devil horn metal anthem “Lucifer's Rocking Chair”, anthemic “Hail Destroyer”, “Pneumonia Hawk” and “Bricks And Mortar” are the pick of the songs as they lay waste to an adoring crowd. It’s hard to find fault with the Cancer Bats; their sound is so unique, bordering on the fringes of punk, hardcore and metal and they have an ability to cross these boundaries easily. What may have seemed like a stretch when they did it was adding hip-hop to the mix. Their cover of the Beastie Boys “Sabotage” remains one of the most successful covers I can think of and created a war zone of a pit, akin to something you’d expect from the early years of hardcore before the idea of looking out for your fellow gig goers was a thing. It was all sorts of good natured brutal, with hugs and high fives exchanged by the slam dancers. Again, the Cancer Bats prove why they are one of the best in the business; sure they don’t take themselves too seriously but Liam is a bonafide legend of a front man and the band excel at pummelling beats and dirty riffs.

After Cancer Bats we have a different type of heavy in the form of Silverstein. The duel stage tent approach works well as no sooner have the Cancer Bats finished we’ve turned round had a short hop to the other side of the tent and the Canadian emocore mob have taken to the stage. Whilst not an entirely career spanning greatest hits set, the spread of songs throughout their near 20 years of releasing material is impressive. Opening with the iconic “Smashed Into Pieces” the standout track from their debut LP When Broken is easily fixed. It’s an instantly recognisable song that made them stand out ahead of their peers and still sounds epic, relevant and exciting to this day. As one would expect, it’s the songs off of Discovering The Waterfront that generate the biggest reactions; both “Smile In Your sleep” and “My Heroine” are big sing along songs and are greeted by the crowd with mass cheers within their first chords. Personally I found their recent album Dead Reflections a near perfect representation of the band and 4 of the 10 tracks are taken from this most recent release. Again the crowds passionate response to each is testament to their staying power and ability to keep taking risks and developing their sound – the brutal “Retrograde” at one extreme sits well alongside the pop infused “The Afterglow”. Silverstein delivered everything you’d want from a mid-afternoon festival slot; the only downside being the lack of backdrop meant that those coming into the tent to escape the rain maybe left unsure of who they had just watched. Still, for those of us in the know, they were another highlight of the day!

Despite the rain we decided to head back down the hill to the Punk In Drublic stage for both Millencolin and Less Than Jake. The weather playing havoc with the Swedish legends’ sound, they battled through a greatest hits set. On a personal level, the older tunes from Life On A Plate through to Pennybridge Pioneers steal the show, and generate the biggest singalong dances. But their two most recent albums (True Brew and this year’s SOS) comfortably stand alongside the classics and the reception greeting these new songs demonstrates how polished a machine they have now become.

Talking of polished machines, Less Than Jake trotted out their usual schtick; funny, endearing, high energy. For a fleeting half hour you don’t notice the rain and bask in the warmth of the Florida veterans’ ska-punk anthems. The set is heavy on songs from Anthem, Borders And Boundaries and Hello Rockview. It’s a proper festival set by a proper festival band. I’ve seen them countless times over the years and they never disappoint – today was certainly no exception.

Our final band on the Punk in Drublic stage was Bad Religion; however in what was the absolute worst clash possible they would eat into The Menzingers set (a band who I wouldn’t miss under any circumstances). Consequently we made the decision to leave early, but not before we were treated to classics from their seminal Stranger Than Fiction which was my first introduction to the band and it’s follow up The Grey Race (my favourite Bad Religion album)! I always love watching Greg Graffin on stage; he’s a man who appears to be living in his own world, enjoying the music and playing off the other members of the band. By the time we walk away with the anthemic generator playing, I’m unsure if the decision to leave early is a wise one… certainly a cursory glance at setlist.fm makes me feel that those who stayed were treated to some absolute bangers.

Absolute bangers is the reason we decided to head for The Menzingers, a band that have built a career out of writing blue collar anthems akin to the best of The Gaslight Anthem and Hot Water Music. I personally think that Tom May and Greg Barnett are two of the best songwriters out there and their ability to craft passionate, heart-on-your-sleeve and fists-in-the-air songs is unrivalled. Prior to taking the stage proper, Greg mills about taking photos of the crowd and generally winding people up to a frenzy whilst Plain White Ts conclude on the adjoining stage. Somehow the big draw and overzealous, excitable crowd earn the ire of Plain White Ts frontman Tom Higgenson, who is constantly asking us to be patient… perhaps the only incident of the day where the duel stage approach fell down. Frankly I don’t think anyone waiting for the Philly foursome cares and as soon as they take to the stage properly and kick off with “Tellin Lies” we’re in party mode. The Menzingers do generate the most amazing and friendly pits and in unison every word of every song is sung as if they are our own words, such is the band’s ability to write such human and relatable tunes. With a set almost exclusively taken from the last three albums, it’s obviously a play to win over any sceptics with all the big hitters getting aired. The pleasant melodies of “Tellin’ Lies” making way for the raucous “Good Things”, which turns the pit into a frenzy of limbs, fists and bodies. Rattling through the set we’re treated to other classics from On The Impossible Past namely “Gates”, “Obituaries” and “Burn After Writing”; all just immensely smile inducing and helping take our minds off the now slow drizzle. It’s also great that personal favourites “I Don’t Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore” and “Casey” are performed, but it’s the newer songs off of my 2017 album of the year After The Party that again really wow. The album’s lead single “Lookers” is performed with aplomb and greeted by the crowd like a returning hero, “Midwestern States” is another great turn by the band and what I’d argue is the single best song of the last few years. “After The Party” is just stunning. As expected they close the set (and our day) with the bombastic “In Remission”. It’s one last chance for the crowd to lose themselves in the music and they do so with the kind of energy you’d expect to see at the start of a set and not towards the end of a day of incredible music.

This concluded our Slam Dunk 2019; if I’d watched anyone else I’d have been disappointed with myself for not closing it on the highest high of the day and as a result we left as the main headliners took to the stage. Frankly we weren’t the only ones who couldn’t bear to watch anyone after the Menzingers and a mini exodus to the exit ensued after their set. Slam Dunk 2019 was a huge success; the new venue was excellent, the layout working really well and a great selection of bands. 2020 has a lot to live up to!!!

This review was written by Richard Mair.