Slam Dunk's 20th anniversary celebrates the bands who built it

It’s with all that history in mind that Slam Dunk Festival returned, this year feeling more like it was looking back rather than forward. A lot of bands look back too but do it in different ways. There are a few distinct approaches.

A couple of bands celebrate full albums. Trash Boat return to their pop-punk roots and debut album. Boston Manor don’t play all of ‘Be Nothing’ but they revisit the best of it and, in a similar way, rediscover their pop-punk beginnings too. Cancer Bats celebrate 20 years of ‘Birthing the Giant’ by picking out the best of that album in a short but adrenaline-fuelled set.

Deaf Havana bring their ‘Fools and Worthless Liars’ album to a headline slot on the Scott’s Key Club Stage. A rarely revisited album, but an essential one in their history, is only eclipsed by an airing of ‘Friends Like These’ (with The Blackout’s Sean Smith) which they have for many years vowed to never play again.

The Main-est of three “Main Stages” also sees Taking Back Sunday celebrate two decades of ‘Louder Now’. Often considered a little hit or miss live, Leeds gets the best version of them.

The Menzingers show off 20 years of themselves with a career-spanning set in which their brand new singles sit shoulder to shoulder with all their finest work.

Most of the Monster Energy Stage line-up welcomes some veterans of their scene. Some of them revel in their history. Some of them seem determined to show they still have plenty more to offer. Either way, there are varying levels of success.

A Loss for Words repeatedly state this will likely be their final Slam Dunk appearance and, in truth, it sounds like their best days are long behind them. Madina Lake are similarly uninspiring with even their biggest hits sounding undercooked.

On the opposite end, Bayside are on top form, Cartel are consistently good value whether it’s their new or old material and Set Your Goals remain the ideal festival band.

Hawthorne Heights manage to walk the tightrope; their new single ‘Like A Cardinal’ slots seamlessly into their set but nothing really compares to them finishing on the emo anthem ‘Ohio Is For Lovers’.

Elsewhere around the festival, Saosin return still sounding vital and looking ahead with the promise of new music for next year.

Motion City Soundtrack have been away from the festival for 10 years but it soon feels like no time at all. Allister, on the other hand, are rough around the edges with a number of timing issues.

In the early evening sunshine, Dashboard Confessional arrive on the Main Stage. Chris Carrabba tells the crowd he specialises “in songs about bad weather and sad feelings” as they play out the slowest songs of the day. Despite the contradictions, they shine with numbers like ‘Stolen’, ‘Screaming Infidelities’ and ‘Hands Down’ not losing any of their potency twenty-something years on from their release.

In between the waves of nostalgia, there are a few bands operating at the top of their game right now. None more so than Knocked Loose who don’t need flames as part of their stage show to be at their devastating best but the inclusion is a wonderfully incendiary addition. Coupled with Bury Tomorrow and Malevolence on the undercard, the metal offering from Slam Dunk this year is home to the best and brightest of what the festival has to offer.

Throughout the rest of the day, other standout sets come from Angel Du$t who show the best of their new album, Heriot who play early but whip a sweaty crowd into chaos and VUKOVI who keep going from strength to strength. Stand Atlantic give a live debut to their new single ‘Velcro’ before singer Bonnie Fraser later joins her fellow Aussies Tonight Alive for a performance of ‘Disappear’ too. State Champs stake their claim for a future headliners slot as they close The Monster Energy Stage with a blockbuster performance.

It’s not always smooth sailing though. In Hatfield especially, technical difficulties threaten Origami Angel’s set but it’s President who get derailed completely. Arguably the most anticipated set of the day, the masked singer comes out all guns blazing but, during the introduction to the new song ‘DOOM LOOP’, everything cuts out. He blows a kiss to the confused crowd and walks off stage. Now usually that would prompt technicians and crew to come on stage and work to fix the issue but nothing happens. People wait and wait. After about 20 minutes, the band return and play a final three songs. Fortunately, they have no such mishaps in Leeds.

With a lot of time spent looking back and a pocket of top bands in the present, the line-up doesn’t leave much room for looking forward which it usually does so well. That said, the Main Stage is opened by the new Slam Dunk protégés Beauty School who, with their hometown crowd in Leeds, help them make the step-up. Unpeople follow on the same stage and don’t need any help with a vibrant and confident performance for what is rapidly becoming a breakout year for them.

Across the festival, Dead Pony arrive armed with their brand new EP and show Slam Dunk’s eye for talent remains sharp.

In the end, all roads lead to Good Charlotte. Following the return of Sublime, the Madden brothers step out with flames at all angles, platformed staging and a massive crowd as the sunshine makes way. Opening with ‘The River’ is a signal they have come to embrace the spirit of the festival’s anniversary. Only two songs from their setlist come from last year’s new album ‘Motel Du Cap’ as they instead choose to run the clock back on those pivotal early 00’s albums.

With darkness descended, they close out their set with a hat-trick of ‘I Just Wanna Live’, ‘Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous’ and ‘The Anthem’ with all the same energy (but a few extra fireworks) that they had when they were first released.

With that the curtain falls on this year’s Slam Dunk. It caps a 20 year celebration of the festival by embracing a lot of the bands and albums that helped shape them over that time.

While it makes for a fitting celebration this year, it’s important the festival doesn’t get swept up in nostalgia year after year. Slam Dunk’s greatest success stories have always been the new bands it helped lift and if it’s still here in another 20 years, that will be the key.