Review: Slam Dunk festival at Temple Newsam, Leeds

Headlined by American rock artists, Sum 41, the line-up featured a mixture of ska/punk/metal and rock acts from all over the world.

Hosted by the Temple Newsam estate, festival goers enjoyed a beautiful day of sunny weather and all the joyousness of an extended bank holiday weekend to recover.

Slam Dunk cited Temple Newsam as their festival home a few years before Covid hit, a venue which is seeing an extended list of activities and events from local event organisers such as Futuresound. Slam Dunk is part of a week’s worth of events at the historic location which has included Live at Leeds in the Park and Ibiza Classic Orchestra.

Slam Dunk is part of a two-part event operation which sees Leeds host the northern arm and Hatfield Park in Hertfordshire host the ssouthern.

As hoped, Leeds basked in a glorious day of sunshine which kept spirits high throughout the day. The family atmosphere is very vibrant and is heavily attended by a good mixture of ages. One notable downside was the ever increasing cost of food and drink onsite which is a knock on effect from the economical crisis the country is facing.

With the first bands kicking the day off at 11.30am, there was a constant stream of music across all five well positioned stages.

Popular early day sets from Cassyette, The Bronx and Kenny Hoopla were very much crowd pleasers and a stunning mid afternoon performance from Cancer Bats erupted the site.

Pennsylvania pop punk favourites, The Wonder Years cemented their presence with a blistering twoset show due to a band drop out on the schedule. Skate punk stalwarts, Pennywise brought their antagonist style rock to the main stage along with melodic pick up performances from popular 2 Tone/ska rockers The Interrupters.

As the sun started to fall and the smaller stages ending their sets, the mega bands finally took their turn to draw the day to a close. Boston rockers, The Dropkick Murphys pulvorised the main stage with a classic set of fan favourites along with Alexisonfire who headlined the second stage.

Welsh pop punk wonder boys, Neck Deep smashed the tent stage with a cacophony of classic hits and watched as the fans washed over the pit barriers with a constant stream of crowd surfers.

Ending the day were headliners, Sum 41. The band had been due to headline previously but the pandemic halted their visit to the region. Popular Canadian front man, Deryck Whibley entertained the fans with popular tracks including Still Waiting, Fat Lip and In Too Deep. With the band orchestrating a solid show decked with lots of pyro and smoke bangs, Slam Dunk 2022 sadly came to a close.

Slam Dunk truly brings a uniqueness of alternative music, style and culture which a very accepting ‘you’re one of us’ approach, appreciated and accepted globally.