Gig Review: Slam Dunk Midlands 2014

Slam Dunk is the one weekend of the year where the pop punk fans of the North, South and Midlands come together for the day, or weekend in some cases, to saturate themselves with pop punk/rock/hardcore. With six stages and each almost representing a genre, you'd be hard pressed to find something you didn't want to watch all day.

Blitz Kids began the day opening up the main stage. Their impressive performance set the atmosphere for the entire day. The crowd immediately engaged with them and the performance of songs like All I Want Is Everything and Sold My Soul convinced the audience that they truly belong on the bigger stages and selling out shows like the Civic Hall. 

Save Your Breath followed on the Atticus Stage and their combination of older songs (by old, I mean Not in the Mood For Kiwi old), oldish songs like Stay Young (with guest vocals from Sean Smith) and newer songs like Harrow Road made for a captivating set. Especially having been around when the older stuff was released, this set really strengthened my love for the band.

Next, on the Macbeth stage were Decade. The band threw in tune after tune; Coffin, British Weather and Brainfreeze. The energy they emitted onto the crowd was undescribable and their cheery individual pop-punk sound created an atmosphere that pervaded the room.

I was unfortunately let down by Gnarwolves. Whilst I enjoy their studio produced sound, their live set did not translate as well. Their bigger fans still showed thorough enjoyment so the Brighton-based band are doing something right.

Remaining at the Macbeth stage, my anticipation for I am the Avalanche was building. Despite the crowd significantly thinning, the band were enjoyable. The sound was at parts loud enough to ache the ear but the passion displayed by the band made up for the 'high from drugs' stage presence and the sound.

What I found out during Motion City Soundtrack's set was how incredibly underrated the band are. It was apparent through watching them that they have been in the business for a long time. Their set was well rehearsed, so in time and most importantly, spreading happiness across the room. Despite them having one of the more smaller main stage audience sizes, the audience they did have seemed to almost worship them.

We Are The In Crowd graced the stage next. Having seen the five-piece a few times before, I felt that this particular performance, in terms of technicality, might well have been one of their bests. WATIC tend to bring a heavier translation into their live performances which is most certainly a positive element. If the band were to produce a greatest hits record, their setlist would've epitomised it. Unfortunately, what let the whole performance down was Tay's voice and her attempt to disguise this by constantly allowing the crowd to sing lines was unsubtle.

Only managing to catch the last fifteen minutes of Mallory Knox, I was once again, blown away. The meaning behind their songs and the appreciation they have for their success is reflected in their performance. The light production in conjunction with the songs was executed extremely well and it produced this anthemic atmosphere that I have never seen from Mallory Knox before.

Lastly, completing my night were the favourites, Kids In Glass Houses, performing their debut album, Smart Casual in full. Hearing this live again was a complete throwback to 2008 again when it was released 6 years ago, that same day. Crowd favourites like Easy Tiger, Saturday and Give Me What I Want obviously went down a treat but the lesser-known songs on the album like Shameless and Church Tongue were received just as well. Finishing the set were a few songs of their sophomore album Dirt and whilst I would've liked to have seen appearances of songs from In Gold Blood and Peace, their performance still could not have been faulted. Watching them made me feel like I was fourteen again and it was fantastic.

Slam Dunk is such an incredible festival. Being considerably well organized with a consistently impressive line up makes for an unforgettable day. I will most definitely have to attend again next year.

Did you go to Slam Dunk this year? Who did you watch?

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