2000’s American rock band The All-American Rejects have been confirmed as performers for the annual Slam Dunk Festival, which takes place in Leeds on 26 May next year. The band, who released the classic “Gives You Hell” in 2008, are just one of the names who will take the stage; Other acts that have been confirmed include British rock band You Me At Six, American group Waterparks and alternative duo Bob Vylan.
Lead singer of You Me At Six said in a press release about the event: “Looking forward to returning to Slam Dunk this year to headline the festival. Slam Dunk has given You Me At Six so much over our career & we’ve got a lot of special memories from performing there over the years. The line-up is stacked with great artists, so will be an elite one.”
Fans of You Me At Six, who released their eighth studio album earlier this year titled Truth Decay, shared their excitement over the news on X. One person said: “Already my favorite slam dunk”, whilst another person commented: “favorite band headlining my favorite festival.” The group first performed at the festival in 2007 alongside Paramore, Reel Big Fish and Mad Caddies.
Already my favourite slam dunk.
— Benjamin Franklin (@benmeatsix) October 25, 2023
Since 2006, the Slam Dunk Festival has celebrated rock and punk artists from all over the world. This year, the festival treated the audience to performances by legendary punk group The Offspring, British band Enter Shikari and Billy Talent. However, the festival received criticism over issues of health and safety concerns – including overflowing toilets.
In a report, Slam Dunk Festival organizers said: “Thank you for giving us the time to fully investigate the events of the Slam Dunk Festival 2023. We have taken that time to work with our internal team and many external partners, firstly to work out why things went wrong and then find solutions and improvements for next year. Please let us be clear that we are not trying to pass the blame of anything to other people, we are simply telling the truth about what caused those issues, so you can be assured we have identified the problem and therefore are able to fix it.”
“We would like to stress that we take full accountability for everything that happened on the day, and we are so sorry that some people didn’t have the experience that they should have. We hope you give us the chance to change that.”
Organizers of the event have promised a change for next year’s show, including 25% extra toilets and additional taps at all waterpoints.
Confirmed line-up
You Me At Six
The All American Rejects
Prevail
Artio
Asking Alexandria
Bob Vylan
Boys Like Girls
Funeral For A Friend
Goldfinger
Head Automatica
La Dispute
L.S. Dunes
Mad Caddies
Mom Jeans
One Step Closer
Palaye Royale
Pale Waves
Pennywise
Røry
Set It Off
The Bouncing Souls
The Interrupters
The Selecter
The Skints
The Wonder Years
Waterparks
We The Kings
