Slam Dunk was the first festival of the season for us over at Burn The Pages. It was also one of the first festivals of the season, full stop. Let’s give you a brief insight into our day.
Busted were the secret set, performing under the name Y3K. I’m still unsure as to whether that’s because it stands for Year 3000 or because they were performing on The Key Club stage. It’ll forever be one of life’s great mysteries from here on out… Now I won’t lie, I was disappointed when I found out. At first, I thought it would be Simple Creatures as Alex was already performing in All Time Low and then when Slam Dunk tweeted that they’d previously played arenas, I was thinking of Bring Me The Horizon as a warm up for their performance at All Points East the following Friday (another incredible day). If I’m truthful, I think I was just salty that I wasn’t going to see Tidal Waves live. Alas, I stayed at that stage for the secret set because well… I’m not stupid, am I? It’s Busted. Surprise surprise, I was so glad I stayed. I’m not sure I’d pay to see them specifically but knowing that I’ve now seen Air Hostess, Crashed the Wedding, Year 3000 AND What I Go To School For live, childhood Sophie can live happily for the rest of time. Also, Dougie Poynter was at the side of the stage so that was an added bonus.
Now the one issue I have with day festivals (apart from the portaloos) is that you always forget how you need that little break in the middle of the afternoon. You know, when no one’s on so you go back to your tent to chill out? But Slam Dunk’s Hatfield date had the perfect remedy. The acoustic stage was in a mini woodland so we grabbed our ciders and chilled there for a couple of hours. The greatest part of all this was that Liam Cromby was performing. Now I’ll be honest, I had no idea who he was until he started playing We Are The Ocean’s songs. At first I was like “oh cool a cover, I love this song” but after 2 or 3 songs, it clicked. It was the lead singer from We Are The Ocean (come on Sophie, keep up). I’m telling you, I was the happiest bunny for the rest of the day.
All Time Low saw the day out, paying homage to the 10-year anniversary of their album Nothing Personal. I’ll be honest, I thought that them going off to do their own projects was a warning sign for their fans but Slam Dunk just showed that there is absolutely no worrying to be done – they’re still as together as ever. They played their classics such as Therapy and ended with Dear Maria, Count Me In of course but they also treated us to some oldies such as Keep The Change, Ya Filthy Animal and A Party Scene whilst also debuting their new song Getaway Green (a reference to Alex’s hair perhaps?) although they weren’t kind enough to treat us to a release date. Boys, you always play an incredible show and the double rainbow and mesmerising sunset just made this show that one bit better. You can catch me at every All Time Low gig in my area for the rest of my life and I’m not even sorry.
Burn The Pages 