After national rail disruptions and flash floods in and around Birmingham it didn’t stop the hauls of music fans descending on the NEC Birmingham this bank holiday weekend for Slamdunk Festival 2018.
It was time to go see The Audition who more than six years ago disbanded but this festival weekend the pop punk heavyweights reformed to play a nostalgic set at this year’s Slam Dunk Festival.
Band members Danny Stevens, Seth James and Tim Klepek who are the original members of the band were joined by Cartel’s Kevin Sanders and Jack’s Mannequin’s Jon Sullivan to perform on the Monster Energy Stage; which sent fans back to their teenage years singing along to this band in there bedrooms.
So it’s back to the Monster stage to see the Scottish rockers that are Twin Atlantic. Now Dressed in a dark floral shirt with striking red trousers and jacket, vocalist Sam McTrusty came out on stage playing the intro to Gold Elephant: Cherry Alligator which set the fans into a craze.
His impressive vocal range shone throughout the entire set and had fans singing at the top of their lungs to the likes of Make A Beast Of Myself and No Sleep.There set was energetic and anyone in that room could be seen to having a good time.
Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes were about to take to the Jagermister stage and if you’re a former Gallows fan you’ll know vocalist Frank Carter is renowned for his on-stage antics, and well his new band have got the same reputation.
Frank and co. did not disappoint by the second song Frank decided to go for a walk in the crowd and this wasn’t going to be the last time Frank “Took a walk” which would get the whole crowd involved.From the first notes of Juggernaut the band were whipping across the stage back and fourth and The audience quickly followed suit; with hit tracks Wild Flowers, Snake Eyes and Devil Inside Me creating absolute pandemonium inside the NEC with what I would say were the biggest circle pits of the day.
Even though chaos was breaking out onstage and offstage vocalist Frank regularly interacted with the crowd and promoted a safe environment in which everyone could have fun.
Following Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes were PVRIS who last graced the Slamdunk stage back in 2015 on the tour circuit of their debut album White Noise and here we are seeing them again touring their second album All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell.
Justin took his place behind the drum kit then soon after Alex, Lynn and Brian took to the stage; it was dark and backlit creating a moody, somewhat spooky atmosphere. They opened up with Heaven, which was the debut track from AWKOHAWNOH album back in 2017.
SETLIST:
Heaven
St. Patrick
Half
You and I
What’s Wrong
Winter
Anyone Else
No Mercy
My House
The PVRIS CVLT (as their fans are known) were singing along to every word and in all the right places knew when it was time to jump and dance along which seen vocalist Lynn Gunn climbed down from the stage to be among the fans along the barrier during the track No Mercy.
Following a mammoth line up on the Jagermister stage it was time for the Headliners who were none other than Good Charlotte and well what can I say cannons exploded with streamers; which resulted in the Main Arena looking like it just got “TP’d” as it all hung from the ceiling. The fans crowd were hit with flashing lights and the heat from the pyrotechnics as the band jumped into hit song The Anthem.
The band ploughed through their extensive back catalogue to take fans on a trip down memory lane with tracks The Story of My Old Man, Keep Your Hands Off My Girl, Predictable and Girls and Boys.They also through in Life Changes and Actual Pain which has only just been recently released, yet the fans seemed to know all the words already.
Each song showcased the tightness and experience the band had with Joel Madden’s powerful voice, his brother Benji’s and Billy Martin’s impressive guitar skills, Paul Thomas’ catchy bass lines and Dean Butterworth’s strong drumming.The night was coming to a close and the famous track Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous marked the end of an impressive live performance, closing Slam Dunk Festival 2018 with a crowd united through their love of stellar live music.
We also managed to catch the sets from Crown The Empire, Dream State, Devil Wears Prada, Knuckle Puck, Sleeping With Sirens and more. All photographs from these artist can be found on our social media sites.
