The first wave of artists performing at Slam Dunk 2025 have been announced, with A Day To Remember, Neck Deep and Alkaline Trio leading the way.
Next year’s instalment will be held at Hatfield Park for the south and Leeds Temple Newsam in the north, taking place on May 24 and 25 respectively.
Today (September 4), the organisers have shared the first wave of 20 artists joining the line-up, and the first run of names includes one of the most requested bands by Slam Dunk fans: A Day To Remember.
The announcement comes as the band are currently gearing up to kick off their US tour next month, and it will not only mark their first time taking to the festival’s stage, but their first live performance planned for the UK in 2025. “We’re really excited to get back to the UK, and to play Slam Dunk for the first time,” the band shared in a new statement.
Alkaline Trio are also on the bill for next year, and the announcement comes following their recent 2024 album ‘Blood, Hair, And Eyeballs’, as well as the two new singles they shared last month. They have already confirmed that their performance at the site will see them break out a number of their biggest hits, as well as some of their new material.
German six-piece Electric Callboy will be making their way over to the festival too, as well as Welsh pop-punk heavyweights Neck Deep. For the latter, the news comes following them dropping a new album at the start of the year, locking in a tour with Sum 41, sharing both US and UK headline dates, and playing their biggest show to date at Alexandra Palace earlier this summer.
Elsewhere in the announcement, As It Is, Delilah Bon, Graphic Nature, Dream State and more have been named as having joined the line-up.
Find a list of artists on the bill so far below, and tickets go on sale this Friday (September 6) at 10am. Visit here to buy yours.
The first wave of artists confirmed for Slam Dunk 2025 are:
A Day To Remember
Electric Callboy
Neck Deep
Alkaline Trio
As It Is
Delilah Bon
Dream State
Graphic Nature
Hit The Lights
Hot Mulligan
Knuckle Puck
Less Than Jake
Mouth Culture Movements
New Found Glory
Split Chain
Stray From The Path
The Ataris
The Starting Line
The Used
Zebrahead
The 2024 edition saw performances from the likes of You Me At Six, All-American Rejects, I Prevail and more. The Leeds edition also made headlines after an emergency weather update was shared following heavy rainfall at the Temple Newsam site.
In January, it was confirmed that Slam Dunk would host You Me At Six’s final festival performance after the band announced plans to break up following a farewell tour next year.
Speaking to NME at the time, frontman Josh Franceschi recalled: “Ben Ray, who books Slam Dunk, was our first ever manager and gave us our first show in a proper venue at The Cockpit in Leeds. When we got there, we just bombarded him, let us open [the festival]. No one knew who we were. But he believed in us, and he gave us that chance.”
“I think it’s a really poetic ending to our great relationship. How big that festival has become is a testament to him and his team, but also to this alternative scene that we have in England,” he continued. “When other festivals have maybe dipped in and out of guitar music, Slam Dunk hasn’t. It’s a great honour to go and play there.”
Similarly, Neck Deep – who will be performing there next year – recently spoke to NME at Reading & Leeds festival, and opened up about the momentum they’ve been building over the past year.
“I think the biggest milestone after Ally Pally was headlining a festival in Jakarta to – we were told 10,000 people – but allegedly there were 25,000. Either way, we went to the other side of the world and played one of the craziest shows, so we’re still trying to process that,” said Sam Bowden. “Soon it’ll be onto the next album and some more milestones, just trying to keep going.”
Matt West continued: “One thing that we’ve been consistent with is that we’ve never really wanted to stop. It’s always just been like, ‘We can do more, we can do bigger, we can keep going.’ That’s always just been the M.O. from the beginning. We want to see how far we can go and then keep going.”
