Slam Dunk 2026: A Glorious, Sweaty Mess as Leeds Turns 20

Twenty years in, Slam Dunk still knows exactly what it is. On Sunday, thousands descended on Temple Newsam under punishing heat to celebrate two decades of the UK’s biggest independent rock festival and the result was a glorious, sweaty mess in all the best ways.

Dead Pony got things moving as the first band of the day, and from there you were never more than a few feet from live music. They were an early highlight, too, tearing through songs from their new EP Eat My Dust! That’s the genius of the Slam Dunk setup: Scott’s Key Club stage flipping over in five or ten minutes flat, and the Monster and Main Stage East sitting side by side so there were no long waits between sets. Blink and you’d miss a changeover; turn around and another band was already going.

President drew one of the biggest crowds of the entire day, a proper moment in a day full of them. Boston Manor brought the noise, Knocked Loose flattened everything in their path, and Good Charlotte closed things out for the anniversary crowd a lineup that spanned the full range of what Slam Dunk has always done best.

The heat was the day’s other headliner. The biggest queues weren’t for the bars but the water points, with water handed out and sprayed over the crowds at the front of stages to keep everyone standing. For those after a breather, the VIP area was a genuine refuge, shaded and relaxed, with Leeds’ own Sela Bar pouring cocktails.

Hot, heaving, and run with the kind of slickness that makes a festival of this size feel effortless. Twenty years on, Slam Dunk hasn’t lost a step. We loved it.