Slam Dunk Festival at Temple Newsham, Leeds Headliners Announced

Slam Dunk Festival has announced the first wave of its biggest ever festival line up! It features 22 artists who will take to their stages next year, with Temple Newsham in Leeds being one of the two sites on 28th May 2023.

Punk Rock royalty The Offspring will be returning to the UK as Slam Dunk Festival co-headliners, along with British rock legends Enter Shikari who return to headline Slam Dunk Festival for the second time.

“Pop-punk party”

With a successful career now spanning over three decades, SoCal punk-rock giants The Offspring are a perfect Slam Dunk Festival headliner. With countless hits and fan favourites such as ‘Self Esteem’, ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ and of course, ‘Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)’, The Offspring are guaranteed to head up a crowd sing-along to remember and are promised to keep the pop-punk party going strong.

And renowned for their high-energy performances, Enter Shikari are at the peak of their game.  Pioneering their way through a magnitude of genres, it’s clear to see why this four-piece have firmly cemented themselves as festival headliners.  Having built masses of critical acclaim and awards along the way, they promise to whip the Slam Dunk Festival crowd into a frenzy with a sea of hits including ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’, ‘Juggernauts’, and ‘The Great Unknown’.

“A convivial vibe”

Rou Reynolds of Enter Shikari loves the festival. He said: “I’ve been intoxicated by the idea of headlining Slam Dunk again ever since our Take To The Skies celebration headline set back in 2017. I think playing outdoors is my favourite thing to do in life. Just being able to look up and see the sky, with the expanse of people underneath it, all sharing the same emotions and experience, it’s just such a raw, beautiful, and reifying thing. Slam Dunk is a festival I try to attend every year regardless of whether we’re playing it. I love both the sites, and it’s always full of mates and has such a convivial vibe. (That’s my word of the week)”

Also heading to the festival next year are festival favourites Bowling For Soup and Less Than Jake who both promise to get the crowd going with their catchy and humorous pop-punk hits in Leeds and Hatfield next summer.  Less Than Jake, who many would describe as the kings of ska punk, are choosing Slam Dunk Festival as the only place in the UK to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their seminal album Hello Rockview.  Four-piece punk-rockers Billy Talent will also be gracing the Slam Dunk Festival stage next year.

Hitting up the festival also are punk heroes Creeper, party-starters Four Year Strong, and Sheffield’s notorious heavy-metal five-piece Malevolence who are famed for their explosively heavy live shows.

“Striking guitar riffs”

Cardiff’s post-hardcore quartet Holding Absence will be delivering striking guitar riffs and huge anthemic sing-alongs. Along with Hopeless Records Trash Boat who, equipped with a back-catalogue full of heavy, raw, and gritty tunes promise to bring the energy next summer.  Crowned Gen-Z idols and voices of a generation, alt rock-pop superstars Maggie Lindemann and Noahfinnce will both also grace next year’s festival. It’s no secret that Zebrahead are a Slam Dunk Festival staple but with their high energy sets brimmed with circle pits and crowd surfers they are a staple that never disappoint.

Slam Dunk Festival are also excited to welcome Real Friends back to the festival, now signed to Pure Noise Records, Real Friends will be leading the way into their new era with new vocalist Cody Muraro at the helm.  With their latest album racking up over 50 million streams and receiving endless praise from industry giants, Grayscale will be bringing their latest Fearless Records’ release to Slam Dunk Festival next year, along with alt-rock rising star Charlotte Sands, American punk rockers Destroy Boys, long-standing metalcore four-piece Fit For A King, pop-punk duo Girlfriends, and hardcore punk outfit SeeYouSpaceCowboy.

“Exclusive reunion shows”

In addition to the huge first wave of acts just announced, Slam Dunk Festival are hosting two exclusive reunion shows. Leading the way are Cardiff’s pop-rockers Kids In Glass Houses who will be storming Slam Dunk Festival by celebrating the 15th anniversary of their highly-praised debut album Smart Casual. Slam Dunk festival will be the only chance to catch this special celebration. Also appearing for the first time since 2006 is The Academy Is… Since bursting onto the scene in the early 2000’s The Academy is…firmly established themselves as emo-pop punk titans with a trio of hit albums under their belts.

Aled Phillips of Kids In Glass Houses says: “Slam Dunk 2008 fell a day before Smart Casual was released and marked the start of a pretty unforgettable journey for our band. It feels very fitting that 15 years later to the day we can come back and celebrate a special part of our career at Slam Dunk 2023. We hope to see some familiar and new faces there and can’t wait to get back out onto stage again. It’s been too long.”