FIRST WAVE OF BAND’S ANNOUNCED FOR SLAM DUNK 2027

FESTIVAL NEWS | SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL 2027

After weeks of edging everyone on social media with retrospectives of many of their past events from over the last two decades, the organisers of Slam Dunk Festival have finally released their line-up for 2027. As ever, it’s a perfectly balanced batch of bands to signal the start of the summer season, and as an added bonus, the stage splits are seemingly included on the poster!

At the top of the first announcement are pop-punk legends Bowling For Soup, returning for the first time since 2023. The Texans have had several ups and downs in the intervening years, with founding member Chris Burney departing the band due to his ongoing health issues, but also playing their biggest-ever UK shows in 2025, including drawing their biggest crowd ever at Wembley Stadium! Guaranteed to provide a good time, 2027 also sees the band celebrating 25 years of their most popular album, 2002’s Drunk Enough To Dance.

Joining them as ‘rotating headliners’ are fellow pop punks Simple Plan. Slam Dunk veterans at this stage, the band will be sure to play plenty of songs from across their career, including from their debut album No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls, which also turns a quarter of a century next year.

Returning to Slam Dunk for the first time since 2018 will be ska punk favourites Reel Big Fish. An exclusive UK reunion show following their hiatus in 2019, the appearance will see frontman Aaron Barrett teaming up with original members of the band for the first time in fifteen years!

Joining them in bringing the sunshine will be Gainesville’s favourite ska punk legends Less Than Jake. Their thirteenth appearance at the festival, they are hardly in uncharted territory, and are sure to smash through plenty of singalongs and anthems, whatever the weather! Rounding out a great roster of ska punk bands are The Interrupters, who return after headlining the Monster Energy stage in 2024.

On the heavier side of things, Killswitch Engage will be heading up the metalcore stage. The band is hitting Slam Dunk for the first time in their career, following on from their first album in six years, 2025’s This Consequence. Joining them are heavy-hitters Beartooth, who will be looking to shred it up with their bombastic new album, Pure Ecstasy, which dropped just last month.

Sleeping With Sirens will be looking to dominate on the emo stage with the release of their eighth studio album, An Ending In Itself, and will be joined by emo veterans The Used, who come fresh from a year celebrating their first three albums. Arizona based pop rockers The Maine return to Slam Dunk as they eye two decades as a band; emo pop-punkers Knuckle Puck are back with their brand of melodic songs, and Australia’s Trophy Eyes will be on hand to celebrate ten years of their fan favourite album Chemical Miracle.

Easycore band Four Year Strong will be on site to lay down some pop-punk beats and brutal breakdowns; meanwhile, The Academy Is… mark 20 years of Santi, as do We The Kings, who celebrate 20 years of their self-titled debut album featuring perpetual pop-punk classic ‘Check Yes Juliet’.

Rounding out the first wave of the line-up will be Isle of Wight upstarts Grade 2, fresh off the release of their third album Talk About It. Ahead of their new album Landfall, Wage War will deliver their brand of punk and oi songs about life on a small island, plus metalcore bands The Amity Affliction, ERRA, plus up-and-comers Melrose Avenue.

Cult band The Front Bottoms will make their Slam Dunk debut, fan favourites Cute Is What We Aim For will be making a rare appearance, and Hot Milk will be on hand with their high-energy alternative rock and pop-punk blend. Rap/metalcore band From Ashes To New will join self-proclaimed ‘nu-grunge’ band Overgrown, as will Love Rarely, who released their debut album Pain Travels earlier this year. Alongside them are homegrown pop-punkers As December Falls, Australia’s RedHook and alt-rockers Mouth Culture, who continue their meteoric rise.

It’s once again a heck of an eclectic line-up from under the punk rock umbrella – and this is just the tip of the iceberg with plenty more to be announced!

Slam Dunk Festival takes place over the second bank holiday in May, though with a twist in 2027 with the North event taking place on the Saturday and the South event happening on the Sunday!

Pre-sale tickets go on sale via the Slam Dunk app (which has had a shiny new update) from 10am, Friday 2nd October for 48 hours (subject to availability), with remaining tickets on sale from 10am, Monday 5th October.