My dad's atrocious timekeeping and typical British weather (a hella lot of rain) meant my brother and I arrived at Slam Dunk really, really late. We were wandering around the front of the university in pouring rain trying to work out where we were meant to go when Dan from Four Year Strong let us through a door. After 10 minutes and all we'd seen are band members and a back door that takes you to the buses we eventually worked out that we were backstage. Oops. So there we were - 2 hours late, soaking wet and still no closer to finding the actual entrance. Before security noticed we high tailed it out of there and crossed the bridge to the smaller room and hurrah we're in the right place. Wristbands on and ID checked we looked at the stage times and at that point my dad was very lucky he skipped out on this gig. We had missed Man Overboard. Unimpressed doesn't even cover it. With an hour to wait before The Wonder Years we went to the bar and got seriously overpriced drinks and caught the first 15 minutes of The Early November's set.
Since we were at the main stage in the small room of the uni venue we were confused as to where the second stage was going to be, and so in fear of missing yet another band we came for, we went in search of stage number two. Following the signs we were led to a queue in part of the uni neither of us had ever been and when we were let through it turns out we were in a room not much bigger than my bedroom full of guys twice my size. And let me tell you at this point in time there wasn't even anyone playing and the heat was insane.
For nearly seven years we had both been dying to see The Wonder Years live but there was always something preventing it but finally there they were. Well, I couldn't actually see them since there was about 200 bodies packed into a space big enough for 50. The moment they stepped out on the tiny stage playing "Passing Through a Screen Door" the crowd went wild and didn't calm down - this was going to be a show like no other, that much was already apparent. Their set was crammed with their very best anthemic songs like "Logan Circle" and "Came Out Swinging" causing the most passionate fist thrusting, lyric screaming crowd I have ever been a part of. It was madness, a desperate scramble to reach the band and shout as loud as we can the words that define our lives.
Somewhere in the craziness I lost my brother and ended up at the front, right in the firing line of all the crowd surfers - and there must have been about 100. Halfway through the set the band stopped and Soupy said if they have to stop playing because it's getting too hot and dangerous for us out there then they won't be upset they want us to have a good time but not at our expense. A ruckus of yells were fed back to him. Stop? No way. Carrying on with "Don't Let Me Cave In" they stopped once more to check we were all okay. We all yelled back before Soupy realised it was better to tell us all to shh and yell if you're not okay. One guy decided to yell jokingly and was swiftly told to shut up by Soupy. We were the craziest crowd they've ever played to and the hottest. Dozens of water bottles were handed out and the security poured jugs of water over us and then 10 minutes later, satisfied we were all alright, they finished their set with everyone just as enthusiastic as before - just not near passing out.
I bit through my lip, trapped muscles in my neck and had more than enough feet kick me in the head but it was more than worth it to see these pop-punk gods destroy every expectation I had of them and raise the bar unreachably high for bands in the future.
Reunited with my brother - who had somehow managed to keep hold of his glasses in the frenzy - we bought merch (which I lost) and headed back to the main stage and saw the last 20 minutes of our little sisters favourite band Pierce The Veil who also said we were the best crowd they had ever played to. With 4 minutes left to play the choice was ours - "Bulls In The Bronx" or "King For A Day" and with equally matched yells it was a good job they were allowed to play both.
Securing us a spot at the front for Four Year Strong we waited and waited and waited until they eventually came out nearly half an hour late. Last time I saw Four Year Strong I had just turned 14 so now being not far from 19 I was more than ready to hear songs like "Tonight We Feel Alive" and "Wasting Time" live. With more room I managed to avoid most of the crowd surfers apart from a couple of girls who were failing miserably at it and nearly broke my neck but with Four Year Strong blasting out classics such as "Bada Bing! Wit' A Pipe" and "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die" it was more than worth it. The air conditioning was appreciated more than anyone will ever know and so was the slowing (kind of) down of the set with "One Step At A Time" as by this point exhaustion was hitting me hard. Unsure as to if they were going to be able to play their encore, as it was past the venues curfew, everyone was buzzing from having seen their incredible performance but gutted we wouldn't see "It Must Really Suck..." or "Wasting Time" when out they came and closed Slam Dunk 2013 for good with two intense tracks from Enemy of the World that we were all ecstatic to get to hear. Curfew? What curfew.
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