The Endless Novel: state champs

Slam Dunk: Memories and a preview

01:31

The time is upon us, and it feels bloody fantastic to say it: Slam Dunk Festival is this weekend!

I have attended Slam Dunk every year since 2011, since the time I still used the Eurostar to visit England and used to be mesmerised by London. The only reason I missed the festival was that a certain pandemic the world is tired of stopped it from happening, and I was eagerly waiting for the British government to update their policies on international travel just so I could make it. (I'm pleased to report I am typing this from a Travelodge room, meaning I have made it inside the United Kingdom in one piece.)

Slam Dunk is my favourite festival and has probably been from my first time onwards. I miss the era of day festivals that all shared a similar lineup, of cool afterparties where you could hang out with your favourite bands, and of running in the middle of city centres and university campuses not to miss the acts you wanted to see. Out of all of them, Slam Dunk is the only one that's still standing and, to me, it is THE unmissable event of the year. I just know I will be here, come rain or high water.

Before the 2016 edition, I wrote all about my memories, some lovely and wholesome, some fun and alcohol-fuelled, some downright stupid and embarrassing and, before we embark on a list of bands you shouldn't be missing in 2021, I wanted to fill in the blanks for the following years, from 2016 to 2019, because it's so much fun looking back at some of the most wonderful times of my life, in all their fantastic, bloody, and ridiculous glory. (The original post can be found here, and I chose to follow the same format.)

Disclaimer: for the sake of honesty, I included the names of the now-cancelled artists where relevant, but needless to say I do not support them anymore.

2016

It was my first year of attending the festival as a UK resident, and it was also the first time I went to the three dates. 2016 was also the first year of the Midlands edition relocating to the NEC, in Birmingham. Objectively, the venue had its ups and downs, but I grew to love it by the end. My reasoning behind going to the three days was that I wanted to see three of the headliners, so I had to be everywhere and watch a different one each day.

Bands watched: Panic! At The Disco, New Found Glory, Mallory Knox, Yellowcard, Mayday Parade, Young Guns, Moose Blood, Of Mice & Men, Issues, The Amity Affliction, The Story So Far, The Starting Line, Four Year Strong, Real Friends, As It Is, Roam, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, The Rocket Summer, Dan and Dav Winter-Bates' DJ Set.

Memories include:

Sleeping about ten hours over the space of three days. When I made it back to Brighton on Tuesday morning, I pretty much slept for twenty-four hours straight. I remember being so exhausted that I fell asleep on the train home while eating a Belvita, and the memory only came back when I found a half-eaten biscuit in my backpack.
Being so knackered that I literally have zero tangible memories of New Found Glory.
I also remember going to Bury Tomorrow's DJ set because if I danced, I would stop thinking about how much I desperately needed to sleep.
Going to all three afterparties. I honestly only remember drinking a vodka and mixer can in the streets of Leeds, The Amity Affliction being played, walking around the Leeds venue with Marie, getting lost trying to find a taxi stop in Birmingham, and hanging out with Hanna and Lea in Hatfield.
It took me the three days of the festival to watch Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! because the queues were so massive in Birmingham and Leeds that we couldn't make it into the rooms.
Losing my phone in Leeds.
Meeting Derek Sanders (Mayday Parade) in Hatfield whilst watching The Amity Affliction.
There was this boy I had kinda bonded with over our mutual (now past) love for Moose Blood's music. He broke my heart, and then had the audacity of standing right next to me with his friends while I was watching them alone in Hatfield.
Seeing The Story So Far live as a fan for the first time and crying. Marie and I almost met Parker Cannon afterwards as well, but he left before he'd spoken to everyone. (We overheard him telling the last person he took a picture with that he struggled with crowds and people.) I haven't told the story much, but the festival was a few weeks after the ninja-kick incident, and I have (very personally) always taken Parker saying, in Birmingham, "I fucked up, but you're still here" as an apology.
Dan Lambton (now ex-Real Friends) could not sing much during their Hatfield set, and I will never forget the chills and emotion as everyone sang I've Given Up On You for him.
Arriana, Jubbi, and I watching Four Year Strong together in Birmingham.
The golden age of Aldi Sykes and Budget Austin Carlile.

2017

I also went to the three dates that year and, this time around, I wanted to watch four of the headliners. This weekend was part of my traipsing around the United Kingdom and watching With Confidence everywhere, and it was, as always, a fantastic time. I learnt to manage myself and my time so I wouldn't be as broken as I had been the past year. I would love to say I experienced this edition as an adult, but some of the following memories completely invalidate this statement. Oh, vodka, my dear old friend.

Bands watched: Enter Shikari, Don Broco, Deaf Havana, Beartooth, Bury Tomorrow, We Are The Ocean, Andrew McMahon and The Wilderness, Bowling For Soup, The Ataris, Neck Deep, We The Kings, The Maine, Trophy Eyes, Like Pacific, Tonight Alive, Seaway, Waterparks, With Confidence, Boston Manor, Decade, Frank Iero & The Patience, Milk Teeth, Sorority Noise, Stray From The Path. (I'm not saying I watched full sets)

Memories include:

There was a Starbucks on the Hatfield site at the time, and I remember getting an iced latte before Deaf Havana and thinking "you know what would be a good idea? Pouring some vodka into this." I don't know what came over me and no, it wasn't a good idea.
Drunk me, in Hatfield, insisting on talking to Jayden Seeley (With Confidence) for what, to him, probably felt like hours, and to this day, I still have no idea what I even told this poor guy.
Drunk me, in Hatfield, asking Cameron Adler (Tonight Alive) to play a ten-year-anniversary show for The Other Side when the album had only been out for four years. (Also, being extremely emo.)
Drunk me, in Hatfield, telling Rou Reynolds (Enter Shikari) that his band's music was the reason why I had learnt how to pronounce English. (Long story short, I was obsessed with A Flash Flood Of Colour after university, and I used songs like Constellations and Hello Tyrannosaurus, Meet Tyrannicide to work on my English pronunciation.)
The story of drunk Rachel mixing names up and calling Jenna McDougall (Tonight Alive) "Jenna from Neck Deep" will always make me chuckle.
Meeting Darlene in Hatfield and Charlotte in Birmingham- both are my good friends now.
Ending up on RockSound's Instagram story because I crowdsurfed to We Are The Ocean. The caption said something along the lines of "You all look like you're having the best time at Slam Dunk!" The truth is, I was devastated because it was the last song We Are The Ocean would ever play as a band. I'm forever glad I followed Nathalie's advice and enjoyed it to the fullest instead of crying on the side like an idiot.
Seeing Seaway for the first time. So, so special.
Crowdsurfing to With Confidence in Leeds, getting dropped, and falling right next to Rachel, who I'd been looking for all day.
We The Kings playing Check Yes Juliet twice in the same set.
Seeing Bowling For Soup for the first time.
The first edition of the "getting up on Alice's shoulders" tradition.
A lot of my friends from Paris were coming to the festival and driving to Birmingham in a van, and I met up with them the night before, at the Uprawr pre-party. (Fun fact: I had missed my coach in Glasgow because I was hungover and messed up the time, and turned up at the Asylum four hours late.) We all stayed together in a house in the suburbs of Birmingham and drove to the festival together on Saturday morning. I felt so ridiculously cool, let me tell you.
I drove from Birmingham to Leeds and from Leeds to Hatfield with Jamie, and I have a memory of the two of us playing songs on Spotify without telling the other and always trying to one-up each other. I think we declared I was the winner after I picked This Could Be Anywhere In The World by Alexisonfire.
A Jeremy Corbyn chant during Enter Shikari in Leeds. Those were the days.
Falling head over heels in love with Trophy Eyes. I think I only watched them because I had twenty-five minutes to kill and Marie liked them, and it was one of the smartest decisions I made that weekend. (They weren't that many.)
Knowing everyone in the pit during With Confidence in Birmingham.
That big group of us dancing so badly at the Birmingham afterparty that a couple stopped making out to stare.

2018

The decision to, once more, attend the three dates of Slam Dunk Festival 2018 was made for me by the headliners: none other than my favourite band, Jimmy Eat World. It was the closest I've been to following them on tour, and it was a brilliant and perfectly bittersweet moment as the last notes resonated in Birmingham. It was the first time the South edition did not take place at the Hatfield University campus but in Hatfield Park, across the road from the train station. Despite the time it takes to get out of the car park, it's a great site, and I love that you never get stuck outside of a venue because too many people want to watch the same band.

Bands watched: Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, State Champs, Four Year Strong, Knuckle Puck, Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday, Lower Than Atlantis, Twin Atlantic, Say Anything, The Audition, The Dangerous Summer, Every Time I Die, Northlane, Luke Rainsford, Crown The Empire, Counterparts, As It Is, Me VS Hero, Trash Boat, Roam, Broadside, Speak Low If You Speak Love, Four Year Strong, Stand Atlantic, Holding Absence.

Memories include:

Seeing Taking Back Sunday for the first time.
Sort of watching Jimmy Eat World for the first time with a friend (tears and all, without having just met them and without abandoning them halfway through to go in the pit). Alex, this one goes out to you.
Making friends before Northlane because they were talking about The Amity Affliction and In Hearts Wake. Also ending up with a setlist and a big bruise down my forearm because of a crowdsurfer's shoe.
In Hatfield, I was so tired after watching Four Year Strong, State Champs, and Knuckle Puck from the pit that I decided I would take it easy during Trash Boat, and, next thing I know, they're opening with Tring Quarry, my favourite song of theirs, and here I am, flying over the crowd. Later that day, I'm eating chips while Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes are playing, feeling content and all out-crowdsurfed...until Frank plays Wild Flowers and mentions his famous women's only moshpit and crowdsurf. I threw the rest of my chips in the nearest bin and ran in instead.
At Slam Dunk 2012, someone from The Audition asked my name, didn't understand what I said, and called me Shannon instead. It stayed a nickname and a running joke with a friend who was there and, in her honour, I ended up watching them in Birmingham. I had a great time.
Some sort of out of body experience when I saw Marcus Bridge (Northlane) cross the pit during Stand Atlantic while I was bawling my eyes out for still unknown reasons to this day.
The FRUSTRATION of being in the seating area in Leeds for Four Year Strong, due to miscommunication from security, and consequently rearranging all my schedules so I could watch from the crowd the next day.
Ending up on national television from Alice's shoulders during Lower Than Atlantis, as you do.
Bonding with people over my Evertim t-shirt. That thing was a people magnet.
My friends did not stay for the Birmingham afterparty, but since I had a morning train ticket back to Watford, where I used to live, and no hotel, I had to. I ended up sitting on the floor, a little bored- it's not always fun dancing by yourself. A group of people picked me up and danced with me, which was the loveliest, most wholesome thing. At the end of the night, I sat down on the bridge between the site and station to eat the last of my breakfast cake (yes, you read that correctly) and had a nap in the airport. I think it was a goodbye to the afterparty.

2019

In 2019, the festival went back to its original two-day schedule, and the Leeds site moved away from the city centre to Temple Newsam Park. Though I loved running around the city centre, I have to admit moving to a wider space where, again, you don't have to worry about missing bands due to capacity is a smart idea. And, again, the line-up was so brilliant that going to both days was a no-brainer.

Bands watched: All Time Low, The Menzingers, New Found Glory, Neck Deep, Simple Plan, As It Is, Boston Manor, Story Of The Year, The Get Up Kids, Saves The Day, Plain White T's, Real Friends, Silverstein, Tigers Jaw, Seaway, Trophy Eyes, John Floreani, William Ryan Key.

Memories include:

I'm going to start with the gruesome. In Leeds, I watched Neck Deep from the pit, which I'd never done before. I'm a seasoned moshpit person, but I found this one particularly rough and ended up crowdsurfing only because it was the quickest way to leave. I thought I was fine until New Found Glory started playing, and I started having a panic attack. I don't know where my brain went on that one, but I thought I had two options, locking myself up in a toilet (for loneliness and quiet, in case anyone wonders) or going to the first-aid tent. Luckily, I picked first-aid, and I cannot ever thank enough the medic who took care of me, lent me her phone to join a friend and gave me the last of her bin bags so I could protect myself from the rain.
Ending up on Alice's shoulders during All Time Low, while wearing a bin bag.
Chloe, Svenja, Melanie, and I dancing like literal idiots during All Time Low in Hatfield. Just above us was the Fearless Arms pub, which had a VIP balcony where Patty Walters (As It Is) was standing. I can guarantee you that for a sizeable moment in time, he wasn't watching All Time Low.
Everyone knows this one by now, I guess. During Seaway, I helped a guy who was much taller than me to crowdsurf, pretty much single-handedly, because he was, let's say, not tragic-looking. A few days later, I found out my subsequent chest pains were a chest muscle inflammation, which tends to happen when you carry heavy things. Like, I don't know. Tall, attractive men in moshpits.
I crowdsurfed during Simple Plan's Welcome To My Life in Leeds, and the only thing I could think of was if fifteen-year-old me could watch, she'd be so goddamn proud.
I brought my brother to the Hatfield date and, despite hearing me talk about the festival for the best part of a decade, he had never attended. I gave him two recommendations, based on things I knew he'd enjoy: Tigers Jaw and Kublai Khan. (No, I could not have picked more different bands.) I lost him before Boston Manor and found him again during Plain White T's, his arms covered in cuts and blood- he'd gone into his first moshpit. He followed my band recommendations and then just walked around and discovered new things, finding two bands he now loves: Employed To Serve (the reason behind the blood), and Tiny Moving Parts, who are now one of his absolute favourites. (Again, I don't think he could have chosen two more different artists.)
Finally watching Trophy Eyes play songs from The American Dream.
Melanie declared she refused to crowdsurf and, next thing we both knew, she asked to be lifted up specifically during the line about the uncle's canoe in Seaway's Something Wonderful.
The person on crutches in the Boston Manor circle pit.
The top of the world feeling I get when I see Real Friends, and the unexplainable moment during Late Nights In My Car that was everything.
The way I scream the "I would have killed that motherfucker with my bare hands" line in John Floreani's Cleveland, OH, a bit too loud considering I hate confrontation and I'm usually quite soft-spoken.
John Floreani not knowing where he was at the Leeds date. It was eleven in the morning.
Changing my train ticket last-minute for Leeds because I simply refused to miss William Ryan Key's set.
Running into Busted in the Pret at Leeds station the next morning.

The 2021 line-up is, for a large part, the same as the pre-pandemic one. Quite a few of my favourite bands have dropped from it, I imagine for health reasons or because of travel restrictions, and I feel confident that the Slam Dunk Festival team will bring them back at everyone's earliest possibility. See, I could have gone all Karen about it, like so many people have, calling the line-up "a joke" after every band cancellation, whatever the reason, or telling the organisers they should just cancel, talking about value for money and all sorts of nonsense. I did make jokes, I did think about it, but at the end of the day, I couldn't. Slam Dunk has brought me some of the most fantastic, fun, ridiculous, and amazing weekends of my life since 2011, and I want to support them until the end of forever. I want to keep experiencing those stupid weekends, running on not enough sleep, pretending I'm going to stop dancing and crowdsurfing, and fooling absolutely no one, not even me. I want to keep watching my favourite bands with my friends and feeling home, feeling like I'm around people who get it. Which is why I wanted to try my absolute hardest to attend, and I spent the summer waiting for the travel restrictions to lift. I cannot start to put into words the excitement I feel at the idea of finding myself in a field, rain or shine, without a care in the world, hearing my favourite songs live again.

And, yeah, of course. I wish the line-up still included The Story So Far, Elder Brother, With Confidence, Knuckle Puck, Basement, Polaris, Stray From The Path, Grayscale, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! or The Wonder Years. I wanted to hear The Upsides in full or have a dance off in the pit while Grayscale would play Baby Blue. I wanted to cry to Elder Brother at lunchtime and end up on someone's shoulders while With Con would play Drops Of Jupiter. But I still feel utterly spoilt for choice at this year's edition, which is a great transition towards the second part of this post: the bands I will not miss and that maybe, you should watch too.

Objectively, after the complicated eighteen months the music industry has just experienced, only supporting the festival is a great idea in itself, regardless of who you watch. However, I thought I'd still share some of my top picks for the weekend, in no particular order, and for a variety of reasons.

State Champs (Rock Scene, from 6:25pm to 7:10pm)

Look, if you want the truth, I listened to Living Proof this morning, and I got so truly, honestly, utterly overjoyed at the idea of watching them again that I almost cried in my Tim Hortons Iced Capp. In less emotional terms, if you find yourself at Slam Dunk and you have never seen Champs before: stick around. They have some of the most infectious and sincerely enthusiastic energy I have ever witnessed in a band, and their live shows are always full of joy. All their songs are perfectly crafted pop-punk anthems and, it will undoubtedly be a highlight of my year to sing along to All You Are Is History, Criminal, Secrets, or Elevated, to dance like your local drunk white dad to Frozen, and to check out their newest single, Just Sound, which will surely get its first-ever live outing in Leeds.

Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls (Punk In Drublic Stage, from 3:25pm to 4:15pm in Leeds and from 7:35pm to 8:25pm in Hatfield)

Frank Turner was one of the festival's latest announcements, a replacement on the Punk And Drublic stage, and I could have not been any happier to see his name appearing on the poster. I think I have, before, told the story of myself getting lost at 2000 Trees and ending up in the tent where he played, wanting to know the words so I could take part in the deafening singalong. Five years later, I know the lyrics, thank you very much, and I am excited to be a part of yet another one of Frank's shows, with everyone else. There's nothing like the number announcement at the start, like the unstoppable energy emanating from Frank and his musicians, and, to me, there will never be anything like hearing Get Better live. Long story short, this song is an anthem to me, the kind of track that makes me feel larger than life, and if you want to see me at my happiest, find me on the Punk And Drublic stage while Frank plays it. You'll see.

We Are The In Crowd (Rock Scene, from 4:10pm to 4:50pm)

In all honesty, I think We Are The In Crowd are one of the bands I misunderstood the most at the height of their popularity. I feel like in a part of the scene, they were a band it was cool to not like, a guilty pleasure at most, and I have to say that, despite seeing them live, I didn't give it much thought. After their split, I rediscovered their music, by way of their song The Best Thing (That Never Happened) being played at every emo night. It's the perfect angry-at-a-boy tune, and it's so satisfying to dance and scream along to when you just want to get those feelings out. Now I have learnt to appreciate their super catchy pop-punk, I am excited at the stars aligning and giving me a second chance to see them again, for real.

Mayday Parade (Rock Scene, from 5:15pm to 6pm)

Florida natives Mayday Parade are linked to some of my earliest Slam Dunk memories, and seeing them grace the festival with their presence again will feel like a homecoming celebration to me. They are always so fantastic to watch live, a perfect combination of absolutely heartbreaking music (I swear if they get the piano out!) and some of the most infectious power-pop and pop-punk tunes this world has ever seen. (Also, the key chance in Jersey is a, unbelievably satisfying, and b, an unmissable crowdsurfing moment of mine.) It took me longer than I would have liked to discover the subtleties and beauty of their latest full-length record, 2018's Sunnyland, and I hope they play a couple of songs live. I need the full experience now.

While She Sleeps (Jägermeister Stage, from 8pm to 9pm)

Sheffield-born While She Sleeps, quite simply put, know in their core how to put on a live show, which is a reason why a, they are headlining the Jagermeister stage and b, you should not miss them. They have a way of getting involved and breathing new life into songs that are already massive on record in a live setting, which is what drew me in, all those years ago. Slam Dunk Festival will be the perfect occasion for them to play songs out of their 2021 record, the anthemic Sleeps Society, as well as old fan favourites such as Silence Speaks, Seven Hills (we're manifesting), or Four Walls. I don't doubt there will be a huge crowd at their 8pm set.

Other artists you should pay attention to:

- Boston Manor and Holding Absence, who both headline the Key Club Stage.

- Lizzy Farrall and For You The Moon for homegrown talent.

- Slam Dunk will (sadly) be Blood Youth's frontman Kaya Tarsus' last shows with the band, and he deserves the biggest send-off. Let's make it feel like it's not eleven in the morning when they play.

- Trash Boat, Bury Tomorrow, As It Is: more UK-based bands that will finally get to play their new music live!

- Who's the secret guest on the Key Club stage going to be? What do we all think of the rumours? You Me At Six? Neck Deep? Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes? McFly? Bring Me The Horizon? Turn up at 1:50pm in Leeds and 4:10pm in Hatfield to find out.

- More comebacks: Your Demise and Funeral For A Friend, both ready to tear out the Jagermeister stage.

- Roam, Waterparks, festival-favourites Zebrahead, and Vukovi are always a lot of fun.

There is always so much to do, so many artists to see, and new bands to discover at Slam Dunk Festival: truly the best place on Earth.

(Disclaimer: Sadly no one is paying me to be this enthusiastic, I just really love the festival.)

Going Live

Live reviews : Simple Plan & Good Charlotte (Bataclan, Paris)

02:03

2017 has been a good year for a lot of things, so far. Music is one, definitely. Nostalgia is also high up on the list.

Tuesday night at the Bataclan held the fifteenth anniversary tour for Simple Plan's breakout album No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls.

Wednesday night at the Bataclan saw Good Charlotte returning to the French capital after a hiatus and a six year long absence.

Supporting both bands were young acts that I hope, in fifteen to twenty years, are going to make us as nostalgic as we all were these two days. Imagine us all standing in the same room again, headlined by the likes of these once young bands, fondly remembering that one time we tried to open a moshpit and someone pushed me because they weren't having any of it, so I fell over and cut my hand, or that one time we showed off our terrible, yet glorious dance moves.

Milestones are going up the ladder at break neck speed. With just one EP out (Equal Measures), they have found themselves supporting With Confidence on their UK/Europe tour back in March, but also Mayday Parade across the USA - and now, they're on the road with Simple Plan. Their catchy pop-punk sound is efficient and their lyrics are great for a singalong (which we do when we get back up from the Moshpit Incident). Their music should be working wonders around the continent this summer, and it's easy to see why they're growing as fast as they are.

(Prior to that, the band performed quite the extensive acoustic set for La Maison Acoustique and sounded lovely. They also are the only Mancunians who don't know the words to Wonderwall. Who knew such a thing was possible)

Mallory Knox aren't exactly new. In the UK, they have no problem selling out venues of the thousand capacity variety, they are set to headline 2000 Trees Festival in a couple of weeks, and their three albums (2013's Signals, 2014's Asymmetry and this year's Wired) have done pretty well and provided the other side of the Channel with a bunch of excellent, polished, straight up alt-rock tunes. On the old continent, though, it's a different story. They have only ever come over as a support act (notably for Finch, One OK Rock or Sleeping With Sirens), or for festivals, and are only just starting to make a name for themselves. In the Bataclan, you can tell that some people know who they are, and that the vast majority of the crowd is enjoying what they're hearing. I can't blame them. What we've all heard that night is of the outstanding kind, for Mallory Knox never fail at delivering brilliant peformances, urgent and precise all at once, with flawless sound and vocals each and every time.

Issues, coming straight from Atlanta, Georgia, aren't exactly newbies either. The band, who was born from the ashes of Woe, Is Me in 2012, have already released two albums (a self-titled in 2014 and Headspace last year). They don't make the trek to Europe often enough to anyone's taste, and their Bataclan appearance in support of Good Charlotte is actually their first time in France. There's nothing wrong you can say about their performance. Every single song is the catchiest little thing ever, and if we tried hard enough, Issues could probably end up in the charts. Frontman Tyler Carter is one of these people in our scene who has a stunning RnB voice and could be a pop star, but has somehow decided to stick to alternative music. Every track is delivered with an impressive perfection and precision, but it doesn't seem to work on the Bataclan crowd - I suppose the sound is just a little too different from Good Charlotte's, and it's not what the audience expect or want tonight. Their music sadly falls on deaf ears, and it's a shame considering how good their performance is. Oh, well. Their loss. I enjoyed my terrible singalong to Never Lose Your Flames and Mad at Myself. I really can't sing.

State Champs might be the youngest band on tonight's bill, but there is no doubt they will have made an impression on the French crowd. From the get go, their fans (and they are aplenty in the room) start bouncing up and down, and open up a moshpit in joyous harmony. (Harmony, though, can't be used to describe the attempts at crowdsurfing - it seems Good Charlotte's crowd aren't happy with people crawling on top of their heads). The words to their sunny pop punk tunes (notably Remedy, Elevated or All You Are Is History) are easily echoed around the room, and if you didn't know, you could almost think they were the headliners. On stage, the band is energetic and jumps about the place, spins around - who's more energetic, the band or the crowd, it's hard to tell. Their music is the closest to Good Charlotte's in sound, and it wouldn't be surprising if they had earned themselves a fair amount of new fans with that tour.

Sleeping With Sirens might have four albums out, and might be one of the biggest names in the scene, and yet, they have never been to France before. I suppose it's now easy to picture the crowd's high level of expectation and excitement when the Americans come on stage - most people have waited for this moment for years. I have an issue with Sleeping With Sirens - I just don't like the vocals. During their forty-something minute set, they play banger after banger, I know more lyrics than I care to admit, and I can objectively say that their songs are very good - I just can't shake off the fact that I don't like the vocals. Each to their own, right? Personal taste aside, the band's performance is solid, and frontman Kellin Quinn's beatboxing of the Mario Bros theme to keep the audience occupied while a technical issue was being resolved was a surprising addition to the set. (I enjoyed it more than I ever thought I would ever enjoy a beatbox version of the Mario Bros theme) I can't deny they are a good band. I suppose I'll just keep on liking the couple of songs I like (If You Can't Hang and Do It Now, Remember It Later), and stay fairly neutral about them.

Simple Plan and Good Charlotte are bands that have made their way into my life at the same time, give or take a couple of months.
I was fifteen when I first heard the Canadians' Welcome to My Life in a car ad on television, and I was sixteen or seventeen when my friend Magali lent me her MP3 player for me to get new tunes. I found Good Charlotte's My Bloody Valentine in there and became hooked. The main point is - I was a teenager, and both bands shaped my formative years, exposing the emo in me to the world. (I don't think the world really needed it, but here we are)

Both tours have an air of nostalgia about them. Simple Plan are celebrating the fifteen year anniversary of their debut album, No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls, and Good Charlotte are making a comeback after a four year hiatus. During the night, both bands will talk about taking it back to 2002, or 2007, telling us that we have all grown up together - ain't that the truth. Watching such iconic bands with my friends for the first time is special. We share stories. One is definitely going to cry to Perfect because it pulls on their heartstrings. One wants us to have a dance to My Alien for her because it's her favourite song. One has hoped to hear Grow Up live for the past ten, fifteen years. When it comes to Good Charlotte, one is excited to hear The Young and the Hopeless, more than any other song on the setlist. One is going to jam to Girls & Boys like there's no tomorrow. One remembers that I Just Wanna Live is the first song of theirs she's ever heard. All of us have stories related to those bands. They made us who we are, they most likely were our gateway into pop-punk, into alternative music in general, they propelled us into the scene we are a part of.

More than being important parts of who we are, Good Charlotte and Simple Plan are truly great live bands. It's been fifteen years, and Simple Plan still jump about on stage with an unmatched energy. The bands I listen to and watch live that display that much constant energy are very few. When you watch them, you watch a band who very, very obviously wanted to still be on a stage fifteen years after their first record, who probably still want to be on a stage fifteen years from now, if anyone will still have them. They still have the impertinent charm, the banter that made them the household name they are, they are still very true to what made them. They still have a knack at interacting with the crowd, a knack few other bands have - obviously, speaking French helps them greatly in France, and yet it's about more than the language. Getting people with posters on stage for a group picture is a nice, friendly touch, having drummer Chuck Comeau sing the end of a song, then stagedive while frontman Pierre Bouvier plays the drums is another brilliant moment, not hiding why bass player David Desrosiers is not on the tour is honest and very welcome. I have been listening to Simple Plan for twelve years, now, ever since I was a fifteen year old with no direction, no sense of style and no words to express my teenage angst. Catch me at whatever tour the Canadians will surely do in twelve years' time (and, hopefully before that). I'll still be here singing my little heart out.

Good Charlotte tell us they have been a band since 1996. When the date hangs in the air, we all look at each other, wondering what we were all doing back then, back in the day, how old we were. I was a six year old child whose musical world revolved around French boy bands and the Spice Girls, and it's mindblowing to think that in the meantime, somewhere in America, a band who would change my life was jamming their first ever tunes and trying to find their feet. Twenty one years later (gasp!), Good Charlotte are on a stage in Paris, and it seems that after the break, they are here to stay. No one mentions the hiatus, like it's a dirty word, but mostly like it never happened, like Good Charlotte never went anywhere. When you watch them on a stage, nothing has changed. Sure, they don't look the way they used to, they don't look like the pictures I used to see in magazines before I had any way of listening to them. Gone are the eyeliner and the raven black spikes bigger than my hands, but Good Charlotte, at heart, are still the same band. They're still the kids who had nothing, and somehow made it, a real American Dream story this scene doesn't seem to have anymore. It still shows, in a way. There is so much emotion in the way they perform. They are not a band who jumps around and spins until they are dizzy, they don't really tell jokes. They are all about the emotion, even during now alternative club night classic numbers such as The Anthem or Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Somehow, it feels like they still know what it feels like to be the outcast, to be the kid who gets picked last in gym class, to be the kid no one looks twice at. It something that never goes away, something you learn from and, in Good Charlotte's case, something that you turn into something beautiful. Thir live performance is nothing short of utterly beautiful, so heartfelt and real it hurts a little bit. Hold On will always pull on my heartstrings, will always throw me back to times when music was the sole thing I had. I still know what it feels like to be the kid who has nothing, to be the kid who is angsty enough to listen to My Bloody Valentine every Valentine's Day because she feels like no one will ever love her (I didn't know it was a song about murdering someone, sue me, I was sixteen and didn't speak English), to be the kid who had nothing but a couple of records and a whole lot of hope. I'm not anymore. I'm a grown woman who smiles when My Bloody Valentine comes on, who dances to The Anthem with a drink in hand and her best friends in tow, who jellyfishes in a moshpit to Dance Floor Anthem, I'm a grown woman with a lot of records, a lot of feelings, a lot of hope and a lot going on.

Those two nights watching the bands who made me the person I am today, and the bands who give me adventures with my friends were very special times for me. I suppose, every once in a while, the angsty teen I once was has to come out again to meet up with the emotional adult I have become, so they can have a dance together.

as it is

Live review : State Champs (Boule Noire, Paris)

02:04

This is a question for State Champs - how on Earth do you do it? HOW.

I only managed to catch Northbound's last two songs, so I'll keep it short and sweet - just like them (the sweet part, I mean). Their catchy, slightly emo sound reminds me of a certain little band I like very much called Modern Baseball, and in the space of two songs, ten minutes at most, they managed to make me want to give them a more thorough listen, and to make me wish I'd seen the whole thing. Not too bad for just ten minutes.

In front of a sold out Boule Noire, As It Is take the stage. The Brighton pop punks have not graced our capital with their presence in two years, and since then, everything has changed. They now have two albums out and a full room ready to sing along to every word the band will sing. The bigger part of the set is dedicated to okay., which they have released a month ago, but golden oldies like Can't Save Myself or Speak Soft easily find their place and are met with the same amount of joy and enthusiasm as their most recent counterparts. The band managed to rise above the sound issues (their mixes got mixed up and none of them was hearing the right thing, if I got that right), and offered us, as always, a lovely and heartfelt moment in their company. A personal highlight was The Coast Is Where Home Is, written about their hometown, that made me tear up a little bit - I miss the place more and more every day. Closer Dialtones sees frontman Patty Walters crowdsurf and hears everyone singing along, and if that's not how you do a support set right, then, please tell me what is, I'm listening.

It's only the second time State Champs come to France, and the Boule Noire show, from the get go, is set to become the logical following to the absolute triumph the Backstage by the Mill gig had been. It seems every time the Americans set foot on a stage, they bring the party with them. It's no wonder why : their songs are full of sunshine and excellent dance moves material, and that's what you want at a party, right? The band themselves help the matter - when you're facing such an enthusiastic and cheerful group of people, the only thing you want is to join in. I've rarely, if ever, seen a band with that much joy in them, and it's so damn infectious as well. If I'm honest here, to me, State Champs are a bubble of happiness, a ray of sunshine, times spent laughing with your best mates in a sticky club in London or in a car park in Southampton, drinking cider and enjoying the last of the summer without a care in the world. Their music and gigs are linked to two of my favourite people on Earth, and just for that, they will always have a space no one else will ever have.

This tour is the first, proper European headline tour in support of 2015's Around the World and Back and, obviously, a big chunk of the setlist will be dedicated to the Americans' sophomore record. We get treated to Perfect Score, Shape Up, All You Are Is History or All or Nothing, and all these songs are a valid reason to put on your dancing shoes and a great way to realise that State Champs have a gift at creating songs that make it almost impossible to stand still. They know how to make every song the catchiest thing you have ever heard.

Contrary to what they had done on their last headiner, they offer us an acoustic interlude, a moment that shows us that frontman Derek Discanio doesn't just have the best dance moves in the building, he also has a pretty damn good set of pipes to his name. Old school State Champs fans rejoice at the rendition of 2010's Stick Around, and I kind of explode inside when I hear the first notes of If I'm Lucky. The track, featured on 2014's The Acoustic Things, is among my favourites by the band, and I've been dying to hear it performed since I first heard it. Last night, it was half-acoustic, half-electric, and I would quite frankly not say no to a studio recording of it - it was THAT beautiful.

After a bouncy encore composed of The Finer Things' Nothing's Wrong (FINALLY!) and Secrets, that will see a stage invasion taking place, the band leaves the stage on yet another Parisian success. One more time, they've shown me (and this scene) one thing : pop punk is definitely on the way up in the city of lights, and believe me, it was about time.