UK progressive, alternative metal band HAKEN recently returned with their first new music in 3 years, and they continue with another brand new track titled ‘bleeding sky’. As with ‘in a fever dream’, this new track was co-produced and mixed by George Lever (Loathe, Sleep Token), crafting some of the most emotionally direct material of the bands career so far. On this song, the band recruited Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood (Periphery) to play bass.
Watch the visualiser for ‘bleeding sky’ (created by Oliver Kember) here:
Haken will return to the stage on the 27th September to headline Euroblast Festival in Germany.
HAKEN are:
Ross Jennings
Richard Henshall
Pete Jones
Ray Hearne
The expansive, highly profitable business empire of progressive rock icon Maynard James Keenan has officially hit a major legal roadblock in the Southwest. Known globally as the enigmatic frontman for multi-platinum powerhouses Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer, Keenan has spent the last two decades positioning himself as a dominant force in Arizona’s luxury beverage industry.
However, a newly surfaced civil filing has thrust his latest craft spirits venture into the courtroom. A former management partner alleges a calculated, bad-faith corporate conspiracy designed to strip him of his executive oversight and lock him out of the company books after he reported alleged illegal conduct at Keenan’s other operations.
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Want the direct, real-time tracking on rock icon legal disputes, exclusive courtroom transcript breakdowns, and behind-the-scenes business news shaking up the hard rock circuit? Turn up the Loaded Radio Daily Podcast on your preferred streaming network to hear Scott Penfold break down this developing civil battle, or stream 24/7 high-decibel commercial-free metal directly via our native digital player below.
The Retaliation Matrix: How the Gin Venture Fractured
According to the official legal complaint, Potions LLC was originally governed by a strict four-member board of managers consisting of Sanclemente, Keenan (who holds a 31.6% interest), White (22.8%), and Arnold (22.8%). Under the company’s July 2024 operating layout, Sanclemente was explicitly selected by the board to manage, operate, and guide the day-to-day logistics of the Thirteen Moons Gin rollout, due to his extensive operational background and industry qualifications.
The relationship reportedly deteriorated rapidly during the autumn of last year. Sanclemente documents that on September 30 and October 10, 2025, he formally lodged a series of internal compliance complaints regarding Keenan’s conduct at his other northern Arizona business entities, which Sanclemente noted he believed to be illegal.
The lawsuit alleges that exactly one month later, the remaining board members, led directly by Keenan, initiated a hostile and highly coordinated internal campaign to completely neutralize Sanclemente’s authority within the distillery.
“Defendants’ actions were in bad faith and committed solely as a means of retaliation and not for any legitimate business reason,” Sanclemente asserts in the court filing.
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The Corporate Lockdown: Shut Out From the Ledger
According to the filed civil tracking parameters, the retaliatory campaign went far beyond a simple change in titles. Sanclemente alleges that Keenan and the co-defendants systematically stripped him of his daily operational oversight, banned him entirely from the craft company’s physical headquarters, and unilaterally voided his existing consulting agreement.
Furthermore, Sanclemente claims that despite sending formal written requests to examine the corporate books on January 9, January 12, and January 13, 2026—as explicitly permitted under the Potions Operating Agreement and Arizona Revised Statutes—the company has continuously failed and refused to comply with the requests.
Demanding Punitive Damages and an Accounting Audit
Because the defendants allegedly represented to initial financial backers that Sanclemente would be the primary mind driving the day-to-day mechanics of Thirteen Moons Gin, the lawsuit notes that investor funding was secured in direct reliance on his involvement. Sanclemente argues that by cutting him out, the brand is actively misleading its financial foundation.
As a direct result of the alleged contractual breaches, Sanclemente is pursuing formal claims for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Sanclemente is asking the Maricopa County Superior Court to force Potions LLC to hand over all accounting ledgers for inspection, while seeking substantial punitive damages for what he defines as “willful, extreme, outrageous and malicious conduct,” along with full reimbursement of his escalating attorney’s fees.
At the time of tracking, neither Maynard James Keenan nor the remaining named defendants have issued a public comment or filed a formal response to the civil complaints. The claims brought forward by Sanclemente remain untested allegations in a court of law.
FAQ: The Maynard James Keenan Gin Lawsuit
Why is Maynard James Keenan being sued?
The rock singer is facing a civil lawsuit from former business partner Dave Sanclemente, who claims Keenan and other co-managers wrongfully removed him from his leadership role at Potions LLC in retaliation for filing internal complaints about Keenan’s conduct.
What gin brand is involved in the legal dispute?
The legal battle is directly tied to the production and distribution of Thirteen Moons Gin, which is manufactured under the corporate oversight of Potions LLC and PotionG LLC in Arizona.
Does this lawsuit affect Tool, Puscifer, or A Perfect Circle?
No. The legal dispute is purely a civil business matter tied strictly to Keenan’s independent craft spirits and beverage operations within the state of Arizona, and has no structural impact on his active musical entities.
While alternative music purists recognize Maynard James Keenan as one of the most brilliant, eccentric vocalists of the progressive generation, the business community respects him as a hyper-focused pioneer of Southwest agriculture. Beginning with the founding of Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards in the early 2000s, Keenan single-handedly helped put Arizona’s Verde Valley winemaking region on the global map, navigating harsh desert terrains and local zoning layouts to build a multi-million dollar boutique empire.
His expansion into craft spirits with Thirteen Moons Gin represented the latest phase of his localized, farm-to-table corporate footprint. Because Keenan has built an impeccable, decades-long reputation for extreme attention to detail and rigorous operational standards, this sudden civil dispute represents a unique structural challenge to his public profile as a meticulous, hands-on independent entrepreneur.
Now that the initial legal coordinates of the Potions LLC dispute have officially been logged into the public domain, the floor belongs to the Loaded Radio family. Do you think this backstage boardroom friction will have an impact on the rollout of Thirteen Moons Gin, or is this just standard corporate drama that will be quietly settled out of court? Let us know your perspective in the comments section below!
The Legal Crossfire: Tool, Puscifer, and A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan has been named as a primary defendant in a civil lawsuit filed in Maricopa County, Arizona.
The Accusation: Former business partner Dave Sanclemente alleges that Keenan and two other co-managers conspired in bad faith to freeze him out of his operational leadership at craft spirits company Potions LLC.
Whistleblower Retaliation Alleged: Sanclemente claims the freeze-out occurred just one month after he filed formal internal complaints regarding Maynard’s conduct at other separate business entities, which he believed to be explicitly illegal.
Damages Demanded: The plaintiff is suing for breach of contract and fiduciary duty, demanding punitive damages and immediate, court-ordered access to the company’s financial ledgers.
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New Jersey doom metal veterans Solace have unleashed their final advance single, “Malengine (The Scaffold)”. The heavy, time-bending track offers a doom-laden glimpse of vintage heavy metal ahead of their highly anticipated fifth studio album, Fading Failing Ruin, which is scheduled to hit physical and digital shelves on 3rd July 2026 via Magnetic Eye Records. … Continue reading Solace drop final advance single “Malengine (The Scaffold)” from upcoming album ‘Fading Failing Ruin’
Gozu – Gozu VI (Metal Blade Records / Blacklight Media Record) [Rich Piva]
Yes, Gozu gets thrown into stoner rock band categorization, and for good reason. But no band swings like Gozu swings, and no band sounds like Gozu does, even with the seemingly thousands of stoner bands out there today.
This is very evident on their new record, Gozu VI, which shows some of their metal side too, but keeps their trademarked Gozu sound that you know and love and ratchets up the harmonies and catchiness that help make this band so special.
Marc Gaffney’s unique vocals are at the top of his game while Doug Sherman brings out his shredder for the eight tracks on VI. Banacek kicks all sorts of ass, with Sherman doing his best early 80s metal impression on the solo, simply ripping it up. Killer Khan is another favourite, and the band really layers in the background vocals and the harmonies to really make this group of songs stand out.
Of course you get the great titles that have no meaning to the lyrics, but with those lyrics you get some of the deepest, personal, and best songs in the band’s career. That is really saying something, given how much I love Gozu. Plus they have a song called Corinthian Leatherface which is great on multiple levels.
Gozu never disappoints, and they don’t here either with VI. They may have even exceeded expectations with these songs. Don’t let the 80s wrestling and old TV titles fool you. Gozu is not screwing around on Gozu VI, an album of the year contender. 9/10
Requiem In White – The Visible Heaven (The Circle Music) [Spike]
Back in 1985, if you wanted to play dark, romantic music in Boston, you were fending for yourself. There was no organized gothic scene to coddle you. Requiem In White built their own fortress out of classical operatic drama and jagged, raw post-punk friction.
By the time they took over New York in the late 80s, headlining over the likes of Christian Death and Type O Negative, they had become a myth, partly because their music was exceptional, and partly because they flat-out refused to play the media game.
After 32 years of silence following their painful 1994 split, The Visible Heaven is a resurrection that shouldn’t work on paper, yet it stands as one of the most vital, majestic things I’ve heard in a very long time.
This isn’t a band trying to copy modern “darkwave” trends or hide behind cheap drum machines. The record opens with the title track, The Visible Heaven, and the hair on your arms immediately stands up.
Lisa Stockton’s vocal range remains an absolute force of nature; she doesn’t just sing, she commands the frequency with a classical, theatrical gravity that most of the modern goth circuit can only dream of. Doc Hammer’s guitar work is right where it needs to be, thick, ominous, and shifting seamlessly from jagged metallic riffs to sprawling, gothic soundscapes.
The rhythmic spine of the record is incredibly bitter-sweet. While we deeply feel the absence of the late Chris Walsh on bass, the foundation provided on tracks like Ursuline Sister and True Lovers and Whores is remarkably heavy and physical. Javier Madariaga’s drumming retains that urgent, street-level pulse, a reminder of his roots in Reagan Youth which keeps the “gothic opera” tag firmly anchored in a raw, unvarnished punk reality.
Missa Brevis for the despised king in D minor is the absolute centrepiece of the record. It’s a track that highlights their unique ability to weave classical mass structures into a rock framework without ever feeling pretentious or silly. It’s dense, atmospheric, and has a cold-blooded elegance that reminds me of early Paul Chain or Sex Gang Children at their most creative. The guitars don’t just play riffs; they build a grey, towering cathedral in your living room.
The back half Solus Sum, Suffer And Sleep, and Reckless In Misery doubles down on the melancholy. I’ve been listening to Cold Or Divine in the car, and the way the vocals layer over that crawling, feedback-laden groove is pure, late-night catharsis and could be the reason for the odd speeding ticket late at night too. It’s honest, pained, and entirely unmasked music for people who understand that goth isn’t about the hair dye; it’s about the soul of the noise.
The Visible Heaven is a heavy, shimmering triumph of composition and intent, proving that some myths are entirely real. For those of us who still remember goth from the 80s, this isn’t just a record, it’s a home. 9/10
Iron Kingdom – Shadows And Dust (Steel Shark Records) [Adz Redpath]
Forming in 2011 in Vancouver, Canada This is Iron Kingdom’s 6th full length studio album and coincides with their 15th anniversary as a band, having had quite the illustrious career to date with support slots with everyone from Anvil, HammerFall, Angra, Metal Church and Jag Panzer to the mighty Flotsam and Jetsam, and with many festival and tour shows under their belt this group have a definite calibre and track record to be respected.
A self proclaimed self produced and mainly DIY group in most every aspect of what they do is not so common at this level and especially within the traditional, classic and prog metal genres. At this stage a band would usually hit big studios and big production to give the huge sound that is so iconic within these styles but to their credit they as a band have taken a different route.
Unfortunately this does show in the overall sound, whilst this is their first release in their own self constructed studio I feel it is underwhelming on the production front, lacking both definition and separation overall and in particular with the drums which are lacking a punch that is sorely missed, both the cymbals and guitars feel washed out and almost hark back to the mp3 era, the bass guitar is almost non existent sonically and missing the frequencies that fill the low end of the mix which even falls flat when the bass is alone such as on the intro of the track Blood And Steel and for majority of the record.
There is a sound here that speaks to everything being mastered at too low a hz level with samples sounding like they were low rez ripped from Youtube and a lack of space within the mix that even programmed music ad’s these days, this is missed greatly given the scope of the songs on display here and has more of a production sound that is reminiscent of the first Iron Maiden album before the remasters, not bad but not up to modern standards.
The musicianship here is very strong and undeniably adept as the band puts a strong foot forward in these areas most of all, and whilst being masterful in every instrumental aspect of their craft this release however simply lacks the songs to carry it to any massive heights in what is a very strong scene.
Mashing the more classic thrash metal and NWOBHM with soaring vocals and shredding solo’s mixed with the anthemic gang vocal sections and almost symphonic parts there is a clear calibre here but lacks its own distinct voice. Hopefully the next album will find them more at ease with their new studio and more able to elevate what they have as despite my criticisms this is clearly a band that knows what they want.
Worth a listen but not a head turner. 6/10
Your Spirit Dies – It Is Well (MNRK Heavy) [GC]
Lots to like about EP’s, if you like it you can dive into the rest o the bands catalogue or look forward to what is coming in the future, if its god awful you can be pleased that its short and you have wasted much time on it and move on quickly! So, with all that in mind, I have the new EP from Your Spirit Dies, It Is Well is it bin or get in???
They literally blast out of the blocks on Starless and it is full of the anger and brutality you want but the drums kind of drown everything out at first, when anything else does come through you get a familiar modern sounding metalcore sound that is overtly electronic and this takes something away from the overall sound, like it decent but it sounds to clean and produced, I know that sounds mental but you need a bit of dirtiness to really do this justice, I honestly have no idea why they have decided to put When Peace, Like A River on this as its just 56 seconds of ambient background filler?
This is really not needed and almost slightly insulting to include on this release, put it on an album to break up the flow of as an intro/outro on this? 100% pointless and annoying! So, Whispers In Omen is the next and final track, once again it has all the huff and puff but is just so overproduced that you miss certain things and have to go back to really pick them up and when you’re not actually that bothered about the sound it grates massively, the breakdown in this song saves it from falling into total mediocrity but only just the rest has all been done before and much better.
So, for me this falls directly into the move on quickly category, 2 songs are not enough for me to really form a strong opinion on a band and what I heard made me just think they are ok but I won’t be going out of my way to listen to anything in the future and that’s a shame. 4/10
Melodic classic rock outfit White Skies have announced an exclusive acoustic record store tour across England this July. The intimate run of independent shop appearances is scheduled to coincide with the highly anticipated vinyl arrival of their sophomore studio album, Shouting at the Hurricane, which lands on physical shelves on 3rd July 2026 via Conquest … Continue reading White Skies announce exclusive UK acoustic record store tour ahead of vinyl release
Mallavora vocalist Jessica Douek might’ve lent her impressive talents to Celebrity Traitors, but she’s using her platform to highlight the difficulties she faces as a person with a disability
Austrian black death metal titans Belphegor have officially announced they will unleash their magickal processions across Europe and the UK this autumn with the “Praise The Beast” European Tour 2026. The extensive trek will storm through Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Central Europe, and Poland before culminating in a run of exclusive UK live rituals. … Continue reading Belphegor announce autumn 2026 England tour with Krisiun and Asagraum
Twenty years ago, Slam Dunk was a single-stage festival in Leeds, headlined by Fall Out Boy. In the years since, it has grown into one of the UK’s biggest celebrations of alternative music, welcoming everyone from pop-punk icons and emo veterans to the next generation of hardcore, metalcore, ska bands, and punk bands.
A lot has changed since Slam Dunk’s first edition in 2006, at Leeds Millennium Square. The stages are bigger, the crowds are bigger, and the lineup now stretches across almost every corner of alternative music. What hasn’t changed is the feeling of arriving and immediately seeing thousands of people who clearly wouldn’t want to spend their Saturday anywhere else.
The first thing I noticed after arriving by train wasn’t the stages or which band was about to play. It was the people. Friends reuniting with one another outside the gates, groups comparing schedules and talking about where they should meet up since our telephone signal was lost upon entrance, I hope they fix that next year, and despite the heatwave and the sizes of the different crowd sizes, the atmosphere felt warm, welcoming, and excited. For all the growth Slam Dunk has experienced over the past two decades, it still feels like a festival built by and for the community that helped it survive.
OF COURSE, some parts of the experience were impossible to ignore. The heat was relentless. Bar queues became a running joke throughout the day. Every patch of shade was occupied by somebody trying to recover before the next set, by chugging water like there was no tomorrow. And as someone bouncing between stages, interviews, and the press area, I quickly learned that seeing everything on my schedule was never going to happen. Somewhere between standing in a queue for a drink and racing across the site, I even managed to miss half of State Champs’ set. Sorry!!!
Twenty years on, Slam Dunk still feels like a festival where everyone is trying to do the same thing: fit an entire weekend’s worth of bands into a single day.
Angel Du$t – Main Stage East Left
While there were a few anniversary shows, the focus wasn’t quite there. Angel Du$t felt like a reminder that the festival wasn’t built on nostalgia. But on new innovations.
By the time the band took the stage, the crowd was more than ready to jump into a pit. The heat wasn’t exactly merciful, but the crowd worked with what they got as the band went through their set.
But what made Angel Du$t interesting is that they don’t just fit into the hardcore genre. There’s so much more to them, soundwise, something weirder and more fun happening underneath it all. And everyone was there for it!
Boston Manor – Monster Energy Stage Right
Boston Manor could have easily spent their Slam Dunk set leaning into nostalgia. A lot of bands were doing that, and rightfully so. But instead, the Blackpool band used their time on stage to showcase just how they’ve evolved over the last decade.
Boston Manor’s set felt a bit like a tour through their entire career. One minute they were playing newer songs like “Floodlights on the Square” and “Passenger,” the next they were throwing the crowd back to tracks like “Laika” and “Stop Trying, Be Nothing.”
That balance paid off throughout the set. Older songs sparked memories that flooded back, while the newer material drew some of the loudest sing-alongs. Rather than looking backward, the band used their set as a celebration of everything they have become since they first started appearing.
Dashboard Confessional – Main Stage West
I only caught part of Dashboard Confessional’s set. Like most people at Slam Dunk, I was already checking the time and trying to figure out how long I could stay before needing to head somewhere else.
Even so, it didn’t take long to understand why so many people had made them a priority. Within minutes, the crowd had largely taken over singing duties. Chris Carrabba would start a line, and thousands of people would happily finish it for him.
Sadly, like many people at Slam Dunk, I found myself watching one band while keeping an eye on the time for the next, with The Menzingers waiting across the site. I eventually had to make a run for it before Dashboard’s set was over.
But from what I did catch, it was enough to understand why so many people had made them a priority. Even after all these years, the songs still connect in a way that few bands can catch.
Twenty minutes before The Menzingers took the stage, I was sitting with Greg Barnett and Eric Keen talking about growing older.
Not in the dramatic, rock-and-roll sense. Just life. Families. Kids. The strange reality of somehow being twenty years into a career that started because a group of friends wanted to play punk rock.
Twenty years in, The Menzingers still don’t seem entirely convinced they’re supposed to be here. When I asked what had kept the band together for so long, Greg’s first response was a joke about fame and fortune before both he and Eric settled on a much simpler answer: people kept showing up.
An hour later, standing in front of the stage, it was hard not to see exactly what they meant.
Opening with “I Don’t Wanna Be an Asshole Anymore,” The Menzingers were greeted by a crowd that barely needed warming up. If anything, it felt like people had been waiting for this set all day. Everywhere you looked, someone was singing. Not just the big choruses either. Entire verses disappeared beneath the audience as songs like “The Obituaries,” “Good Things,” and “After the Party” rolled through the set.
Earlier in the day, Barnett had told me that one of the best parts about The Menzingers is that their fans have grown alongside the band. “They’re seeing their stories in the same way that we are existing,” he explained.
Looking around the crowd, it felt less like an interview answer and more like a statement of fact.
The people who first connected with these songs aren’t the same people anymore. Some have children. Some have gone through divorces. Some have moved countries, changed careers, lost people, found people, and somehow ended up here on a Saturday afternoon in Hatfield singing along to a band that has soundtracked a large part of their lives.
That’s what made The Menzingers’ set feel different from many of the anniversary celebrations happening elsewhere across the festival. There was no need to revisit a classic album or recreate a specific moment in time. The connection was already there.
That same mindset has shaped the band’s upcoming album. Rather than looking backward, Barnett described the new record as an attempt to document the present. “It felt like we don’t really need to be looking towards the future or the past,” he told me. “It just feels like we need to kind of document what’s happening right now.”
In many ways, that idea also explains why The Menzingers continue to matter.
While plenty of bands spend years chasing the version of themselves that people fell in love with, The Menzingers have allowed themselves to grow up in public. The songs have changed. The people listening have changed. Yet somehow the connection remains exactly the same.
Earlier in the day, Greg had told me that The Menzingers’ fans had grown alongside the band. By the time “After the Party” rolled around, I didn’t really need the explanation anymore.
Taking Back Sunday – Main Stage West
Taking Back Sunday should have been one of the highlights of the day.
Celebrating twenty years of Louder Now at Slam Dunk feels like a perfect match on paper. Few records are as closely tied to the festival’s audience, and judging by the number of people packed in front of the stage, plenty of fans agreed.
Unfortunately, the sound had other ideas.
Whether it was where I was standing, issues with the mix, or just Adam himself, I spent more time trying to figure out what was happening than actually enjoying the set. Vocals regularly felt buried, and instead of being pulled into the performance, I found myself growing increasingly distracted by the technical side.
Maybe that’s unfair. Maybe somebody standing fifty meters away had an entirely different experience. That’s the reality of festival sets.
What I can say is that after spending most of the day running between stages, sitting through interviews, and standing in queues, Taking Back Sunday became one of the few bands I chose to walk away from.
Judging by the crowd that stayed behind, plenty of people were still having a great time. I just wasn’t one of them.
Slam Dunk’s twentieth anniversary wasn’t the only anniversary I was celebrating that day.
Slam Dunk’s twentieth anniversary happened to coincide with my twentieth as a Motion City Soundtrack fan.
I wish I could tell you I handled that fact normally.
Earlier in the day, I had been standing with Jesse Johnson and Tony Thaxton. A few hours later, I was standing in a crowd watching Motion City Soundtrack tear through a setlist that felt suspiciously designed to target my teenage years.
Fortunately, they made it very easy to remember why.
From the opening notes of “Some Wear a Dark Heart,” the crowd was locked in. What followed felt less like a festival set and more like a greatest hits collection for everyone who had ever found comfort in Motion City Soundtrack’s particular brand of anxiety, self-deprecation, and perfectly written hooks.
“Capital H,” “L.G. FUAD,” “My Favorite Accident,” and “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” arrived one after another, and judging by the reaction around me, I wasn’t the only person having a moment.
What I noticed most wasn’t even the songs. It was the people. Everywhere I looked, somebody was dancing, screaming lyrics at their friends, or throwing an arm around the person next to them. For forty-five minutes, it felt like everyone had collectively decided to stop worrying about being cool.
At the center of it all was Justin Pierre, who somehow remains one of the most relatable frontmen in alternative music. Twenty years on, he still performs with the same nervous energy and sincerity that made so many people connect with these songs in the first place. Nothing about it felt forced. Nothing felt like a band trying to recreate a moment from the past.
That’s what surprised me most.
For a set built around songs that have been with many of us for decades, Motion City Soundtrack never felt stuck there. “Attractive Today,” “Everything Is Alright,” and “The Future Freaks Me Out” got some of the biggest reactions of the afternoon, but they didn’t feel like museum pieces being wheeled out for applause. They still felt alive.
Maybe that’s because the songs have aged alongside the people listening to them.
Or maybe it’s because Motion City Soundtrack has always understood something that many bands don’t: growing older doesn’t mean leaving those feelings behind. It just means understanding them a little better.
Whatever the reason, twenty years after discovering Motion City Soundtrack, I finally got to interview them and then watch them play one of the highlights of Slam Dunk.
Some bands remind you of where you’ve been. Good Charlotte reminds me of where I wanted to go.
Growing up, I always liked how open the Madden brothers were about their background. They never pretended they’d had an easy ride. As another poverty kid, that meant something. Maybe that’s why Good Charlotte always felt a little more personal than some of the other bands I grew up listening to.
Their first UK appearance since 2019 was always going to be one of the biggest moments of the weekend, and the crowd in front of the stage reflected that long before the band even appeared. People weren’t casually wandering over to see what was happening. They were already there, waiting.
And once the set started, they didn’t stop moving.
What I noticed most wasn’t necessarily the songs. It was the people. Friends with their arms around each other. Grown adults screaming lyrics they probably first heard as teenagers. People are climbing onto shoulders to get a better view. For an hour, it felt like everyone in front of that stage had somewhere else they’d rather be than adulthood.
Maybe that’s the real reason Good Charlotte still works.
The songs came from a very specific place, but they never stayed there. Twenty years later, people continue finding pieces of themselves in them. Some came because they grew up with the band. Others came later because they discovered them. Standing in that crowd, the difference didn’t really matter.
For a band that once sang about wanting more from life, it was hard not to smile watching thousands of people sing those songs back at them all these years later.
And that was how Slam Dunk 2026 ended. Did I get to see all the bands I wanted to? NO. But does that give me an excuse to do two days next year?
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