Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

Me, Jack and a good friend of ours, Joe, were at Primavera Sound Barcelona in 2022, and after a wild couple of days in which we saw the likes of Pavement, Beck and Fontaines DC play some memorable sets (often not coming on stage until around 2 a.m. due to the heat), we were feeling pretty broken and fragile. First on for the final day was one of the acts we were most eagerly anticipating for the whole weekend… The legendary Mavis Staples.

En route we were equipped with some of the finest baguettes filled with Barcelona's freshest ingredients, meticulously put together by Slam’s very own chef, Jack Batch, after two days of practise/eating little else than bread, cheese and cured meats. Immediately upon arrival at the venue, they were confiscated by security which was very upsetting.

We soldiered on however, and Mavis was first on inside an auditorium, the only indoor stage at the festival in a room so dark that the three of us kept stumbling over each other trying to navigate our way to a seat. Anyway, although it was absolutely packed, we managed to find three next to each other in the end and safe to say we were all absolutely blown away by the show. Not only were Mavis and her band out of this world (her voice sounded incredible), at 82 years old she accompanied the songs with some wholesome and at times hilarious stories full of her Mississippi charm. Glorious covers of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That’ met the beautifully performed “Respect Yourself” and the set finished with “I’ll Take You There” - and oh my, did she.

It was the perfect remedy to mend our broken selves, sleep deprived from the previous couple of days. In the darkness we weren’t able to see each other’s faces, but as soon as the lights came on at the end of the show, it became clear that all three of us had been crying our eyes out at sheer greatness. And I’ve no doubt that we weren’t the only ones… In fact I’d bet that half of the auditorium was tearing up under the shadows of the stage lights. A gig we’ll never forget!

P.S. Much like a “bag store”, upon exiting the auditorium a space had been made to store our baguettes which we gleefully collected. A true happy ending.

Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

Hello there! I’m Jere from Heathen Hearts, and was asked to tell you about a show that has made me cry.

I have to tell you that I’ve probably never actually cried at a show, but this one was pretty special in all aspects of aggressive music and the metallic hardcore scene in Finland. To myself, as a young guitar-playing fan, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience with all these bands I looked up to. And still do.

The year was 2014, and Impericon’s Never Say Die! tour was landing in Finland, into a legendary venue called Nosturi (gone but not forgotten) in Finland’s capital, Helsinki. The lineup was mental: Terror, Comeback Kid, Stick To Your Guns, Obey The Brave, More Than A Thousand, No Bragging Rights and Capsize. Terror, Comeback Kid and Obey The Brave had made an indelible impact on this young guitarist looking for his place in the world.

It was in mid-November, so the weather was getting quite chilly in Finland. My best friend and I were eagerly waiting for this day to come after buying the tickets. We were not sure if the event was sold out, but very close at least, and while we were freezing our asses off in the waiting line it was one of the most exciting moments of my life to wait for the doors to open as well as for my friend.

A couple of the first bands we watched from the bar, getting in the mood before the main acts. If I remember correctly, the running order was Obey the Brave, Comeback Kid, Stick To Your Guns and Terror, which all of them exploded the roof from its place in their own way. During those bands, the whole venue was a giant mosh pit/dance arena and you could really see that the whole small scene of metallic hardcore fans was there, sweating, dancing and just letting loose.

In Finland though, stage dives are/were not allowed, though some of us had the chance to do that behind security’s back. Very nice! It was an evening that I think anyone participating cannot forget. One of the best musical memories ever, it was a night of community and belonging. Good times.

Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

V Festival 2004. We were young (well, younger), carefree and happy. A ragtag group of friends and lovers that spent most of their time together. Although we had all started going to festivals in the 90s, this was our first V… well, maybe not some of the others but it was certainly my first V. And my only V but that’s another story.

Now, being the sort of people we were (still are?), we were fully loaded. Enough alcohol to fill a swimming pool, an amount of mushrooms to give us some real feels (and no we’re not talking mushrooms you can buy in Sainsburys), at least an eighth of smoke each (remember when it was empirically measured?) and a cache of pills. Our usual festival stash.

Now, as you can imagine, my memory is not picture perfect of this event, so before you continue reading please be aware there may be inaccuracies regarding who played where and when, and even what day I’m talking about. That being said, let’s move on with the story.

I’m not gonna mention the names of people I talk about here as I don’t know if they’d appreciate me talking about their hedonism during their early, or earlier, years. We had myself and my girlfriend at the time; her sister and her boyfriend who was also the bass player of the band I was in; my longtime friend of many, many years and his wife; and finally the guitarist from the band I’d mentioned previously. We’d spent that Friday indulging in all our vices and watched many good shows and when we awoke on that Saturday we were still feeling it.

After a slow start to the day, the Saturday vibes were picking up. The beer was flowing, the smoke was burning and the pills were popping. I think the remainder of the shrooms were for Sunday. We were having a lot of fun, I know that for certain. But I couldn’t tell you who we saw play that day. I think we may have seen The Dandy Warhols at some point, and I remember Pink and Muse playing on a large stage round the corner, but like I say I could be wrong about that. All I do know is that we kind of split up doing our own thing and we reconvened once people had seen what they wanted to see.

We all got together again and there was a gap in the acts, but we were in the mood so someone checked the lineup for the day. Five out of the seven of us were 70s-born 80s kids and we spotted The Human League was about to start. None of us had owned any of their music and at that point we thought we knew at least one of their songs so we thought it’d be worth a look and headed to the tented stage they were playing.

The Human League started and we were pleasantly surprised that we knew the first song. Don’t ask me what it was now, I really do not know. But then they played the second song, and lo and behold, we knew it. And we knew the third. And the fourth, and so on and so on.

The gig was absolutely amazing. The feeling of pure joy at this unexpected performance, all the while surrounded by the people you love. The overwhelming feeling manifested itself by way of tears of joy from everyone in our group as we hugged, jumped and sang along with what we now consider to be classic after classic.

Even though that entire festival is a bit of a blur and memories fade and merge with other festival memories, that experience will stay with me forever. I can still remember the exact spot in the tent where we stood.

Thank you, The Human League, for one of the best and most memorable shows I have ever been to. Thank you, The Human League, for making me cry.

Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

I’ve been a massive fan of Mastodon for a very long time. Actually, I can pinpoint the exact date to when I grabbed their album, Leviathan, from Best Buy back in 2004. I’m actually a huge nautical nut also, and their album cover with the stylized art of Moby Dick caught my eye. So, I sat there in the parking lot waiting for my tattoo session and listened through this amazing and new sound of this band that has been in my top three for nearly two decades now.

Fast forward to the COVID era, recounting the highlights in the intervening years: marriage, moves across the country, a second degree in music, career changes, more moving, the loss of our first child, the birth of our twins and more career changes.

I’ve noticed that since I’ve become a parent, sometimes even benign things can heighten my emotions, so it made a lot of sense to me that when I went to see one of the first post-COVID shows with Opeth and Mastodon, I was very receptive to the experience, especially owing to the fact that despite the fact of how much I loved this band, this was going to be the first time I’d seen them live.

So, I jockeyed my way close to the stage and was four bodies back directly in front of Brent Hinds, and Mastodon proceeded to play an amazing show. They played pretty much all the songs that I would want to see (though, to be fair, if they played every song I wanted to see, their hands would probably fall off).

Anyways, they played some amazing stuff, and quite a few songs from their newest album, Hushed and Grim. I wasn’t as familiar with this release as their previous stuff, so it was fun to almost go in with no expectations. I also know how personal their music is to them, and how it speaks to many of their personal experiences, so when they played their song “More Than I Could Chew” I was floored. The melodies, and vocals, and the song’s structure spoke to me and because I have also experienced loss in a very specific way, it brought the emotions hard.

Mastodon continues to be a huge inspiration to me and the music I create with Cthulhu Dreamt, and a band I can listen to regardless of the mood I’m in.

Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

So, when I was a teenager, one of my favourite things was when I got home from school: I'd throw my bag down, chuck my blazer on the bannister and me and my mum would watch an hour of music TV. You know Kerrang, MTV2, Scuzz, etc. It was my favourite time of the week.

Before we found these channels I listened to mostly Brit-pop and punk bands my dad listened to on cassette. I fell in love with the angsty lyrics and guitar riffs on display; it felt highly relatable to me and my puddle soaker jean lifestyle. But king among them for me was Linkin Park.

They were basically my gateway drug to modern rock. I'd never heard such a fusion of pure aggression, melody and throwback hip-hop.

So then, picture the scene: it's the summer of 2003 and Meteora had just come out earlier in the year. With YouTube not being invented, I had no idea what to expect at my first ever live show. All I had to go on was glitzy music videos.

So there, in the crowd with my mates anxiously awaiting what was to come. As soon as the lights came up and the band exploded on stage… the energy, the performance. I was just overwhelmed. It was an experience you can only live once.

The crowd singing to every word, the jumping, the circle pits. I was overwhelmed with emotion that I couldn't keep inside my stupid teenage body. I desperately wanted to be the one on that stage making people feel that way from that day forward.

Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

Destin Cavazos, vocalist/bassist: Hey there! This is Destin, Alec and Henry and we are exPorter out of Santa Barbara, California. Usually we’re out here promoting our shows but this time we’re going to tell you all about shows that have made us cry… or almost cry. I don’t know how many shows we’ve seen between the three of us but it’s a lot and there have been some pretty special ones for sure.

Henry Kish, drummer: Well, I can't say I've ever cried at a show but whenever I see a band I love live for the first time, I always have this weird feeling of realization that these people actually exist. It’s almost a guilty thing, as if, “how have I never heard of this band before” but no crying.

Alec Cavazos, vocalist/guitarist: Yeah, I’ve cried at a couple of shows and they’re mostly Blink-182/Tom DeLonge related. He’s the reason I play guitar today and one time Blink came to the Santa Barbara Bowl so we were all stoked to go see that show.