Slam Dunk & Launchpad Youth Showcase

Shekina Rose, Families Editor

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Slam Dunk & Launchpad Youth Showcase

21 June 2025

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

A youth band playing guitars Slam Dunk & Launchpad Youth Showcase
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired
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Forget bedtime, kids, Leeds is staying up late (well, until 9:30pm) for a live, family friendly music night on Saturday 21 June that puts the spotlight on the next generation of incredibly talented rockstars. Launchpad and Slam Dunk have teamed up to bring you a brand-new Youth Showcase, where five bands made up of youngsters aged 18 and under from West Yorkshire will take over one of the city’s most popular grassroots music venues, The Wardrobe.

DukTape, Vertigo, Roadkill, The Bellatones, and Ayrborne are the names of the five awesome bands who will be playing, bands made solely of teenagers, all already writing and performing their own music. Their friends and family members, and also people who just love music are invited to come along, cheer them on, and witness the kind of talent that can often take years to discover.

The Slam Dunk & Launchpad Youth Showcase is part of the Launchpad Futures initiative, which gives young people across Yorkshire an insight into music careers, from songwriting and stage presence to all the behind-the-scenes wizardry that makes all the magic happen.

Plans are already in motion to make the Youth Showcase a regular event, with open calls for new performers and even stronger links to youth programmes across the city. So if you want to say “I saw them before they were famous,” now’s your chance. So book your tickets, show your support, and bob your heads on the dance while watching the future of Yorkshire music live on stage.

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