Slam Dunk Festival 2023

[neved386]

45 minutes ago, foolee said:

Didn’t go yesterday but sounds like a **** show. Honestly this festival never learn, Hatfield has always had terrible queues for food and drinks. Also, never had enough toilets. It’s so poorly organised and it’s just the lineups that keep people going to them. Any other business with organisation like this would be shut down by now.

Honestly, I didn't have any issues yesterday queuing for the toilets or bars. People just seemed to gravitate towards the busiest ones, but there were quite a few without any queues at all.  

Only issue for me on the day was that the sound wasn't great at both the Amazon stage and Kerrang stage 

[foolee]

3 minutes ago, neved386 said:

Honestly, I didn't have any issues yesterday queuing for the toilets or bars. People just seemed to gravitate towards the busiest ones, but there were quite a few without any queues at all.  

Only issue for me on the day was that the sound wasn't great at both the Amazon stage and Kerrang stage 

Good to hear some positives, a lot of negatives online! Hope you had a great time and shame about the sound on those stages! 

[robith]

The outside stages had some of the worst sound I've ever experienced at a festival

[Josnton]

Didn't have any issues whatsoever with queues and thought it was much better than last year. 

Apparently there seemed to be a fuck up with the parking though as they had to apologise for it. 

Sound on Dickies seemed to be affected by even the slightest wind. 

[northernangel]

2 hours ago, foolee said:

Didn’t go yesterday but sounds like a **** show. Honestly this festival never learn, Hatfield has always had terrible queues for food and drinks. Also, never had enough toilets. It’s so poorly organised and it’s just the lineups that keep people going to them. Any other business with organisation like this would be shut down by now. 

The worst part of the festival was the delayed band times. Even Vukovi had to cut their set short. Millencolin, Charlotte Sands, Four Year Strong to name 4 there were late on. Some bands were just booked is totally wrong slots. FYS for example was pouring out the send and Spanish Love Songs while not as bad was still rammed. It feels it all needs to be open air now or bigger tents as bigger sites. Dare I say, less stages but bigger stages?

The queues for the toilets especially I found no issue with. No WiFi issues for buying drinks. £7 a pint is rubbish but to be expected. I found crowds quite hostile this year. 1 goal got swilled for attempting to stop someone going through into a pit, bang out of order. But people need to realise too that it's not always possible to be at a set 20 minutes early etc and people do want to squeeze in, there is no point trying to stop them. Personally, if you don't want to be involved in all that then stand a little further back.

I have booked my hotel for next year but I do feel the site has outgrown the ticket capacity they are selling. It feels to the point where it is not the smaller festival that was more fun?....you definitely just have to commit to full sets now as going between stages in a short time is gone.

They have switched Rock Scene stage with Dickies.

[northernangel]

Just now, Josnton said:

Didn't have any issues whatsoever with queues and thought it was much better than last year. 

Apparently there seemed to be a fuck up with the parking though as they had to apologise for it. 

Sound on Dickies seemed to be affected by even the slightest wind. 

Luckily, I told my friend to park the other side of Hatfield station down the road to pick me up and we were straight out. It sounded horrendous getting in though with car parks.

[eatingglitter]

I had such a good time. My only gripes were:

what on earth was that water point queue about?

The Kerrang tent was rammed. Couldn’t get a look in at all. 
 

the crowds were so good apart from one aggy tit at Less Than Jake that was just going a little too hard in the circle pit, but then running away from it and randomly grabbing and throwing people. 
 

I thought the big green coach stand off at the end was kind of funny. 
 

However all in all I loved it and will definitely be back. I saw bands I’ve wanted to see for 20+ years and was able to get super close. 

[northernangel]

4 minutes ago, eatingglitter said:

I had such a good time. My only gripes were:

what on earth was that water point queue about?

The Kerrang tent was rammed. Couldn’t get a look in at all. 
 

the crowds were so good apart from one aggy tit at Less Than Jake that was just going a little too hard in the circle pit, but then running away from it and randomly grabbing and throwing people. 
 

I thought the big green coach stand off at the end was kind of funny. 
 

However all in all I loved it and will definitely be back. I saw bands I’ve wanted to see for 20+ years and was able to get super close. 

Enjoyed Charlotte Sands, Less Than Jake, Billy Talent the most. Offspring are one of my favourites but ready to move on.

I'll be back in the knowledge of the changes this year and how big it all is now although have enjoyed previous years more so. Last year was definitely better, as was 2019. 

[LazyDavid]

Drinks queues were better this year, toilet queues seemed worse (the men's urinals consisted of 2 4-person stands then 2 trees to piss around...embarrassing), sound seemed very meh all over. Luckily I got dropped off so didn't experience the car parking but it seems to always be a nightmare there. Hearing people queueing 3 hours to get in and go out is ridiculous. In that aspect the site isn't fit for purpose.

Food queues were long at peak times as expected, I just ate when the queues were short and seemed the usual. Does feel like headliner sets are always underwhelming at this festival, just can't put a finger on why!

[Sphinx.]

4 hours ago, foolee said:

Didn’t go yesterday but sounds like a **** show. Honestly this festival never learn, Hatfield has always had terrible queues for food and drinks. Also, never had enough toilets. It’s so poorly organised and it’s just the lineups that keep people going to them. Any other business with organisation like this would be shut down by now. 

First time to Slam Dunk and I have to agree with you. I came for the lineup, which was awesome. 

Logistically, it is easily the worst festival I have ever been to. 

Bars and toilets queues were bad, but there were some options that had acceptable queues if you were willing to walk for them. The queues for food were atrocious. I would've bought more food and drinks if it wasn't for the long queues. The food tents in the middle of the walk troughs is a terrible choice, why not have some food options in a designated corner of the festival area?

The Kerrang tent; I like the idea having 2 stages opposing each other, but in practice the soundcheck on one side is interrupting the set on the other and the set delays are almost inevitable with such a narrow time schedule. It should also be an open tent from both sides, not just one.

Worst part of the delays was that not all stages were delayed. The Offspring already started playing while Yellowcard was still finishing their set. Skipped the last part of Yellowcard because of that, only to find out that Shikari still took 10 minutes to start.

Crowd control when the festival ended was also a joke. Stewards trying to regulate the crowd by stopping a bunch of people, while others are breaking through the fences and walking past them anyways.

But hey, the music was good, that's what counts most for me. Happy to have finally seen The Academy Is... and Kids in Glass Houses. The Academy Is... and Underoath were my favorite shows.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Sphinx.

[Galactus]

If I'm being honest, if it wasn't for the advertising slogan for the particular audience Slam Dunk tries to attract, it would be on it's ass. There's not really another day festival like it (lucky for them). Yesterday proved they can't handle that volume of people and the whole layout and dynamics of the site needs re-looking at. Dissapointing but still had an enjoyable day.

[northernangel]

1 hour ago, LazyDavid said:

Drinks queues were better this year, toilet queues seemed worse (the men's urinals consisted of 2 4-person stands then 2 trees to piss around...embarrassing), sound seemed very meh all over. Luckily I got dropped off so didn't experience the car parking but it seems to always be a nightmare there. Hearing people queueing 3 hours to get in and go out is ridiculous. In that aspect the site isn't fit for purpose.

Food queues were long at peak times as expected, I just ate when the queues were short and seemed the usual. Does feel like headliner sets are always underwhelming at this festival, just can't put a finger on why!

The dickies toilets or lack of was awful I'll say. No toilets on the whole main stage field. They can't really no expect every man going behind the side busy to go toilet. They have certainly let the festival crowd past a stage suitable for the site. I can see Leeds moving from Temple Newsum to Bramham Park soon. For me though, put key club left and right and kerrang left and right into just two stages.

14 minutes ago, Galactus said:

If I'm being honest, if it wasn't for the advertising slogan for the particular audience Slam Dunk tries to attract, it would be on it's ass. There's not really another day festival like it (lucky for them). Yesterday proved they can't handle that volume of people and the whole layout and dynamics of the site needs re-looking at. Dissapointing but still had an enjoyable day.

I went in the days when the slam dunk bands were booked for reading festival. Pretty sure offspring played Slam Dunk as well as they didn't get an offer they wanted from Download which was probably headlining second max again. After the arena tour they did, they were within their right to ask for subbing and there's no chance they'd get it but no different to BMTH getting it off the back of one Wembley gig.

Edited May 28, 2023 by northernangel

[Mr_Lister]

We got the Big Green Coach to the festival yesterday, had no issues (even had a toilet) and got there before gates to the stages opened, will definitely book again if we're going next year. Especially after seeing the carnage with getting in/out of the car park.

Didn't find the toilet queues too bad, the ones by the Kerrang! tent were long but the ones around the corner were always much shorter and moved faster. Queue for food was the pretty brutal though. Horrible as well being in middle of two stages as you couldn't hear either properly so you couldn't enjoy the music whilst queuing as it just became a mishmash of noise.

The Kerrang! tent was a weird one, we learned fairly early on that if you went to the opposite side from the entrance, it was basically empty and loads of room for every band in there. It seemed people were getting to the centre and stopping which then stopped people moving past I guess. The Amazon stage sound was shocking. I only seen Holding Absence on it and it was brutal, sounded like it was coming through a cheap pair of headphones - ruined their performance for me and I've never seen them put on a bad one. My partner went to see Trash Boat before them and said it was the same. 

Personal highlights for me were Gogol Bordello (who were just insanely fun) and Four Year Strong (who bossed the stage/tent and put on the best performance I've ever seen them give).

One of our group got their phone stolen on site as well which was bit of a pisser. Doubt he was the only one.

[kjvffm]

Our group have been to 4 editions including yesterday and we all through this year felt far far busier than normal (expected with a sell out) but honestly it was a bit much. We were shocked at the queues for water/toilets at times, almost felt like they upped the capacity and reduced facilities/staff. The car park situation was actually a joke, shocking they can get away with it to be honest. I also thought the stage lay out was far better last year than this year, the Kerrang tent this year was carnage and surprised there wasn't a crush at times, was far better with the one stage that Neck Deep played being in the tent. There has to be some way of rearranging the arena to manage crowds better.

[Jericode]

Don't know if its just because I haven't been to Hatfield before but I honestly had minimal issues all day Bar phone signal. There was a longer queue for food around 6pm but that was bound to happen and we still got served pretty quickly. We didn't drive there and had the sense to leave part way through Offspring so dodged Amy issues on the trains, so the travel was easy too.

Kerrang Tent, as mentioned, seemed rammed most of the time but you could get in easily on the opposite side to the one playing. We turned up stress free for Menzingers and got to the barrier with no hassle for Creeper.

Only bands I watched on the two big outdoor tents were Trash Boat and Offspring and both sounded fine to me, although the weird Noodles medley seemed totally pointless in Offsprings set. Key Club stage Crowd seemed way bigger, was absolutely rammed when we went over for Scene Queen.

[sacred shape]

2 hours ago, Jericode said:

Don't know if its just because I haven't been to Hatfield before but I honestly had minimal issues all day Bar phone signal. There was a longer queue for food around 6pm but that was bound to happen and we still got served pretty quickly. We didn't drive there and had the sense to leave part way through Offspring so dodged Amy issues on the trains, so the travel was easy too.

Kerrang Tent, as mentioned, seemed rammed most of the time but you could get in easily on the opposite side to the one playing. We turned up stress free for Menzingers and got to the barrier with no hassle for Creeper.

Only bands I watched on the two big outdoor tents were Trash Boat and Offspring and both sounded fine to me, although the weird Noodles medley seemed totally pointless in Offsprings set. Key Club stage Crowd seemed way bigger, was absolutely rammed when we went over for Scene Queen.

Yeah once you learned you could push past the entrance, there was tonnes of space on the other side. Same issue today at Leeds too. I also got barrier for Creeper yesterday (and got a setlist!). A nice group also held my spot for me while I went to the toilet (I got barrier for Menzingers too and was desperate)

[iistroudley]

Went to Slam Dunk South, queues were pretty poor for everything. Gents toilets were so long that people gave up and just went up a tree! Bands were really good, only qualm was Boston Manor should've been on a bigger stage, felt wayyy too overcrowded 

[binge.to.bopo]

My only concerns after attending SD North yesterday were

- who's idea was it to put all of the food vendors in the middle, facing each other, where a sea of people are also walking in opposite directions trying to get from one stage to another.

- why wouldn't you open both sides of the Kerrang tent to allow more room for people to pass through. So many of us got trapped and crushed yesterday because people were trying to get in at the same time people were trying to get out. Not having a break between bands meant no wiggle room for crowds to disperse.

I got really lucky with parking, the queue on the way in moved steadily and I got parked within 13 minutes. Then as I was leaving at the end, I timed it just right when they'd opened the 2nd gate at car park one, so it took me 11 minutes to get out (and have some girls a lift to the Morrisons where they were getting picked up from).

 

[churlie100]

First ever Slam Dunk yesterday and probably the last. Not a terrible fest but deffo not a very good one. Truly some bizarre logistical decisions e.g. "let's oversell the festival by 5k, not increase the toilets or food stalls at all, then place the majority of foodstalls in a small corridor directly opposite one another in the main passageway between the two main stages" and just overcrowding in general combined with some truly trash audio quality.

Also, I really need to know the thinking behind the Kerrang tent. Too small for any of the bands in the top half of the bill in the first place, then you cram two stages into it on opposite sides and only allow entry from one side of the tent, meaning half the tent is always rammed and stressful and half the tent is always empty. The perfect festival experience! /s

Positives are that I really loved the key club stages, ended up seeing a few acts there I'd never heard of and missing some faves just because it felt like the only nice place to be on site. Lovely backdrop, nice open space, I like the side-by-side thing in that context, all good stuff!

Also The Maine were incredibly fun even though I'd never heard of them, Four Year Strong was very intense and Yellowcard seemed to sincerely really enjoy being there which really rubbed off on me as again, I'd never really heard them going in.

So yeah, decent enough day out but definitely not worth the price if it's going to be run that badly.

[northernangel]

2 hours ago, churlie100 said:

First ever Slam Dunk yesterday and probably the last. Not a terrible fest but deffo not a very good one. Truly some bizarre logistical decisions e.g. "let's oversell the festival by 5k, not increase the toilets or food stalls at all, then place the majority of foodstalls in a small corridor directly opposite one another in the main passageway between the two main stages" and just overcrowding in general combined with some truly trash audio quality.

Also, I really need to know the thinking behind the Kerrang tent. Too small for any of the bands in the top half of the bill in the first place, then you cram two stages into it on opposite sides and only allow entry from one side of the tent, meaning half the tent is always rammed and stressful and half the tent is always empty. The perfect festival experience! /s

Positives are that I really loved the key club stages, ended up seeing a few acts there I'd never heard of and missing some faves just because it felt like the only nice place to be on site. Lovely backdrop, nice open space, I like the side-by-side thing in that context, all good stuff!

Also The Maine were incredibly fun even though I'd never heard of them, Four Year Strong was very intense and Yellowcard seemed to sincerely really enjoy being there which really rubbed off on me as again, I'd never really heard them going in.

So yeah, decent enough day out but definitely not worth the price if it's going to be run that badly.

I think this is a very good take. Not sure about North but South suffered heavily from band delays meaning other bands were either listen to a song or two or just not worth it. FYS being one of these.

It was organised very badly. And simply if you cannot get sorted to get stages ready for opening times then either change your people or start later.

I agree with it being worth the price. Previous festivals I couldn't complain but this year felt heavily a cash cow for the best part of £90-£100 

[jonnyisRFC]

Who’s everyone’s predictions for next years headliners? 

Dickies Stage-  I’ll go with either Rancid, The Gaslight Anthem, Weezer or Jimmy Eat World. I think Blink 182 will be just slightly out of their budget. 

Amazon Stage- Neck Deep, Idles, Turnstile or Architects. I think Bring Me The Horizon will be slightly out of their budget.  

[northernangel]

1 hour ago, jonnyisRFC said:

Who’s everyone’s predictions for next years headliners? 

Dickies Stage-  I’ll go with either Rancid, The Gaslight Anthem, Weezer or Jimmy Eat World. I think Blink 182 will be just slightly out of their budget. 

Amazon Stage- Neck Deep, Idles, Turnstile or Architects. I think Bring Me The Horizon will be slightly out of their budget.  

I'm going Avril Lavigne, Rancid and YM@6 as 3 of them. Jimmy Eat World aren't big enough to headline the dickies stage now, they could sub it.

[Henrik]

Had a great day at South on Saturday...but, man, it is amazing how they continue to struggle with the basics when it comes to the organisation of this festival. You do start to wonder if they just don't give a sh*t. 

The bands saved the day once again. 

 

[Daimo]

Here's my Slam Dunk North experience.

Arrived at the "festival village" at 9:30am, pretty poor -  1 food truck serving burgers (not really breakfast fare) and the bar wasn't serving alcohol till 11. 

The Kerrang Tent - stank of manure and was a literal sh*t show, having one entrance was a nightmare and some of the bands in there could have been on bigger stages. However when you managed to get in past the crush at the entrance, the other side was pretty empty. I liked the idea of one band starting when another finished but it caused a ton of issues with access.

Was never really affected by queues, got food at a chicken and chips place pretty quickly about 1pm, the bars were quite quick even if the staff were a bit inexperienced/overwhelmed. Urinal queue was mental and I can see why folk were pissed off with the portaloo lines.

Sound Issues - I only really heard these during Millencolin where the sound was very poor, the rest seemed ok.

The place was rammed been going to Hatfield the last few years and this was mental, a bigger venue is needed if they want to sell that many tickets. We left before Offspring because we knew it would be insane getting out.

On another note my mate was travelling on the Big Green Coach from Edinburgh which never showed, was replaced by taxis and he didn't arrive until about 12:45pm

However I had a cracking day and saw some great bands, not sure if we will go next year unless there's some major changes

[Jonny_Naylor]

Slam Dunk Norther here, with the accessibility opinion. 

Every accessibility platform was too small with not enough chairs. Both main stages should have had two platforms. Accessibility parking was great. On concrete, not far from the entrance, and we got in and out very easily.

The Kerrang stage was an absolute shitshow. Sound was dreadful on one side. Could hear one band soundchecking while the other played which took you out of the experience and felt rude, but I get that there's no alternative. Key Club Stage was great when we were there, enough seating on platforms and the side by side stages worked well. Knotfest stage was fine, no issues. Glad we could bring camping chairs as we just set up at the back of the field for Shikari which was nice. The Dickies stage was insanely crowded, not helped by all the queues for food snaking through/up it. 

The food bottleneck ruined the day somewhat. An absolute danger for anybody, and some form of accessible food stall would go a long way. What irked me most is that there was a huge craft beer tent taking up a massive patch of land, that could have housed half of the food stalls that caused most issues through the day. All the bars had no queues as they were so big and worked so well. so put the craft beer there if you need, or just change one of the bars to a craft bar. I will never forgive that craft beer tent for existing. 

Sound was good in most places except the left of Kerrang where there were literal issues (Fireworks/Real Friends). Any sort of wind few the sound from Dickies around so certain bands like BFS and Millencolin were either a bit flat or just up and down which was jarring. Amazon stage was quite good, think it was placed away from a wind corridor. 

As for bands, girlfriends, Spanish Love Songs and Shikari my highlights. Shikari was dead behind the platform, and from what I gather, everyone else was at The Offspring. 

Won't go again unless the capacity is lowered, the site is made bigger, or there are substantial changes to layout.