Slam Dunk Festival 25/05/2024 (SOUTH)

LINE-UP:

12:30-13:00 ~ Caskets (GoPro Stage)

13:20-13:55 ~ The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (GoPro Stage)

14:45-15:25 ~ We The Kings (Slam Dunk Stage)

15:50-16:35 ~ Mallory Knox (Slam Dunk Stage)

17:00-17:45 ~ State Champs (Slam Dunk Stage)

18:10-18:55 ~ Boys Like Girls (Slam Dunk Stage)

19:20-20:20 ~ The All-American Rejects (Slam Dunk Stage)

20:50-22:15 ~ You Me At Six (Slam Dunk Stage)

I am not typically a fan of big festivals like these, as the idea of being squashed between hundreds of people for hours on end sounds like a living nightmare. However, I simply couldn’t pass up seeing so many of my favourite bands, one after the other, as opportunities like these are hard to come by. Most of the bands appearing were American, who don’t make many trips over to the UK, so this was a special occasion. Having only recently gotten into the world of live music, I had only heard about Slam Dunk Festival in passing and didn’t really know what it was all about. It seems to have a similar dynamic to The Reading and Leeds Festivals, taking place outside London (Hatfield, in this case) and Leeds. I read it originated in Leeds in 2006 and didn’t get its southern counterpart until 2010, as the festival’s popularity gradually increased. We had the South festival on Saturday and the North version on Sunday, as it doesn’t run simultaneously like Reading and Leeds, which swaps bands from day to day. The genres of the bands also attracted me, as they were mostly rock, pop, punk, emo and metal, which reminded me of the famous When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas. I might be in the minority but I was most looking forward to The All-American Rejects, having been a big fan of theirs since 2006. I still listen to their music on a regular basis, although they haven’t released a full album since 2012. I spent most of my time at the main stage, holding on to the barrier for dear life, so I missed out on popular bands including I Prevail, Pale Waves, The Blackout and Waterparks, as their sets clashed with who I was already seeing. There were six different stages, so every festival-goer’s experience was unique. You Me At Six were the headliners this time around, making it an emotional night, with this being their last festival appearance since they are set to disband after their 2025 tour. They have become Slam Dunk regulars over the years and were actually signed with Slam Dunk Records at the beginning of their career, making them the perfect choice to end the night.

They started letting people in at 9am and opened the main entrance at 11am, which meant I had about half an hour to get my bearings, fill my water bottle and bask in the glorious sunshine. The train station is located directly opposite Hatfield Park, making the site incredibly easy to find. It looked like everyone on the train was headed in the same direction and there were deafening cheers when it pulled into the station. There was a long walk to the entrance gates, which, tedious as it was, gave everybody plenty of space and kept the queues for ticket checks and bag searches short. Once they opened the whole place up, most people dashed to the toilets on the other side of the fence. There turned out to be no need to race each other, as there were plenty of portaloos throughout the park. I didn’t want to overdo it by cramming in too many bands straight away, so I ordered some chips with peri peri seasoning, which tasted a lot more like paprika, and continued to sit in the sun for a while. I heard most of As Everything Unfolds’ set and headed to the GoPro Stage in time for Caskets. Apart from grabbing pricey food, I couldn’t find much else to do between bands. My local festival, Belladrum, had a lot more going on, such as getting your hair/makeup done and performers doing gymnastics and impersonating celebrities. There were signings throughout the day, though these took place during major performances most people wouldn’t want to miss, which was a shame. I didn’t know Caskets beforehand and regretted not doing more research, as I was instantly captivated by lead singer Matt Flood’s voice, which I thought resembled Oli Sykes’ from Bring Me The Horizon. The band had the crowd in the palm of their hands for their seven song set, ending with their biggest song, ‘Glass Heart’. MF asked if anyone had heard their latest album ‘Reflections’ and asked the crowd to bounce in unity during ‘Guiding Light’, which we would have done without being prompted. There was someone dressed as a mime in the mosh pit, which was hilarious. He really stood out and got noticed by a lot of the bands. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus shortly followed Caskets and were also brilliant, even though they didn’t perform any songs I hadn’t heard in October, when I saw them last. Ronnie Winter, lead singer, said the band has been around for twenty one years but assured us not much has changed. He pointed out he still has long hair and his “pants” are still tight, but not as tight. Most people appeared to be waiting for ‘Face Down’ and ‘Your Guardian Angel’, chanting the choruses between songs, and were pleasantly surprised by their fun cover of ‘All The Small Things’ by Blink-182, who are RW’s favourite band. I left the stage in a good mood, after a positive start to the afternoon. I overheard someone complaining they don’t scream anymore, though I didn’t know what I was missing, as I haven’t seen many videos of their older performances.

I got a £9 sausage to last me until the end of the day and caught the end of Head Automatica’s set, before securing my spot at the barrier of the main stage. We The Kings had us wait an extra fifteen minutes, which was disappointing as we missed out on a few songs. They were suffering from technical difficulties, which must be why their set was cut short. ‘Skyway Avenue’ was first, which doesn’t have nearly as many listens on Spotify as I predicted it would, being such a classic. They threw out inflatable aliens for their catchy new single ‘Alien’, which I obsessed over after its release, and ended on ‘Check Yes Juliet’, their most beloved song, which seems to get played over the speakers at every concert I go to. Travis Clark, lead singer, strongly encouraged crowd-surfing, so I kept ducking to avoid being booted in the back of the head. Security were frantically scanning the crowd, for people surging forward at speed. He instructed us to do “The Whacky Inflatable Arm Man” dance move during the uplifting ‘I Feel Alive’, so he could film it and show it to his daughters! Mikey Chapman from Mallory Knox came out next, looking out at the giant crowd and admitting he was overcome with emotion, seeing so many people singing along to their songs. He thanked the festival for supporting them, when it was a fraction of the size it is now, and fans for sticking by them. Apparently this was their first performance after reuniting, so it makes sense for the band to have felt overwhelmed. I found their songs very melodic and easy to nod along to, even though I had embarrassingly never heard any of them before. They ended with ‘Lighthouse’, which was my favourite from their set, followed closely by ‘Sugar’. They had hundreds of passionate fans in the crowd, who obviously knew the words to every song. State Champs gave us an energetic performance of their album, ‘The Finer Things’, front to back, to celebrate its tenth anniversary. They also wasted no time promoting their exciting upcoming album and tour. I saw them back in February, when they opened for Simple Plan, and was hoping for ‘Where I Belong’, which they wrote with them and We The Kings, as that would give TC more stage time – but no such luck. I was glad they added ‘Secrets’ to the set, as I know that one well, though I am always excited to hear an album in full, as that’s a rare treat. Derek DiScanio, lead singer, asked if anyone was new to their music, and to not be shy about it if they were. He summed everything up nicely by saying we all came here for the same reasons – to celebrate life, music and friendship. Boys Like Girls were a lot of fun to watch and strutted onstage wearing leather and smoking cigarettes, which I have never seen a band do before. I didn’t have a clue what to expect, as their musical style has changed a lot over the years, to the point where their first and latest albums sound like they were recorded by completely different artists. Their older songs sounded a lot rockier live, which I adored. Martin Johnson’s voice is incredibly smooth and I don’t think I could ever tire of listening to him sing. They discussed their recent album, ‘Sunday At Foxwoods’, doubting if any of us had listened to it, though they could barely disguise their pride. I had it on repeat when it was released last year and was delighted to hear them perform my three favourites from it – ‘Blood And Sugar’, ‘Miracle’ and ‘Language’. My excitement for the final two bands was really building by this point.

The All-American Rejects were absolutely worth the wait. It was their first time performing in the UK in ten years – their last time being at the same festival in 2014, as far as I can make out. They were as entertaining as I hoped they would be, with Tyson Ritter, frontman, chucking a bunch of flowers off the edge of the stage as soon as he made his entrance. Later, he addressed the girls who received them and sang directly to them. The setlist couldn’t have been any better, with mega hits such as ‘Swing, Swing’, ‘Move Along’ and ‘Gives You Hell’ from their various albums, as well as other favourites of mine including their 2019 single ‘Sweat’, ‘Fallin’ Apart’ and ‘Kids In The Street’, from their most recent album of the same name. The mime I mentioned earlier began crowd-surfing and TR said he might get dirty if they drop him, segueing into perhaps their most anticipated song of the night, ‘Dirty Little Secret’. I’m not sure if other people were vibing with them as much as I was since I was the only person laughing out of everyone around me at times. Experiencing the band live for the first time was amazing, after watching their music videos for so many years. I love how ridiculously quirky they are and I hope they don’t wait so long to come back next time. You Me At Six finally took to the stage before 9pm and instantly blew us all away with their musical ability. They saved the best lighting effects for last and I was dazzled by the light show and the three glowing diamonds in the background the entire time. Lead singer Josh Franceschi gave an inspirational speech about how we are generally conditioned to aim low but how the most powerful dream in the room always wins. He told us to live our lives in colour and be ready to fail, as we become better people for it. They have always given everything they had throughout their career and he thanked the fans in the crowd for helping them make their dreams come true. They opened with ‘Save It For The Bedroom’, off their debut album ‘Take Off Your Colours’, which was successful right from the beginning. Sean Smith from The Blackout joined them onstage for ‘The Consequence’ and it was great to get to see him, as I wouldn’t have done otherwise. JF sang with his sister Elissa Franceschi for ‘Always Attract’, which he claimed was written as a love letter to their fans back in 2007. I was surprised they included a snippet of ‘Kiss And Tell’, as I frequently add it to playlists but didn’t know how popular of a song it was. They ended with the sensational ‘Beautiful Way’ and I didn’t see a single person in the crowd move once the band exited the stage. It wasn’t until the crew members came out and started clearing away the equipment that people gave up hope for an encore. Even I, as a casual fan, felt the evening was bittersweet. We were reminded the band still have their final tour next year, though it certainly felt like the end of an era, with this being their last festival.

I had booked a shuttle bus months in advance but couldn’t find where they were. This was really upsetting, as I would have had zero issues with how the festival was run otherwise. Apparently, the whole thing was a big improvement from the year before, which is good news. I headed towards the coaches, only to be told the shuttle buses were at the train station instead. I still didn’t see them, after walking around in circles and asking three members of staff for help, so I packed myself on the next train instead. I was relieved to make it back in time to catch a late tube to my guest house, as I was travelling solo and not used to the area. All that drama ended the night on a negative note but I enjoyed reflecting back on my photos and videos the next day, although I tried not to take too many, so I could fully live in the moment. Not many phones were up in the air during the performances and most people were respectful of others, which restored my faith in humanity a bit. It was definitely worth making the trip down from Scotland, as we had lovely weather and I got to tick all of those fantastic bands off my bucket list. North wasn’t so lucky, as the grounds flooded through the night. It seemed to not have many problems, despite the wetness. I came across some vlogs about both of the events, which are worth watching if you want to see exactly what the atmosphere was like. Seeing eight bands in one day must be a record for me, as I don’t remember surpassing that number at any of the previous festivals I have attended. It’s way too difficult to rank the bands in order of how much I enjoyed seeing them and it feels a bit mean to do so. I worried I might get bored, standing in the same position for most of the day, but the bands were all extremely professional and knew exactly how to raise the crowd’s energy levels and maintain our attention. I wish I could chill out further back in the crowd and come and go as I please but I always have a strong desire to get as close to the action as possible. It was a lot more comfortable than my nine hour train journey home the following morning, that’s for sure. I would return, if the line-up is anything like it was this year. I would probably seek out a hotel in Hatfield next time, though.

GALLERY

Note: I have researched the names of each of the individual band members but there may be errors. Please feel free to correct me if I misidentified anybody!

CASKETS