This weekend that, as I type this, is coming to an end, was a big one for the UK as Slam Dunk Festival returned (I think that something else happened this weekend, but I’m not entirely sure).
My being a shithouse aside, this was an event I was interested in from the first announcement. Looking back on that first announcement, 6 bands were announced and 3 of them pulled out before the festival happened, granted at various different times. The big disappointment for me was that Rancid was announced but pulled out. No reason for this was given by the festival or the band, which was disappointing. The Used and Motion City Soundtrack were also a part of this first announcement but pulled out, both of these two quite close to the festival. These late cancellations were covered by The Wonder Years pulling double duty (in the case of Motion City) and the whole Jagermeister stage needing new stage times (in the case of The Used). Spanish Love Songs also pulled out due to members of the band/touring party having Covid-19 and not being well. I would expect to see The Used, Motion City Soundtrack and Spanish Love Songs rebooked for a future Slam Dunk, possibly as soon as next year. Rancid though, who knows? Ideally, I want Rancid to come back and tour the UK. They now wouldn’t be a draw for me at Slam Dunk because I would expect them to pull out, which is a shame.
Pre-festival disappointments are only a small part of the overall story, a story in which I would say is a positive one. I had a great day on site and saw some excellent bands/live sets. The weather forecast was a bit suspect at times pre-festival, and I was expecting to get soaked on my way to get the coach, and again on the way home after the coach. Neither of these things happened, which is definitely a bonus. During the day, it tried to rain a few times but it didn’t last very long and there were times when the weather was just glorious. No complaints from me, that is for sure! I used Big Green Coach company for the first time to get to and from the festival, and it was a painless experience. We arrived on site in good time to get into the arena on time (ha...). There was a delay leaving but with the number of people trying to leave the site at the same time, it would be unkind to blame Big Green Coach for this. I would definitely consider using them again.
I heard someone on the coach on the way back saying they had never been to a more poorly organised festival. I don’t know if that is fair (I don’t know what other festivals this person has been to), but I do have some thoughts on this:
“Arena opens at 9am. Gates open at 11am. Music starts at half 11”. That is the plan and there was a similar plan in 2019 when I last attended Slam Dunk (though if memory serves, the music started a touch later). At 11am..the gates didn’t open and there was no reason given as to why. The gates eventually opened at 11.25, and the two main entrances I saw were narrow, immediately creating two big bottlenecks meaning people can enter the arena slowly. Why not just book 1 or 2 fewer bands and open the doors a bit later? This has now happened two out of the two times I’ve been and is a bit shoddy to just not open the doors and not say anything. I’ve also experienced this at Download before in 2012 - but an announcement was eventually made (granted that was a much longer wait because the festival site was, and I use this term as there is no better one for it, fucked).
My first port of call was to visit facilities, fill up a bottle of water, buy a cup of tea (I’ll get back to this shortly) and then head to see the first band on my schedule. This was all then a bit rushed because of the above. However, after sourcing a £4 cup of tea and watching the first band (probably no more than 30 minutes later), the queue for the main merchandise tent was insanely long. I looked over to the nearby bars and it was a similar story. The festival said the bars were cashless, but I’ve since learned the card machines were down for the first few hours. That cannot happen if you are going cashless - it just can’t. I saw the queues and decided then and there not to queue, so they lost out on money I may have spent (I wouldn’t have spent loads by any means, but still).
£4 for a cup of tea. I sighed when it happened but rolled my eyes and wrote it off to it being festival prices and figured I would just have fewer. I then walked passed a van selling doughnuts and coffee which was selling tea for £3. Later on when I bought chips for dinner/evening sustenance, that van was selling tea for £3.50. Why don’t the festival set prices across the board? That is silly, and that is just for tea. Goodness knows what the difference in coffee or water/soft drinks at these various trucks.
The final thought on the festival itself, and this isn’t a criticism of the festival, more just an unfortunate situation. At the very end of Electric Callboy’s set, it looked as though someone near to where I was standing collapsed and was having a medical emergency. The people around very quickly started gesturing in all directions to try and get some support, but only a matter of moments later, Electric Callboy finished their set and asked for a photo with the crowd where everyone had their hands up - unfortunate timing really but not their fault. As I left the area, several people had let the sound/light desk people know, so hopefully there was a good resolution. As I went back to the stage, it was clear the stage was running slightly behind schedule - I don’t know if this was related or not though.
Right then, the main draw of this festival (probably most of them, thinking about it) are the bands on the bill. Below are some thoughts on the band I saw with an arbitrary score given to them. Spoiler alert - no-one is getting a slating.
Beauty School (6) - First and only visit to the Rock Scene (or was it Rock Sound?) tent. Beauty School are a band I saw after wrestling for some time between seeing them or Caskets. I've read a review which said Caskets had poor sound which is a real shame - however it does sound as though I made the right choice. Anyway, Beauty School were decent enough and I enjoyed their set. A good opening act to catch. Do I regret missing The Suicide Machines? Slightly. I saw the end of the last song and they sounded good. Alas, what could have been?
After they finished, I grabbed some chips and watched most of a song by Beartooth, who I thought sounded good. I met with a friend who had been watching them and went with him as he went to get food. Headed back to the stage to see Beartooth still on stage (he had thought they had finished and I had assumed they were wrapping up as well) - no matter though!
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