I’ve been going to Slam Dunk Festival for yearsss now, it’s honestly one of my favourite days of the year! It takes place in 3 different venues: Leeds (North), Birmingham (Midlands) and South (Hatfield). I’ve been to all 3 dates coz some years the line-up is just too good that you need to go to more than one date to fit everyone in, BUT South has always been my favourite out of the 3.
SO, when I found out that the festival was being moved from the University of Hertfordshire to Hatfield Park, I was kinda gutted coz I was so used to it being at the uni and I didn’t want the SD vibe to be lost. But State Champs and Taking Back Sunday were on the line-up so I had to go and I am so glad that I did (let’s face I would’ve gone no matter who was on the line-up anyway).
The new site is literally opposite Hatfield train station and even though the trains were an actual nightmare that day, it was so easy to get to the site from London. The walk isn’t the shortest from the entrance of the park to the actual wristband exchange but I’ve sure had worse (looking at you Glastonbury…).
Anyway, I LOVED the new site, I thought it had so much more space than at the uni and the vibe was so much better with most of the stages being open air (we got super lucky with the weather). The layout was done well so it wasn’t a nightmare to go between the stages, and the bars were in close proximity to the stages which is always a plus!
It was actually super nice to see how much Slam Dunk has grown over time and how they’ve managed to keep the momentum going year after year (also shoutout to whoever was making the SD social media videos this year coz they were pretty great). So, all in all the move to Hatfield Park was a great decision and I’m super excited to go back next year already!
Jess xx
P.S. Here’s some tips for you:
- The queues for the toilets got pretty long so if you’re rushing to catch a band, it’s worth taking a quick walk to the portaloos that were placed halfway between the entrance of the park and the wristband exchange. It’s not a bad walk and the queues are so much shorter.
- There is free water. You do not have to buy bottled water coz let’s face it, it’s pretty expensive for a bottle and that ££ could go towards your next pint of Dark Fruits. Just re-use your cup to fill it up with water from the water stations.
- Provided the layout stays the same next year, the acoustic stage is in the middle of a group of trees fairly central to the site, it’s tucked away so can be easy to miss. It’s a nice to place to sit and get some shade too.
- The queues for the bar are s e p e r a t e for card and cash buyers. Don’t get caught queuing up for your pint to get to the front to be told you’ve been standing in the wrong queue :):):)
- This may also be an obvious one but do not wear heeled boots, I LOVE my heeled boots and at the uni with the concrete / inside flooring it’s not too bad but heeled boots + potentially muddy floors = d i s a s t e r.
Who's that girl? 