Fans of the punk rock music festival Slam Dunk were left irritated by what many perceived as a lack of organisation- with large queues for toilet facilities, food and parking making the experience less than ideal.
This year’s Slam Dunk Festival is now sold out across both sites! Thank you all for your support in making this year our biggest event yet!
Final tickets for the afterparties and the north pre-party are still available, but all are close to selling out as well. pic.twitter.com/tUKvo74iZ2
— Slam Dunk Festival (@SlamDunkMusic) April 29, 2023
Billed as one of the largest music festivals in the UK this summer, the problems plagued both venues in Hatfield and Leeds respectively. The issues seemed to stem from the first day of the festival in its south location of Hatfield Park, when an unprecedented amount of festival-goers showed up to the venue without advanced parking tickets. This caused a huge strain on the organisation of the venue, as ticket holders found themselves queueing for parking and, in many cases, missing performances that were highly anticipated.
Slam Dunk organisers sought to correct the issue for the second day’s north location in Leeds by only allowing parking ticket holders to enter the car park which, in turn, caused delays on entry to the grounds. Many fans took to social media to vent their anger and frustration but also highlighted long queues for food and toilets as well as a lack of adequate security. On the evening of the 27th, following the Hatfield Park event, Slam Dunk issued an apology to those fans who found themselves stuck in traffic causing a late arrival-blaming the hold up on the arrival of non-parking ticket holders and external factors beyond the organiser’s control.
We sincerely apologise for anyone that was caught in the traffic issues whilst arriving on site today for Slam Dunk South. Full statement below. pic.twitter.com/PKtq0MHlwS
— Slam Dunk Festival (@SlamDunkMusic) May 27, 2023
Voicing disappointment to news outlets and social media, one fan reported, “music was brilliant but pretty much everything else was poor. Food queues were huge, like 100/150 people easy in each line. felt for the girls as the portaloo queues were worse. 7 quid pints and took us 3 hours just to get out.”
Slam Dunk had for weeks announced that the two venues had sold out but many were left exasperated that, at an organisational level, the venue was severely lacking. On the festival’s social media accounts, fans demanded partial refunds, highlighting a lack of clear signage to direct patrons through the car park and once inside the venue.
The criticism undoubtedly serves as a black mark for the festival that featured otherwise brilliant performances from bands that played both sites. Slam Dunk Festival is an annual UK showcase of pop-punk, emo and alternative music that often attracts huge bands and crowds alike. This year’s edition featured headlining sets from Enter Shikari and The Offspring as well as performances by Yellowcard and Creeper.
