Slam Dunk Festival 2010

Originally written September 17^th 2010 – Published on Roar! Newspaper’s website

Fancy attending a festival but can’t deal with 3 days of muddy camping without straighteners? Slam Dunk provides the perfect solution – a day long festival celebrating the best of UK ska, emo and hardcore at Hertsforshire and Leeds Universities.

With 6 stages and over 40 acts, navigating our way round the labyrinthine Herts Uni proved a challenge, but fortunately the indoor Vans Music Stage housed us from the rain with a plethora of amazing artists – Random Hand, RX Bandits and Skindred, to name the best.

Jake salutes the crowd, sax in hand

Undoubtedly, headliners were the highlight: Capdown reunited with familiar vigour, and despite having aged, they delivered a passionate set, proving once again why they are so sorely missed on the UK ska scene. New Found Glory wowed their vast audience with a set spanning their 6 studio albums, closing with a energetic rendition of ‘My Friends Over You’, and although clashing with NFG, we managed to catch Alkaline Trio’s closing tracks including ‘Private Eye’.

Unfortunately, the day was slightly overshadowed by congestion issues in the university halls, with security even locking people out of the building. But, refuting rumours of the event being oversold, organisers apologised promising a better organised festival next year.