I’ve had a few days to recover from the utter carnage that was Slam Dunk SOUTH ’15, and feel now suitably rested and mentally capable to recount what happened that day. For those who don’t know, Slam Dunk takes place across three sites, South (Hatfield), North (Leeds), and Midlands (Wolverhampton); I only caught the South site, but I hope, since so many of the bands who played hailed from my area, that I got a little something special from that site.
I begin, quite simply, with a nod of thanks to the organisers. Not just for putting on a slam-dunk Slam Dunk, but for including Skateism.com on their press list, as with this privilege I was able to experience the festival like I had never had the chance to in previous years. See, that’s me in the corner!
Anyway, so other than the lashings of lager, and a crowd to die for…
the event was fantastically well organised, with all the stages having more than enough room for crowd, and you were never too far (or too close) to a toilet, or bar. The bars were helped out by Desperados as a sponsor, and the prices were reasonable, for a festival.
The line-up was nuts, and it was a shame that I only caught as much as I did, but when you’re running around like a headless chicken trying to see all the bands you love, fuelled only by beer and “shroom dogs” you can get sidetracked. But I saw enough and, across all the stages, the level of music was above and beyond previous years. The stages had been upsized, and the sound was, for a festival, pretty damn good for the most part. But there was one band who took the cake on the main stage…
Don Broco were great live, and, as I said, took it home on the main stage. But…
Baby Godzilla take home band of the day, for me. I’ve never seen a more brutal, carefree, truly rock’n’roll performance in my life. They were behind the bar, on the bar, behind the crowd, on the crowd… It was unbelievable. Unfortunately, we’ve not got a video of their Slam Dunk performance, but here’s one to give you an idea…
So that’s the long and short of our overview of Slam Dunk SOUTH, but keep an eye out for a couple of interviews with some of the bands who played this year’s festival. Take care…
(ALL PHOTO CREDITS GO TO ED MASON)
