The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Slam Dunk Festival 2026 – South

…and just like that, another Slam Dunk is in the bag. Five years in row at Hatfield now, and once again, a very fun and satisfying time was had overall. Sure, this year, the sun tried to melt us all, but we’ll take a hot sun over cold and rain any day of the week.

Slam Dunk has become one of the highlights of the festival year, and this year was no different, but it wasn’t perfect. So, what did we love, what did we hate, and what did we turn our noses up to? It’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Slam Dunk 2026 – South!

The Good

The atmosphere. An easy one to start with, and one that ensured this edition of Slam Dunk will live long in the memory. The smiles, the happiness, the excitement, it was everywhere and it was infectious. With this many people in one area, it’s almost inevitable that a bad egg or two will crop up, but we were lucky enough to not run in anyone who threatened to put a dampener on the day. Even at the end, when the drunken and exhausted masses were slowly filling out of the park, everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Slam Dunk attracts a variety of people from all walks of life with one thing in common, a love for alternative music, the lifestyle, and this festival.

Alongside that, the bands, as regardless of taste, there was something for everyone. One person’s favourite band of the day could have been another person’s least favourite band of the day (which seems to be the case with the likes of Good Charlotte and Taking Back Sunday). There were expected greats, unexpected greats, firsts, lasts, and everything in between. Highlights included rousing early performances from Beauty School and Heriot, danceable and singable performances from the likes of SiM, Punk Rock Factory, Vukovi, and Dashboard Confessional. As well as heavy head-banging performances from Pest Control, Dying Wish, Guilt Trip, Malevolence, Static Dress, Bury Tomorrow, and Knocked Loose. We saw a ton of bands, and the majority did a great job, even with some sound issues here and there.

Continuing with the positives, getting in was a breeze (as was getting out, but we were on foot) and it was nice to see the gates into the arena open on time this year. There were ample amounts of free water points around the venue, and plenty of places to get cold drinks. As well as plenty of food vendors and very little queues, which was a vast improvement over previous years.

Another thing that was vastly improved this year was the toilets, in particular, the cubicles. More of them, better placed, and with much better signage meant there were rarely long queues. Slam Dunk has consistently failed in this department, and it has been part of the bad/ugly for so many years, it is a genuine surprise to see it finally end up in the good. Here’s hoping that it’s not one-off.

We also really liked the two stages side by side system! It felt really efficient and meant a whole lot less running around to see bands.

The Bad

What the hell happened with the bars, Slam Dunk? A shocking display of organisation and staffing that shames the festival, especially as this always been one of its strengths. Ask anyone who went to a bar, and they’ll tell you a horror story. Queues that were 30-40 minutes long at every bar, staff who didn’t have a clue/didn’t care, clear lack of management, the wrong drinks being given, most drinks badly poured, and so on.

From the very start, it was bad and it continued that way right up to the end. If you were lucky to get into a queue with someone competent, you’d be served within 15 minutes, but those people were few and far between.

Here are just some examples of what was experienced with our bar trips:

Waited 30 minutes for the person serving our queue to stop and start serving another queue. Leaving our queue with no-one serving. It took a loud voice to finally get someone to start serving the queue.
Got given a half-pint instead of a pint and told that it was a pint. When the obvious absurdity of this was pointed out, the bar person stated that it was just the cups they were told to serve them in. Only by holding this cup up to an empty pint glass did they finally realise the mistake and gave us two half pints. This entire interaction took 10 minutes.
Asked for an IPA, an Amstell, and a Strongbow Dark Fruits. This was repeated four times to the bar person who promptly turned around and told someone else a different order. When it was pointed out, again, what we were asking for, a third person then brought over the wrong drinks. Three people to get a simple drink order wrong.
Being told that they’d run out of IPA at 3 in the afternoon. They hadn’t.

I would go as far as to say that the bar experience was so bad that it almost ruined the whole festival experience. We’ve been going to festivals for most of our adult lives and never experienced such a colossus failure.

Do you know what can also ruin the festival for some people? Losing friends and family throughout the day and not being able to contact them to meet up. Want to check for updates on the Slam Dunk app? Check in on social media? Dream on. Most of the time, signal and wi-fi is non-existent, and it really seems as though this isn’t something Slam Dunk is interested in trying to improve.

Maybe you’re fine with this, but we come as a group and while we have set meet up areas and stage positions, once things start to get really busy and dark, it becomes harder to find people. A quick text or call would solve that, until you realise that your phone is the equivalent of a brick. Now, happily, we’re all pretty responsible people and losing people for a bit isn’t the end of the world, but for others, it can be an anxious experience. We’d love to see it improved, but we’ve been saying this for as long as we’ve been visiting Hatfield every May bank holiday.

The Ugly

Now we didn’t drive, so we can’t offer up our experience of the parking issues, but considering the high number of complaints, it seems as though there were some significant parking issues again this year. Tales of poor lane management, no signage, stewards standing around doing very little, and a consistent blasé attitude from the festival come the end. We weren’t in the car park, so it can’t go in the bad, but it is clear that this is another area that the festival seems to be getting wrong consistently.

Great idea about the reusable tin cups Slam Dunk but maybe get holders that fit them next time, eh? We loved the cups, but they didn’t fit the drink holders they had on offer which seemed like a hell of an oversight.

Mistaking a tissue in a drink for a big glob of foam. Yes, this actually happened and it was as horrible as it sounds.

Sound bleed between the Main Stage East (left and right) and the Monster Energy Stage (left and right). You had to get really close to the latter to stop hearing the former. These stages needed to be further apart next year.

The folks who brought a big beach style umbrella in and had it raised in the air slap-bang in the middle of several sets (Heriot jumps to mind).

A black eye courtesy of a Knocked Loose pit, an early casualty to the heat (and some badly timed milkshakes), a race through London at the end of the night to catch the last Elizabeth line train (we just made it), heads and feet the next day, sunburn, and the fact that it had to end, as all good things inevitably do.

Want to know what we thought of previous years (excluding 2022?)? Check the articles out below:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Slam Dunk Festival 2025 – South
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Slam Dunk Festival 2024 – South
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Slam Dunk Festival 2023 – South