The first time I went to Slam Dunk Festival was 2013 and I’ve only missed 1 year so far (2017 – thanks to exams). It was the first music festival that I ever attended. I used to look forward to new line up updates coming out in Kerrang! magazine and me and my friends would buy it on the way to school to find out and begin planning who we wanted to see months in advance. Now I keep updated on the line up via their twitter profile and that year’s hashtag.
After the stage times have been announced and I’ve planned out my day, the next thing I do is pick my outfit. This year, after about three days of planning, I finally settled on this:
If you can’t wear a statement outfit at a festival, where can you wear one? I always wear band merch to Slam Dunk (even if the band I’m wearing isn’t playing). This bright orange top is by Stranded, a hardcore band based in Birmingham. Underneath that I have a fishnet long sleeve crop top to add some layering to the outfit, giving it a bit of extra detail while also keeping my arms covered without needing to cover up in a hoodie. The orange also goes wonderfully with my love too true trousers. I have a thing for checkerboard print right now – anything I see in this print I want to buy. As soon as I saw these on lovetootrue.com I knew I had to get a pair. They’re some of the best fitting trousers I own as well as looking amazing, quickly putting this brand up there as one of my favourites. A bumbag is my new holy grail for the summer, perfect to take to festivals, beach days or on nights out! This is just a plain black bumbag from prettylittlething.com. I picked this one up for just £8 and being plain black it goes with every outfit you need it to. To finish off the outfit I’m wearing a simple thin leather strap choker and my trusty old skool vans. You need a comfy shoe to spend all day stood up in, and while the girls who wear heeled boots all day always look stunning, I still don’t know how they manage it at all – my legs ache all the way up to my thighs after spending close to 11 hours on my feet, and I was only in trainers!
This year I managed to catch
lots of amazing bands; Trash Boat and Good Charlotte being my two favourites of the day.
I’ve seen Trash Boat at least 6 times now in the last few years and they’ve not once played a disappointing set. This time around they again pulled a great crowd who shouted and sang every word back at them – as well as crowd surfing - while Tobi (lead singer) gave every last ounce of his vocal ability to put on the best performance I’ve seen the band give. Even when playing their newest single ‘Shade’ from their upcoming album ‘Crown Shyness’ they had people finger pointing and singing along, despite releasing the song just two weeks ago.
I’m still not over getting to hear ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ played live. It’s my favourite Good Charlotte song. I’m sure the majority of people reading this will know the song, even if only when they hear it. Released back in 2002, it was their chosen closing song this weekend, making us wait right until the very end to hear it. Despite it being slightly painful to stay on my feet by 10:40pm, I stuck around just for that song – as did hundreds of others packing out the main stage in the Genting Arena. The band made a point of emphasising the difference in ages throughout the room before playing their song ‘Little Things’ released in 2000. I myself was the grand age of 1 when this song was released, but the guy stood next to me was in his 20’s at the time. This is a sign of a truly great band; when their music appeals to every age, almost becoming timeless, while bringing those of all ages together as it did this bank holiday weekend.
However, Trash Boat and Good Charlotte weren’t the only bands I caught. Knuckle Puck, Astroid Boys, The Devil Wears Prada, Luke Rainsford, Roam and Me vs Hero were also on that list. Every band gave their all and I couldn’t give you one fault from any of them. Despite the guys in Astroid Boys being hung over and Traxx not being there, the others (especially Benji) totally made up for that and smashed the set. Luke gave us all kinds of feels on the acoustic stage in the sun and Roam bought out inflatable pineapples for people to crowd surf with. They all made my Slam Dunk 2018 a brilliant day and I’m already looking forward to 2019.
You can check out all of the bands in this article on youtube, spotify and apple music. If you’d like to keep up to date with my posts, subscribe down below!
Links:
Outfit:
· Top – strandedhc.bigcartel.com
· Trousers – lovetootrue.com/collections/trousers/products/checkered-trousers
· Shoes – vans.co.uk
· Bag – www.prettylittlething.com/annake-faux-leather-bum-bag-plain.html
· Sunglasses – Primark (in store only)