Ben Ray on what’s next for Slam Dunk Festival
Slam Dunk Festival promoter Ben Ray has run the rule over the brand’s recent UK edition and European expansion in an interview with IQ.
The UK festival took place across two sites last weekend, with the southern leg held at Hatfield Park on 25 May and a northern leg in Temple Newsam, Leeds, the following day.
Artists at the 30,000-cap pop-punk, emo, metal, and alternative event included You Me at Six, I Prevail, The All-American Rejects, Funeral for a Friend, Boys Like Girls, Asking Alexandria, State Champs, Mallory Knox, The Ghost Inside and The Interrupters.
But while the Hatfield leg went to plan, the Leeds site was hit by heavy rainfall ahead of the show, prompting organisers to issue an emergency weather update and close the event’s car park.
“Hatfield was amazing,” says Ray. “We were faced with a few challenges last year and worked very hard to resolve those, and the fact that Hatfield ran so smoothly was testament to all the effort we put in. But towards the end of the day, we were made more and more aware of the state of the site in Leeds, so everything that worked so well in Hatfield turned into worry about the next day.
“Ultimately, the event happened. The only issue that we faced was around car parks – we knew there would be a very high risk that some people wouldn’t be able to get out – so we advised them to park in the city centre and get onward travel to the site via the shuttle buses, and we scrambled around and managed to get more shuttle buses on to transport people across.
“The main complaint was the length of time that it took to get shuttle buses at the end of the day. It may have been a little longer than people wanted, but it was still within a reasonable amount of time, so it was the right decision to take and the vast majority of the fans were happy with that.”
“Although these numbers would have been a massive success for us in previous years, we’ve not done great financially because of the rising costs”
While Slam Dunk UK sold out for the first time last year, attendance for the 2024 festivals dipped to around 20,000 per day. Ray believes the economic climate was the driving factor in the decline.
“There was talk last year of a cost of living crisis, but at that point we’d sold out, so it wasn’t affecting the festival market,” he notes. “Although people were having to make cutbacks in daily life, I think they still had the desire to have something fun to look forward to over the summer.
“This year, we really started to feel the effect of the cost of living crisis. Our sales weren’t as good as last year, but that was the first year we’d sold out and we knew we weren’t going to sell out again. But we sold over 20,000 tickets for both sites – so over 40,000 in total – which would have been a good year for us before last year.
“Like all festivals, we’ve seen a massive increase in production costs now, and unfortunately a lot of those came in after we had gone on sale and had set our ticket price, so we didn’t pass a lot of the increased costs on to the customers. So although these numbers would have been a massive success for us in previous years, we’ve not done great financially because of the rising costs.”
Another challenge centred on booking the bill due to the logistics not adding up for certain top-tier acts – particularly those from the other side of the pond.
“The genres that Slam Dunk feature are quite US-heavy, and there were a lot of US artists that chose not to tour because it would have been so expensive to come over,” explains Ray. “We were paying artists a lot more money than we had previously and that was not them being greedy; it was their agents or management coming back to us and saying, ‘This is what we’ll need to cover our costs because they have gone up so much.’
“Some, obviously, did come over and play. Others, we couldn’t get because it was either too expensive for them to come over, or they were going to stay in the US and tour in that period because it was more financially viable.”
“We are looking at other European markets, but we’re not pushing it”
Ray also gives an update on Slam Dunk’s ambitions outside the UK, where the brand launched in 2006, following its debut in France and Italy in June 2023.
Promoted in partnership with AEG France and French Independent promoter Opus Live, Slam Dunk France premiered in Lyon, topped by The Offspring, Simple Plan, Billy Talent, Zebrahead and Oakman. Slam Dunk Italy, meanwhile, was a co-promotion with booking agency Hub Music Factory and was held in Rimini on the Adriatic coast, close to Milan, headlined by Rancid, The Offspring and Sum 41.
“They were massive successes,” reports Ray. “We got very lucky in the fact they were the week after the UK, so we were able to repeat a lot of the lineup. France was a one-day indoor event at Halle Tony Garnier, which I would describe as similar to Ally Pally. That was one stage and 16,000-capacity, and we did over 13,000 for our first event.
“At the same time, we had Slam Dunk Italy, which was outdoors in a seaside resort just outside of Rimini, and that took place over two stages, one of which was actually on the beach, over three days. It was 10,000 capacity, and we sold close to that each day.”
Slam Dunk France will return on 22 June with the likes of Sum 41, The Interrupters and Palaye Royale, but there will be no Italian edition in 2024.
“Very honestly, we couldn’t get the headliners and I didn’t want to feel the pressure of doing the event every year without fail, no matter what bill we could get,” says Ray. “We made the choice to skip a year and not have the worry, but we are planning to [stage Slam Dunk Italy] again in 2025.”
And Ray is keeping an open mind regarding the prospect of further additions to the Slam Dunk portfolio in the future.
“We are looking at other European markets, but we’re not pushing it,” he adds. “We started Slam Dunk in 2006 and it took us a long time to get to where we are in the UK. We’ve changed cities, we’ve changed sites, we’ve change formats and we’ve built slowly. We’ve never tried to take on too much, which is very important.”
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Slam Dunk’s Italian debut pulls 30k fans
The debut of Slam Dunk Festival in Italy surpassed expectations by drawing around 30,000 attendees across three days, according to organisers.
Slam Dunk Italy was held across two stages from 1-3 June on the beach in Rimini at Bellaria Igea Marina (Parco Pavese and Beky Bay), on the Adriatic coast.
The rock, pop-punk, emo and alternative event was a co-promotion with local booking agency Hub Music Factory.
Il Resto del Carlino reports that the first two nights, headlined by Sum-41 and Rancid, respectively, were each attended by more than 8,000 fans, with the final day – starring The Offspring and Simple Plan – a 10,000-cap sellout.
“High numbers, beyond expectations”
“High numbers, beyond expectations,” says Hub’s Alex Fabbro.
Other acts on the bill included Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls, Bowling for Soup, Billy Talent, Enter Shikari and Boston Manor. The festival also offered camping options and reports about 20,000 overnight stays over the course of the three-day event.
Slam Dunk France also debuted at Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon on 2 June, headlined by The Offspring. The inaugural French edition was promoted in partnership with French Independent promoter Opus Live along with AEG France.
“I’m so happy as an independent festival to be able to expand in Europe with help from some great local partners who share the vision of the festival,” said Slam Dunk festival director Ben Ray last year. “We hope to add more countries in the future so watch this space.”
“We recognise there were problems and that some customers did not have an experience to the standard which they expected”
The European spin-offs followed the established UK edition of Slam Dunk, which launched in 2006 and took place across two sites at Hatfield Park and Temple Newsam, Leeds in 27 and 28 May, respectively. However, the Leeds leg was hit by complaints regarding long queues and traffic problems, as well as claims of overcrowding.
Organisers have issued a lengthy apology, saying they “recognise there were problems and that some customers did not have an experience to the standard which they expected”, but deny the festival was oversold.
“We would like to apologise for the issues that occurred and reassure our customers that we are committed to improving the event,” reads the statement. “We would like to assure all customers that neither event was oversold, and customer safety is, and always will be, paramount to the festival. Like all other major events, all our event plans were reviewed by local authorities and are in line with industry standards.”
The statement says that an “unprecedented” number of cars arrived to the festival site without pre-booking car parking.
“From next year, only those who have pre-booked their car park tickets will be permitted to park on site”
“This, alongside other external factors, created a traffic flow issue which inevitably caused delays into the festival site,” it adds. “As a measure to combat the traffic flow issue we made the conscious decision to stop checking passes for parking to increase the rate of entry to the car park and to prevent further delays.
“Keeping this in mind, we have made the decision to no longer provide on the day car parking. From next year, only those who have pre-booked their car park tickets will be permitted to park on site, along with other measures we are looking to implement. We believe these will create smoother entry into the event.
“We also recognise the issues surrounding food venues and queues. We were assured that we had an adequate number of food vendors for the expected number of attendees. However, we recognise this wasn’t the case and we are committed to increasing the number of traders at future events, along with where they are located.”
The festival adds that it will be carrying out a “thorough investigation, whilst working extremely hard to rectify all problems for future events”.
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Slam Dunk Fest confirms European expansion
The UK’s Slam Dunk Festival has confirmed it is expanding into Europe with two new rock events launching under the banner in France and Italy next summer.
Slam Dunk France will be a 15,000-cap one day, one stage indoor event taking place at Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon on Friday 2 June 2023. Headlined by The Offspring, the inaugural French edition will also feature Simple Plan, Billy Talent, Zebrahead and Oakman.
Slam Dunk Italy, meanwhile, will be held over two days across two stages from 2-3 June on the beach in Rimini at Bellaria Igea Marina (Parco Pavese and Beky Bay), on the Adriatic coast close to Milan.
The 10,000-cap outdoor event will also offer camping and hotel packages across the weekend. Acts announced so far are headliners Rancid and The Offspring, plus Enter Shikari, Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup, Billy Talent, Anti Flag, Less Than Jake, Trash Boat, and Destroy Boys.
“We hope to add more countries in the future so watch this space”
Slam Dunk France is being promoted in partnership with French Independent promoter Opus Live along with AEG France, while the Italian edition is a co-promotion with local booking agency Hub Music Factory.
“I’m so happy as an independent festival to be able to expand in Europe with help from some great local partners who share the vision of the festival,” says Slam Dunk festival director Ben Ray, who founded the event in the UK in 2006. “We hope to add more countries in the future so watch this space.”
The UK edition of Slam Dunk will be held across two sites – Hatfield Park on 27 May and a northern leg in Temple Newsam, Leeds on 28 May. Artists will include The Offspring, Enter Shikari, Billy Talent, Bowling for Soup, Yellow Card, Less than Jake, Kids in Glass Houses, Underoath, Flogging Molly, Creeper and The Hunna, among others.
The French spin-off was originally set to launch in May 2020 at La Cigale & La Boule Noire, Paris, before being cancelled due to the pandemic.
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