Coming soon........

First things first, I should probably tell you how we got to here. I was heading down to London that weekend to see some friends, when one of them asked me if I was up for Slam Dunk. Now I had been wanting to go for a number of years so without hesitating I took him up on the offer. Of course, by this point the festival was sold out, and so one trip to a factory out in the middle of nowhere – how many festival trips start with this? I have it on good authority that 63.71% of all tickets are bought from people off the internet in factories in the middle of nowhere – and two tickets better off we were on our way.

Being the smartarses that we are, we decided not to bother getting the bus from Hatfield and got out old faithful, AppleMaps, to direct us to the venue – suffice to say it lived up to its reputation! A 20 minute walk ended up taking us an hour, and the beers we had saved for the queue were drunk pretty quickly, but we got there eventually. Hell, even the infamous queues that I had heard about were tiny. This was going to be a good day!

Straight in, straight to the beer tent and then off to the main stage and a band called ‘The Summer Set’ – a band I can only describe as being a heavy version of The Click Five (don’t ask how I know of these, it’s better for all of us) – but you want to build to the peak don’t you!

In the couple of weeks running up to SD13….. do I sound like a dick calling it that? Sod it, I’m gonna do it anyway… we had looked over the line up and started picking out the bands who we wanted to see. First up was Transit, a band who I had only recently gotten into – I know, have I been living under a rock – and damn did they live up to my expectations! Jaegerbomb #1 of the day went down.

Off to MC Lars. I had once bought tickets for Bowling for Soup just to see him and Zebrahead. Was worth it, but by no means compared to seeing him in a more intimate venue. Turned up just in time for ‘Signing Emo’, one of my favourite tracks by him. For those of you who don’t know what he does one of my mates summed it up perfectly – Nerdcore Laptop Rap. I don’t quite know what that is either, but it definitely sums him up. Was a decent crowd, got a micro-pit going at one point and he finished off the set with Generic Crunk Rap – a track taking the mick out of how hip hop and rap have gone these days. General consensus with my friends and I is that when he is being silly and taking the piss out of things is when he is at his best! I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t do Roommate from Hell but I guess you can’t have everything your own way eh?

I should probably explain my history with Jaeger whilst I’m at it. We mix a little too well shall we say, and I may sometimes get over excited and just start buying them constantly. Some say I buy them for everyone so that we all have a good time. Some say I do it so I’m not the only one hammered at 4 in the afternoon. All I know is …………

The next band that I wanted to see was [SPUNGE] but, whilst I waited for them, I went to see Man Overboard. Now I will admit this, I can take them of leave them, but I figured I might as well check them out. I quickly realised that I had got the times wrong and that [SPUNGE] were on so I bolted to find a band who I didn’t recognise just kicking things off. Well gutted!!!! I looked at the listing for the day and realised that I was actually early and that I was right the first time. The band on now were Itch and I have to say, this was one of the best mistakes I will make as they were awesome and I now had a new band to listen to. Downside though was that the front man nicked my tinnie of Carlsberg – can’t win them all I guess. Long story short was that both Itch and [Spunge] were awesome and ‘Ego’ was all I ever wanted and more!! Jaegerbomb #2 and #3 – this is gonna get messy later!!!

Time for a break as its only 5.30… wait, only 5.30? Where the hell did the rest of the time go???... and Wonder years aren’t on till 7.15. FOOD TIME, and damn do I need it. Solid 7/10 – much better than we expected but come on, it’s still festival food isn’t it! 

Anyway. The Wonder Years. OH! MY! GOD! This was the moment I had been waiting for all day. I would have gone just for these to be honest and, if you have ever seen them live, you can bloody well tell why!! Absolutely ripped it. Words really cannot describe just how much I enjoyed these guys…but I hope this picture can;

I loved every minute. I was that engrossed in what was going on up on the stage that I missed the guy suicide dive from the balcony into the crowd – although he was alright apparently so no mental injuries or anything to give this a new edge. Jaegerbombs #9 #10 #11. 

Woke up the next day hoarse, hanging – see the Jaegerbombs were leading to something - but still buzzing about how awesome the previous day had been! 

So there you have it, my round up of SD13 – that’s right this is now a thing!!!!