The label is also associated with the Slam Dunk Festival, established in 2006. Although initially small-scale and set up with only a handful of artists, the yearly event now attracts many well-known artists and has slowly established itself as a popular day-long music festival. Initially held in the city's Millennium Square, the event moved to the student union of the University of Leeds in its second year. It is now located in Temple Newsam, Leeds.
In 2010, a southern counterpart to the festival had its first year in the University of Hertfordshire, and the now two-day festival became known as Slam Dunk North (Leeds) and Slam Dunk South (Hertfordshire). The festival is normally held on the May Bank Holiday of each year, featuring a mixture of up-and-coming and more established bands, based around punk/emo/metal and ska music.
The festival was expanded to be a three date festival in England, where all three dates featured the same lineup. Three minor dates were spun off it, one in Wales, one in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland.
The 2014 Festival was held at the same three locations as 2013: Leeds (24 May), Hatfield (25 May) and Wolverhampton (May26th). There was also a smaller lineup in Edinburgh (23 May) and Newport, Wales (27 May).
On 29 April it was announced that Goldfinger had withdrawn from the festival. The band were replaced by The Ataris. On 25 May, it was announced that Landscapes had withdrawn from the festival for both Hatfield and Wolverhampton dates. They were replaced by Great Cynics at Hatfield and Aurora for Wolverhampton.
The 2015 Festival was held at the same three locations as the last two years: Leeds (23 May), Hatfield (24 May) and Wolverhampton (25 May). The Leeds event was moved from Leeds University to Leeds City Centre.
The 2016 Festival was held at the same locations as last year for the North and South dates, however the Midlands date had now been moved to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
The 2019 Festival was reduced to two days. The North festival was held at Temple Newsam Park on 25 May, and the South festival was held at Hatfield Park on 26 May.
Temple Newsam Park, Leeds (25 May), Hatfield Park, Hatfield (26 May)
The 2020 Festival was to be held at the same two venues as the 2019 festival. The festival was originally scheduled for the North festival to be held at Temple Newsam Park on 23 May, and the South festival will be held at Hatfield Park on 24 May. However the COVID-19 pandemic led to North being rescheduled to 5 September and South to 6 September.[5] On 14 May, Slam Dunk announced that the festival will no longer be held in 2020[6] although the festival returned on 4 and 5 September 2021.[7]
Temple Newsam Park, Leeds (4 September), Hatfield Park, Hatfield (5 September)[8]
^Busted performed as a part of a secret set. They were unlisted prior to the day of the festival. On the day of the festival they were listed as "Y3K".[4]
^Waterparks did not perform at the Hatfield Park date due to a member testing positive for Coronavirus the morning of. This led to Mayday Parade and State Champs playing longer sets.
^Days N' Daze were originally scheduled to open the Punk in Drublic stage but canceled due to flight redirects.[9]
^Escape the Fate were originally scheduled to play third support on the Jägermeister stage but cancelled a week prior to the festival taking place.[9]
^Boston Manor's set was announced six days prior to the festival taking place, having previously been listed as "Special Guest Headliner".[9]
^McFly's set was unannounced and listed on official times as "Secret Special Guest".[10]