SUNDAY 29 May 2016 – SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL MIDLANDS – BIRMINGHAM NEC 

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY 9am 27^th NOVEMBER

Slam Dunk Festival has won ‘Best Festival’ at the Kerrang! Awards in both 2014 & 2015. Widely regarded as the biggest awards in rock, the festival beat strong competition from major events such as Reading / Leeds and Download.  Slam Dunk has also been in the final shortlists for ‘Best Metropolitan Festival’ at the UK Festival Awards, in 2013, 2014 & 2015, and ‘Best Festival’ (up to to 15,000 daily capacity) at The Live UK Awards 2015.

Headlining in 2016 will be Panic! At The Disco with an exclusive UK festival performance. Over 40 bands will play across 7 stages including other festival exclusives from Of Mice and Men (the first UK appearance of 2016) and Slam Dunk Festival will be the only place to see New Found Glory in the UK in 2016.

Slam Dunk Festival is a touring festival spread across three sites. 2016 sees the biggest growth the festival has experienced with some major upgrades. Following the success of last year, the Leeds site will remain in the City Centre, with the midlands date moving to a new site and the Southern date will remain in Hatfield, at the University of Hertfordshire campus for the fifth year.

With the Wolverhampton Civic Hall undergoing essential maintenance and renovation work in 2016, the event will now take place at The NEC in Birmingham. A move that increases the capacity by 50%, this will actually be the first time a multi stage music festival takes place at the world famous venue. Using a combination of the Genting Arena, indoor Pavilions and outdoor stages, this will also boast the fact it is the best connected venue in the UK. The site is also located next to the heart of the UK’s motorway network with an onsite international airport and train station and masses of onsite parking. Add to that all the onsite hotels and leisure facilities, this will surely make this the most convenient festival ever, from wherever in the UK, or indeed the World, people are traveling from.

Festival founder & Director, Ben Ray, says:

“Being from Birmingham myself, it has always been my dream to bring my festival home. I’ve been close the last 3 years in Wolverhampton, but this year feels special, especially being at such a famous venue as the NEC.
Although its unfortunate that we have had to leave Wolverhampton, to tie this in with the festivals 10th anniversary has been a happy coincidence! I’d like to thank Wolverhampton City Council for all the support over our time time.”

Raw Power’s Craig Jennings is the manager of Of Mice & Men. Now one of the biggest rock managers in the world and he still lives just round the corner of the venue, said:

“Its fantastic to see such a great festival coming to my hometown and to a venue I have spent many happy hours at over the years.  It will be Of Mice &Mens biggest show in the city and the band are really looking forward to it.  Bringing great festivals like Slam Dunk to the City increases the bond that Birmingham has enjoyed with rock music fans and artists over a number of decades.  Keep right on!”

In celebration of the 10th Anniversary, the lineup will contain many bands that have played over the last 10 years.

This year’s headliners are the phenomenal Panic! At The Disco.  It will be the band’s first time at Slam Dunk Festival and will be their exclusive UK rock festival performance of 2016.

10 years have passed since the release of their huge debut album ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’, so expect to hear plenty of floor fillers from their eclectic back catalogue, plus tracks from their highly anticipated new record ‘Death of a Bachelor’ which is released 15th January. Front-man Brendon Urie says, “It’s awesome, it’s so cool, and I’m very excited. We haven’t actually played it before, but we have friends who have, and have heard it’s awesome! And sure, there’s a little bit of pressure, I’m not gonna lie!”

Of Mice & Men will make their return to the festival after their triumphant set back in 2012 when they thrilled crowds across all 3 dates. This will be their first UK appearance since their sold out headline run earlier this year. One not to miss!

Slam Dunk crowd favourites, New Found Glory will be playing the festival as their exclusive UK shows of 2016’– “We are super excited to be returning to Slam Dunk, and even more excited to help share in the 10th Anniversary of the festival!  It’s been quite a while since we last played Slam Dunk, there are usually so many bands that we’re friends with that take part in the festival, so it’s a great way to catch up with friends and spend time with bands that we’ve toured with, and it’s an awesome time for all involved!”

Four Year Strong will be playing in support of their incredible new record that came out earlier this year via Pure Noise Records.  Singer Dan O’Connor says “Slam Dunk was one of the first fests to have us in the UK and was one of the best shows we had ever played there. We always love playing SDF because we know the shows are going to be insane and the crowd is going to show up ready to get crazy.“

Every Time I Die will be returning to the festival after having to sadly postpone some UK dates.  Singer Keith Buckley is excited to return to the festival after their last performance “everyone seemed to be having the best time of their lives”. Expect a re-run in 2016.

Issues will be bringing the party to Slam Dunk 2016. With a new record in the works “The boys and I are more than ecstatic to be back in the UK, especially to be back in festival mode! Love the festival fans, they get crazy, be ready for us… We are bringing to heat!! #trollied hahaha!! “says vocalist Tyler Carter.

Self-proclaimed “Illinois sad boys” or rather just excellent emo pop-punk bandReal Friends are “very stoked to come back to the UK and play Slam Dunk”. Singer Kyle Fasel continues to say “We had a blast when we played in 2014. Slam Dunk is really unique in comparison to festivals in the US. The kids out there seem so committed to attending the festival every year. It makes us happy to see such a strong staple in the UK music scene that always welcomes us.”

Texan metalcore heavyweights, Memphis May Fire will also be returning to the festival – “We are honored to come back to the UK for Slam Dunk! Last time was a blast & we expect this time to be even better!” says Matty Mullins.

The dates and sites for next years’ Slam Dunk Festival are:

Saturday 28 May 2016 – Slam Dunk Festival North – Leeds City Centre
Sunday 29 May 2016 – Slam Dunk Festival Midlands – Birmingham, NEC
Bank Holiday Monday 30 May 2016-  Slam Dunk Festival South – Hatfield, University of Hertfordshire

Tickets are on sale at 9am Friday 27th November & priced at £42 or £47 including after show.
The festival is for Age 14 + or 18+ for the after show

For the first time, due to demand from the people going to all 3 days, there is also a limited edition mega ticket on sale for £150. This includes tickets for all 3 events, after shows, wristband exchange queue jumps and limited edition t-shirt.

Visit www.slamdunkmusic.com for all ticketing links.