Unless you don’t care about festivals (in which case, why are you reading this?) you’ll know that few industries have been hit harder by the pandemic than the festival circuit. Couple multiple lockdowns with Brexit and the plethora of supply chain issues that has caused throughout the country and you’ve got a perfect storm of shit that many smaller ones didn’t quite bubble out the other side of this year. Obviously for lovers of these hedonistic adult wastelands, the leadup to this year’s festival season has been quite a worrying one, and nowhere has this been more apparent than in the runup to what I believe to be the gem in the UK festival crown, Boomtown.  

Images VIA

First up you had the fact that Boomtown (and in fact many other mid size UK festivals) chose not to release their lineup until the week before the festival, which led many – including myself – to think “what are you hiding pal?” This fear was exacerbated by announcements that the festival site was going to be pretty condensed this year, with a weird not-to-scale map coming out in the weeks before that didn’t really make any sense failing to help matters.

We then had the actual lineup release that essentially didn’t include any big names (unless you’re either a reggae or underground dnb head), alongside a statement from Boomtown that essentially said ‘we didn’t have the money to book them, so we got loads of small people instead’. From the outside, it looked very much like a festival on the run from outside pressures and potentially very much a shadow of its former self. 

However, I should have known never to doubt Boomtown. Even in sweltering 35 degree heat and in one of the driest (translate: dustiest) summers on record, IMO the best festival in the UK bounded right back into its stride from day one. While the lineup may not have included any really well known heavy hitters, it still had what Boomtown always has; namely a truly astronomic number of stages playing everything from heavy drum and bass, to the duttiest dub there is, to acoustic anarcho punk, to instrumental surf rock – to name just a few.

To me one of the key things that has always set this festival apart from the rest is that at any time of day you can wonder aimlessly around the festival and within about 10 minutes find some really good (and failing that, really weird) music to see. While I had been worried about the smaller layout, it actually turned out to be a godsend in this respect (and, it turns out, basically all respects) as that 10 minutes between good acts got shaved down to about two, especially in Old Town where you basically couldn’t move for weird shit.

There were literally just great tunes everywhere, and to make matters even better the sound at basically every stage seemed to be basically spot on, which is rare at these huge events. Biggest killers for me this year were Self Esteem, Karl Phillips & The Rejects, Boom Boom Racoon and DJ Chris Tofu (despite an attempted security shut down).

Then there’s another pillar of what makes Boomtown Boomtown; the set design. To be honest all I can say is that there were no surprises there; it’s always been completely sick and that was absolutely still the case this year. From the big hitter stages like Grand Central and Origin right down to smaller ones like The Shamrock, the attention to detail is just insane. Winding through the labyrinth of tiny alleys that is Old Town after any of the various inebriants that are all too easy to find at Boomtown, it’s pretty easy to forget you’re at a festival and not in some weird immersive pirate themed computer game. 

Obviously none of this would matter if it weren’t for the beating heart of Boomtown and the thing that makes it such an utterly unique and joyous experience… The Boomtown Scantés. If you’ve never been, the crowd at Boomtown are like no other on earth, and if you don’t believe me just check out the Spotted at Boomtown Facebook page (I know, Facebook, gross, but..) to get a feeling of it. The states of incapacitation that you’ll see at any time of day should be a bit rank, but it’s kind of like a joke everyone is in on, and as such everyone looks out for each other, laughs along and has a great time doing it.

As an old man I was pretty worried after a couple of other festivals I’ve been to this year that maybe the Boomtown crowd had fully tipped into bucket hat wearing, bumbag round the shoulders, firmly ‘much too young too young to get my jokes’ age range that is essentially inevitable for anywhere. However while there was still a lot of that, they were all fucking lovely and slotted right in alongside the 75 year old man dancing with no shoes on to Chainska Brassika, the dude walking around with a dildo that was literally a cast of his own dick giving a bump of K to anyone that could deepthroat it and the bunch of mid 30’s mariachi idiots in leggings that still think it’s cool to sing 5ive at the top of their lungs to anyone that will listen of which I am the lead singer. 

In summary, the worriers among us had nothing to fear. Although it’s slightly condensed and doesn’t have your Sunday night giant Prophets of Rage pits anymore, Boomtown is still the magical place it always has been and hopefully (despite rumours of a Live Nation takeover on the horizon) always will be. From the diversity of music, to the stages with inbuilt fucking waterfalls (!?), to the friendly neighbourhood wreckheads; everything that has always made Boomtown great is still there, and if the new generation of punters is anything to go by that doesn’t look set to change any time soon.

As I said on my way out (possibly in more sense than one) this year, ‘Boomtown… Still got it.’

To check out the new Boomtown podcast, click here. Well worth your time.