About a year ago I wrote a glowing 5 star, 10/10 review for BOOM festival in Portugal. Whilst attending that many of my friends were at the annual event of Boomtown Fair. A festival I’ve attended on and off since 2010. When we first decided to go, it was a tiny festival with a tasty little ska lineup and the promise of a small town built in the gardens of an estate in Buckinghamshire. 5,000 tickets went on sale, but only 3,000 were bought. Without going too much into it, it was a superb festival experience and as a result of its great reviews the organisers were able to invest in moving the site to Glade festivals one time home of Matterly Bowl in Winchester. Where it has stayed and expanded to till this very day. Now last year those friends of mine who went to Boomtown slated it. ‘Full of dicks, lineup was shit, sound was too quiet’ were just a few of the complaints. Up until a month or so ago I had no intention of attending due a rather lacklustre experience the year previous, but seeing as I hadn’t made a summer festival this year and seeing as some of my mates were giving it one last chance I felt I too would give it a go. Here’s my review….
The weather forecast predicted rain on a biblical scale. A months rainfall in a day some were saying. As the week went on the forecast got worse. Everything from thunder and lightning to hail. Heavy rain all day Thursday and some heavy showers on the Friday. It was set to be an old fashioned mud fest. This didn’t bother me too much, back when I first started going to festivals nearly every single one of them seemed to rain all the time. Was only recent years where the sun would shine. But as luck would have it as soon as I got out of the car at Thursday lunchtime the heavy rain stopped… and then would not start again until the following morning, where it was simply just miserable until the early afternoon. Now one of the main complaints of every previous year had always been the queing system to get in. When I had last attended there appeared to only be one gate funnelling in a crowd of 30,000. This year and with a bigger attendance, there was now 2 separate gates for punters. 1 for drop offs and 1 for those parking up. It took me an hour to get in, but the queue was hench by the time I reached the front gate. I did hear of people waiting for 3 hours later on in the day and even from friends who had signed up to volunteer had a 4 hour wait the night previous. I think this is something that can still be tweaked, especially considering that I nor many other of my friends or indeed the people I lined up with were searched on entry.
Previous years I had always camped in the Downtown area but seeing as I wanted to camp up with a different crowd this year I chose just next to the Mayfair district, on a slope just in case the rain became heavy again. After a brutal but quick pitching session it was time for a stroll to gather bearings but low and behold the festival hadn’t changed layout too differently to when I attended in 2013. With the more band orientated stages such as the Town Centre and the Lions Den based Uptown and the more electronic madness situated at the bottom of the hill in the Downtown area. New additions were a pirate ship stage that I hadn’t seen before, a Wild West area that was apparently also there the year previous and the Sunrise area which of course was related to the Sunrise festival, which was cancelled this year, so the good people of Boomtown happily let them set up camp at the top of the festival, which was also accompanied by a cracking viewing area of the whole festival. There is also of course several hidden wood areas that are all very well decorated.
So after settling in with an open wine box and line of ketamine we set off to catch Mr B The Gentleman Rhythmer on the Ballroom stage. I was apprehensive at first seeing as the tent was absolutely rammed and I was feeling pretty wonky. I was glad my friends persisted though as he turned out to be a great warm up. A old timey dandy with a ukele performing a mix of both adapted and original hip-hop numbers and covers of popular rock n roll tracks. Great way to start the weekend. The evening also gave the opportunity to see the replacement for Arcadia – The Bang Hai Palace all lit up and very impressive it was too. A 7 storied high stage which had a very tasty looking lineup to it over the whole weekend… The rest of Thursday was spent simply exploring different areas and getting bearings of where different friends were camped. I passed out in my tent to the sound of one of my neighbours claiming in the most refreshing London accent ‘I was fighting in Baghdad whilst you were still in your dads bag.’ I laughed myself to sleep.
I woke up on the miserable looking Friday morning dead early. Like 7.30am early and thought I’d kill some time strolling around looking for a decently priced breakfast. It was then I noticed that one of the few flaws of this years festival was its food prices. Meals seemed to average at £8 fluctuating to anything as high as £13 for a burger I saw at one stall. Even something as simple as a bacon sarnie weighed in at a heafty £4.00 whilst cups of tea were a shocking 2 quid at most places. After shoveling an adequate breakfast wrap down my gullet I made for the sunrise area to centre my shakra with a bit of Thai Chi… I dunno if I was too early but there was no one to be seen, so had a cup of tea and decided to make back to camp and plan my day. Rodigan was to be the first act I saw that day, on the very impressive looking Lions Den stage in its new position of a natural ampitheatre. Despite not really being a fan of reggae I am always in awe of a 60 odd year old white guy being one of the most respected reggae and dancehall selecta’s in the world. The majority of my Saturday however was spent on the Floating Lotus stage in Whistlers green, which had a nice array of folk music. With a couple of acts – My Crooked Teeth and Whiskey Moon Face. Whom I had wanted to see for sometime. I quite liked that area of the festival. Filled with arts and crafts and workshops and stuff for families. One of those areas that proves Boomtown is not just filled with students putting themselves into drug induced coma’s. I spent most of the day shovelling booze down my throat and wondering down the different themed avenues and streets. Poking my head into the different secret venues, laughing at the variety of street performers, making idle chit chat with fellow, friendly festival goers. It wasn’t until later that evening when a gentleman offered me a trip which I think was called 2-5-I that my Friday became particularly interesting….
‘1 tab will give you a nice trip, 2 will properly blow your head off, but whatever you do, do NOT take 3’. I knew a few other pals were after trips that weekend so I settled to buy 4 and dropped one straight away so I could review it to them later. The Bang Hai palace had opened for business and was spurting fire and visuals all over the place. I was recommended Machine Drum just a few weeks before and watched most of his set from a viewing platform. Dinn had recommended that I didn’t listen to any of his material before hand so that it would all be a pleasant surprise. I did however listen to one of his albums a few nights before but obviously his live sets were always due to be different and indeed it was. Although to my ear it did seem simply like a series of different cut up amen break, synths and samples, it did all sound very cleverly produced and I liked his own interjections of ‘Woop’ and ‘get downs’. I spent the rest of the set pacing around the dance area, boogying as I went. A teenage girl quite clearly on one of her first E’s stopped me to see if I was ok. ‘Fine’ I replied. ‘Having the time of my life darling’ I assured her.
At around 11pm I knew that both my best friend and Jungle legend Dinn or Dwarde as he’s known in the DJ world was due to begin in the Prohibition Den – a stage curated by my good friends of the Norfolk based Amental soundsytem. I realised that even though Dinn is very prolific with his sets I have never really taken the time in the last few years to ever go see him play under his solo name. Infact in my advancing years I realised that I dont really care much for Jungle music… Dinns set however completely invigorated just how good Jungle is when selected and mixed to perfection through a very good rig. Top stuff indeed.
So as midnight was approaching I set off to find psy-trance legends Infected Mushroom play on the psychadelic forrest stage. Considering there was several hidden wooded stages I found this quite a task. With my first initial attempt ending with me being led down a very long path that simply didn’t lead anywhere at all. Especially considering I was in a state where time and monotony can appear to go on forever. An equally confused looking young chap asked whether this was leading anywhere ‘to the firing squad I think’ was my only reply. ‘I’ve lost all hope’ I added. After reaching the end of the path which was just another campsite filled with equally confused punters who’d taken the same I route, I warned off a group of lads who were about to make their way up it from where I exited. By this point I was starting to think that if it took me any longer I was just going to end up missing them anyway. Luckily though I crossed the paths of Richard, Lily, Charlotte and the Toye sibilings, who assured me I was off in the right direction.
The Psychedelic Forest was almost like a completely different festival in itself. First off it took about 15 minutes to get to the bottom of it and secondly it appeared to be absolutely filled with a load of punters that didn’t seem to be at any other part of the festival providing a completely different vibe to anywhere else on the site. Infected Mushroom however… Now I have frequented many of London’s gay bars, orgies, glory holes and occasionally attend the infamous queer nights down at the Vauxhall Tavern. But that set was easily the gayest thing I have ever seen in my life. Even the very site of a bunch of Israeli dudes who by their own right are absolute pioneers of a niche music scene of which they have made millions out of was enough to assure me that Hitler must have been spinning in his grave. And no matter how many Quennel salutes or shouts of ‘Free Palestine’ I made there was no stopping this absolute juggernaut of a set. It was one of the best examples of an anti facist utopia I had ever experienced… That may have been the gear talking, but regardless. Fantastic stuff!
By now I was absolutely soaring. Just as I thought the trip had peaked the visuals would get more intense. Refreshingly though it came with no neurotic side effects. My head was clear and there was no signs of confusion or haunting thoughts of repressed childhood memories that can sometimes accompany LSD. Infact all thoughts I had were creative and I felt on a good run of form. My last memories of the evening were mainly spent pissing myself laughing at Bain’s fantastic lion makeup and outfit. We chatted bollocks for some time until Bradders gave me the body of Christ so that I was able to sleep. I was again kept awake laughing by my neighbour who was having an altercation with some other young lads about the whereabouts of his golden cracker… I’d give you a monologue of it, but I think you just had to be there.
All the excitement of the previous night had given me a hell of a hangover. So much so all I could stomach was a fruit salad and a gourmet bit of garlic bread. I’d decided to abandon my cider sack and started paying at the bar when I realised I could get a delicious cider with a shot of cider brandy in it. I watched Sam’s band on the Bandstand stage… unfortunately their name escapes me. But they were good fun and nice start to the afternoon. I noticed I was starting to lag quite early on and thought it be wise to get a siesta in so that I’d be fit for action come the evening. This was a great idea and as a result the evening was to turn out to be a festival classic…
I woke up outside my tent to the sound of a dealer shifting his wears through the lawless camp site. I bought a couple of different Gary’s off him and realised that Matisyahu – my own personal main event of the weekend was due on in just under an hour. After a quick change of costume and a pop of my new possesion I made my way to the Lions Den stage and came up pretty smoothly whilst waiting patiently for him to start. I was told earlier in the day that Matisyahu had since dropped his orthodox Jew look and according to the programme he had also changed his music style. When I originally became a fan of his music he was a mix of Reggae, hip-hop and rock n roll. He had now seemed to be sticking with the reggae set up. Usually this would bother me as like I’ve probably mentioned im not a fan of reggae, but he sounded absolutely amazing and different arrangements of classics such as ‘Youth’ and ‘King Without a Crown’ worked very well. I got chatting to a lovely French girl next to me who started to feed me vodka. Then I spotted the pretty, pink head of Rose, a girl on my ever expanding list of friends from the city of Nottingham. Who incidentaly I met pretty much a year to the day before. We watched the end of the set together and then decided to knock around with her for the rest of the evening.
What made the rest of my Saturday evening was the sheer volume of music that I managed to see. From Matisyahu we went to the Town Centre to catch electro swing pioneers Carvan palace, unfortunately though the sound levels terrible and the arena crowded. Then onto the old mines stage to catch an African band, then down the Dstrkt 5 where we bumped into other friends along the way and stumbled into many of the different smaller venues, secret and otherwise. We then decided to pop into DJ Yoda, an act who I’d always seen on lineup’s but never really bothered to check out. I was very impressed. A load of cut up party music set to a load of funky and funny visuals. Great fun! Next up was Akala. An artist who I remember interviewing for SENSEMag way back in 06. After a few technical glitches he managed to tear the crowd apart, and despite me not personally being a fan of hip-hop I did enjoy his set. Good to see a fellow man from Merton earning his keep.
It was around about now that I noticed that all of a sudden the bars had taken on a militant approach to I.D’ing people at the bar. This was a surprise as I personally hadn’t been I.D’d for anything in years. The only reason for this I could gather was that the Boomtown license must have been hanging by a thread. In previous years I had heard that over 70 grands worth of drugs had been seized at the door, a girl had died a couple of years ago and the festival has a reputation for high tent thefts and for being a total drug orgy. So much so that there was a noticeable police presence. Infact I noticed that particular Saturday that the paramedics seemed to be rushed off their feet. Boomtown does attract a wild and youthful crowd and that crowd are mostly completely off their nut. I even heard a rumour that the Boomtown organisers were under investigation as being part of a major drugs ring…. All rumour of course and hopefully the strain of the restrictions wont put a strain on the future of the festival.
Seeing as I was starting to notice I was chucking a load of money away at the bar, I decided to get my wine bag from my tent before Hellfish and Producer started with their B2B set on the Body Shop stage. I lost Rose half way through their chaotic performance, and then didn’t really see her properly again for the rest of the weekend. But considering I’m the kind of guy who likes spending most of his time alone at festivals as I do really love my lone wonderer adventures, she was very good company and a bloody good laugh.
I also made the rookie mistake of buying another pill and then necking it just as the music was coming to an end, so ended up spending the rest of the night with this gurner trying its best to get a rush out of my spent body and brain. That night in particular ended up being absolutely freezing and despite the 2 cups of teas drunk with Dinn and Mick I was really struggling. My night of intense dancing and lots of walking had also broken me and I was left miles from home freezing my bollocks off. I ended up having to spend £18 on a blanket at the camping shop… An unfortunate necessity.
Sunday was on the verge of being a right off. The thought of stomaching any drugs or booze was way off the cards for long periods of the day. However I forced myself to swallow a bag of mushrooms I had bought a few days previous. I always have a great time on mushy’s, they always provide a great glow to any festival. My first proper act of the day was the festival legend Beans on Toast. A man who I have been following around for years, I even caught him doing a talk on drug use in the drugs awareness tent on the Saturday afternoon. I have seen him countless times, more so then any other artist I enjoy. It was nice to see a whole stage packed out to see him and he did play a few tracks I didn’t know. However I think it has become a case of a relationship running its course with him. I no longer find his new music compelling and I think I’ve listened to his earlier stuff to death. Fair play to his success though and his reputation of being a festival legend. It has been well deserved.
I spent the rest of the day feeling rather restless. I knew that getting completely fucked up was a bad idea and even though the mushrooms had kicked in they werent exactly kicking my arse. This was a new experience for me. Previous festival I had always been able to go right to the end. Hook line and sinker. Now my muscles were aching and I knew swallowing anymore uppers would have made me feel like hell. I hung close to Kush and Ness who I noticed were also feeling fragile themselves. We watched the Trans Siberian Marching band until I felt restless and decided to have another walk. I bumped into Lil, Toye and Bradders and we went to the viewing area for a while. I got chatting to Liv then started to talk about life and the course with which it was going. I got really wound up about the all too boringly familiar state of my life and left to see the Songhoy Blues in a bit of a bad mood. Luckily their performance knocked me right out of it! The site of a group of smiling Malian men playing their own countries bland of Blues was more then enough to get me smiling and dancing. I bumped into Kush and Ness again on the way out, who were both completely charmed by the band as well. Will definitely try and catch them on their next UK tour.
Next up was The Beat at The Town Centre, where I managed to bump into my old festival comrades of Joe and Dave, however Lewis was missing this particular evening, there was also the site of my new comrade Dean a very welcome new addition. I hadn’t seen enough of that crew over the weekend. Infact I’d pretty much been mugging off hanging out with my mates for most of it and going alone. That is the way I like to do things though and I have no regrets. All my friends know I love ’em, regardless of my constant put downs and disappearing acts I constantly pull.
I lasted a few tracks into The Beats set then got the rambling itch again. It was about now I noticed that my restlessness had started to back fire, so too had my choice of boots. Which was a pair of old faithful Doc Martens that had been my only footwear for everything for almost 5 years, before the mud of Glastonbury 2011 finally killed them off. Taking the weather forecast into account. I thought I’d wear them again, but soon realised that another reason I had stopped wearing them was because the soles were worn as was the inner lining, making for a very uncomfortable walking experience.
Come night time I was limping and verging on the state of exhaustion. I had a few last dances to both FFF and Droon at the Bodyshop then called it a day on the whole festival. As I stumbled back to my tent a friendly northener checked up on me to see if I was ok and if I needed any help getting up the hill. The view that Boomtown was filled with dickheads had been well and truly quashed.
I think what helped make Boomtown such a success this year, for me atleast was that I was going in with absolutely no expectations at all. Especially seeing as the weather was looking like an issue, the very fact that even that turned out to be completely fine was in its own way fortuitous. But to give the organisers their due they have certainly created a very successful brand of festival. Sparing no expense on its fantastic décor, different themed areas and districts, the street performers, secret stages and venues and even investing time into a plot behind it’s creation. The whole festival experience is just as immersive as it is jolly good fun. Then of course there is the very eclectic music selection on offer. Everything from rave, to folk, to reggae, to world and beyond is represented here and most of it is top quality. Matisyahu for example is a name I have never even seen on a UK line up and I have been a fan for 10 years now. The sound levels were better then previous years despite their being some issues with it during Caravan Palace’s set on the Saturday and from what I hear a few acts on the Bang Hai palace…. Unfortunately though I dont think there’s going to be much the organisers are going to be able to do about this. But it’s nice to see that they lsitened to the complaints of punters last year and have remedied the majority of them. Then ofcourse there is the people, who are what make any festival really. Yes a lot of the festival demographic is just young people taking ketamine and I did see a few freak out cases and several incidents of paramedics having to be called. But everyone was friendly and I was entertained greatly by many strangers over the weekend and the atmosphere too was constantly one of people partying like their lives depended on it. I think the only complaint I heard from people from the weekend was the security and infact we too had a run in with one cunt who was bragging about how he was entrapping people asking for drugs. But hopefully this is another issue that can be resolved by next year and hopefully they will ask a new firm in.
Overall though Boomtown is a modern day success story for British festivals. In just 5 years it has gone from a small little hamlet of 3000 people in a field in Buckinghamshire to a sprawling metropolis catering to 50,000 people from over 50 nationalities. I had a weekend of plenty of fun and great vibes from an event that has now truly made its mark as one of the most unique festival experiences with some of the most craziest vibes in the country. Well done guys!