Boomtown 2019

I recently went to Boomtown 2019 and WOW, what an experience. It was my second year attending the festival and each year I come home feeling the happiest and most inspired version of myself. It was such a wonderful 5 days of escaping reality and is a great reminder of how many amazing things there are out there to see and experience. To me, Boomtown is a home away from home which teaches the importance of being creative, kind, happy and most importantly – yourself!

My friends and I bought early bird tickets this year and arrived at Boomtown on Wednesday morning. All 14 of us camped together in Barrio Loco, which was close to the Relic stage where most of the big drum and bass acts would be playing. In 2018 we camped in Old Town by Sector 6 however this year we had a switch up.

We spent the first two days exploring Boomtown’s city and individual towns. On Wednesday we partied in the Psychedelic forest, which is a beautiful forest decorated with colourful panels and fairy lights everywhere where they mainly played Reggae. After that, we explored Paradise Heights and went to a Drum and Bass street party in Dstrkt 5. It was completely rammed but so much fun.

Paradise Heights

The next morning we headed out early and I got all dressed up in the Boomtown spirit. One of my favourite things about Boomtown is that your outfits need to be colourful, wacky and completely out there or you might as well go home. I went for a princess look, well as princess as I get. I wore pink satin tracksuit bottoms which is a colour I never wear and popped a tiara on my head.

We went to another Reggae forest party which was such a vibe. It was so nice being out with all of my friends at the same time. I’m lucky enough to have friends who are always up for a laugh and are never afraid to look silly. Having friends who are more than happy to join in on your weirdness and can make you laugh until your ribs hurt is something I truly cherish and my Boomtown experience wouldn’t have been the same without them!

We continued to explore the quirky art and installations around Boomtown. Boomtown pays extremely close attention to detail and creativity which really enhances the feeling of being inside a whole new world. Boomtown tells its own story each year and this year was Chapter 11: A Radical City. Chapter 11 focused on the theme of climate change, so many aspects of Boomtown, including the stages, were influenced by this.

If you are interested in the whole story you can read it here: https://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/the-story/

We stayed at the Dubtendo stage for a bit and then went to see some acts in the Hidden Forest as they were holding a massive rave there. The music was so good, they were playing my favourite type of Drum and Bass (which is Rollers for anyone who cares.) The forest was beautifully decorated with lanterns and as it slowly became night the forest completely transformed into a magical place.

Hidden Forest

Friday morning was when the festival properly began as by then everyone who was attending the festival had arrived and set up. This is the day where all the main stages opened and big acts began arriving. I somehow managed to drag everyone out of their tents to make the opening ceremony in the morning at Lion’s Den. The music, dancing and costumes were all so amazing.

Lions Den

We then went back to our tents to chill out and regain some energy before Shy FX who were playing at the Relic stage at 5 pm. My friends and I are completely obsessed with Shy FX, so they were one of the top 3 acts we wanted to see. When we got to Relic they still hadn’t finished setting up which was a bit worrying. Thousands and thousands of people had all been told to wait behind a set of gates before they were ready to let us in. Of course, we made it to the front of the gates but it looked like a stampede was going to happen the second they let us in – and it did. It was quite funny though; Poppy and I clung onto each other for dear life and sprinted towards the stage while screaming, all with good spirits though!

Shy FX were amazing and my friends and I all had such a laugh. I’m pretty sure I spend most of the set up on my mate’s shoulders so I was in my absolute element. About halfway through Shy FX’s set, a panel from the structure of Relic fell off the stage and onto the crowd the entire area got shut down which was such a shame. We had no clue if the stage was going to reopen for the rest of the festival so everyone was very worried as that was where the headlining act was meant to be playing.

Relic

Area 404

Despite this, we went to go see the other main stage Area 404 which played techno and electronic. Myself and three of my friends split off from the group to go exploring and stumbled into this hidden room in Paradise Heights which was decorated as a hotel reception. Inside there were ping pong tables and a stage which had a massive wheel with different music genres on it. Boomtown actors were putting on a show and were calling people up onto the stage to spin the wheel. Whatever music genre the wheel landed on would be played, so one minute we were listening to disco, then jungle, then rock. It was honestly one of my favourite memories of the festival! We then spent the rest of the evening watching a Drum and Bass act at Lion’s Den.

On Saturday morning a few of us went to see General Levy and Flava D, which was a nice switch up from Drum and Bass. We then we all reunited at the Relic stage which had thankfully been reopened – just in time for the headliners Chase and Status to perform and what a show they put on! I have wanted to see Chase and Status live for so long now but always managed to miss out on them. They played their Return II Jungle set, which most of Boomtown turned up to. Boomtown is such a wonderful place, as everyone around you loves the same music as you, which is so special to me because I always struggle to meet people who have the same music taste as me. The atmosphere was so good as everyone was in high spirits and were so amazed by the stage.

The Relic stage was so beautiful at night, it completely blows my mind – the vibe is completely different to the day as in the dark the light show can begin. The stage has an industrial look to it, decorated which huge metal flowers and it is so clear as to how much work had been put into designing it. The stages and lights really set Boomtown above another other festival I’ve been to as the atmosphere is so euphoric and mythical.

We stayed at Relic until 3am when the acts ended, after Chase and Status we watched Benny L B2B with Shimon B2B with T>I , which I think was favourite set of the whole festival, as they mainly played Rollers.

Sunday morning was the last day of acts. Myself, Rianna and Tayla had a girls morning and went to go see Majestic at 24 hour Garage girls, which was the perfect type of music to wake us up and get us in a good mood. The rest of our mates met us there and we all went to go see Bou on the other side of the festival, which was a good half an hour walk. We then travelled back to Relic and spent the rest of the day there. It was such a fun day, people were throwing air mattresses around in the crowd. Even though everyone was tired, they were still in good festival spirits.

My Nu Leng closed the festival and they absolutely killed it. It was such an emotional but happy set as myself and all my friends watched the set together as we knew the festival was coming to an end. But we also had such a giggle as we kept finding random objects scattered around the stage; pots, pans … it was a weird one. Then the closing ceremony finished off the whole festival, with video montages of climate change and a crazy light show.

Despite this blog post being ridiculously long, there are still so many funny memories I have not discussed. Sean, Jack, Asha and I rolling down a massive hill in the middle of the festival, Sean and Jake taking photos with every person wearing something with fruit on it, finding a little room where you could make your own music, all the silly conversations had we all had getting ready in the morning at camp and many, many more.

Thank you Boomtown, I will see you for Chapter 12.