Ready as ever to head back to Boomtown Fair for the second chapter of the most immersive festival experience, we never know what to expect. Every year, festival-goers embark on what seems like a never-ending journey of the world’s best electronic music, unmatched production, and nonsensical street performers. With endless encounters to discover, Boomtown was, as always, kitted out with everything we needed to make this week a highlight of the summer season.
Site Layout
Chapter 2 saw a similar layout to last year’s festival, with all the madness happening in street venues and giant stages spread throughout the City. The gorgeous woodland stages were on the outskirts of the valley and the camping was spread all around different districts towards the borders of the festival site. On the doorstep of the City was Orange camping, Hilltop camping was on the opposite side, and Skylark and Orchid were further beyond this. The City was as bright and vibrant as ever, featuring a mixture of exciting districts; Oldtown, Area 404, Metropolis, Origin, and the Grand Central which were dotted throughout the City with a labyrinth of street stages, vendors, and actors between them.
This year saw the return of the colour coding for the campsite locations, plenty of food and drink stalls, and the camping villages that hosted shops and activities throughout the week. Other amenities around the campsites included phone charging facilities that came in the form of lockers and portable charging packs, huge mixtures of festival attire and accessories, tobacco, food and drink, and camping essentials.
Throughout the campsites and the City were a large number of water refill stations that provided cool and fresh water, a huge relief after the heatwave of last year. In addition to the standard campsites, upgraded camping could be purchased offering additional showers, ‘posh’ toilets (for a festival at least), and more space for campers. Although these campsites were smaller, it would have been nice to see a few more food and drink vendors in the upgrade area to match the amount that the standard campsites had.
Food & Drinks
Boomtown Fair is a festival packed with some of the best food vendors around, offering an eclectic selection of authentic street foods that feature a variety of cuisines from around the world with an extensive collection of veggie and vegan options too. Alongside your festival must-haves; stalls offering coffee, juice, smoothies, fruits, snacks, sweets, and other supermarket goods, there is a small army of vendors that offer up a robust mixture of tasty treats. Some highlight options for us were the Neapolitan large thin-based pizzas, sticky Korean wings from Taega Burgers, Yorkies dinner plate-sized Yorkshire puddings, giant and small Dutch-style pancakes from Cheeky Pancakes, and the tantalising vegan-friendly deep-fried masala toasties from Ceylon & Beyond. The average pricing for these meals was between £8-£12 an item.
There were plenty of official Boomtown bars scattered around the City and the campsites. These bars had quick serve times and offered your usual selection of beverages: cans of water, soft drinks, red bulls, as well as a handful of ciders, beers, wines, and spirit mixer combos. There was a variety of cocktail bars serving up delicious fruity drinks, some even serving boozy slushies which were delicious in the hot weather.
The City had 2 stages hosted by drinks brands, the infamous Jägermeister had its very own Jäger Bloc, serving their herbal schnapps and handing out plenty of merchandise. The spiced rum Monkey Shoulder also had its own stage hosting a mixture of live performers. What was great to see was the inclusion of plenty of smaller vendors serving their signature locally brewed drinks. A variety of ‘party bars’ could be found around the campsites too. We found a handful serving homemade gins, ciders, beers, and cocktails and if you were lucky enough, some would invite you to a secret party.
Stages
Origin
This year, the Origin stage (the festival’s largest stage) had been given a full makeover. Taking influences from previous Boomtown main stages, this epic spectacle featured a gigantic center screen surrounded by Aztec-themed rockwork that had been engulfed by mycelium. On either side of the main stage were 2 constantly flowing waterfalls, a feature that pays tribute to their award-winning Lions Den stage from previous years. Fully equipped with an armory of lasers, pyrotechnic displays, dancers, acrobats, fireworks, and killer performers, the Origin stage was not to be tempered with.
Grand Central
The Grand Central stage was located right in the heart of the City and hosted a large variety of live acts, bands, and performers. This stage had a larger platform to accommodate the bands and acted as a bright and vibrant town Square surrounded by Ferris Wheels and circus rides. The second largest stage of Boomtown came fully equipped again with more theatrical treats, including dancers, fire breathers, fireworks, lasers, strobes, and more.
Zenith
The mighty Zenith stage is situated in the middle of the Metropolis district and saw a great selection of house, techno, breaks, and garage acts all week long. Its bright blue backdrop and design give it a 1920s Atlantic vibe and highlighted the corporation takeover from the storyline. No stage is spared any effort when it comes to production as this beaming stage also comes packed with lasers, strobes, and trippy visuals that complement the high-energy music it provides.
The Wrong Side of The Tracks has made a name for itself over the years by hosting intimate sets with a mixture of acts. Last year saw the stage grow larger and featured a psychedelic rollercoaster design, which was maintained but enlarged for Chapter 2. A larger area meant more space to dance and also had an enclosed sound system to play the music louder and clearer. The decor on this stage was immaculate, on one side was a small Ferris Wheel of oil barrels which rotated constantly and on the other was a circus funhouse stacked with mirrors and actors. In addition to the decor more pyrotechnics and immense light setups came alive at night time putting the cherry on the top for this remarkable stage.
Street Venues
Amongst having some of the best stage designs in the world, Boomtown is critically acclaimed for its small street venues that offer intimate experiences in funny and excitingly themed stages. Scattered all around the City, a labyrinth of alleyways with twists and turns plays host to a huge array of smaller stages playing a myriad of music. Most, however, require a task to be completed upon entry. This could range from dance battles, telling an exciting story, rap battles, or a trade of treasure. Needless to say, once you’ve gained access to the venue you are in for a treat.
Our personal favorite venues this year included Hotel Paradiso, a boutique spa and Hotel that got you primed and pampered before giving you access, activities here included bathing in money, soapy facials, and trippy manicures. We had good fun with the likes of the Boomtown Bobbies, the festival’s very own police force who control the riffraff of the City with mostly jungle beats and dirty basslines.
The infamous inconvenience store, which as the name suggests is not there to serve your needs. This year’s store specials included a great selection of inconvenient items such as the hair that you find in your meal and the annoying stone in your shoe. Finally, our last highlight from the many street venues to choose from was Acid Leak, a toxic wasteland turn acid techno Bunker. Oozing radioactive gunk and infested with post-apocalyptic actors this mad-max-styled venue was blasting high bpm beats all week long.
Forest
The Hidden Woods is one of Boomtown‘s mainstay forest stages. A beach meets forest environment scattered with wooden seating areas and a large viewing platform. Throughout the week this beautiful woodland stage played host to a mixture of music, mostly consisting of reggae, jungle, and drum and bass. With a large stage at one end and entrances on the 3 sides operating a one-way entrance system, the area was not as busy as in previous years giving more space to move and dance.
The Tribe Of Frog, arguably Boomtown’s most famous forest stage, is a luscious multicoloured party dream. With psychedelic decor spread throughout, this place really comes alive at night time. Twisted LED lights wind in the branches of trees and rainbow crystals and butterflies fly above your head to the exciting sound of psy trance music. This is the perfect place to lose yourself and immerse in one of Boomtown’s many offerings.
Tangled roots situated at the top of the valley is a luscious sloped forest stage, offering a bit more comfort than the other two. It’s a long stage that is scattered with picnic benches, tables, lanterns, seats, and small viewing platforms. With the stage being on a decline it allows for better viewing from all points of the forest. Over the week, this stage saw a mixture of music, ranging from all genres, fast and slow.
DJ Sets
Chase & Status
It is no easy task to fill in for The Prodigy, who after suffering a back injury were no longer able to headline the final day. But, if there is anyone for that job, it’s Chase & Status. Taking over the Grand Central stage to close the weekend, the duo took full control handing out a mixture of their old classics, with their newer jungle and drum and bass sounds.
Skream b2b Hamdi – Old School Dub
Yes, you read that correct. The dubstep pioneer teamed up with the new kid on the block Hamdi for a deep, dark, and dirty dubstep set on the Wrong Side of the Tracks. Playing a mixture of old school dubby bangers with lots of wobbles, stabs and big explosive drops, hearing these rare sounds in this setting was a treat.
Eats Everything – History Of Rave
The always energetic Eats Everything took over the Zenith stage to perform his signature history of rave set. Diving back into the vault for some classics and paying tribute to those that came before, his track selection blended in and out of iconic tracks from some legendary artists.
Serum & Inja
Serum is one of the kings of drum and bass music, mixing his jump-up roots with new-age roller sounds. Now pair his signature style of mixing, blending, and track selection with the immaculate MC Inja’s clear and unique uplifting flows and then put them both on the mighty Origin stage, now that is a killer combo.
Summary
The Boomtown Fair Chapter 2: The Twin Trail did not disappoint. Following a tough couple of years throughout lockdown, the Boomtown family was hit with many financial obstacles and have had to make a lot of changes in the new chapters to keep this magical place alive. Using the same smaller site as last year, but with a large number of changes to pathing, facilities and vendors worked a charm as it meant you still had all the wonder and creativity bursting from every corner.
The stage designs were some of the best we have seen over the past years, including the sound systems and theatrical shows. Boomtown is a stunning place that as well as throwing one insane party comes with a treasure trail-like storyline, fantastic music from big names and small acts alike, and always puts across deep and positive messages that should be spread from human to human. If you go to this festival even once, you will go again. Thank you to the whole team and everyone involved who made it happen!
Let’s see what Chapter 3: Revolution of Imagination has in store! You can sign-up for Chapter 3 using the link here.
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