REVIEW: BoomTown 2016 - The Revolution Starts Now

Less than a month ago I was escaping reality for the weekend by living in the ‘UK’s wildest and most inspiring independent festivals’: BoomTown. What started as a small underground festival in 2009 has now developed into a sold out spectacle on a massive scale.

What makes BoomTown so unique is their view to accommodate for nearly all genres of music. From ska, reggae, folk and punk to hip-hop, drum n bass, techno, electro-swing, jungle and psytrance. This makes BoomTown a festival for all to enjoy with 24 main stages and loads of other smaller stages and street venues to explore.

DISTRICTS

BoomTown has 9 districts which become home to campers for the weekend. If you get there in time you choose where to camp based on the music you plan to see for the weekend. The HillTop includes Mayfair for the electro-swingers, OldTown for the fans of gypsy and folk and the Wild West.

Temple Valley is home to TrenchTown for the best reggae, dub and jungle. It's also home to the brand new for 2016: Sector 6 for the dnb heads and grime lovers.

Head Downtown and camp in either Barrio Loco for the hip-hop and garage lovers, Chinatown for ska, punk and rock n roll or the spectacular DSTRKT 5with its magnificent Bang-Hair Palace.

WATCH: Zed Bias plays Bang Hai Palace on a sunny afternoon

For the families and kids, the place to be in in Whistlers Green where funk, soul and folk is played and a KidzTown ready to explore with cafes, crafts, workshops and chill-out areas.

You can also in the Psy Forest which isn't noted on the website but my best friend camped there in 2015 and loved it.

Like with many festivals BoomTown has grown over the years and become more and more popular. This was proven this year as it was the first time all 3 tiered tickets had sold out!

Whilst it's pleasing for the organisers to sell all their tickets, I think they didn't really accommodate for the amount of people coming. After the traffic to the site and queuing we finally got through the gates at 3pm so only 3 hours after they opened at 12:00.

All the campsites apart from a little bit of Psy Forest, Chinatown and what was left of TrenchTown were already full. We ended up camping in TrenchTown but in the campsite over the bridge (awful!). As it wasn't really a part of the rest of the Fair there wasn't much there in terms of stalls, which was quite disappointing. Perhaps next year they will expand that campsite or maybe turn it into something?

MUSIC

Although we weren't camping right in the centre of things we could still hear the music booming from the Lion's Den and Sector 6 which was great. It was a bit safer and much more relaxed compared to my 2015 BoomTown when I camped Downtown in Barrio Loco.

In terms of the music the lineup was immense filled with big names: Madness, Damian Marley, Letfield, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Parov Stelar, Levellers, Benny Page, Ed Solo, Congo Natty, Big Narstie, The Skints, Mungos Hi-Fi, My Nu Leng, Ms Dynamite, Foreign Beggars, Dead Players, DJ Hype, DJ Hazard, So Solid Crew, Royal T, DJ Q, Flava D, Zed Bias, Beans On Toast, Beardyman, The King Blues, Sonic Boom Six, Asian Dub Foundation, Bad Manners, Fun Lovin’ Criminals. And that’s only to name a few. Each district has their own line up poster so as you can imagine there were hundreds of acts.

Like with every festival I've been to I plan to see way more bands than I actually end up seeing. Here are a few acts I saw and my thoughts on them:

DEAD PLAYERS AT POCO LOCO: THURSDAY

Made up of Jam Baxter, Dabbla and Ghosttown (production), I only managed to catch the last half hour of their set but it was so worth it. It was the first time I had seem them, or any High Focus act, and they sounded so true to their tracks. What better to spend your birthday closing Poco Loco? Happy bday Baxter. Ending with their top track 'Yeah' I left Poco Loco in good spirits. Super hyped for Dabbla's 'Year of the Monkey' album launch in Brighton on 7th October at Concorde 2. See event here with loads of guests: Fliptrix, Dirty Dike, Jam Baxter, Verb T and a Task Force reunion set. Bring it on.

BENNY PAGE VS ED SOLO AT THE LIONS DEN: FRIDAY

This set was definitely a highlight of my weekend. Both Benny Page and Ed Solo were amazing, mixing their ragga dnb tracks to create a rave-like atmosphere. After Ed Solo played the Arcadia stage in 2013 and then the Hidden Woods in 2014 - taking on the Lion's Den was definitely a progression for the junglist. For me, the highlight was when they remixed Bob Marley's 'Is This Love' and incorporated a little bit of the Gorillaz. However too many annoying rewinds!

THE KING BLUES AT DEVIL KICKS: SATURDAY

It pains me to write anything negative about The King Blues as they are one of my all-time favourite bands. This was the third time I saw them this year and it was by far the worst set of all three. They supported Enter Shikari in February which was really goo, then they closed the Desperados stage at SlamDunk festival which, for me, was the best all year. I was happy to see they filled out the Devil Kicks dancehall including people listening outside the tent, but they cut their set 10 minutes short which I thought was a bit stingy. However, they can't go wrong by playing loved tracks 'Save The World, Get The Girl', 'I Got Love' and 'Headbutt'. They also announced they'll be releasing a new album in 2017 but leaving their set the atmosphere wasn't near as high compared to SlamDunk. Sorry Itch.

THE SKINTS AT THE LIONS DEN: SATURDAY

By far the best live band I saw all weekend. As always The Skints pulled off a lively and enjoyable show with top hits 'This Town', 'Murderer' and 'Ratatat'. Their unique take on reggae make them stand out with their grimey raps, punk rock riffs, hard basslines and of course their 'East London take on Jamaican music.' So much talent showcased in the space of an hour with the lovely Marcia's strong voice, playing a range of instruments coupled with Josh's electrifying guitar.

WATCH: The Skints play 'Murderer' at the Lions Den

If you were to compare BoomTown with other large scale festivals such as Reading and Download, here you can actually see where your money goes. Rather than splashing all the cash on big headliners like popular festivals tend to do, here at BoomTown the way it is thoroughly decorated and presented with its jaw dropping stages still doesn't stop big names performing It is clear that SO much time and effort has been put in by the organisers, musicians, actors, promoters and volunteers to put on a good show.

WATCH: CARNIVAL AT BOOMTOWN 2016

To finish, BoomTown 2016 was stunning, surprising and shocking - as always. The new Sector 6 stage went down a treat with the harder dnb heads, but corners were definatley cut this year. The lack of security compared to last year was one factor, of course drugs are going to get in - but cutting down on the dogs surely can only lead to bad consequences?

The removal of the Boombox was also disappointing as it was a treasured stage.

Lastly the kind of people who were at BoomTown unquestionably killed the hippy omnibenevolent vibe citizens know and love. BoomTown is NOT just a 4-day rave, if you think that way you'll end up killing yourselves! You'll always get the dodgies who just bought the ticket to purely take drugs, sell drugs and steal. As BoomTown gets bigger and bigger each year... what exactly are the organizers going to do to bring it back to that safe one love environment again?

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