Boomtown write-up

The nature of Boomtown makes it so that it’s quite difficult to actually write a conventional review of the event. Unlike many other contemporary festivals, much of one’s time at Boomtown is spent exploring the immersive maze, as well as wandering into small, hidden-away venues where you won’t necessarily have any knowledge of the act that you’re seeing. So whilst I’m able to discuss the various names I specifically planned to see, whatever I write can only ever encompass a fraction of the full Boomtown experience. It really is a significant challenge to put this festival down into words, and I don’t think that one could ever fully grasp the experience without having experienced it first-hand.

This was to be my sixth year at the festival, having been every year since 2014, and it completely lived up to every expectation; indeed, this was quite possibly the best one yet. I think I’ll probably always judge my very first Boomtown as my favourite, but attempting to look at it from an objective point of view, it’s very tempting to say that this was the most outstanding. As I’ve said, there’s an inescapable challenge in describing one’s full experience, but in the following few paragraphs I’ll do my best to sum the festival up day by day.

The festival opened on the Wednesday this year, however Becca and I weren’t to get there until the Thursday. Upon arrival, I was immediately impressed with the speediness of the entrance queues. After the horrendous disaster of the 2017 gates, Boomtown really needed to step up their arrival game, and rather than just stick with the changes made last year, they’ve continued to improve, and we whizzed right through to have everything set up before it was even midday. Most of the afternoon was spent exploring, and the first act we properly saw was Jurassic 5’s Soup and the Fullee Love Collective. Immediately the festival was off to a great start; the soul, hip hop and funk vibes put everyone in a great mood, and had the entire room dancing. Following this we caught the end of Don Johnston’s new live project; whose music I’ve always enjoyed, so it was great to see it translate across to the live stage. Managed to catch some of Napalm Death, which was one of the heaviest things I’ve ever witnessed, and then attempted to see some of Phibes’ set, although unfortunately the venue was completely packed, and there was no way we were getting in. This was the one negative experience of this year; Boomtown continues to grow and grow, and – whilst I’m glad that more people are getting the opportunity to experience it – I question the point where there’s just too many people. The whole festival was considerably busier this year, and I would hate for anyone to miss out on any of their favourite acts as a result of this. Aside from this though, Thursday was super, and a great way to ease us into the weekend.

We started off the Friday at the drum ’n’ bass morning workout session, which was great fun, getting us sufficiently energised for the day ahead. After watching the opening ceremony at the Lion’s Den stage, the first act we properly saw was Leicester’s the Brandy Thieves, playing a fusion of gypsy folk and punk rhythms. Following this was Neville Staple. As I only managed to catch a small bit of the Specials when they played two years ago, this set more than made up for that lack of experience. Our first highlight of the festival was then Ms. Dynamite, who – despite only playing a half-hour set – packed so much in and had such high energy that she proved to be one of the best acts to grace the Lion’s Den over the whole festival. We then saw a little bit of Goldie Lookin Chain and cheered along with any and every reference to Newport, before going over to the Nucleus stage to watch Freear’s Keith Flint tribute set. I’m a huge fan of Slamboree, and was very glad that Freear was given the opportunity to perform this set, and he definitely proved himself worthy. Another highlight for this day then followed with Skinny Lister at the Forge Stage, who I always love, and who did not let down – before catching the end of High Contrast performing at Dubtendo. Later on, Friday evening proved to be one of the wildest nights of the festival, with standout performances coming from Gogol Bordello, Four Tet, Emily Dust, and AAA Badboy's set with Count Bassy. I’d love to be able to go into more depth regarding each of these acts, but there was so much exploration and adventure that night that the whole thing instead seems to serve as one fantastic memory. Boomtown 2019 was already proving to be exceptional, and we were only two days in.

Saturday began with the politically-charged lyrics and experimental sounds of Dizraeli, before sticking around the Town Centre stage to watch Cut Capers’ set. Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I love Cut Capers, so it’ll come as no surprise to hear that I found them fantastic. We then went to support my fellow Geordies that are Holy Moly and the Crackers; I’ve seen these guys a fair few times in the past, and was surprised to find that their style has actually changed quite a bit in the past few years, having moved on to a more rocky sound than their previous folk blues. Still amazing though; if anything, I think they’ve gotten better. Following this was Bare Jams, who brought the summer sound with their infectious ska, before going to see Dizraeli again, but this time at Speaker’s Corner. One of the best parts of Boomtown was the variety of things to experience, and it was certainly interesting to have a bit of a switch-up from the constant music. We followed with a little bit of Groove Armada’s show, but the highlight of the entire festival was then Michael Franti, playing at the Forge. Franti’s upbeat positivity and presentation of pure joy was the most entertaining performance we saw all weekend by a country mile, and every single person in that crowd felt like an essential part of the show. Easily the best performance of the festival, and up there with some of the best shows I’ve ever seen. We then caught the end of the Streets after this, and a bit of Pennywise’s set – both great – before heading to what was always going to be a highlight of the festival for me – the electro swing party held in the Paradise Ballroom, and lasting the remainder of the evening. Chris Tofu, Duke Skellington, Fizzy Gillespie, and C@ in the H@ all demonstrated why they’re valued representatives of this scene, and the stage was packed and jumping all evening. Finally, we ended the evening in a relaxed way, sat around the fire jamming to the acoustic music at Whistler’s Green.

The final day of the weekend was kicked off with a set from Sheffield’s Renegade Brass Band – who are always a joy – before heading back over to Whistler’s Green for a few more talks at Speaker’s Corner. First up was Bradley Gunn talking about his raving experiences, and then Zack Polanski from Extinction Rebellion. In amongst all the chaos of the weekend, it was great to have a relaxing sit down and hear from some inspirational speakers such as these. We then caught Beans on Toast doing his traditional Sunday afternoon set, before heading downtown (for the final time) to catch Featurecast at Dubtendo. An incredible selection of tunes, confirming that Featurecast is up there amongst my favourite DJs. Returning to the Paradise Ballroom, I had to see the whole of Afro Cluster and support some fellow Cardiff locals, and I was not disappointed. Afro Cluster consistently put on a brilliant show, and I’d recommend seeing them whenever one gets a chance. From this point onwards, Sunday evening proved to be the time of the trickiest clashes. We managed to see the first half of Kate Tempest before whizzing over for the end of Salt N Pepa. Showcasing completely and utterly different ways of approaching hip hop, both acts provided a really entertaining watch, and I wished I could have stayed for the whole of them both. Up next however was the hardest clash of them all: I had to watch the whole of Prophets of Rage – there was no question about that at all – but was gutted to realise that I’d therefore miss the entirety of Lauryn Hill. (Later on I discovered that Hill had turned up an hour late for her set, and thus I could have caught the second half! Never mind – I’ll catch her one day). Prophets of Rage were certainly worth it though; the whole show was packed full of classic tunes, and the crowd were phenomenal – being up at the front there were times where I could feel my internal organs being completely crushed. This was effectively the grand finale for my Boomtown, but afterwards I managed to catch some of Sacha Dieu, before heading down to Nucleus for Amelie Lens and the closing show. Over these four days, Boomtown had been everything I wanted it to be, and I can’t imagine having had a better time.

This write-up contains much less than everything I experienced at Boomtown, and much much less than everything that one could have experienced there. It has certainly earned its reputation as one of the UK’s best festivals, if not one of the world’s. With such a variety of music on offer, as well as everything else demonstrating that it’s so much more than just the music, Boomtown is easily one of the best weekends one can hope to have. There’s easily something there for everyone, and personally, I hope I can continue going for as long as is viable.