Boomtown 2019; the 11th chapter, takes place this year from the 7th – 11th August. This eclectic 5-day music, arts and theatrical festival is a totally unique experience, the Evening Standard described it as ‘like stepping into a movie’. This is a festival for the people with total inclusivity. 66,000 people are expected to attend the festival which is held at the Matterley Estate, South Downs National Park, Hampshire. Boomtown is a world within a world split up into four main areas: Downtown, Hilltop, Temple Valley and Whistlers Green with district areas within each of them, including a new electronic music stage this year. Each district has at least one main stage and a selection of smaller street or theatrical venues as well as different sized music arenas. All of this comes together to bring a sense of community in a living, breathing, fictitious city.
It’s all about telling a story and you too can play a part, literally, by choosing a ‘district’ for your character and visiting the Costume Shop via the Boomtown website where you can purchase a bespoke outfit thus becoming part of the story.
Boomtown started in 2009 and has gone from an audience of 1,000 to 60,000. Put together and run by a team of creative, passionate people who simply want to create the best festival experience they can! The music has always served a diverse line-up of underground and global music including reggae, world music, folk, jazz, ska, hip hop, drum and bass, techno, house, disco, jungle, psytrance and more. Combined with a focus on boundary-pushing immersive art, theatre and performance. With that in mind, the music line-up this year does not disappoint and includes such greats as Ms Lauryn Hill, Prophets of Rage, The Streets, Chase & Status, Groove Armada, Salt-n-Pepa, Carl Cox, Four Tet, Slowthai, Gogol Bordello, LittleSimz, Horse Meat Disco, Blackalicious and plenty more.
Boomtown is a family friendly festival and its many districts are full of family inclusive highlights as well as Kidztown – an exciting playground with a variety of stages and arenas full of different workshops, theatre, circus & dance areas, a ‘forest school’, arts & science, a radio station and much more to choose from.
The festival organisers are conscious every year of the environmental strain that an event of this size can impact, and are part of the Festival Vision 2025 pledge to reduce Boomtown’s carbon emissions by 50% by 2025. Areas such as travel, energy, consumption, food, single use plastic, waste, water & sewage – will all have measures put in place this year so we can all contribute to the cause and keep this festival environmentally strong. Visit the website to read their number of systems and schemes available at the festival.
The districts this year include Area 404, Whistlers Green, Oldtown, Copper Country, Paradise Heights, Metropolis, DSTRKT5 and Barrio Loco. There’s a great promotional film from last year’s Boomtown featuring the crew behind it all, giving you an insight into the sheer creative drive within everyone involved. Everything from the set design to the performance to the music – is brought to life to bring a sense of magic to this festival, to make a world, to make a town.
Each chapter at Boomtown provides a new story, new characters with fresh adventures to be had, which you’re invited to take part in.
Go to www.boomtownfair.co.uk to purchase tickets, see the full line-up and find out more about this exceptional festival.
Preview by Jo Overfield