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REVIEW: BOOMTOWN FAIR FESTIVAL 2011

If you that haven’t been to Boomtown Fair or aren’t aware of Boomtown, you have been missing out on one of the most unique festival experiences that there is. This is one festival that takes care of the fine details and doesn’t see a dull moment. It is very roots and reggae based, so if you are looking for progressive house, you might be in the wrong spot, but I bet you’d still have the time of your life!

You could be walking along a random part of the festival and suddenly see a puppet sitting on a fence talking to you, or a robotic horse walking through the crowd occasionally blowing out flames and making horse noises. There were also theatrical performances all over the place, nutty nurses approaching you to make sure that you had all the attention you need, wind up doll girls wading through the festival until they ran out of juice so had to wind each other up with massive handles in their backs etc etc. The list of randomness is endless, it was pure brilliance.

The Lions Den played host to some of the finest Reggae and Jungle acts around whilst Bassline Circus amazed the crowd with mind blowing performances of the music variety as well as gravity defying circus acts. Ms Dynamite absolutely tore the place apart on Saturday night in front of thousands of energetic ravers. Zinc also made his mark on the crowd with a storming set that ended with some classic Zinc D&B tracks.

When the larger tents closed down for the night, you would find yourself in and out of smaller, tucked away quirky venues that had pounding sound-systems and raging ravers. ASBO’s disco was a favourite of mine, nothing but energy and vibes in that place every night. To be honest there were a lot of other tucked away venues that were visited but by that time of night, my memory was becoming very faded, as long as there was music, I was happy.

The ghetto blaster stage was another one that was constantly busy throughout the daytime and early evening hours, whenever the music was pumping from the giant ghetto blaster, people were bouncing. In front of the ghetto blaster was a boxing ring that was used for dance-off competitions, providing extra entertainment from people throwing the best off their shapes whilst struggling to stand up. When the comps weren’t on, the boxing ring was just full on bouncing ravers.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is one of the most unique festivals that I have been to and I won’t be missing it next year…

Words and photo: Ricky Ashman

by 247 Magazine