Yes, it’s that time again when, amidst all the Wrestlemania, cinephilia and gaming-liking-ness, we start to immerse ourselves in the ever prescient, ever changing culture of the European festival scene. Once again, for the third year running, the Vultures are paying a visit to our old friends in Boomtown.
For the unfamiliar, Boomtown has become a hugely significant talisman in festival culture, growing over the past decade from a gathering of Bristolian revellers to an honest-to-goodness town, blending a kind of absurdist immersion theatre with huge sound systems and increasingly impressive line-ups to match them. We’re heading into what will officially be the tenth chapter in the tale, and things are due to change.
Following the tumultuous events of Chapter Nine, which promised that outside influences were going to change everything (at least narratively speaking), we all knew things would never be quite the same, but not like this. For the first time in several years, more or less since Boomtown as we know it was established in the shadow of Bang Hai Tower in 2015, the town is changing shape.
An entirely new district – Diss-order Alley – has sprung up, dedicating itself to all things metallic and punk (something which has been on the cards for years), whilst old standards like Mayfair and Chinatown have been rebranded – Paradise Heights and Metropolis. Exciting, yes, but it begs the question, why change?
As the 60,000 strong capacity crowd proved in 2017, what Boomtown are doing is working, but the minds behind it have never been ones to pander. In some circles, there have been gripes and groans that the crowd has moved too far from the roots of the festival, that the ravers were being left behind. It’s a well documented fact that in the festival scene, at least here in the UK, success and stagnation are often two sides of the same coin.
Given how far removed from any other festival Boomtown is, it’s hard to believe that Lak Mitchell and the rest of the organisers would ever make such an oversight, and accordingly, they’ve recognised and addressed the need for change. It’s not just a cosmetic change, though, it’s a practical one.
“We’re always keen to mix things up and introduce new elements for people to explore each year!” Lak says, “And although we’ve renamed a fair few areas and moved the district concepts on a bit, it’s mainly the downtown bowl area that’s had a big rethink in terms of layout. It’s been pretty much the same in terms of layout since we introduced Bang Hai in 2015, so we wanted to ensure that everything was laid out with the audience experience at the absolute forefront. So we’ve rejigged things to give more space for the larger stages, re-positioned the direction of the stages to help with sound control and spread things out a bit to help people move around the area easier.”
All of these changes relate back to common concerns, and represent the actions of a festival crew who listen to their visitors. The considerate ear is one part of it, but equally Lak and company are allowing themselves to move and develop creatively even with the unequivocal promise of their most hyped chapter to date – tickets sold out in record time.
“We wanted to take this opportunity to look at the direction of the districts and ensure they evolve in line with the ever changing story. Many of our district designers have been involved from the beginning and there was an appetite to change the look of their areas, which is why five of our nine districts have changed layout, design and theme.” Lak relays, We also have a couple of brand new concepts coming in like the overhaul of Mayfair into Paradise Heights and, the one I’m personally really excited about; Diss-order Alley. Which has a bit of a dream for me with it focussing on heavy metal music, so it’s been a real passion project. It started off with Chinatown Courtyard and has now branched out into a whole new district bringing music and social awareness together in a way only punk and metal can. But on the whole, it’s a really exciting year with everything we’re implementing both creatively and operationally.”
This, coupled with one of the most varied lineups in the history of an already very unpredictable weekend of music, represents an admirably risky approach. While none of these changes suggest that Boomtown is changing in any drastic way, the fact that they’re choosing to tweak things around in the wake of the biggest uptick in popularity they’ve ever had is brave, and likely comforting for the ones who roll through the gates year after year.
Stay tuned for further updates on how Chapter Ten is coming together.
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