r/BoomtownFestival

sorry i'm not sure if there's already been a few people who have posted a similar thing. i just wanted to know if anyone else is feeling really run down/unwell since coming back home? i didn't do any drugs and i barely even touched my vape because of how dusty it was but i feel like i've got an awful chest infection coming on and i feel very ill. anyone else feeling a similar way? or am i just getting old 😅

I thought it might be helpful for anyone considering doing the same to share my experience of attending Boomtown completely sober. I'm a forty something bloke and at previous festivals I've drunk beer all day and night and dabbled in this and that. This was my first sober festival and I very nearly bailed on the whole thing but decided after a few months off the booze that I was hopefully strong enough. Ironically my weekend started with an additional drug test in the white tent as the dog smelt something delicious on me!

For starters I deliberately decided to limit myself to just two nights as I was worried about falling asleep with the 4am bass and overstimulation. I was right about that and in total I probably had 5 hours sleep over the weekend. Generally I just stayed out dancing with friends until the big stages shut as I couldn't see the point in lying in my tent sober and listening to the music from a distance.

I mostly just drank water and coffee except for the occasional luke warm Cerona Cero alcohol free beer. Over the weekend I only spent about £20 on drinks, so yeah sorry Live Nation! I gave myself permission to eat whatever and whenever I wanted and made sure to chill out up at Ancient Futures / Thrutopia when it was all getting to much. There were some good morning classes up there and even did an ecstatic sober dance!

The dust, noise, volume of people is a LOT when you're completely sober so I wore my Loop's most of the time plus face covering to dial it all down a bit. Some of the music sounded incredible, Floating Points, Hi Vis, Four Tet, Krust & Die in particular. I really appreciated the effort all the crew put into the festival.

A lot of the smaller areas in Downtown sounded far too bassy and I couldn't hang around there too long, especially the 360 one. Andy C at Lions Den also sounded quite bad to my sober ears but appreciate I wasn't down at the front getting stuck in. I swerved anything too hectic but did enjoy a dance at Tribe of frog on my back up the hill.

The best thing about not being drunk or high is that you're not always chasing the next drink, loo break, line or whatever and you can stay in one place and really enjoy it. The worst is when strangers give you a sloppy drunken hug or just talk absolute bollocks! I had a few pints spilt all over me which was horrible but what do you expect at a festival?! Toilets are also quite nasty sober but not as bad as I feared.

When I got back home I felt great! Like running a marathon but with the extra dopamine from the music, dancing and hanging out with nice people. Would definitely recommend going sober if you're strong enough mentally but you do need coping strategies to deal with potentially not being able to get to sleep, the overwhelm without a beer jacket and the relentless sub bass that follows you everywhere. You also notice a lot more shit than your average punter which can be hard when you see someone having an argument or not looking very well.

I was thinking today it would be interesting to see how the vibe might change if more people were sober at Boomtown. That edgy druggy atmosphere is part of the attraction for some I guess but when sober you do notice how lost some people look, sort of present but not and I was looking at them thinking will you actually remember any of this?! Ah well, if I'd read all this at 18 I might have said piss off you sad, old, clean living bastard!

P.s. I'm not trying to judge anyone for their choices, just sharing my perspective for what it's worth.

I am old (52) and I fucking love boomtown, I love the sheer energy and excitement that pervades the whole festival for 4 days. this was my experience.

arriving on Thursday and lugging all my shit in a trolley from the car park to the entrance gate in the blazing heat up a hill felt like an endurance test to join the fucking marines. but I must have passed a couple of hundred people on the way up who were stopped in the shade of the fence so I suppose that was an advantage, because it meant that when we got to the gate it was pretty empty and we were through and into the campsite in about 20 mins. massive improvement on last year where we waited at the gate for about 2 hours.

of course that was only the first stage of this iron man challenge because we get to the campsite and err its full. how the fuck did all these people get here and set up already, its only 2pm on Thursday ffs. we had to walk all the way round the edge, to this little fenced off peninsular bit that mercifully had a patch big enough for my tent and only a medium amount of gravel. where on earth would all the people behind us in the queue find to put their tent up? I have no idea.

once the camp was sorted though we went for a look around. lions den is close to orchid, that's handy. old town is like a steampunk carnival. anara forest is cool and shady but smells a bit of piss. it gets dark and we go out into main thoroughfare and jesus fuck there are a lot of people here. its quite overwhelming. literally tens of thousands of people in every direction you look. everyone's buzzing with anticipation, lots of coordinating with people on phones, groups meeting up. there's plenty of side venues and bars banging out tunes but the main stages aren't open. it feels more like an enormous fun fair with 80 thousand punters. tribe of frog is banging though and everyone is getting into it right off the bat.

the campsite is rammed and that means you have to queue for everything. basic things in the morning like getting a coffee and having a shit, the simple pleasures in life, demand an excessive investment of time. they probably could have had more food vendors there in orchid, but I don't know, maybe I just went at peak times and it was quieter at other times.

i'm into house and techno mainly, but I pretty much like all forms of electronic music. why would you go to Boomtown if you are not in to drum and bass old man? bro I DO like drum and bass, just not all the fucking time. I listened to dnb and jungle back in the day, I love a bassline and MC as much as the next man, but I generally associate it more with a notting hill sound system, or sitting in the shade in the afternoon having a smoke. hence shy fx was superb and sub focus rocked. at 2:00am I like something a bit more psychedelic. that ain't a diss its a preference.

Friday night in the main town was immense. massive crowds at every stage. we gravitate towards hydro and catch Eats Everything, Ross From Friends and 9x9, all of them brilliant. then oguz comes on and drops a massive eurotrance chord and i'm like right, lets bounce. we spend the next 3 hours wandering around the main town just going in to random rooms and tents, no idea who's playing, just listening to the music. didn't bother with anything with a queue, we've done enough queuing today thank you. stand outs were acid leak and 360 which is an amazing venue, when you can see the crowd on the opposite side getting right into it. but the main thing is that every single venue, no matter what the size or the music playing, has got a massive crowd who are really into it and reacting like crazy to the drops. that's something special right there. we end the night at tribe of frog because its on the way home, the psytrance is sublime and they got the best decorations in the festival.

there were loads of water points conveniently placed, never had to queue, and tastes great, better than the tap water at my home in the south east which tastes like swimming pool water. at orchid you could drink the water at the washing sinks too, and it was ice cold. it meant that a small 500ml plastic water bottle was the only thing I had with me. travel light with your head in the stars.

8:00am on Saturday it starts getting hot in the tent but I'm not through with the shut-eye, a man needs his kip. so I put the sleeping mat outside the tent on the shady side and sleep through to 2:00pm. that's better, ready for a new day. back to hydro for some housey housey - rossi, floating points, four tet. what a talented young man four tet is. top of his game. then come brutalismus. oh my god. these guys are nuts. recognisably german, that berlin industrial sound that has been around in various guises over the years, but also fresh and punky and exciting. they absolutely rocked and the crowd loved it. after that it was a repeat of last night, wandering about, letting the vibe take you here and there and everywhere. finally back to tribe of frog which now seems to have become a traditional way to end the evening.

sunday we spent mainly at fantazia in the hidden woods. old school classics but with fresh new edits. sonique was amazing, she got some energy that girl and the tunes to back it up. kings of the rave were top - I expected 2bad mice to drop bombscare, but I was wrong. wicked set tho. pete cannon and ratty also kept the crowd moving. around 10:00pm we head back up the hill to catch faithless at the lions den. I feel like a salmon swimming the wrong way up a river, there's a vast tide of people coming down the hill, presumably heading to down to squash everyone at skrillex. I agree with everyone that they probably should have been the other way round, with Skrillex at Lions Den instead. maybe its in his contract that he doesn't do hills, I don't know.

what an amazing weekend, full of delights and surprises. NEVER let any moany old git tell you it was better back in the day, that kids today don't know what raving is. what they mean is they haven't been out since 2005 and they don't know what it is any more. they don't know about the scene. they don't know about the energy of 80 thousand people having a shared experience. they don't know about the kindness of strangers, the beauty of friends. they don't know about boomtown. THEY DONT KNOW.

right that's enough from me, I'm about to go off grid again, heading off to WOH. take care of yourselves people. I love you all.

I’m currently coming down from MDMA and have been getting some really strange sensations that I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced.
When I’m trying to fall asleep, I sometimes get a sudden burst/shock that seems to go through my whole body. It’s almost like a brain zap, except it feels much more widespread than just my head. It can also happen if I hear a sudden/loud noise.
Sometimes I get the feeling like I’m moving in frames too! Like my vision goes a bit stuttery if I move too fast.
The episodes only last a very short time (a few seconds), and I remain completely conscious and aware throughout. It can feel like a sudden jolt/spasm accompanied by a weird sensory sensation, and occasionally it seems to affect what I’m seeing/hearing for that moment.
It’s really annoying because it keeps happening just as I’m trying to fall asleep.
Has anyone else experienced anything similar during an MDMA comedown? I’m particularly interested in whether anyone gets them when hearing sudden sounds or while drifting off to sleep, and how long they lasted for you.
Not looking for a diagnosis — just trying to work out whether this is something other people have experienced after MDMA.

Like most people, I think I went overboard. There were two days where I really got on it, I think it’s enough to put me off ever doing it again!

Hello this was my first Boomtown and I had an amazing time was just wondering as I everywhere I looked everyone had dinner plate pupils and I felt a little left out of that experience, I don't really do pills or stimulates and was wondering if anyone one else was also staying off the pingers this year and how their experience of that was? :)

Hello friends and citizens, strap in for a super long post!

I was writing this out to remind myself of my own integration toolkit but thought I should share it, as some newbies may be struggling after their first festival (and some veterans may need reminding like I did!)…

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So. We are all aware of how hard work festivals are to our mind and body and that they take some recovery time (sleep, food, rest, shower etc) … however, we often forget to tend to our nervous system, as all that crazy hectic Boomtown stimulation can put us outside our window of tolerance – either into fight-or-flight, making us feel anxious, irritable, tense… or into shutdown, making us feel empty, lethargic, disconnected, depressed. First, I must state - THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. There’s a lot on the internet about an activated nervous system being the enemy. This is not the case - this is your nervous system working as it should 🙌 However the longer we stay in one of these states, the harder it is to come back to baseline (and the back-and-forth journey between activation and baseline IS the important bit). And if you’re not aware this is your nervous system doing its job, it can feel scary or stressful to not know why you don’t feel better, even after you’ve caught up on all your sleep, eaten your bodyweight in food and rested your weary feet.

Usually, sleep is the best thing for nervous system recovery, because REM sleep is superrrr important for processing external input (and there is SO much of it at Boomtown!). – especially emotional memories. So if you’re having crazy dreams, yay! Your brain is processing! However, if you’re feeling like you’re not dreaming/ like you’re just passing out/ like you’re sleeping loads but waking like you haven’t slept at all….. you might not be getting enough REM sleep (if you have a smart watch with a sleep stage tracker you can have a look).

Unfortunately, we can’t MAKE ourselves get REM sleep but we can do other things whilst awake to help our nervous systems process, organise and take on board all that we experienced and here are some of my favourite examples:

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1. Journalling.

My fave, I call it ‘manual processing’ and you can do it various ways. But most important is we’re going old school. Pen and paper. Crayon and notebook. Felt tip and the back of a newspaper. Whatever it is, just make it physical. No typing! Writing by hand engages wayyy more cognitive functions than typing. And then, just write down everything you experienced at Boomtown. This can be a factual story like “We arrived on wed, we camped here then we did this then we went here and then we did that” kinda thing … or you can word vomit your thoughts, emotions and feelings with no timeline. If this feels daunting, set a timer for 5 minutes and just try to write without stopping. Start with something simple like “my name is” and then try not to pause until the timer goes off. If you still feel you have more to say (or more energy in your writing hand) then just keep going until you’re all worded out 😊

2. Verbal processing.

Basically the same as writing it down but some people vibe better with speaking out loud. Open a voice recorder on your phone, or send yourself a voice note on whatsapp. Tell the story of your Boomtown. Again, can be a factual story or a stream of consciousness, it really doesn’t matter. This one’s also fun because you can listen back if you want and there might be things you spoke of you’d forgotten about OR you can delete the whole thing straight away and feel like somethings been lifted.

3. Doodling.

Very similar to both above, but sometimes you can’t even organise your thoughts/feelings into words and that’s where doodling comes in clutch because it taps into the pre-verbal parts of our brain. (Often I start journalling but it just dissolves into doodles 😂) It can be overwhelming to start as we all have a critical artist in our brain expecting us to ‘draw pretty’ so its sometimes easier to start literally scrawling. Like zigzag scrawling across the page. Make it ugly, make it messy. Or choose a motif, like a flower or a square or a cross and just do it over and over and over again. You might eventually feel your arm/hand wanting to do different motions or speeds… that’s where the magic is, just let it 🧡

4. Shaking

Feels stupid the first time you do it, feels great by the end. Ever seen a dog get spooked and then it shakes itself off and is fine? Yeah, we're doing that. Pick a track or two you love (something pretty chill please we're bringing you back to baseline remember) and then stand up with your feet firmly planted on the floor... And then just shake. Bounce. Wiggle. Bend your knees. Wave your arms around. Can be big or small, just keep your feet grounded and let the wiggle take you. Try and keep shaking for the whole of your chosen song(s), even when you feel stupid. (Especially when you feel stupid ✌️)

5. Bi-lateral stimulation

REM sleep stands for Rapid Eye Movement…. This is meant to be one of the reasons its so good at processing is that this eye movement tracks across both halves of the brain. So harnessing this cross brain/cross body movement can be beneficial even when awake! You can do this via Butterfly Tapping (cross your arms across your chest in a stereotypical vampire-in-coffin pose and then gently tapping your flat palms rhythmically one then the other) or by listening to Bi-lateral beats through heaphones (search youtube or spotify) letting your eyes track the movement of the music. Also, power walking/jogging/running is good because it makes your limbs move opposite to its pair. Also, if you struggle to fall asleep, looking as far as you can underneath your eyelids from side to side and top to bottom until you need to do a big yawn is a really quick reset.

6. Somatics

Sounds fancy, is simply ‘body first’. Anything that gets you aware of your bodily sensations. This could be a body scan meditation, a slow movement practise such as yoga/tai chi/qigong or simply putting on music and having a dance – however the practise is in trying to drop into sensations of physical feeling rather than thinking. So noticing the SENSATION of feeling tired etc rather than just naming it “tired”. How does it feel? Is it heavy, dense? Does it feel buzzy or prickly? You can create sensation sessions too… grab something spiky (BUT NOT SHARP) like a comb and something soft like a plushie. Slowly touch one then the other, or drag them on your skin, switching between the two, focusing on the sensation. How would you feel it if you didn’t have words to describe it? Then once you feel like you're more IN your body, take some time just to BE there.

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If all of this seems too much, then simply take some time for some deep breaths. Even if its 3mins before bed, focusing on long slow belly breaths (top tip: breathe in horizontal to the back of the face rather than UP into the nose – helps take a deeper breathe)

And as always, prioritising rest, good food and lots of water. I wish you all a wonderful post-Boomtown rejuvenation 🧡

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TLDR: Nervous system regulation is important after a festival as bonkers as Boomtown. Write down or speak out loud your experience to help process and integrate it. Have a shake, draw some doodles, take some deep breaths, drink some water and know you’re doing okay 🧡

Had the time of my LIFEEEEE this year - but for next year I’m reallllly hoping they make some of the smaller stages just a tad bit bigger!!! Didn’t even bother with redbull reactor on the last day cause the queues were nuts, also boomtown bobbies always had the fattest queue :(((

Hope they make them a lil bit bigger for next year so more people can fit in! Other than that 10/10 no notes, can’t believe some people had an awful time!

We need to bombard boomtown with messages about general camping space. It was rammed front to back this year and if they keep giving space to premium camping, and increasing the capacity there won't be enough space to camp. They are forgetting about the general festival goer to prioritise the premium one. The banner has been raised. We need lots of people to either email them or mention it loads in the survey on the app. If we don't do something now there won't be enough space next year.

2 times in a row now I have finished boom. The Monday I'm okay but then Tuesday sets in and I'm just sad. Not cus of any comedown or anything but more so I'm not gonna experience that magic for another 360 days. No rave I could go to could top it. Anyone else feel this way?

obviously the music was amazing and i loved having a dance with my friends but, did anyone else actually have the best memories from just being with your mates during the day? having a bit of breakfast in the morning together, making lunch together, having a chat at the tent, having a wander around old town during the day, those were purely some of my best mems, anyone else?

Second year in a row I’ve done boomtown and my comedown this year has been almost nonexistent. I feel absolutely fine minus a bit of brain fog. Just went on a big hike this morning to get out into the countryside and nature.

Last year I was an absolute mess for nearly 7 days. Genuinely couldn’t have been worse. Night terrors, really down, miserable etc etc etc.

The only difference in my drug use this year was I took acid for the first time….? Maybe this had a positive impact. But, I’m really not sure. Also, the group I was with were incredible. So much fun, looked after one another and had a great time.

How’s everyone else getting on? Anyone felt better this year?

Hope all those who had the pleasure watching live enjoyed as much as I did, and those watching from home see why this festival is such a special place.

Love to all the Boomtown attendees, see yous next year!

The ticket release this year has been very different to previous years. Much earlier access and the main website links directly to purchase, as in general release availability.

Looking again this afternoon, I see that Presale, Phase 1 and Phase 2 Wednesday Ticket (no transport) are all sold out.

In previous years, it has taken months for BT to sell out like this.

What are we thinking? Will there be additional Wednesday Entry tickets in phases yet to come?

https://preview.redd.it/tyy0bcjnxbkh1.png?width=953&format=png&auto=webp&s=0dcaa6b83f08654144181783dfa3e5ee5d4ae6ca

I was responsible with every cigarette still of course but every time I looked they were always out.

Also! What did they even look like?

I was camping in Downtown, quite far away from the main road, and somehow my trolley was stolen during the festival. It had some clothes in those rolled-up compression bags, my toothbrush, some rings, a book, half-eaten trail mix, and the bags for my sleeping bag and sleeping mat.

What makes it so bizarre is that literally only my trolley was stolen. My neighbours had deck chairs and other stuff sitting outside their tents all week and nothing was touched. My trolley wasn’t even particularly close to the main path, so whoever took it either had to dump everything somewhere and take the trolley, or somehow wheel the whole thing through a packed campsite without being noticed.
Security basically just said there was nothing they could do, which was pretty frustrating. I ended up having to leave my sleeping bag and mat behind and carry whatever I could fit on my back out of the festival.

Did anyone else in Downtown, or any of the other campsites, have stuff stolen? I’m genuinely curious because seeing other people with trolleys absolutely loaded with stuff, some even closer to the paths than mine, somehow untouched has made me feel like I’ve been personally selected by the universe 😂

I’m just ridiculously unlucky with this sort of thing. At Bestival years ago, when I was working there, someone actually went into my tent in the staff campsite and stole all my stuff too. Yet I keep coming back because I fucking love festivals 😂

I’ve already booked for next year, so I guess the lesson is tent with absolutely nothing outside it and everything locked away or I literally sleep on top of everything. Has anyone else had similar experiences at Boomtown?

I cant remember if it was at grand central or lions den, but I swear I was there for an announcement on the Sunday saying they listened to what the people want, and were announcing a new stage/venue playing purely metal, and another playing pure cheese that theyll be calling the Cheesecake Factory. I cant see anywhere online talking about it though, and my mate has just said she doesnt remember that being said! Did I dream this? Ill need you to let me down gently if I did because Im hyped.

I understand there was a lot of things that didn’t go right at boomtown but there’s no taking away that it wasn’t still a great year

The biggest one that irritates me is the people complaint about the “lack of dnb” there was more than enough dnb with some of the biggest names about wilkinson, sub focus, amc, KOTR, andy c, kelvin that’s just to name a few of them not to mention a bunch of others as someone who loves dnb myself I think there’s been plenty and boomtown has always been great for being a multi genre festival in fact the best is vibing to music you wouldn’t usually gravitate towards if you want strictly loads of dnb go forbidden, bass fest, or many of the other festivals out there