One of Hampshire’s finest festivals Boomtown is set to return 7 – 11 August 2019 as Chapter 11 gets ready for ‘A Radical City’.
Ms.Lauryn Hill, Prophets of Rage, The Streets all head the line up with hundreds more acts across 5 days.
Tickets are still on sale and it’s your last chance to purchase them here.
We caught up with Boomtown’s Head of Music Kaptin Barrett as talked about this year’s festival and more!
So how did you come up with the line up this year?
Well as always it’s a collaborative effort, so there’s a whole team of programmers for various districts but first we decide which way the story is going to go then we figure out which stages we’re going to be keeping or building and go from there. Obviously headliners such as Prophets Of Rage fit so well with our ethos that we’ve been talking to them for a while, so it’s largely synchronicity in terms of timing. Some acts such as BCUC or San Salvador are artists who really blew me away recently, so we just had to get them in. There’s old friends and favourites such as Gogol Bordello, Alborosie and Tanya Stephens and artists who are really exciting us currently like Slowthai and Little Simz. There’s no hard and fast formula for what we do, we just try and bring artists who will inspire, entertain and energise people.
Would you say this is your strongest line up to date?
Everyone has their favourite years and favourite line ups but each year we try and improve on the previous one in some way, so yes I’d say it is. I think a few people are worried we might be moving away from our roots with acts like Gorillaz, we never ever considered doing that but I think this year we went a little more out of our way to prove it. There’s so many of our favourite acts from across the generations, which when put together give a solid outline of underground music in this country, from Punk to Rave to Reggae Sound Systems.
So this year’s chapter theme is ‘ A Radical City’ how did you come up with this theme?
I think it’s a natural response to where we are in history. We all need to make significant and in some cases radical changes to protect our planet and for us that starts with changing the way we run the festival. There’s 66,000 people at Boomtown, so in order to reduce the impact we have on the environment we have to put sustainability at the forefront of everything we are doing both operationally and on the ground so that it’s easy for the public to reduce, reuse and recycle.
But that’s not enough for us, so you’ll also see sustainability inextricably linked to the storyline and the show. Hopefully we can help to inspire people into thinking more responsibly, not just about the festival but the world as a whole.
What’s new this year and how do you ensure that the festival gets better each year?
After Chapter 10’s closing ceremony that introduced AMI, our Artificial Machine Intelligence character with her stark warning that we need to address our challenges with the environment, it’s safe to say that Chapter 11 will see the start of a whole new story!
We’ve also introduced a new district, AREA 404, which includes our massive new Nucleus stage with DJs like Carl Cox, Four Tet and Amelie Lens. There’s also the Acid Leak which is all the classic Acid Techno DJs such as The Liberators, DDR and The Geeza (under his Reggae influenced alias Jah Scoop) and The Grid which covers all eras of Drum N Bass, from the legendary Moving Shadow label to DJ Die and Congo Natty, to the likes of Fixate and Bou. There’s also a massive street rave with the SP23 crew who some might remember as Spiral Tribe.
But that’s literally just the tip of the iceberg, there’s so many new things to see.
So with Boomtown being in it’s 11th Chapter, is this what the festival you imagined it to be from the start?
I don’t think anyone really knows what’s coming next to be honest. Every year it manages to stretch imaginations and exceed expectations.
If you could have any band or act play the festival, who would it be and why?
Well with Prophets Of Rage we’ve got the closest you can currently get to having Rage Against The Machine, however I can’t deny I’d love to get them in with Zack at the helm.
What’s the most memorable moment you’ve had at Boomtown?
So many now. My favourite times are watching the crowd and seeing how much everyone is lost in the moment and loving it. With that in mind, I don’t think you can beat the crowd at Die Antwoord last year. I was just inside the barrier looking out and it was mind blowing. It still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.