Some boomtown advise please

[Uptonogood]

Hey up!

I will be heading to boomtown this year. I havent been to a fest for a while, best part of10 years, but was a regular at reading and wasted fests for around 5 years in the early - mid 00s! 

Reading kinda put me off festies in the end, as i got older i couldnt cope with the chaos! However as time goes on the memories of the bad experiences have faded and im ready to try again!

Howevr i have a few questions. I live not far from boomtown so am currently considering whether i should camp or just go home each night? What are the campsites like? I found the reading campsites too manic, with too many who did not respect personal space. This was probably due to the average age of the attendie in all fairness! 

Now onto the subject of er, illicit items. I am aware that there are sniffer dogs on the gates of boomtown, however how tollerant are they inside? Im only interested weed as too old for anything stronger! Can you smoke a doobie in the campsites without hassle? How about at the stages? At reading a blind eye was turned. 

When will the band playing times be announced?

Appologies for all the questions, but wanna make sure i know the score before arriving!

[renrutbor]

I'd say it's definitely worth camping to get the full experience, make sure you camp at the top of the hill though (Oldtown, Trenchtown etc), it's much calmer, less cramped and more relaxed up there, in the bowl it's far crazier. Have never tried leaving but I think the gates are only open til a certain time so not sure if you'd have any issues with getting out or back in gain if you were to leave every night.

Haven't taken illegal things in myself, there are definitely sniffer dogs and heavy police/security presence at the gates but they don't search everyone. There is usually plenty of people smoking around both the campsites and the stages. 

I don't think the stage lineups or times are announced in advance, we found out when bands were on by buying a programme in the queue on the way in last year and they have full listings at the information points when you're inside. 

It's a great festival, you'll have a fantastic time, I'm not going this year unfortunately as we're giving Sziget a go instead but will most likely be back next year!