Boomtown Fair 2017

[frostypaw]

26 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

Stewarding with Oxfam at Boomtown this year for first time. Never been before. Think they mostly cover Downtown. Should I expect hell unleashed?

If hell is very huggy and excitable then perhaps? 

The Oxfam stewards I've spoken to loved it. Most of them are first timer student types and a bit muppetty to be honest... but nice folk. Be prepared for kitten herding!

[Paul ™]

They deffo have Oxfam stewards uptown as well mate, I think i'd prefer uptown!  

It's a pretty full on festival, alot of wasted people but friendly and no real hassles... 3rd year for me as a punter! 

[eFestivals]

7 hours ago, Paul ™ said:

alot of wasted people

friend of mine - a drugs worker (so it''s not like he's not used to this stuff) - worked there one year with a drugs project. Never again, he says.

[Paul ™]

They have The Loop there this year doing onsite testing, drugs workers in the campsite hubs etc... 

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, Paul ™ said:

They have The Loop there this year doing onsite testing, drugs workers in the campsite hubs etc... 

which is very probably a better thing, but probably won't change very much about the numbers of wasted people.

I suspect that might only change if the clientelle-types also changed ... or in about 35+ years time with no change of clientelle, if they're up to my standards.

[Paul ™]

Nope probably not, but if it helps cut down on people taking any old shit, then it's a good thing.

 

[Tb1158]

first time visiting boomtown this year, curious as to weather there is any shops on site that sell alcohol, or is it simply a case of paying the prices at the bar once you've supped the booze you've taken in yourself? 

[Paul ™]

Just the bars 

[philipsteak]

On 7/13/2017 at 0:03 AM, Paul ™ said:

They deffo have Oxfam stewards uptown as well mate, I think i'd prefer uptown!  

It's a pretty full on festival, alot of wasted people but friendly and no real hassles... 3rd year for me as a punter! 

Last year they split it up, Oxfam doing Downtown, Boomtown's own stewards doing up town. It seemed to work so would guess they will continue with that

Last year was a lot quieter than previous years in terms of dealing with medicals/welfare. Thought it might just have been my shifts and location, but speaking to friends who were on different shifts and right in the thick of it, they said so too. Even the overnight shifts. 

Like the punters, the stewards do skew a bit younger 

[qndrm]

19 hours ago, Paul ™ said:

Just the bars 

I think thats really shit, most festivals have an onsite minimart that sell cans. Glad i'm not a big drinker.

[frostypaw]

1 hour ago, qndrm said:

I think thats really shit, most festivals have an onsite minimart that sell cans. Glad i'm not a big drinker.

Huh?

[qndrm]

32 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

Huh?

A lot of festivals I've been to have had a mini mart style tent, you can buy general festival garbage, drink and supplies. Be weird not having that luxury 

[frostypaw]

Sure almost everywhere has little minimarts but selling booze too? Are you Sure?!?

I've known of this at the Carling fests, but elsewhere this would be a huge surprise.

[Paul ™]

Yup very rare to have a 'Festival Shop' selling alcohol, I remember same as frostypaw that Reading/Leeds did this for a while but can't recall any others. 

What festivals have you seen this at qndrm?

[Jamieyorkshire]

Glastonbury doesn't, but at IOW last year you could pre order chilled booze to collect from the Bargain Booze on site. They also had shops where you could buy cans although at significantly more expensive than outside.

Kendal also doesn't have booze shops.

[stuie]

3 hours ago, Jamieyorkshire said:

Glastonbury doesn't, but at IOW last year you could pre order chilled booze to collect from the Bargain Booze on site. They also had shops where you could buy cans although at significantly more expensive than outside.

Kendal also doesn't have booze shops.

Bestival had this last year too but you had to pre order.

Never known of any other case/can selling places at fests though

[frostypaw]

Just thinking one important detail - were they campsite only or allowed into the arena?

[Paul ™]

Yeah if any it would be for the campsite only, Lowlands had similar when I was there.

But as there is no arena/campsite split at Boomtown, this would never happen.. they are very strict on amount of alcohol you can take as it is! 

[qndrm]

Yeah thinking about it, the festivals I've been to have mostly had separate camping from the arena meaning you could usually buy more alcohol to take back to your tent. 

[frostypaw]

This will be..... very different.

[kingbadger]

Does anyone know if there will be any sort of announcement on set times ahead of the festival? I don't know 95% of the lineup anyway and intend on exploring all of the festival at my own pace with no real plan, but would be nice to know if Beans on Toast or Frank Turner are gonna clash with any of the 3 headliners as they're the only 5 acts I'm 100% wish to see (6 actually, counting Toots as well)!

[Macca3031]

In previous years there's been no announcement of lineup before the festival. You have to pick up a guide when you're in (£8 or something like that I think). I like to get one and have a look through, although I know I will actually turn up for only a couple over a weekend and just explore the rest of the time. It works better for retracing your steps afterwards to know who you've seen

[philipsteak]

8 hours ago, kingbadger said:

Does anyone know if there will be any sort of announcement on set times ahead of the festival? I don't know 95% of the lineup anyway and intend on exploring all of the festival at my own pace with no real plan, but would be nice to know if Beans on Toast or Frank Turner are gonna clash with any of the 3 headliners as they're the only 5 acts I'm 100% wish to see (6 actually, counting Toots as well)!

Seems to be tradition that Beans on Toast plays Sunday afternoon on the Old Mines stage. Even though I won't be there this year, I hope he does again just cos I like the idea of there being a "Beans on Toast slot"

[manateemike]

Don't hang around on getting a guide, they all seemed gone by Friday afternoon. 

[qndrm]

8 hours ago, manateemike said:

Don't hang around on getting a guide, they all seemed gone by Friday afternoon. 

Saw a post on the official boomtown page saying they were ordering double this year, so there shouldn't be a shortage problem