Boomtown 2021 thread

[jplgc]

8 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

Sounds interesting (I've just read the comments here, not seen any official stuff yet).

Just wanted to say that Homelands used to have 8+ big tented stages around the bowl (without using the woods) without bad sound bleed issues, so should be room enough for plenty of micro venues and some bigger stages.

Such a big downsize, tho, suggests they'd seen a big change in how the tickets were selling before covid was in the mix.

This is 100% a financial thing no matter how boomtown try and dress it up/deny it.

But I am going to give them a chance, I am sure they will deliver 

[Sawdusty surfer]

1. hat a seven months this has been… Not being in the fields of the Matterley Estate building and creating our magical world, has hit us harder than any of us imagined. The loss of that sense of community, physical connection, working towards providing tens of thousands with memories that will last a lifetime. The impact of everything else that has resulted from this pandemic on so many, not least our industry in general, is heartbreaking in almost every way..
    

   But, we are still managing to find positives through all this and are holding on to hope for the future. You may have seen that earlier today we released our vision for Boomtown 2021.

   A vision that has been seven months in the making, that involved speaking to thousands of our audience members, hundreds of you, our crew; and included a lot of internal reflection as a core team. This, coupled with our understanding of the current COVID situation and our ambitions for the future has brought us to a really grounded and solid place with a clear new vision. One that we are really excited about and also immensely proud of.

   The Vision

   We are restarting at Chapter One: ‘The Gathering’. Gatherings are a deep part of human connection and celebration and have been so for millennia, but in these current real-world times, they were also one of the first things to be outlawed. We all know that when we come together, this will be The Gathering we’ve all been needing for so long and we’ll all be so happy to have built and created it! 
   
   From a narrative perspective we are building our version of a post pandemic world. But our version will be a world that is entirely based around our core pillars of respect, connection, creativity and celebration. The party will be as off the scale as ever, there is never any doubt of that, but at the same time we want it to mean more, and to learn, grow and mature as a community.

   What’s changing?

   In a nutshell, we've decided to move away from releasing the lineup until right before the festival. We’ve changed the layout now moving the entire festival ‘City’ to take up every inch of  the Downtown area and we’ve reset the story and reduced ticket prices for the public… It’s quite a bit, and you can get the full low down and explanation for all of this on the website here. 

   But the main element of this is that we deeply want a better chance to embed  our ethos fully into the culture of the event. To move away from our reliance on corporate, identity destroying, social media platforms. To remain independent and to stand by our values and live up to our core ethos, together as a collective. Boomtown grew from the sheer passion of those involved, sharing stories of what we were all up to in those fields. From a thousand friends gathered in the Forest of Dean in 2009, we grew to 66,000 people in under 10 years, and a lot of this was down to the power of word of mouth… (and some pretty amateur facebook advertising!)

   We want to go back to those ways, and if everyone who 

   We want to go back to those ways, and if everyone who receives and reads this takes some time to talk to your friends, neighbours and colleagues, about what we’re up to, and why we do it, then we stand a really good chance of surviving to build an even stronger, more diverse community embedded within this new ethos and vision next August.

   No matter how much we all wish we had a crystal ball, how next summer will look right now is still unknown, but we are 10 months away and so much is changing on a daily basis. All we can do is plan for the most engaging and inspiring gathering of its kind, and hold true to our vision of what the future holds, that together we can write a new story, one we can all believe in.

   BIG LOVE,

[bennyhana22]

Tickets on sale again now, and after an hour, Tier 1 tickets still available, which wouldn't usually be the case. 
 

It must be so difficult for all these festival teams, especially ones like Boomtown, desperate to hang onto the ethos and philosophy that made them start the whole thing in the first place. 
 

At the moment, their biggest challenge is whether or not this current bloody situation will even allow them to hold a festival in 2021...

I, for one, will feel hugely privileged if I can walk through those gates next August, and trust them to create a magical world in the Bowl. 

Ben

[vintagelaureate]

12 hours ago, bennyhana22 said:

Tickets on sale again now, and after an hour, Tier 1 tickets still available, which wouldn't usually be the case. 
 

It must be so difficult for all these festival teams, especially ones like Boomtown, desperate to hang onto the ethos and philosophy that made them start the whole thing in the first place. 
 

At the moment, their biggest challenge is whether or not this current bloody situation will even allow them to hold a festival in 2021...

I, for one, will feel hugely privileged if I can walk through those gates next August, and trust them to create a magical world in the Bowl. 

Ben

I think that's purposeful as they've removed the "tiers" for "phases".

https://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/news/2020-09-24-reduced-price-2021-ticket-rundown/

 

[incident]

1 minute ago, vintagelaureate said:

I think that's purposeful as they've removed the "tiers" for "phases".

https://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/news/2020-09-24-reduced-price-2021-ticket-rundown/

Feels like that text is a bit of doublespeak to be honest. They've changed the name to phases, and adjusted how many tickets are available in each "phase", but fundamentally I can't see how it's any different to the tier system they had before?

[vintagelaureate]

Just now, incident said:

Feels like that text is a bit of doublespeak to be honest. They've changed the name to phases, and adjusted how many tickets are available in each "phase", but fundamentally I can't see how it's any different to the tier system they had before?

I took it as there is a set time limit for each "phase". So you have until x date to buy phase one (unless they sell out), then phase two kicks in. 

It is, as you said, essentially a rebranding of the same system with a few tweaks.

[Leyrulion]

16 hours ago, jplgc said:

This is 100% a financial thing no matter how boomtown try and dress it up/deny it.

But I am going to give them a chance, I am sure they will deliver 

It's a financial thing for all festivals though.

Reading & Leeds ain't putting on "two main stages with no clashes" for the love of music. 

[dumski]

not directly 2021 related but does anyone have the 2012 map? official programme view ideally.  if there was one.  Keen to see layout & if there was any uptown.  2013 was my baptism 

also 2011 if available 

danke

[jump]

12 hours ago, dumski said:

not directly 2021 related but does anyone have the 2012 map? official programme view ideally.  if there was one.  Keen to see layout & if there was any uptown.  2013 was my baptism 

also 2011 if available 

danke

Probably doesn’t help but I did a quick search and found someone made a cool diorama/3D map of Boomtown 2011.

 

 

[Sku]

On 11/7/2020 at 10:41 PM, dumski said:

not directly 2021 related but does anyone have the 2012 map? official programme view ideally.  if there was one.  Keen to see layout & if there was any uptown.  2013 was my baptism 

also 2011 if available 

danke

Just seen the post on Boomtown Chat I assume might have been you? Some kind posters there have shared their maps.

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Sku

[dumski]

yeah that was me asking.

[Leyrulion]

Lots of gloom about Glastonbury but I am still pretty confident about this going ahead in August. 

 

Hopefully they are as well!

[Gilgamesh69]

A friend of mine  abroad (that's never been to a UK festival) said he hopes Boomtown gets postponed to late September or October. But that's a silly idea isn't it?

[jump]

2 hours ago, Gilgamesh69 said:

A friend of mine  abroad (that's never been to a UK festival) said he hopes Boomtown gets postponed to late September or October. But that's a silly idea isn't it?

Yeah, the weather will be shit for it.

[vintagelaureate]

On 12/17/2020 at 5:58 PM, Leyrulion said:

Lots of gloom about Glastonbury but I am still pretty confident about this going ahead in August. 

 

Hopefully they are as well!

Surely... 😬

On 12/19/2020 at 2:18 PM, Gilgamesh69 said:

A friend of mine  abroad (that's never been to a UK festival) said he hopes Boomtown gets postponed to late September or October. But that's a silly idea isn't it?

September could work, not for me personally though. October, not a chance.

[Leyrulion]

On 12/19/2020 at 2:18 PM, Gilgamesh69 said:

A friend of mine  abroad (that's never been to a UK festival) said he hopes Boomtown gets postponed to late September or October. But that's a silly idea isn't it?

Yeah UK weather does not support late September public camping without specialist gear you've a not insignificant risk of very low temperatures.

But 11-15 August is two weeks before reading festival which according to the s*n is the first festival of the year. 

They've already reduced the size to 60k, if reading can go ahead two weeks later this is happening, surely?

[mr flow]

On 12/17/2020 at 5:58 PM, Leyrulion said:

Lots of gloom about Glastonbury but I am still pretty confident about this going ahead in August. 

 

Hopefully they are as well!

Boomtown have had meetings around next year taking place with local authorities recently and they are a lot more confident it will happen now. Obviously lots of unknowns still but fingers crossed we will all be partying in a field in August together.

[vintagelaureate]

https://www.nme.com/news/music/mps-to-hear-from-parklife-and-boomtown-organisers-on-the-return-of-music-festivals-in-2021-2848823

[Leyrulion]

A lot less confident about August now. 

I know vaccine roll out is starting but fairly clear Glastonbury can not happen, BT  is 7 weeks later and I don't see the situation changing fast enough.

End of lockdown in mid February at the earliest, 6 months doesn't seem like enough time to de-escalate the tier system to allow 60k people into a field.

 

[eFestivals]

7 hours ago, vintagelaureate said:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/mps-to-hear-from-parklife-and-boomtown-organisers-on-the-return-of-music-festivals-in-2021-2848823

"I demand that the govt guarantees I won't lose money".

Good luck to them with that one. We'd all like that.

Edited January 5, 2021 by eFestivals

[jump]

I noticed there's a link on the article to watch the committee discuss it live if anyone is interested in it.

 

https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/672c567b-68ee-444e-b3d8-3dbd65f907b7

[jump]

1 hour ago, jump said:

I noticed there's a link on the article to watch the committee discuss it live if anyone is interested in it.

 

https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/672c567b-68ee-444e-b3d8-3dbd65f907b7

An interesting point was raised of having government backed insurance as insurance companies are refusing to pay out on their old policies and/or asking for huge premiums. Also there was a class action against insurance companies from the hospitably sector which didn't include the festival industry.

 

There was a suggestion that other countries like Germany will take over as the festival market leader from the UK, I'd laugh if that's the reason if the government acts.

 

Somehow it's now turned into defending festivals reputation from being a naughty drug place.

Edited January 5, 2021 by jump

[TheFullShaboo]

Anna Wade has been absolutely fantastic here, in particular in regards to the Loop. Its slightly off topic but cant help but feel this message needs promoting as much as possible, especially to those in positions of power.

 

[JBarbour]

Funny how they ask Anna / Boomtown all the drug related questions when you have the founder of Parklife and Warehouse as a witness there as well 😀

Edited January 5, 2021 by JBarbour

[TheFullShaboo]

7 minutes ago, JBarbour said:

Funny how they ask Anna / Boomtown all the drug related questions when you have the founder of Parklife and Warehouse as a witness there as well 😀

Have the WHP / Parklife used the loop before? 

Its been ages since ive been either but im sure i remember so form of amnesty bin at the WHP one night.