Sku

The email is titled "Notification of Registration Deletion". But actually, it seems like it's just a general email to everyone with a pre 2020 registration, whether you reconfirmed or not. The subject line of the email is not very well thought out here. I assume it is going to create a bit of a nightmare for them as they deal with thousands of unnecessary new registrations/email support tickets off the back of this. It certainly put the fear in me until I checked online!

After Film:

Anecdotally, it was not enforced at all when I went last year. They didn't mention it, or attempt to count cans, even though it was plain to see that me and my group had more than 8 cans per person. Though I do understand the reason for starting to introduce such a limit. A festival like this needs to make bar sales to remain viable, so even though we did go a bit over the limit, we did also enjoy some fresh cold beverages from the bar as well!

Camped in purple last year and it was bloody lovely. Quiet, clean barely used toilets, enough empty grass to really spread out, some even played ball games. But still it was only 10 minutes walk from everything. Felt like a rural campsite rather than a festival. Everyone else can feel free to ram themselves into every inch of green and pink again, leave purple quiet 😆

I stood at the back for the Stones, and there was loads of empty field back there. It's not even close, this is 10s of thousands more, especially given the whole of Row Mead campsite has been removed this year and is filled with people.

Yep. That's my vibe right now. Devastating to miss this.

Bigger. No tents in Row Mead this year, and looks rammed up there.

Biggest crowd of all time? Row Mead, normally camping, looks totally full of bodies on iPlayer.

Thr main channel seems to be a waste of time. Better to tune in to the live stage feeds.

Not many people in the field watching Maisie Peters, but I guess they are all watching The Hives. Which we can't. Brilliant.

Having bought the pole version, I don't regret my decision. In the end the deciding factors for me: The price. The air version is significantly more expensive. The weight. The air version is 50% heavier to carry. But actually, the set up is still a breeze. There are only 3 poles to insert, and they all go in pretty easily. It takes me and my partner only a few minutes to put them all in. It's the easiest tent to put up I've ever owned. Since I don't have the air version, I don't know how long it takes, but I imagine there can't be much in it. The most time consuming part was getting the pegs into this years super dry ground, and the air version doesn't save any time there. When we reflected on it at the time of set up, the idea of needing to pump it up actually seemed like a chore compared to just sliding the poles in. But the reality I guess is that pumping is perhaps more leisurely as you can at least sit down to do it. Air or pole, both are high quality tents that are easy to put up. For me the lighter weight, and cheaper price, makes the pole version a clear choice, but either are likely great.

Having been to both this year, I can attest to the fact that they are very different festivals. They are both absolutely fabulous in their own ways though, I can't recommend them highly enough. I would be hesitant to suggest they are that comparable, I wouldn't say "if you love one you will definitely love the other". There certainly is a lot of crossover in audience. But also there are plenty of Boomtowners who would find Shambala small/boring/lowkey in comparison and wouldn't "get it". And equally plenty of Shambalans wouldn't dream of going to a festival like Boomtown, as they will feel like it has got too big, is attracting the wrong crowd, or any other variety of similar reasons. I could probably write an essay on the differences between them, but it's all pretty subjective, and I am meant to be working right now. I'll be going back to both next year, they were my top 2 this year.

This does seem like a last minute change. I checked the FAQ on Monday, as it was linked from their information newsletter. It didn't mention 8 cans, only a "reasonable amount". Now just a few days later it's been updated to give a "guideline" of 8 cans. That's a bit unfortunate for me to find out, as I went to the supermarket last night for my supplies. Since it's a "guideline" I would imagine it's not enforced. Enforcement was literally non-existent at other festivals with supposedly "strict" can limits I went to this year.

That is factually incorrect. They had a license for it to be that large, but they have never used that full amount. However, I can vouch that the part of the article about Live Nation taking a stake is true, as it can be verified on Companies House.

Hate to be the one posting this here: https://www.iq-mag.net/2022/08/live-nation-acquires-stake-in-boomtown-fair/ Seems the cat is out the bag now.

Both Noisily and Secret Garden Party also had an 8 can limit this year, so this kind of limit is certainly becoming more normalised. I'm hoping of course for you that Lost Village goes the way of Noisily (absolutely fantastic), and not the way of Secret Garden Party (terrible). What I'm saying, is I don't think having a stingy can limit alone is reason to have concerns about the festival, as I went to both a good and a bad festival with the same limit this year. A lot of festivals are simply cash strapped after Covid, and looking to make a bit of extra money on the bar. Good and bad festivals alike. If the festival is good enough, I don't think most people mind helping them out by buying a few extra drinks at the bar to smooth out their post Covid finances. If the festival is bad, then of course it starts to feel like a cynical cash grab. Not that this necessarily helps your question, but enforcement of the 8 can limit was very lax at the above mentioned festivals this year, not sure if that also carries forward to LV.

The bar staff in Metropolis were handing out extra free drinks on Sunday evening, or just not charging people. The first time we were not charged, with the guy saying "Don't worry about it". We went back a second time, this time we were charged, but given double our double our drinks order. We pointed this out, and were told "have a good evening". Posts online seem to suggest many of the staff are pretty unhappy with the way Freeman's had treated them, similar stories to 2019 are already emerging. Not sure if what happened at Metropolis was some kind of unusual protest, to start giving away the stock. I'm not at all sure why the staff would charge people extra for items they didn't receive, other than making a genuine mistake, or just not giving a fuck. It certainly doesn't seem to be a money making scheme since the staff won't see any benefit, as you said. But certainly if staff are not treated well, they might not carry out their roles properly, which is more likely to be the issue.

Someone has made a clashfinder version, for anyone who can't use the Woov app on their phone: https://clashfinder.com/m/btf2022/?user=0x3mom.k7

From what I understand, some of the site shuffling is to account for a near-future where they might sell a few less tickets. They for sure still want to grow, but some of the changes this year are to account for the fact that they may well not. At least for the next couple years. Of course, if there is a dramatic decline in attendance that's different. But they are trying to weather the storm, even if that means running a slightly smaller festival for a few years. It seems they have already tried to get ahead of the game in that regard, with these changes. They want to remake the festival how they want it to be, rather than growing unsustainably fast, losing all the resilience they have built in, and then crashing and burning. That's why they reset the chapter number, to indicate starting over. Of course, remains to be seen if it works, but the team certainly don't lack ambition.

They offered full refunds too, as well as the partial refunds. Nobody was forced to roll, but those who did, still received a partial refund.

Boomtown have responded now too: https://www.facebook.com/176130945746461/posts/pfbid0WkQRX3yhgZQDf8CWG965wUQdpnQS3TcmDWjeQstzxBNqELNy78baYsSFmrESAoC7l/?sfnsn=scwspmo I forgot all about the partial refunds. 40,000 people got a partial refund to compensate them for the fact the festival would be scaled back!

Yes they did, they offered a refund window. They said the lineup was going to be secret, and the festival scaled down, and offered everyone a refund if they didn't like the new direction. That was some time ago now of course, people might not remember. Also there was a lot going on in the world back then, people might not have known about it. It's fair to say this was always going to be a make of break year for Boomtown. It was run a different type of event, or call it a day and shut up shop. Can't blame them for wanting to keep going.

A good post has turned up on Reddit about why the festivals line up appears a bit "budget"

Yeah pretty much this. Boomtown was a lot of fun in the old days. But it was also amateur hour back then with a lot of infrastructure issues, and pretty basic set designd. Boomtown is pretty much world class now when it comes to production quality, and infrastructure provision.

I went for the first time when it was "Shambino" during Covid. It was a much smaller festival, but it was good. You could really feel there was a lot missing though, and something wasn't quite right. Really intrigued to experience the full thing for the first time.