Boomtown Chapter 1: The Gathering

[mr flow]

It's been on the cards for a while, however Chris and Lak won't give away a majority share of the festival and will retain full artistic and creative license.

[stuie]

20 minutes ago, mr flow said:

It's been on the cards for a while, however Chris and Lak won't give away a majority share of the festival and will retain full artistic and creative license.

Do you seriously believe that? Live Nation are just there to quietly get their share of the profits and will have no influence. It kind of goes against the whole ‘back to our roots’ storyline of this year. Chapter 1 funded by Live Nation? 

Can anyone clarify was it the twin trails or twin trials? Boomtown socials have used both phrases. 

[mr flow]

15 minutes ago, stuie said:

Do you seriously believe that? Live Nation are just there to quietly get their share of the profits and will have no influence. It kind of goes against the whole ‘back to our roots’ storyline of this year. Chapter 1 funded by Live Nation? 

Can anyone clarify was it the twin trails or twin trials? Boomtown socials have used both phrases. 

I do yes. I’ve heard it direct from the horses mouth. Boomtown’s USP is it’s creativity and being different, so why would Live Nation want to come in and start interfering with it and make it “another” festival? Yes, they will have an input in certain elements, but they’re not coming in to take control and make it a live nation event. 
 

 

[stuie]

3 minutes ago, mr flow said:

I do yes. I’ve heard it direct from the horses mouth. Boomtown’s USP is it’s creativity and being different, so why would Live Nation want to come in and start interfering with it and make it “another” festival? Yes, they will have an input in certain elements, but they’re not coming in to take control and make it a live nation event. 
 

 

££££

[mr flow]

16 minutes ago, stuie said:

££££

I thought you said Live Nation wouldn’t want to sit back and just collect their profit? 

[Neil]

2 hours ago, Sku said:

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.

wonder how long it'll be before the melvin haters pile in with their hate.

[stuie]

13 minutes ago, mr flow said:

I thought you said Live Nation wouldn’t want to sit back and just collect their profit? 

They won’t just sit back. They will want to maximise it. 

cinch presents Boomtown North and Boomtown South… lovely! 

[Old_Johno]

Even majority shareholders carry a lot of weight as in, do what we say or we will take away our big pot of money and good luck to ya, be as creative as you want though… we’re not here to influence, totally your decisions… 

They are probably going to want to push for max capacity next year, which is a shame as the crowd this year had far fewer dickheads than 2019. 

 

[timespeedsup]

4 hours ago, Sawdusty surfer said:

@Sku

For anyone who may think otherwise, you're never too old for Boomtown! 

Yup, my first time and can vouch for that. Was out-aged by about a 50:1 ratio but seldom felt I was in the wrong place. & not just cos there was plenty to see and do. Apart from having to acclimatise to the heat to start with (quickly discovered Tribe of Frog and Twisted Roots for beats under trees), it was stunning. So much going on, in such close proximity, without sound bleed or overcrowding. 

[Harry3]

Had a fantastic time despite the weather and getting heat exhaustion, gutted we couldnt really do any of the storyline as the daytime heat was just too much for my gingerness.

Main critiques: I thought I would enjoy everything being back in the bowl and connected but in reality I thought it was worse as each zone lost its identity and the entire festival ended up being super intense. Copper County and Botanica were kinda meh, although Engine House hosted some of my favourite performances. Preferred Copper County, Oldtown and Town Centre when they were on hilltop, even if it meant more walking up and down the hill. 

I dont know if was because of the above, and therefore you couldnt escape it like you could previous years, but there was way too much dnb.

The food stands I tried around Grand Central were all fucking terrible. Had some of the worst, most overpriced food in my entire life.

Highlights: the Hilltop camping hub was a great idea and provided much needed shade with a nice breeze in a more chilled environment. Obsidian was playing some fantastic music and the DJs were hyped! The £7 solar shower we bought was a life saver and was so nice to have a shower every morning. Not sure why it took me 13 years of festivals to figure this out! Cashless worked flawlessly for me. Pronghorn in Foggers Mill smashed it.

[mr flow]

14 hours ago, stuie said:

They won’t just sit back. They will want to maximise it. 

cinch presents Boomtown North and Boomtown South… lovely! 

They'll maximise profit by helping with the operational supply chain. There's no way that Boomtown will allow a huge sponsorship like the one you have mentioned, and there's also no way that Boomtown will allow acts to be booked that don't fit Boomtown.

As a festival go-er, i doubt you'll notice a huge amount of difference.

[Harry3]

21 minutes ago, mr flow said:

They'll maximise profit by helping with the operational supply chain. There's no way that Boomtown will allow a huge sponsorship like the one you have mentioned, and there's also no way that Boomtown will allow acts to be booked that don't fit Boomtown.

As a festival go-er, i doubt you'll notice a huge amount of difference.

there are people on facebook actually enjoying the fact that it could mean access to Live Nations artist roster. ffs.

[stuie]

19 minutes ago, mr flow said:

They'll maximise profit by helping with the operational supply chain. There's no way that Boomtown will allow a huge sponsorship like the one you have mentioned, and there's also no way that Boomtown will allow acts to be booked that don't fit Boomtown.

As a festival go-er, i doubt you'll notice a huge amount of difference.

I guess time will tell.

Whatever way you look at it, one of the UK’s largest independent music festivals is no longer independent. 

 

[Harry3]

What other independent UK festivals offer the same Copper County, Oldtown types of music? Mixed with a bit of rave? All I can think of is Balter.

[Paul ™]

Am wondering if FR will be involved in the production side of things, as they do for all other LN 'owned' festivals.

[Skip997]

2 hours ago, Harry3 said:

What other independent UK festivals offer the same Copper County, Oldtown types of music? Mixed with a bit of rave? All I can think of is Balter.

There's one starting next Thursday somewhere in the midlands, but it's hard to get tickets.

[mjfromthelane]

4 hours ago, stuie said:

I guess time will tell.

Whatever way you look at it, one of the UK’s largest independent music festivals is no longer independent. 

 

not sure if they can win with you to be honest. last week the festival was dead and now it's obviously very much live and kicking, it's apparently turning into reading festival mk 2.....

[stuie]

1 hour ago, mjfromthelane said:

not sure if they can win with you to be honest. last week the festival was dead and now it's obviously very much live and kicking, it's apparently turning into reading festival mk 2.....

It’s a discussion forum.  Sorry if I’m not fanboy gushing about Lak all the time. I didn’t say the festival was dead - I’m just against the cashless system, but that makes bucketloads more sense now we know about the Live Nation takeover. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by stuie

[JBarbour]

5 hours ago, Paul ™ said:

Am wondering if FR will be involved in the production side of things, as they do for all other LN 'owned' festivals.

The Boomtown investment is joint venture with LN and SJM.

45%

[Leyrulion]

I keep thinking back to how bloody good this festival was. I'd always heard comparisons to Glastonbury and thought it was over blown but it really does make the SE corner look tame and boring. 🤣

[Paul ™]

51 minutes ago, JBarbour said:

The Boomtown investment is joint venture with LN and SJM.

45%

Doesn't mean anything, they could still get FR to run the production side of things like other LN/partner events. 

Wilderness and Electric Picnic are two that spring to mind, that have FR running the production.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Paul ™

[Paul ™]

Boomtown issued a statement explaining that Live Nation UK had acquired 36% of the festival (including 18% via Live Nation-owned LN-Gaiety) with SJM taking 9%.

 

 

[mr flow]

17 hours ago, stuie said:

It’s a discussion forum.  Sorry if I’m not fanboy gushing about Lak all the time. I didn’t say the festival was dead - I’m just against the cashless system, but that makes bucketloads more sense now we know about the Live Nation takeover. 

It's not a Live Nation takeover. As reported above, they have acquired a 36% stake in the festival. As i've already mentioned, Boomtown retain all artistic and creative licence. Also, the cashless system had nothing to do with Live Nation. Boomtown have been exploring this option for almost the last decade, and wanted to wait until they were confident the right system was available and reliable before implementing it.

[Old_Johno]

Move everything to the bowl, cash free wristbands to track spending, arena style inner fence goes up… shudder 

[Neil]

On 8/17/2022 at 12:25 PM, Paul ™ said:

Am wondering if FR will be involved in the production side of things, as they do for all other LN 'owned' festivals.

that's probably the part where LN can add some value to Boomtown.