Boomtown 2013 8th-11th August

[ruffneck23]

nah its boomtown day , things will come together

 

[ruffneck23]

that looks pretty good and in stock where im about to go to , ta, now how much stuff have you got to go in the car ?

 

[stuff_it]

that looks pretty good and in stock where im about to go to , ta, now how much stuff have you got to go in the car ?

One very small rucksack, a Targus laptop one; One pop up tent - small (a 70cm diameter disc); one foam mattress pad thingy (fits in a big blue Ikea reuseable bag); me; max once small carrier bag of shopping.

 

[Kuso]

Gettin pissed in spoons in southampton yeooooooow!

 

[Ted Striker]

Coach departing London has just started its engines. See you soon...

 

[tbtommyb]

Gettin pissed in spoons in southampton yeooooooow!

suckin on diesel now

 

[Sunray]

This thread is riveting.

I'm still at work heading into a meeting.

 

[sleaterkinney]

Here. Massive fucking queue

 

[wiskey]

Just pulling into the car park... No queue so far (everyone seems to be in tesco)

 

[ruffneck23]

il be at the bad seed about 7 ish and I may well have lab goggles on my head, say hello if youre there

 

[Red&Blacks]

any news if there are any dogs/searches on the crew entrance?

 

[wiskey]

Jumped the enormous queue by walking to the front and accidentally being shuffled through the gate. Now pitching up

 

[wiskey]

Jumped the enormous queue by walking to the front and accidentally being shuffled through the gate. Now pitching up

 

[ddraig]

that good is it!
all ok?

 

[sojourner]

Again, the surprise at police wanting to nick people for drugs is, erm, interesting. It's what they do

It's not surprise. It's saying that I am not interested in going to a festie that insists on it

And comparing a micro-festival like Off The tracks to Boomtown is daft imho

Oh whatever Mr Festival

 

[editor]

I had a fantastic time. It's an absolutely brilliant festival.
Now to bed.

 

[tbtommyb]

broken

 

[Ted Striker]

Pretty much the perfect fest - if you like that sort of thing.

No (well, little) fancy dress fools, none of the hunters n hotpants crowd, no kids, just an enclosed walled space whereby (it felt like) whole of the West of England could get stuck in to copious amounts of K and enjoy themselves.

Needed to keep my wits about me more than I'd like - Security being pretty manacing (particularly with it being open season on robbing nitrous sellers), very visible plod whilst being literally no deterrent to (the most prolific I've seen) tent thievery I've seen/heard of since tales of pre-fence Glasto (yours truly being a victim to a sleeping bag swipe. Not the best thing to realise just as I'm about to tuck myself in )

 

[rutabowa]

Pretty much the perfect fest - if you like that sort of thing.

No (well, little) fancy dress fools, none of the hunters n hotpants crowd, no kids, just an enclosed walled space whereby (it felt like) whole of the West of England could get stuck in to copious amounts of K and enjoy themselves.

Needed to keep my wits about me more than I'd like - Security being pretty manacing (particularly with it being open season on robbing nitrous sellers), very visible plod whilst being literally no deterrent to (the most prolific I've seen) tent thievery I've seen/heard of since tales of pre-fence Glasto (yours truly being a victim to a sleeping bag swipe. Not the best thing to realise just as I'm about to tuck myself in )

so it was perfect except for menacing security, heavy police presence and prolific crime?

 

[Ted Striker]

Quite. For some people that's second nature, not for others. My lot certainly didn't mind and accepted it as par for the course.

It was a more 'robust' crowd than you'd get most festivals. I quite liked it for that tbh.

There was a death on Thursday too (and lots of signs telling people and warning people of a dodgy batch of K). Couldn't have helped tone down the police prescence

 

[Crispy]

Doesn't bode well for next year's license :-/

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Pretty much the perfect fest - if you like that sort of thing.

No (well, little) fancy dress fools, none of the hunters n hotpants crowd, no kids, just an enclosed walled space whereby (it felt like) whole of the West of England could get stuck in to copious amounts of K and enjoy themselves.

Needed to keep my wits about me more than I'd like - Security being pretty manacing (particularly with it being open season on robbing nitrous sellers), very visible plod whilst being literally no deterrent to (the most prolific I've seen) tent thievery I've seen/heard of since tales of pre-fence Glasto (yours truly being a victim to a sleeping bag swipe. Not the best thing to realise just as I'm about to tuck myself in )

Sounds fucking awful

 

[Dan U]

Doesn't bode well for next year's license :-/

neither does the 18 year old lass who died on Thursday night, sadly.

eta - didnt read post above, already mentioned.

 

[twentythreedom]

Was there any PMA etc problems / casualties etc anyone know?

Hope you all had a happy safe festival

 

[rutabowa]

Quite. For some people that's second nature, not for others. My lot certainly didn't mind and accepted it as par for the course.

It was a more 'robust' crowd than you'd get most festivals. I quite liked it for that tbh.

i wouldn't mindall that at a squat party i had paid £5 to go in to.... i think it would stick in my throat a bit that it was a fully licensed and expensive festival tho!

 

[Ted Striker]

Dunno tbh...If you have that many people coming together to get right on it in a field, it seems naive to expect it to be some love-in leave-your-front-door open affair.

On Friday, the police were doing the rounds of the camp site (in a really good natured way, tbf), advising that about 20 tents around ours (and others) had stuff stolen from (we were all up in the tents hence they probably didn't touch ours that night). they caught the culprits, though without any proof had to let them go, kicked them off site, though apparently knew they had made their way back in.

Their only advice was to leave your stuff in sleeping bags, which we joked "then surely they'll just nick the sleeping bags..." I laugh now...(I didn't leave anything in mine, thankfully)

Maybe it was the lack of camping security towers or patrols after dark, or the lack of 'gazebo crowd' (which was caused by the nick-on-site feeling engendered by the security/police) creating a visible presence, you'd consider the situation literally open season for any potential tent thieves.

 

[Badgers]

Doesn't bode well for next year's license :-/

How often do deaths occur at festivals? I recall Glastonbury having deaths most years. The counter argument was that putting the population of a town in a field generally will mean deaths will occur. Given the amount of excess, exposure to weather statistically a death is very likely.

The thefts are sad to hear reported. Not heard much of that caper for years?

 

[editor]

Seems to me that the increased profile of the festival meant that some 'professional' thieves and dealers were attracted to the place. And, as usual, it only takes a few cunts to spoilt the party for many.

That said, a lot of people seemed to have a very good time indeed - and I mean a REALLY good time!

Lessons have to be learnt though: substantially increase the capacity of a festival and you'l get a disproportionate amount of thieving scumbags keen to chance their luck (this happened at Big Chill when it jumped up in size).

More security is definitely needed for next year (and more loos and water points), but that still doesn't detract from the fact that Boomtown is a ruddy fantastic festival and my favourite by miles.

 

[editor]

so it was perfect except for menacing security, heavy police presence and prolific crime?

I wasn't 'menaced' by security.In fact I had a good go at them when they seemed slow to react to a situation.

That said, there were a few right Charlies in the security staff who seemed to model their style on the people in Dog The Bounty Hunter.

 

[editor]

Unsurprisingly, the Mail's coverage of the cause of the fatality is as shocking and as inept as you might expect, being formed mainly of wild rumours and unqualified speculation posted on Twitter.