Boomtown Fair 2013Preview

 
Art & Culture

Ransom Note is going to be heading to the UKs maddest city this weekend and were finding it really hard to contain our excitement…

Now in its fifth year, going from a measly crowd of 1,800 to a sold out show of 28,000, there is no doubt this festival will live up to its name. Taking place from the 8th 11th of August at the Matterly Estate in Winchester, this years site is not only going to comprise of a temporary town with 7 districts and around 30 stages, it is also going to allow you to venture into the woods where some of the best underground promoters will be putting on their own shows.

If you havent heard of Boomtown Fair (youd be mad if you hadnt), its a fully immersive experience and set up as a really crazy and weird pop-up town. The town is built by some of the best and most imaginative artists around and theres almost no limit as to what theyre allowed to do. Essentially, its a fully living and breathing, ever expanding town that only lasts for one weekend of the year.

The Boomtown Fair line-up seems pretty dressed to impress, with something for absolutely anyone, ranging from Ska to Swing, from Hip-hop to Poetry and Reggae to Bass. The line-up is built around seven districts, each of which having its own focus of genre. Chinatown takes care of the Punk and Ska side of things, Mayfair will be throwing posh parties to the sounds of Electro Swing and live Swing bands or if youre looking for a bit of peace then you can head for the Holditdown District where tranquillity is their forte. If youre looking for pure bass music then head to Barrio Loco where  Hip Hop and Funk will be top of the agenda or Downtown if Drum & Bass and the rest of the bass genres are what make you get your boogie on. You can also find the sounds of Reggae and Jungle in Trench Town or if Gypsy and Balkan Beats are more your thing then head for the Old Town region.

Some of the names on the bill to look out for, and where were definitely going to be are:

Gentlemans Dub Club, Lee Scratch Perry, General Roots, Calyx & 

TeeBee, Hot Cakes Live, South Central Live, DJ Die, Zinc, Mak & Pasteman, My Nu Leng, High Focus Records Showcase and Debian Blak… And thats not even digging deep into the huge barrel of names that Boomtown is tempting us with.

And finally, be sure to check out the infamous Arcadia stage (where Boomtown will be one of only two festivals this year to receive the full Spider show), the giant new Aztec themed Lions Den stage and Chinatown where they have gone the full hog with Chinese decor.

Where the impossible is possible and the outrageous is well… normal

Jake Davis