Words by Noah McKie and Guy Goodivala
Boomtown Fair is one of the biggest festivals in the country, this year expanding to 77,000 off-their-nut attendees, all of which make the trip down to Wiltshire to see some of the UK’s best drum’n’bass. But glance at the lineup, and it might feel like Boomtown had shifted away from its identity away from d’n’b, with techno and house present in spades. Some inevitably saw this as evidence of the festival becoming overly commercial and trying too hard to appeal to a wider demographic. However, the eclectic mix of acts, combined with the sheer size of the festival, meant there was space for everything – both the genres typically associated with the festival and new sounds.
Aussie UK Garage producer Osmosis Jones and London-based house DJ Papa Nugs took to the Hidden Woods stage on Thursday, serving as warm-up sets before the main stages opened on Friday. The former spun a lot of retro-sounding, warm and uplifting vocal-led garage tunes, while the latter followed with a bouncy tech house set that moved into acid house and speed garage.
As Friday night approached, London’s finest baggy trousers ska band Madness opened the Lion’s Den on one of the hottest days of the summer. Frontman Suggs almost collapsed from heatstroke towards the end of the set, but still kept up the energy as he rattled through the group’s hits, sat down and draped in cold towels. SHY FX received a brilliant reaction from the crowd despite the heat, with classics like ‘Roll The Dice’ and his edit of ‘Gold Rush’ sending thousands into a frenzy with their reggae and dancehall-inspired sound.
While the Lion’s Den remained mostly dedicated to D’n’B, the second largest stage Hydro XL saw a mixture of hard techno, bounce, house and other 4×4 genres characterised by a steady beat with a kick drum on every quarter note. Friday evening began with a joyfully cheesy set from Manchester-based Faster Horses back-to-back with Y U QT, where they spun a mix of bouncy, trancey tunes – closing with a euphoric hard trance mix of Olive’s Eurodance classic ‘You’re Not Alone’. While headlining Irish rap trio Kneecap took to the Lion’s Den, Hydro XL saw Blackpool-born Effy back-to-back with New York’s Ross From Friends. Their styles melded together wonderfully, producing a high-energy set tinged with UK bass and future garage – although at times they got slightly carried away with Eurodance numbers. Effy kept her hits fresh, blending together ‘The Highest Level’ and ‘Mad’ and ending the set with a crowd-pleasing breakbeat remix of her and Mall Grab’s ‘iluv’.
Boomtown sold a 45% stake to Live Nation and other corporations in 2022, causing a movement towards genres reflecting current trends in dance music and a general fear that the festival has traded its former soul for commercialisation. These corporate interests could certainly be felt when walking around the festival, with stages sponsored by Nordic Spirit and Red Bull sticking out like a sore thumb. Ignoring these stages, the festival remains immersive, with much of the set being hand-crafted by independent artists and volunteers.
The commercialism present at Boomtown was somewhat counterbalanced by the smaller artists and sounds the festival still provides a place for. Late into Friday night saw Iller Instinct, head of the vinyl-based south-western jungle label Scared Money, take to Botanica Zoo – one of the festival’s smaller, single-room stages. He put on a fiercely impressive show, masterfully chopping the breaks between four vinyl turntables at once. The tunes were heavy and raw, and the breaks had a slightly rough vintage feel to them – although the technicality of the DJing itself meant the set still felt very polished.
While the Lion’s Den hosted D’n’B legends Alix Perez and Andy C, returning to Hydro XL on Saturday night saw a mad mix of UK garage, leftfield electronica and hard techno. Following on from rising UKG star Silva Bumpa was a left turn to Floating Points, who played a live set alongside live visuals from Akiko Nakamara. The set swapped melody for an exploration of Shepard’s strange textures and basslines, at times slightly uneasy but grounded by a four-on-the-floor that kept it mostly danceable. Nakamara’s visuals were beautiful, crafted with coloured and textured liquids under a zoom lens. He then handed over to Four Tet, who opened his set similarly by beginning with a slow build of the folktronica and ambient-leaning house he’s best known for.
As the set built, Four Tet brought in wonky basslines and harder drums, eventually exploding into dubstep basslines and an enjoyably jarring tearout drop. He kept driving the energy through the peak of his set with his remix of ‘Illegal’ by PinkPantheress, which was joined by hits of his own such as ‘Only Human’ and ‘Looking at Your Pager’ originally released under his dancefloor-oriented alias KH. Hebden’s ability to meld clashing genres and sounds under one fluid set was nothing short of captivating, and it was inspiring to see such a variety of leftfield electronic music from him and Floating Points on such a massive festival stage.
The stage then took another left turn by filling the rest of the night at Hydro XL with hard techno. Berlin-based duo Brutalismus 3000 played a breakneck set drawing upon industrial techno, hardcore and uptempo. The duo consists of Theo Zeitner on decks and live vocals from Victoria Vassiliki Daldas, which sounded raw and heavy over Hydro XL’s sound system and lent the duo a unique edge over standard hard techno beats. The way they approached their set felt a lot more structured than a set of that style usually is, resulting in an experience closer to seeing a live band than a hard techno DJ.
The next set by Azyr, was frantic and enjoyable, but lacked the structure that grounded Brutalismus. The north-west DJ threw drop after drop at the crowd without leaving much space in between, meaning the drops began to feel numb after a certain point. At one point he played the opening synths and vocals of Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ before an ill-fitting, out-of-place hard techno drop. These sorts of bookings could be seen as a result of the festival’s commitment to diversifying into genres that have been gaining popularity in recent years. That being said, the sheer size and variety Boomtown provides means attendees can tailor the festival to their own tastes – it could remain a strictly D’n’B festival for those who seek it out.
The festival ultimately wound down on Sunday, but not before SIMMS and SHERELLE showcased the best of the modern jungle scene. Despite the death of their frontman Maxi Jazz in 2022, Faithless also put on a great show, including their classic ‘Insomnia’ and a beautiful cover of Orbital’s ‘Belfast’. Green Party leader and former Boomtown actor Zack Polanski appeared to announce Scissor Sisters to mixed reception, with some since then criticising his inclusion as overly political – a strange take since the festival’s story this year was one of apocalyptic climate collapse.
The question of what the spirit of Boomtown is in 2026 is a tough one. Its d’n’b roots undoubtedly remain, although they’re not as central as they once were. Like the modern dance landscape as a whole, the festival feels split between many genres and sounds vying for attention. The presence of so many brands and sponsored stages did give the festival a slight commercial air, but it still provides a space for smaller artists and sounds to converge. While it’s far from the independent festival it used to be, it’s certainly a spectacle worth experiencing. Boomtown Fair returns to Matterly Estate next year for its next iteration, Chapter 6: Wild Style.
