With just over six weeks to go until Boomtown Fair, speculation about who is playing this year’s festival is igniting the imagination.
Boomtown Chapter One: The Gathering will unleash the biggest shakeup the city has ever seen. The festival have made the unusual step of keeping the line-up a secret – regardless tickets have already sold out. It’s easy to see why it’s sold out regardless of who is playing. Boomtown describes itself as a living theatre that ignites imagination and inspires the emergence of a better world through connection, creativity and celebration. Sounds good right – yes, it will be.
After many years of getting bigger-and-bigger, this year the attention is to get better-and-better. It’s shaping up to be the best event so far. Zipping up the boots and going back to the roots.
So who is rumoured to be playing? Well there’s the hardest wording band in the UK – Dub Pistols, led by Barry Ashworth. There’s fellow party-starters Gentleman’s Dub Club, everyone’s favourite Beans on Toast, reggae genius David Rodigan, and out of this world Henge.
On a different level, FourTet fresh from headlining Glastonbury’s Park Stage would be a real coup. Or how about People Just Do Nothing’s Kurupt FM? It’s probably hoping for too much, but Little Simz would be far too introvert to play such a festival surely? Finally on a wish list would be Idles after smashing up 2000 Trees festival in July, but they’re booked to play Boardmasters in Cornwall the same weekend…
Whoever headlines, it is definitely going to be a welcome return to Winchester. Discovering new music is always one of the highlights of any festival. But Boomtown never disappoints based on its independent origins.