The festival has been running at the South Downs site since 2011, located just outside Winchester in Hampshire. It stands out from other festivals with its curated storylines and lore which tells of aliens and dystopian megacorporations, the unique design of its stages and festival grounds, and its culture of inclusiveness. They draw all manner of alternative acts, primarily electronic, ska and reggae, with past headlining alumni including Gorillaz, Wu Tang Clan and The Specials.

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The atmosphere can only exist within the beautiful scenery of the South Downs woodland, which was designated national park status in 2010 and has been an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty since the 1960s. As such, the environmental impacts of a large-scale annual music festival in the region has attracted widespread criticism from conservation groups, as well as local residents who suffer from the noise pollution and traffic congestion.

 
The BBC heard from local Alisson Mathews, who lives 2 miles from the festival grounds, about her experience every August. She said she could hear the pounding bass and drum beats from Boomtown “almost constantly in our house and garden” and added “by Sunday night we are exhausted from the lack of sleep. I find it particularly disappointing to see the park authority failing its residents by ignoring its first purpose and doing nothing to encourage Boomtown to find an alternative venue outside the protected landscape.” The BBC’s article also quotes complaints from Christopher Langford, who objects to the use of the national park for the purpose, saying “national parks should be havens for nature, not environments damaged by large-scale music festivals.”

 
In order to continue their activity, Boomtown’s organisers have had to pledge to several new rules to protect the environment. A new meadow spanning 4.2 acres must be created to foster biodiversity at the site by South Downs Way, with protection for bats, barn owls, and other bird species native to the area. Additionally, they will be subject to independent ecological surveys every year to monitor impacts on wildlife like badgers, butterflies, birds and reptiles. NME referenced Councillor Janet Duncton, who spoke positively of Boomtown’s footprint in the region, saying “I’ve visited the site before, during and after the festival, and in my view it has been well managed. A lot of people get a great deal of pleasure from this, and don’t we all need a bit of that? I think five years is a perfectly reasonable time to allow them to continue.” Boomtown’s Director Shula Rael says “The people behind the festival understand the purpose of this park. We take those responsibilities seriously, and we deliver against them.”  

 

 

 

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Permission to hold the festival in its current state until 2030 was granted by South Downs National Park Authority, the body responsible for the park. It allows one Boomtown Festival event a year at Matterley Estate, up to a maximum of 75,999 attendants, and a further 1,000 for their Sunday. Boomtown’s co-founder Luke Mitchell has described this year’s festival as one that will “encapsulate everything we love: intricate film-set worlds, twisting storylines, bouncing dancefloors, and diverse expressions of music and art”

Boomtown Festival: Chapter Five runs from the 12th to the 16th of August 2026 in the South Downs National Park, with top-billing acts Kneecap, Scissor Sisters, Madness and Skrillex. Tickets are sold out, but fear not – the festival will return in 2027.

The festival should see its usual array of storytelling, circus acts, actors and arts at this year’s festival with its incredible set design and production. Boomtown has won many awards including UK Festival Awards “Best Festival Production” in both 2022 and 2023, as well as “Transport Impact Innovators” in 2023. Boomtown was also picked as Major Events Summit’s “Best Non-Sporting Event” in 2023. It was also named by BBC Radio 1 as “Best Dance Festival UK & Europe” in 2023.

Boomtown is known for its quirky and extravagant production and stage design with there being eight distinct city districts with 12 main stages as well as over 50 hidden venues along with thousands of live performers and actors.

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Reggae royalty Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley is set to take the stage at Grand Central this year as well as 90s hip-hop legends The Pharcyde. 2023 Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective will also be bringing some jazz to this year’s edition of the festival. Swedish punk outfit Viagra boys are also playing Grand Central as well as internet sensation Marc Rebillet.

Kent duo Soft Play are set make an appearance on the Saturday (August 10) fresh of the back of the release of their newest album ‘Heavy Jelly’ which is their highest charting album yet reaching number 3 on the UK Album Charts. London based neo-soul singer Greentea peng is also going to play a set on Grand Central.

Punk-rap duo Bob Vylan are set to play as they are sure to bring the political themes to the festival as they partner up with Bristol producer Grove to perform on Grand Central. As well as this post-punk duo Sleaford Mods will be playing, showing the diversity of the festival and that it is not just all Drum and Bass.

Moving onto the Origin stage we are going to see Flava D, D&B trio Kings of The Rollers with Inja and P Money play the legendary stage on the Friday. 4AM Kru are sure to bring the energy on Saturday along with Simula and Sota expected to play some memorable Drum and Bass sets. On The last day we will see the icons that are Jungle Cakes take the stage with Ed Solo, Deekline, Benny Page, and Serial Killaz performing a back-to-back. Bou and Pendulum are also billed to perform on Origin.

Among the 100s of other performances across the various stages we will also see the likes of Hak Baker, grime legend D Double E, and Ross From Friends under the moniker Bubble Love. The Wrong Side of The Tracks stage will have Sully, Neff-T, Oppidan, Silva Bumpa, Aries and many more. TikTok sensation Fish56Octogan is also expected to make an appearance at Boomtown at Spectrum 360 as well as Samurai Breaks and Bish.

Boomtown is one of the UK’s largest independent music festivals, with over 500 artists from over 80 subgenres performing across its 27 stages. Drumcode will host Area 404’s new mega stage Nucleus on Friday, August 9 and Bugged Out will host celebrations on Saturday, August 10.

This year’s festival will take place on Matterley Estate in Hampshire on August 7-11 2019. The five-day festival is known for its musical diversity, immersive theatrics and for following a themed storyline which is spread across all 14 of Boomtown’s districts.

The festival will host a multitude of genres such as reggae, punk, metal, ska, house, techno, disco, folk, acoustic, world, funk and soul, tropical, electro swing, balkan, hip hop, bassline, grime, jazz, soul, bass, electronic, hardcore tekno, gabba, breakcore, DNB, jungle and dub.

Hundreds of actors will also be implemented throughout the grounds of Matterley Estate with the aim of enhancing the customer experience of thousands of festival-goers.

A spokesperson said: “Actors bring the film-like street sets to life and alongside enjoying the extraordinary musical programme. They encourage the public to explore all the city has to offer, to become their inner character and be a part of the story themselves.”

The Hampshire-based festival will also feature 80 interactive street venues and will focus on improving its impact on the environment, having grown from 1,000 to 66,000 capacity.

A spokesperson added: “Our main priority for this year is to focus fully on what we can do within the festival and our audience reach, we have been completely rethinking the event in
every aspect to radically reduce the impact.

“For 2019 and beyond, we are putting the imminent environmental crisis front and centre of our messaging and deep into the fabric of our event planning and infrastructure.”

The festival is addressing campsite waste, transportation and fuel emissions, single-use plastic eradication and consumer behaviour.

The spokesperson added: “One of the main missions we’re on is to inspire change in ourselves and everyone in
attendance at the festival to ensure that, together, as one huge community, we can do everything in our power to halt the devastating outlook for all life on this planet. Together, we really can make the difference that is so urgently needed.”

Adult tickets are priced at £229, whilst teens can scoop them cheaper at £196.50 and children 12 and under can go for free. For more details visit https://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/