Boomtown Shares Highly Anticipated Lineup For 2024’s Festival This Weekend

Boomtown is without a doubt one of the most refreshing and diversely unique offerings to the UK festival scene today. First founded in 2009, the festival is held annually on the Matterley Estate in South Downs National Park, near Winchester in Hampshire, where an estimated 65,000 people congregate every year for an event like no other. With this year marking their 15th birthday, Boomtown 2023 finds itself entitled ‘Chapter 2 – The Twin Trail’ – and being hosted from the 7th until the 11th of August, this year’s instalment acts as a sequel as such to last years ‘Chapter 2 – The Twin Trail’. 

Poised to continue the festival’s incommensurable legacy blending together music, culture, entertainment and activism through the largest interactive theatre experience in the world, the full bill for Boomtown 2024 – Chapter 3: Revolution of Imagination is finally here, revealing a gigantic programme of over 450 names heading to Winchester’s Matterley Bowl between 7th-11th August.

With hundreds of boundary-pushing artists playing across the 5 days, Boomtown is the ultimate transcendent festival experience. All making their home at Matterley Bowl – the likes of High Contrast, Black Sun Empire, Lava La Rue, OneDa, Killowen, Alt Blk Era, Frozemode, David Rodigan Vs Mungo’s Hi-Fi Boomtown Exhibition Clash, Folamour, Venbee, Pussyliquor, Dub Pistols, Talk Show, Doktor, Nubiyan Twist, Dirty Dike, Dubioza Kolektiv, Bhangra All Stars, 47 Soul, DJ ADHD, HENGE, Antwerp Gipsy Ska Orkestra and more are ready to join in.

Winning UK Festival Awards ‘Best Festival Production’ in both 2022 and 2023, and heralded as ‘Transport Impact Innovators’ in 2023, as well as being picked as Major Events Summit’s ‘Best Non-Sporting Event’ in 2023, and named as BBC Radio 1’s ‘Best Dance Festival UK & Europe’ in 2023 – Boomtown, which celebrated its 15th edition in 2023, is on a mission to inspire millions to transform the world for the better. Boomtown always promises an eye-opening show, whilst underlying future-forward values committed to the planet and its people. It is like nowhere else on earth. 

An ever-evolving entity, Boomtown is a vibrant parallel universe, bustling with eight distinct city districts that play host to 12 main stages, over 50 hidden venues and thousands of performers from musical acts and on-the-ground actors. The musical programme at Boomtown is a diverse wonderland featuring talent from the worlds of hip-hop, post-punk, world music, reggae, folk, drum and bass, techno, house, rock, jungle, disco, psytrance and beyond. 

Legendary hip hop luminaries The Pharcyde will touch down at Boomtown alongside four-time Grammy Award-winner Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and homegrown Jazz-fusion talent Ezra Collective. Elsewhere everyone from Stockholm’s punk leaders Viagra Boys, to online electronic sensation Marc Rebillet and the global spectacular that is Earth Wind & Fire Experience by Al McKay make their Boomtown debut. Hot off the release of their latest album ‘Heavy’, Soft Play will light up their stage while hypnotic neo-soul singer Greentea Peng and fellow-london based singer/rapper Hak Baker inject a multi-genre fused excitement to the bill. 

Elsewhere, multi-hyphenate producer SBTRKT will blast groundbreaking mixes live at Boomtown this August. There’s the promise of a formidable Pendulum DJ SET and a full display by Ibibio Sound Machine, while Manchester’s Children Of Zeus bring soul/hip-hop beats to the bowl. Grime icon-turned-actor Ghetts set is sure to be a festival highlight too. Record-collector and electronic music fanatic turned viral sensation Fish 56 Octagon, Brighton-based rock trio Dream Wife, Swiss BBC Sound 2022 shortlist pick Priya Ragu and fast-rising BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Sherelle will make festival memories this year. 

Fresh from their team up on new track ‘Energy Gang’, both D Double E and Sir Spryo will appear at Boomtown. In addition, four-strong DJ collective Horse Meat Disco, Ross From Friends Presents Bubble Love and dub-reggae-soul seven-piece Fat Freddy’s Drop will offer the very best in cross-genre performances. American-celtic punk gang Flogging Molly, London punk-rap duo and avant garde Bristol-based producer collaboration comes in the form ofBob Vylan x Grove, plus post-punk pair Sleaford Mods, doom-punk groupWitch Fever and multi-award nominated rock/rap act Kid Bookie are amongst some of the names bringing heavy to Boomtown. 

And that’s just the music programming. There’s an entire world for festival goers to discover at Boomtown Chapter Three: The Revolution of Imagination. It is the perfect example of how to harness the power of imagination that lives within everyone. All those taking part in the experience are invited to embark on their own journey through expertly-designed tales of honour, treachery, and political progress. Along the way they will be encountering heroes, villains, and eccentric oddities – at one of the world’s most unique experiences. Three pillars are always at the foundation of Boomtown: Creativity, Connection and Celebration, and everyone is invited to celebrate three key overarching values: Respect yourself, respect each other and respect the planet.