Boomtown 2025 was one for the history books but this year a huge change to our camping experience has permanently altered how we rave for the rest of our lives…
Boomtown 2025 was like nothing we’ve ever experience before, for all the right reasons.
We didn’t think last year’s epic blowout event could be topped but we were definitely mistaken. Thanks to Skylark campsite, we’ve never had a smoother festival experience and our four days at Boomtown were a breeze.
Here’s what went down at Matterly Estate and how we realised that once you go glamping, you’ll never go back to camping!
Boomtown is all about equality, inclusion and togetherness and from the moment we stepped foot on site, we were met with that familiar community camaraderie we’d been waiting a whole 365 days to feel once again. We had some truly lifesaving assistance getting our bags to Skylark camp, which is nestled just at the top of the famous Boomtown stairs about a three minute stroll from Tribe of Frog (more on that later).
We had a seamless check in and were given Skylark wristbands before venturing off to find our tent. Shoutout to our new friends who saw us struggling and ran over to help in the blistering heat – lifesavers!
Festivalgoers can opt for various Skylark packages with a wide range of accommodation types on offer. We walked past everything from wooden cabins equipped with fully functioning electricity, giant teepee tents that could house more than four people at a time and huge silver caravans that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Our home for the weekend was a spacious bell tent decked out with mattresses, metal bed frames, pillows, duvets, cushions, blankets, a mirror, a lamp, a side table and even a door mat to make us feel right at home. We can’t recommend Skylark enough and the option is well worth the upgrade for the tent alone, let alone the amenities.
Campers can also enjoy exclusive on-site food stands with smaller queues than the main arena, chilled water fountains, a fully stocked bar with frozen cocktail machines (the margarita slush was a perfect pre-rave treat), flushing toilets and warm showers…oh, the showers. Each morning we washed our sins away in cubicles fitted with hooks, mirrors and sinks – an experience that definitely helped us feel a little more human.
We were kept warm from the elements at night and in the morning we unzipped the tent all the way round the bottom to help air circulation, which was a lifesaver as the sun climbed higher in the sky throughout the day. There’s honestly nothing better than crawling into bed and resting your head on a proper pillow after countless hours of dancing with achy feet and a croaky voice – we slept like queens the whole time.
Everyone knows that general camping is loud and boisterous as the party continues until the sun comes up, but Skylark has a more subdued atmosphere during the early hours so that everyone can get their beauty sleep. However, this doesn’t mean that sense of community is lost as the energy certainly picks back up during the day.
Just like at any other festival we lounged in our camping chairs and nattered with neighbours all day long, but as we get older we have to admit that the peace and quiet between the hours of 4am-11am is very, very much appreciated.
Top tip – don’t just sit around camp all day listening to your own music on a speaker, you can do that at home! Boomtown is full of quirky characters ready to show off their moves, immersive actors willing to chat and send you on a quest, jewellery workshops, tightrope lessons, shops and hidden rooms that transport you to another dimension.
Our favourite activity was setting off with our backpacks full of alcohol and wandering aimlessly between stages in search of the perfect spot to people watch. From ravers dressed as butterflies, caterpillars and fairies to groups of lads wearing matching rubber duck shirts, from festivalgoers dressed in steampunk finery to hippies sporting woodland elf ears, everywhere we went was like a warped Where’s Wally painting.
First we grooved to drum and bass in the sunlight between the trees at Hidden Woods, admiring outfits and exchanging trinkets before popping over to Tribe of Frog to scout out some psytrance weirdness. The stage itself was covered in neon-painted poison dart frogs, while giant fluorescent stars next to twinkling light installations hung in the trees above.
Once suitably in the party mood we headed into the main arena to admire the attention to detail in Old Town, chat with actors who helped us forget the outside world ever existed and duck in and out of the countless secret rooms dotted around the city-sized event that hosted a whopping 75,999 people this year after organisers increased the capacity for 2025.
Our ultimate Boomtown trick is to bring knick knacks and trinkets to barter and persuade actors into revealing clues and to point you in the right direction, but we definitely had the most fun just handing them out to our fellow “citizens” to make their day. We bought a pack of 80 mini animals which was, without a doubt, our best pre-Boom purchase – we offered tiny purple hippos to people in eye-catching outfits, teeny green stingrays to anyone tearing up the dance floor, miniature orange llamas to girls that smiled at us, itsy-bitsy kittens to anyone partying solo and even got some equally adorable presents in return.
We noticed a lot of solo ravers but no-one looked lonely and we felt love from every angle, as everyone there is keen to help one another have the best experience possible. For anyone debating going alone in 2026, be sure to check out online forums such as Reddit where people post meet-up times and information about where best to camp so you can make friends along the way.
Our absolute favourite stages were Hidden Woods, Tangled Roots, Twisted Time Machine (specifically for the Britney Spears Appreciation Society and The Brat Pack Bangerz sets), Tribe of Frog and of course Lion’s Gate, but that goes without saying. The closing ceremony, held as the final act on Sunday night, was one of the best sets we’ve ever witnessed and we danced transfixed by the fireworks, pyrotechnics and and rainbow lasers.
As for our favourite sets, we loved Shosh B2B Flava D at Hidden Woods, Basslayerz, Oko B2B DJ Limited and Harriet Jaxxon at Lion’s Gate, and Spice at Grand Central.
We partied until we could party no more, then dug deep, found some strength and somehow carried on – Boomtown is our favourite place on earth and nothing even comes close. This year’s lineup had the perfect mix of big name artists with up-and-coming names and we can’t wait to come back and do it all over again.
It’s the perfect place to zone out, forget about your troubles and immerse yourself into the marvellous magic. P.S here’s a big shout out to all the people we met this weekend – you made it truly unforgettable!
Until next year, Boomtown! We love you x
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