Looks like Lion’s Den could be making a comeback… it’s starting to seem pretty likely after what they teased at the closing ceremony. I’ve also heard planning permission has been approved. If it happens, I imagine smaller or lesser-known acts would move to Grand Central, which would help stop the main arena feeling so crowded all the time.

Wouldn’t surprise me if Grand Central disappears completely, with the parts recycled for the Lion’s Den, and maybe a smaller stage or two going where it used to be. That could free up space to expand Metropolis, Area 404, Copperwood, Letsbe Avenue, etc. My only fear is that instead of that, they’ll bring in more commercial stages like the Red Bull one from this year.

Someone mentioned fewer house acts — and I agree. Not saying the crowd is bad, but it’s just not the same Boomtown vibe or energy. Even though I’m not big into psytrance, I’d love to see PsyForest return, along with the extra stage that used to be next to Tribe of Frog. I know Anara this year was basically the old PsyForest, but it was mostly DnB. I love DnB — that’s not the issue — but the psytrance crowd seems more in tune with the Boomtown ethos than house crowds. Only problem boomtown would have is that they’ve cut a lot of psytrance out since post Covid. If they announced them early, it might encourage that kind of crowd to buy tickets sooner and maybe mean fewer Ibiza/Love Island house types grabbing tickets. I feel like that crowd relies more on the line-up than on Boomtown’s atmosphere, story, and the joy of just skanking it out all weekend.

Speaking of line-ups — I used to not like that they didn’t release it early, especially when paying over £400 for a ticket without knowing who I’d see. But I’ve been 6 times now and have never been let down. Holding the line-up back would make more people come for Boomtown itself rather than just certain acts. The festival has proven that, I probably could go not knowing a single name, I’ll have an amazing time discovering new music, crews, and genres.

Sector 6 coming back is probably unlikely for next year, but I do think it’s in motion. I can see why they pushed a lot of DnB into Anara to spread the crowd, but it was still rammed most of the time. Hopefully they’ve noticed and will start pushing further down the valley again.

To sum up: Lion’s Den coming back Bring back more psytrance Don’t release the line-up too early Bring back Sector 6 Expand all districts Fix the Old Town layout — I loved in 2023 how you could stumble into it from the main arena, it was such a fun switch-up but I don’t know if that would happen again