IT'S one of Hampshire's largest cities – and it's only here for four days a year.

Only on the streets of BoomTown would you see DJs in portaloos, robot burlesque shows and tens of thousands of people raving through the night.

The festival returned bigger and better this weekend with a record capacity and nearly 100 themed venues to explore.

Like any city, BoomTown, on the Matterley Estate near Winchester, has unique districts with new sights, sounds and smells at every turn.

There's the Wild West, where costumed cowboys lure you to hidden parties, the narrow walkways of Chinatown and Grandma's Living Room, a bingo nightclub boasting the festival's 'only DJ to arrive on a free bus pass.'The crowds were as decorated as the stages, with efforts ranging from simple face paint to elaborate mechanical costumes and laser guns.

• Boomtown 2015 - in pictures >>

BoomTown prides itself on its overarching stories which split years into 'chapters'. This year actors sparked a revolution against the autocratic town mayor, plastering the walls with anarchist propaganda.

On the main stages there was reggae from Stephen Marley, son of Bob, and folk punk from Flogging Molly, while Infected Mushroom led the remote Psy Forest into a trance.

Gogol Bordello, John Butler Trio, Less Than Jake and Goldie Lookin Chain also graced the massive lineup.

Noise concerns spread this year after a north easterly wind carried Wednesday's sound check across Winchester, prompting complaints from as far as South Wonston, 10 miles away.

Police stepped up their anti-drug messages in the build-up to the event, which started on Thursday and finished last night.

A handful of festivalgoers were hospitalised after taking a new, stronger form of LSD, one officer told the Chronicle on site. Their conditions are understood to be stable.

BoomTown's expansion meant that tickets failed to sell out for the first time in its seven-year history.

The festival is hoping to reach its increased 50,000 capacity in 2016.

But an ongoing planning dispute makes its future uncertain. Earlier this year civic chiefs limited non-agricultural use of the estate to 28 days per year, far fewer than it currently takes to build BoomTown.

Winchester City Council and South Downs National Park Authority allowed this year's event to go ahead but the city has warned landowner Peveril Bruce he must "consider the planning implications of future events."