Boomtown 2026 day five review-backstage and the closing ceremony

The fifth day of the festival on August 16 rolled around slowly, and it felt like an age away from when I was stuck in traffic trying to find the car park on day one.

After bidding adieu to my boyfriend, I set off into the throes of the crowds for my first final day adventure.

Zack Polanski on stage and Jasmine (Image: Newsquest)

I was off to see behind the scenes on one of Boomtown’s main stages, Hydro XL, something I was very intrigued about!

Taking the scenic route, I stumbled upon copies of the Daily Rag, the festival’s own daily newspaper. Despite being here for five days, it was my first time seeing a copy, which includes clues about the storyline, funny adverts, cartoons and announcements.

The tagline for the Daily Rag is ‘Who says print journalism is dead’ which I resonated with- print journalism is the best kind!

The Daily Rag (Image: Newsquest)

At the stage, with three other journalists, I was taken backstage to see the inner workings of the green hydrogen-powered stage. It was very fascinating to learn about how it all worked and you can read my write-up about it here.

As part of the tour, we were taken side of stage to watch a set by Nimino. It was a nice contrast to see the performer’s perspective, and I felt a greater sense of understanding after learning about how it comes together.

During the tour, I had some time chatting with the other journalists about their experiences of Boomtown. We discussed the Metropolis district as ‘corporate satire’ and about the quests and adventures they had been on.

Side of stage for Nimino's set at Hydro XL (Image: Newsquest)

After the tour, inspired by my new friends’ adventures, I was intent on doing something different. I remembered that a vox pop had recommended I try the post office for a fun activity.

Using Postal Posse stationery, I was able to send a letter to a random Boomtown resident and also send a postcard to my best friend in the outside world.

After returning the pen to the post office, I was rewarded with a packet of sweets for good behaviour.

The postcard! (Image: Newsquest)

As I was munching on my ‘You’re Fab’ Love Heart, I began thinking about the details behind Boomtown and that perhaps there was so much that I must have missed out.

I felt as though I had been maxing out my days with performances and exploring, but I hadn’t ventured into any quests or quite made sense of the storyline.

There are elements of Boomtown that are so detailed, from the theatrical performances from the actors to the clues in the Daily Rag, the different workshops, and hidden spaces in all of the districts.

It’s impressive that so much can happen in five days, surely not one person can do it all! Should Boomtown be longer?

I was interrupted from my ponderings by a growl in my stomach, so I decided a milkshake would do the trick.

The milkshake using cows' milk from Matterley Estate (Image: Newsquest)

I don’t tend to be a milkshake person, however, when I saw there was a stall called Mmm..MooMix, which makes milkshakes using milk from cows on the Matterley Estate, I felt I would be amiss if I didn’t give it a try.

My mint chocolate shake was very delicious and gave me enough energy to walk up to the Lion’s Den stage, where Scissor Sisters were performing.

I didn’t feel like dancing, so I decided to watch from afar, until surprise guest Zack Polanski appeared on stage and I had to make my way towards the front to snap a photo! You can read what he said in his speech here.

During the performance I had managed to link up with an old friend from college and her friend, and we ventured to Hydro XL for Skrillex’s set.

Crowds at Skrillex (Image: Newsquest)

When we got there, we realised that everyone happened to be doing the same thing! The Hydro XL stage has a capacity of 20,000 people and the festival has a capacity of 77,000. Despite headliner Faithless also performing at the same time on the Lion’s Den stage, there were still massive crowds of people.

We tried to get as close as possible, but we were still swarmed by people and couldn’t even see the stage. Just as we thought it might be better to just listen to the set from the hill nearby, the performance was paused for around 15 minutes due to concerns about crowd crushing.

My friends decided to head back, whereas I headed for Faithless, managing to catch the end of their set and then the closing ceremony, which impressed with special effects pyrotechnics and impressive lights. Watch snippets of it here.

The closing ceremony (Image: Newsquest)

The music on the last day stopped at 12 and, knowing I had to wake up at 5am to grab photos of the festival ground post-party, I walked back to my tent.

After a few hours’ sleep, I returned to the ground at around 5.45am, hearing banging noises as I got closer.

It appeared the party wasn’t over, as once the music stops; people go into the Hidden Woods and hit bottles on trees and beat the metal bins to create their own drum and bass music.

The early morning Boomtown tradition (Image: Newsquest)

It was the Boomtown tradition that I had heard about, but I didn’t expect it still to be going on at almost 6am!

A bit too tired to join in, I just snapped a few photos and headed back to my tent. You can see the photos here.

Once packing up my tent and rolling my trolley to my car- Boomtown 2026 was over for me and wow! What an interesting week!