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Boom Festival

Portugal
near Castelo Branco
Idanha-a-Nova Lake

Boom Festival is a state of mind. Inspired by the principles of Oneness, Peace, Creativity, Sustainability, Transcendence, Alternative Culture...



Festival details

(Info from the organizer)

Following the Anthropocene theme in 2020/22, we continue to reflect on the human condition for the 2023 edition
Worldwide there is a clear trend in todayā€™s society: polarisation ā€” the 'us Vs them' dynamics.

We have to enter into a positive interaction that unites differences and finds similarities. Based on empathy, compassion, solidarity, we need a culture based on the capacity of alterity ā€” in two words: Radical Love.

Video Log 2020

BOOM FESTIVAL 20 YEARS DOCUMENTARY RELEASE


A flight throughout the years of a Psychedelic movement

Boom is a Festival dedicated to free spirits from all over the world. It is the gathering of the global psychedelic tribe and whoever feels the call, join us in 2020 for an unforgettable week.

2017 was the anniversary year for the Boom Festival. To celebrate this special event with all boomers worldwide, the Boom team spent until 2018 putting together a film.

The documentary Boom Festival 20 Years (1997-2017) summarizes the origins, 11 editions of the festival and all the projects that have emerged from this unique concept over time. The team viewed no less than 12 terabytes of material and rare video clips.
Ears candy and eye cinema, the Boom Story is presented by Maestro Zen Baboon and unpublished sample tracks by several different artists. Just sit back and enjoy šŸ™‚

What this film conveys in particular; the Boom Festival and everything it encompasses – whether it’s the team, the community or the country it takes place in – is all the result of an incredibly dedicated collaboration between people and Boomers whose ultimate intention is to celebrate life, freedom and love.

In the end, the message remains, let us continue to live together and learn from each other.
Let us create a better future. Side by side.
BOOM !!


The BOOM Festival 2016 interview


After one year break itā€˜s Boom time again from 11.-18.August 2016 ā€“ under the theme ā€žShamanismā€œ. Full of spirit and high energy, this massive event at the Idanha-A-Nova lake in Portugal unites thousands of trancers through music, art and love. In this interview Artur Mendes, a member of the Boom Team gives us the inside scoop to the secrets that make Boomers tick:

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What’s so special with Boom Festival 2016?

What sets your festival apart from the others? What makes it unique?
I canā€™t answer this one, this question should be to the public, sorry. Would be lack of respect to compare festivals between each other.

What kind of musical genres do you currently push? Which music outside the Psytrance bubble would you consider promoting?
Boom is a festival of psychedelic music. Psytrance is its heartbeat but we have four stages for people that enjoy good music. We donā€™t like orthodoxy in the same extent that we donā€™t like commercial-oriented music, psychedelic music is a vast territory ranging from electronica to jazz, rock or funk. At Boom we try to make line ups intending to bring a psychedelic and sonic experience that challenge the ordinary states, promoting new artists alongside with more established ones.

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Any crazy ideas that you are planning to implement in the future, to make your festival even more fantastic?
Without being nonconformist how could we make a psychedelic festival? šŸ™‚ There are always out-of-the-box ideas being made at the Boom offices, though you need to experience it in person during the Full Moon every 2 years on the shores of a magnificent lake in Portugal!

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Do you follow a certain pattern when it comes to booking?
Our main pattern is not to allow artists that behave like superstars disrespecting the very essence of psychedelic culture, which is public and artists are the same. Then we like to challenge artists for special shows, long sets and, simply, making the best set of their lives. The Boomers deserve it all!

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What according to you is the most important element of a festival?
The most important element is that people that attend the festival should leave it as better human beings than when they arrived. A festival must create the context for a new awakening, a new awareness, a new perception of the self, the other and the cosmos around us. At Boom our main intention is always to create the conditions for the Boomers to acquire new perspectives and to be creative and active agents for the change in the world.

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How do you incorporate eco-friendly ideas into your event?
In so many waysā€¦. Boom has been a pioneer on this level not only in the Psytrance scene. Since 2006 we are using solar energy, waste veggie oil generators, separation of garbage, recycling, reusing materials, bio-construction, compost toilets, edible gardens, we have a biological treatment of water, dozens of square meters of gardens, the food and drinks available have a criteria, etc, etc. All that we do is online and reported.

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Which edition was the best/craziest and why?
2002 was interesting because everybody was saying Boom was finished due to the success of Samothraki that was held on that year in the same date. Not only Boom survived and had the same amount of people, it also showed that it was much more than a dance floor festival. 2008 was hard because there was too many people and the ā€œsystemā€œ attacked us aggressively (there was even a police raid during build up time and one of the main local politicians wanted to close down the festival). In 2008 everything was surreal. 2010 was very challenging also. Several people had left the team and we had to find a new venue for Boom. We built the whole infrastructure from the scratch in 3 monthsā€¦ In April 2010, tragically one of us passed away which was dramatic. On top of everything, in September 2010 Boom was bankrupt. After a lot of work, resilience, positive intention and love 5 years later Boom is still alive for all the Boomers, without them nothing would be possible.

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What kind of problems have you faced while creating events? What are the common problems?
There are no problems just solutions. If something comes up blocking the way we just have to go around and make it better. Unexpected happenings are not a problem they are one more challenge to improve.

What makes a great festival?
A great team with a lot of love, knowledge and respect for nature can create the conditions for a great festival. But the oxygen of a festival is the public. They are the key. Festival organizers should always work for the people not for bigger finances, their ego or for their agendas. If the intention is clear people will perceive it and give their best love and vibe, that is the ultimate hidden architecture of festivals.

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Whatā€˜s the most gratifying aspect of festival creation?
It is when you hear things like ā€œBoom changed my lifeā€.

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If you could hold your festival on any other planet besides earth, which one would you choose and why?
Earth is the paradise, everything is here! And at a festival you can open the doors of perception to put you in contact with other realities!

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If you had access to any resource what kind of festival would you plan? Give us one crazy idea for a banginā€™ festival, something that has not been done (could be something currently considered impossible as well)
Boom Festival!

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Any funny/crazy backstage stories you wish to share with the readers?
Boom is a no headliner and no-backstage friendly event! We have a technical area on the back of the stages without any comfort or commodity; we donā€™t see why backstages should be a party in itself and an exclusive place. The best stories are among the public and the people not in backstages.

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What according to you is the basic checklist required to organize a festival? (You could list out points a newbie should keep in mind)
Without love and a clear intention of care about the earth and the people all the rest is irrelevant. First nurture this element; checklists and technical aspects of festivals come later.

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A festival crew is a close-knit family of like-minded individuals. What kind of criteria/qualifications do you look for, whilst incorporating new members into the crew?
We like to have people from different countries that have some sort of alternative perspective towards the world we live in.

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Give us one word to describe life as being a festival organizer, and one word to describe the trancers.
Festival organization: Passion. Trancers: Argonauts.

Boom Festival 2014: Synthesis in Sound


Boom Festival 2014Where have all the flowers gone? They went to a cosmos called Boom Festival. A cosmos that is hard to describe when you have never been there. In the last 17 years the Boom has advanced every edition and re-invents itself every time. The Boom core crew of around 20 people and 2,000 workers, hundreds of artists and participants worked really hard to create the best Boom ever. Some weeks before the start, the festival was sold out and became the probably biggest Psytrance festival in history with more than 42,000 people.

Boom Festival 2014 - Mainfloor PerformanceOnce you made it through the entrance gate (which can take many hours and to avoid it take one of the 165 buses straight to the entrance!) you are a part of something very special. The theme 2014 was ā€œThe Feminineā€ which was reflected in many discussions and pieces of art.

After the holy opening ceremony the wheel of creative overflow of so many thousands of people started and the whole area was like the center-point of all the creative energy on this planet. The Boom wonderland offers so many opportunities from the mighty dancefloors to the healing area. The Dance Temple with his beautiful giant faces and animals will be hard to top next time. Also the Alchemy Circle and Sacred Fire stages as well as the Liminal village were built in new shapes.

Boom Festival 2014The visionary art museum with many life paintings from Luke Brown to Amanda Sage was a living organism itself. The many gardens from psychedelic plant arrangements to permaculture or the 284 compost toilets show the strong vision of Boom to create a sustainable festival as a model for a more sustainable world. The discussion about the 3 different visions of the super highlights of the world given by Boom founder Diogo, Burning Man co-founder Harley DuBois and Fusion organizer Eule, was very interesting. The last day was dedicated to the 4th futurological symposium of free cultural spaces following Landjuwel in Ruigoord/Netherlands.

Boom Festival 2014Whatā€™s new for 2016? The Boom organizers plan to buy around 100 hectares of land and will try to establish a permanent Boom village that is alive also between the festivals. Long live the Boom!

Written byĀ Tomrom
(Photographs: Jakob Kolar)

BOOM Festival ā€¢ 04.08.-11.08.2014 ā€¢ Portugal


Boom Festival 2014

A ā€˜sudden increase, as in popularityā€™ ā€“ thatā€™s what a boom is according to the dictionary. And thatā€™s what the most multinational festival of this scene caused: A boom of sustainability.

Take compost toilets, for example. Today there are numerous festivals that embrace this technology. But 8 years ago? It seemed to be an exotic eco-art project when 20 of those wooden booths popped up at Boom in 2006. Six years later there were 186 of them, compost toilets are the only system at the festival. This is just one example how Boom sets standards for the international festival scene, and how it is much more than an open air – Itā€™s a vivid example for sustainability.

Reuse ā€“ recycle ā€“ compost: Thatā€™s the mantra. Looking at the architecture of the festival, from the monumental dance temple to all the countless small structures that make its appearance so unique, it is surprising that the last edition was build from 70% recycled and reused materials, including almost 50 tons of plastic and 45 tons of wood. Looking at the sophisticated infrastructure, itā€™s just as surprising to know that areas like the Liminal Village and most of the workshops and offices in the background are working ā€˜off the gridā€™, in other words: They are powered exclusively and autonomously by renewable energy. The awarded greywater treatment system at Boom might well spark another eco-trend: Itā€™s 100% organic, takes advantage of evaporation and pollutant-absorbing plants, and allows the festival to clean 100% of the wastewater from shops and showers.


Boom Festival 2014

Another world is possible – Beautiful words, yet they call for action. Boom successfully demonstrates how it can work: In 2012 people from 116 different countries gathered at the festival, making it the most international event of the scene. They left with an experience that goes far beyond some epic party moments, they left with a takeaway-message that started a boom of sustainable culture in harmony with our planet!

More infos @Ā www.boomfestival.org

Boom Festival 2014

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