We were camped next to “Cirque Du Manc”, “Lostrites”, “BoxSmash” and “The Urbanizer” — madness was obviously going to take place. We spent the first couple of hours in the camp site,chilling with all our new acquaintances as we were the only camp to have chairs and a decent iPod speaker (cue massive sing alongs to Soundgarden and Frank Sinatra). The atmosphere was incredible. After swiftly running out of beer, we all headed into the arena to catch some live festival music. I helped put up Cirque Du Manc’s gazebo before heading into the Bigsound Marquee to catch some bands.

The first band I saw was Dirty Jeans. They played a good set which got the quite thin crowd dancing. The local heroes play a standard indie-rock set which saw a nice start to the festival. 3/5

I then heard news that some old friends were having a little gathering in the VIP camping area so we decided to make a brief appearance. It turned out they had an amp blasting out System Of A Down with a decent little camp party going. I stayed for a few songs, chatting to the lads in Minutes To Recover and A Poetic Yesterday.

It was finally time to catch some top class DJs that Bomfest had to offer. Starting off with a guy called Cress Head and a member of Lostrites, the night was clearly going to be interesting. It was an average DJ/MC set with some strange surprises – one of which was the free tubs of cress being given out in the crowd. I happily ate a tub while listening to the duo rap along about hoverboards and the educational system. The free cress made the set worthy of a 4/5 rating!

Finally it was time for the almighty Urbanizer. We chilled with his son and BoxSmash, as well as pretty much the whole of Cirque Du Manc while he slammed through a brilliant mix of dubstep and drum n bass. The whole crowd was skankin’ and moving throughout the set while multiple MCs joined him onstage. The atmosphere was fantastic as the whole Bomfest community seemed to be together at once. A great set worthy of a 5/5 rating!

As The Urbanizer was the last set of the night we all drifted back into artist camping for a night of partying. It was true madness that continued all night, a highlight being a guy playing some of his “hit songs about drinking and drug usage” on a banjo while a small crowd gathered around him, providing a great highlight of the festival. Urbanizer made me the best coffee ever while music pumped out of every tent. There was even an Irish transvestite walking around playing a broken clarinet  – safe to say I didn’t get much sleep that night.

Day two of the festival kicked off at around 12 o’clock. I spent some time watching some various DJs in the Monkey Radio and Herbal Sessions tents. They all seemed great and helped me wake up for a heavy day of reviewing.

The first band I saw were the Super Best Friends Club’ who got on stage in full hippy attire and played what was possibly the weirdest set I’ve ever seen. It included strange, falsetto group vocal breakdowns and empty water bottles being used as instruments. A massive group of monks go marching past singing while the band played, joined by a guy beat-boxing with a didgeridoo who was camped next to us. A great indie/mental set 4/5

I then caught the end of C F Bundy’s set in the Extreme Marquee.  They played brutally heavy riffs with monstrous screams. A highlight of their set had to be the song “You’ve Been Fisted By The Lesser Known Chuckle Brother.” 4/5

Finally, Ava Divine took to the Extreme Metal stage. With gut wrenching screams and catchy riffs they owned the stage. They sounded like a cross between old Bring Me The Horizon deathcore style and Cancer Bats hardcore which worked very well. They played a great set from start to finish that kept the small crowd entertained perfectly. 4/5

I then went on to catch some of the DJs in the dance tents. Dub smugglers were brilliant and had the crowd skankin’ throughout their set whilst the Monkey Radio tent was packed out with people dancing like there was no tomorrow. The atmosphere was brilliant. I then went to catch the almighty Clown Corpse. They played a set full of classics and even played a few off their upcoming album. A highlight of the set was definitely the awesome “Nightmare Masquerade”, which consisted of brutal growls and chugging guitars. Awesome set! 5/5

I went on to catch Urbanizers second set of the weekend at the P.I.M.P Stage. He was joined onstage by a female vocalist that put a nice touch on the rather ambient set. The set was a great chill out session which worked perfectly for the night. 4/5

I was told to check out BoxSmash’s DJ set by a few people we camped with so I did my duty and headed down to see the dubstep phenomenon. He had a great stage presence and dropped some massive tunes. The small but loyal crowd skanked throughout his whole set as he did the same on stage. Awesome set. 5/5

Finally it was time for fellow campers Lostrites. They were headlining the packed out Bigsound Stage and were doing a great job of it too. The whole crowd was moving throughout the set without fail. Highlights had to be the little moshpit at the front with the whole crowd crouching down then jumping back up again. The band sounded just like they do on their recordings. 5/5

My weekend at Bomfest was a wild one and I will definitely be back next year for more. Brilliant little festival.

John has been an Audio Scribbler wordsmith since April 2011.

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