Melosa storms Boomtown 2013: Chinatown may never be the same

Melosa at Boomtown's Chinatown 

Boomtown gets under your skin. So many townies in one field. So many small worlds raised from nothing. It is a festival like none other. It's filthy and skanky and brilliant. This year, Exeter's ska band extraordinaire, Melosa, returned to the town that boom built for the third time. They rocked the Chinatown stage on Sunday in true Melosa style. The set included classic Melosa tracks like Warning and Nemo as well as my favourite song from the latest EP, Silverspoon. 

Melosa at Boomtown 2013's China Town Stage

And they were in good company with a line up that included ska  reggae royalty like Lee Scratch Perry, Los Angeles cumbia kings Ozomatli, hip hop from High Focus Records and the dopest DJs in the vicinity.

The site was epic this year and between all the music, there was so much to see. Like Arcadia rising like a phoenix from the depths and worshiped by a seething crowd of thousands. The Lords of Lightning. The Hidden Woods, engineered by our very own Exeter Sound Hire. The giant Boombox. The graffiti. The roller disco. The ninjas. That's right; I said ninjas AND lightning AND a roller disco. Though the festival has at least doubled in size since I first went in 2010, they seem to have resisted the race to banality that saturates and sanitizes our world. It's not for everyone. It's just awesome.

Behold, Arcadia.

Boomtown Boombox Stage, like boom!

Sunset at the Town Centre