Overcrowding, "Cancellations", And Sound Bleed. The Chaos Of London's Boiler Room Festival 2024
A personal account of what happened that day
If you like electronic music, you will likely know who Boiler Room are.
Founded in March of 2010, they’ve been a pioneer in broadcasting electronic music since and it could be argued it’s reshaped how DJs are viewed in the industry. The brand popularised putting DJs in front of the camera and has been pivotal in many artists’ careers. Having a Boiler Room set nowadays is a sure fire way to get recognised across the world.
It’s so popular that many online have started collating the best Boiler Room sets with some recordings being mentioned again and again. KAYTRANADA’s Montreal set, Mall Grab’s Melbourne set, Folamour’s Fly Open Air set, Honey Dijon’s Boiler Room x Sugar Mountain set, and (of course) Fred Again’s London set have all racked up millions of views online and cemented the artists’ positions as powerhouses of the industry.
Boiler Room’s prevalence in the modern electronic music scene cannot be overstated. As a brand, they have redefined many aspects of how people interact with the scene and, in my opinion, added a nice, more joyful, touch to the genre.
So it was to my dismay, when I came back from the Sunday August bank holiday Boiler Room Festival disappointed.
You may have seen a few articles on this topic already about Disclosure’s overcrowding issue, but there was more that happened that day.
And so here is my personal account of the overcrowding, “cancellations”, and sound bleed. The chaos of London’s Boiler Room Festival 2024.
Overcrowding
To say Disclosure was overcrowded would be an understatement.
Walking into the festival after we first arrived, I was keen to see what Disclosure’s stage would look like: Club Heart Broken. On the map (that no longer exists online), it was a green square icon situated pretty near the house stage (the name of which escapes me). Disclosure we weren’t totally interested in as they clashed with some acts that we were more keen on, however Marlon Hoffstadt b2b Malugi were on after and they were our “must-see” of the day.
The stage sat just left of the entrance as we walked in, it was pretty much the first stage people came across entering the sight. I wanted to see whether there would be a queueing situation for the stage as the icon on the map suggested it would have some form of indoor arrangement.
And I was right.
A relatively unremarkably sized glasshouse sat at the foot of a small hill (I sadly lack a picture of the stage). You could see people in front of and behind the DJ dancing away, a very classic Boiler Room setup. I think it was LB aka Labat who was playing as we arrived. A tall, multi-pitched roof towered above the audience with periodic tiles of glass missing (a top tip for keeping the dance floor cool). The boiler room sign hung just behind the DJs above them, and the whole place echoed such setups as AVA Festival.
You had to hand it to them, the place looked insane and you could see what they were going for. The intimacy was as clear as day. Being so close to the DJs in a small room like that is one of my favourite layouts and clubs like The Cause really shine because of it.
But it was tiny, and that wasn’t a good thing.
Disclosure are popular. So popular that they average over 23 million monthly listeners on Spotify and their biggest tune, Latch, has over 1 billion streams. These brothers are beloved. Rightly so, I say, their songs are ground breaking, iconic, and just a pleasure to listen to.
However, this stage could hold, at best, 1000 people by the looks of things. And there were definitely more than 1000 fans of theirs at this festival.
It was going to be a mess.
Plans were hatching already, we were going to have to be in this queue early to even have a chance of seeing Marlon and Malugi after.
So, later in the day after bumming around the Teletech and main stages, we headed over to the house stage with the intention of getting a look at the queue to gauge our chances of getting in. Should it be long already, then we would join it then and there, otherwise we would enjoy the house stage for a while before taking another look later.
And the queue was rammed.
Any semblance of a queue was lost to the thousands that thronged every available side of the glasshouse. There were at least 1000 more people at the back of the venue behind the barriers, as the structure was see-through, they could still see perfectly.
The side, which I still assume was meant to be the entrance, had a wall of around a half dozen security personnel holding back another army of ravers, a few hundred strong.
This was carnage.
I heard no music when I walked to the back of the stage. “Is the insulation that good?” I asked myself. But getting closer I could see the reason why. They had stopped the music and you could hear the Disclosure brothers on the mics begging people to take a step back. It was so soon into their set! How is it already over?!
Walking back to my friends, they could see my face and immediately tell something was wrong. “No chance, guys” I remember saying. “Place is heaving, it’s a nightmare”.
As it turns out, from research since the festival, I have found out that they only managed to play 6 minutes of music before having to stop. Pretty much a song and a half. An internationally renowned artist, didn’t even make it to song 3 in their setlist. And that was it, they never played again at the festival.
“Cancellations”
Immediately following the overcrowding fiasco, we looked at each other and unanimously agreed to join the “queue”. If we had any chance of seeing Marlon and Malugi, we had to get involved.
Piling into the throng for the entrance, we got one of our menagerie to the front of the queue and she started talking to a security guard.
“There will be no music for at least 30 minutes,” he said.
We grimaced at the time we could be spending in this mess. Nervously looking at the queue, another menagerie member piped up: “We’ll be waiting anyway, let's just stick around”. Shortly followed by reluctant nods.
After weathering the mass of bodies for another 15 minutes, the same security guy piped up again.
“All further acts on this stage are cancelled. There will be no more music here this evening.”
A moment of shocked silence from the crowd, shortly followed by a mixture of angry yells confirming the message, a loud groan from those who had heard it the first time, and a flurry of stricken sounding reports being relayed back into the throng.
We looked at each other with utter disappointment. Today wasn’t going to be the day we caught our fabled German DJs.
We left and spent the last few hours seeing I Hate Models and Sara Landry in the Teletech tent. Again, I have to hand it to Boiler Room for this one too as the cavernous tent was the perfect setting for the pounding techno emanating from the speakers. A true techno cavern, with a wide array of lights dazzling those below. And, in typical Boiler Room fashion again, a raised platform behind the decks allowed an alternative view for the ravers.
We left this stage with 15 minutes to go before the end, determined to beat the rush to the station. Already dreading our journeys back, we talked about how the festival was fun, but it was a shame we didn’t get to see Marlon and Malugi.
Then we topped the hill and stopped dead in our tracks.
A very evidently not-shut-down glasshouse sat at the bottom of that hill, with lights going wild inside. Dancers were arrayed everywhere, up to the walls of the building and behind the DJ booth. Distant music could be heard with revellers singing along. And who was behind the decks?
Marlon Hoffstadt, and Malugi.
Oh, and of course.
There was a big fat queue outside.
Our aforementioned sadness quickly spiralled into rage, and then into disappointment as it sunk in that we missed our potential best set of the day. I was so excited for this set that I knew this could be a contender for my set of the year. Since releasing It’s That Time in 2023, Marlon Hoffstadt has climbed to the top of my weekly playlist again and again. And I had the pleasure of discovering Malugi through Marlon and the two of them have been repeated endlessly in my listenings.
There are no two DJs in my time being obsessed with the electronic music scene that I have wanted to see more. The energy they ooze through their music, DJ sets, and personalities is addictive and I was desperate to get a feel of that joy by seeing them play.
So all I could really do was stand there and stare at Club Heart Broken, with the bittersweet irony in its name.
Sound Bleed
Back to when we first arrived, the actual first thing that really surprised me was how small the site was. It was maybe 3-5 acres big and the lineup boasted a full six stages for the day. After taking stock of Club Heart Broken, I looked around to see what the situation with the other stages was.
And I didn’t have to look far.
Looking up, I remember having Club Heart Broken, the house stage, Teletech, the Main Stage, and a side stage which I ended up never visiting all within my field of view. I could see five of the six stages without turning my head with, at most, one or two hundred metres separating them all.
Seems a bit small, I remember thinking. Interesting.
Anyhow, after this, before our unfortunate ending on a low, we had hit up the Teletech and Main Stages and bounced between both. We caught 999999999 at Teletech at the start and were marvelled by the impressive stage.
One thing I was particularly enjoying at the time was how busy the festival already was. It’s not uncommon at places like All Points East to get there early determined to enjoy the full day only to find the place relatively quiet with most planning on turning up just for the evening.
We got there at around 3pm, just three hours after starting, as we wanted to get the most out of our bank holiday. And to our wonderful surprise, the place was already pretty packed out. It was clear many had had the same idea as us and that gave us hope that the crowd was going to be keen, which is always good if you ask me. There’s nothing worse than being at a gig or night out and having the crowd seem uninterested in the music. And it’s always those who turn up early who are the most interested.
After two-stepping our step counts into the thousands, we made our way over to the main stage to catch a bit of Flowdan. We were initially surprised by how small the stage was, however, once again, Boiler Room had really nailed the intimate vibe with it and the proximity to the artist added a nice touch. Flowdan got started, and the crowd started moving.
Which we missed as all we could still hear was the Teletech tent.
Techno can be a loud and fast genre of music, and the Teletech parties are some of the UK’s most popular, loudest, and fastest parties you can get. And with barely a few hundred metres between the Teletech and main stages, the booming 140bpm kick drum punched through the walls of the tent and easily drowned out the main stage. Whose sound system also wasn’t much to write home about.
I’m not sure if others had the same experience as me, but it seemed really quiet at the main stage. Main stages are usually the biggest and most impressive stages at music festivals but Boiler Room’s that day really lacked the punch that a typical main stage supplies. And this, compounded with the sound bleed from the Teletech stage behind, gave me the impression that the main stage was lacklustre.
Eventually, we got closer to the front of the crowd, the audio balance swung in favour of the main stage, and we enjoyed the rest of Flowdan’s set. But as we left, our crew admitted that the sound was so poor there that we had no real drive to return to the stage for the rest of the day.
What was even more frustrating later was that the sound bleed had followed us. During quieter moments of Sara Landry’s set in Teletech, we noticed that we could clearly hear Giggs on the main stage behind us.
In Boiler Room’s defence, the space was small, so all they had to work with was what they had on hand. But then you could compare the setup there with festivals such as Waterworks which have similar layouts but manage to keep their sound bleed to a minimum.
So what do they do differently to make it work?
Other Gripes
The overcrowding, “cancellations”, and sound bleed were easily the biggest issues I had with the festival, but there were also a number of other things that happened around this Sunday that added fuel to the fire.
Set Times
On the Friday before this fateful day, I was talking to a colleague who was also attending and we were remarking at the complete lack of information and set times being published to Boiler Room’s socials. It was two days to go and we had heard nothing about when people were playing on the day. I love a plan and thoroughly enjoy browsing the set lists beforehand to strategise who I want to see. Also, it was taking place at Lee Valley Showground which is a hefty trek from the city itself. We had routes in mind already but we would have appreciated some official travel information to aid in our journeys.
Taking to Instagram, I decided to go on a hunt to find out whether I had actually missed Boiler Room posting about it on their profile. Initially seeing nothing apart from clips of DJs playing the festival on their main feed and stories, I took to the comments of one of these videos to continue the search to find out that others in the comments were asking the same thing. “Set times out yet?” said one, and “SET TIMES???” said another less patiently.
Noticing that they had replies, I opened them up and found someone had posted a URL to the Boiler Room website. Typing this into my browser, I loaded the webpage.
And lo and behold, the set times.
Not only that, but the aforementioned map, travel information, site rules, and FAQs were also all on there. Oh damn, I remember thinking, where has this been all week.
So there had been no email communication, social media post, or even the Dice App notification (who own Boiler Room, by the way) about any of this information. And here I have it, after having to go to Instagram comments, to find it.
What was that about?
Journey Back
As I’ve said above, we deliberately left the site early so we could miss the crowds for the trains. A few of our crew had already booked taxis but being someone who currently lives in North London, I had assumed that my journey back would be relatively easy. It was 10pm, the trains didn't stop until around midnight (I had checked), and all I needed was a train and a tube to get back.
That’s until I found out all the trains from Waltham Cross (the nearest, most accessible train station) had been cancelled.
So on I had to walk to Theobalds Grove, which was another 15 minutes on top of the 10 I had already completed. Getting there, I discovered to my absolute horror that not only was there a horrifying queue outside of the station (let alone inside), but that the overground only seemed to run once every half an hour.
After 20, agonising minutes unmoving outside of the station, I was thankfully rescued by the aforementioned colleague who had successfully managed to book an Uber. Which was a mission in and of itself.
Back at the festival, one of my friends had left a half hour before me as they were keen to get to bed (understandable). They had left the festival shortly after 9 and told us that they were getting a taxi back. A full 45 minutes later when we left the festival we took to the group chat to find out that this friend was still outside the festival. She was still waiting for Uber to accept her ride. During which time, the crowd she was standing in had grown with people all trying to do the same thing. Compounding her issue.
So if the trains weren’t running, the tubes were infrequent, and Ubers were few and far between, how on earth were we meant to get back from this festival? I don’t work in outdoor music festival operations so I can’t really comment much on this, but would the local council not have worked with the organisers to ensure that the revellers could make their way home easily as there’s a vested interest from both parties to get this done efficiently?
Even if the cancelled trains could have been due to a problem outside the control of the council or the organisers, would there not have been a backup plan for if this was to happen? And could the cancellation issues also not have been communicated to attendees prior to leaving the site?
My Thoughts
Now, this post is not written in anger.
I want to clear the air and say upfront that I don’t intend for Boiler Room to be cancelled, ridiculed, or hated upon. The brand is still something I thoroughly enjoy and I do want to go to another of their events again. The festival was my second time gracing their dancefloors with my first being the Bristol Boiler Room Open Air event in 2023 which was fantastic. A top highlight of the year for me and I hope another of Boiler Room’s parties can be the same for me again.
But I have to say I was really taken aback at the organisation of this festival. For a brand that’s synonymous with high quality electronic music, this lacked that “high quality” element for me. The events of the day felt needlessly chaotic and dampened the experience.
People clearly want these types of events, with weekend festivals like Glastonbury and some of the Drumsheds events selling out quickly. And this day was made so much worse because I knew better was possible as I had had the fortune of attending a very similarly setup event in Amsterdam almost four weeks prior: Dekmantel.
With what looked like similar crowd sizes and a comparable space, the Dutch event was a showcase for what these events could be. A music experience masterclass.
Since that infamous Sunday, artists have also come out and criticised the overcrowding of the day with Salute making the excellent point that this is not Boiler Room’s first organisational offence. At the beginning of the month, Peggy Gou’s South Korean event suffered similar overcrowding issues and “safety concerns”.
Boiler Room.
What is going on?!
Where is that beloved brand that made up a significant portion of my Covid lockdown listening? To this day, your Soundcloud profile is where I first go when I want to find something to listen to in the gym. And I have watched Bad Boombox’s Ghent set several times as I’m hooked on the energy in it.
I want that classic excellence back that you are known for. I came away from Bristol’s event with such high hopes for your next one and friends of mine were practically beaming recalling their stories of your London 2023 event too. The prospect of going to that Sunday had put me in a good mood for weeks leading up to it. But I returned with such disappointment.
Even if things went wrong, let us know! Shit happens at the best of times and it would give us all a better understanding of what happened. The communication before and after the festival has left much to be desired. Apart from some Instagram stories talking of the cancelled Disclosure set, I’m still waiting to see whether anything official is coming out.
However, at the end of the day, I can complain all I want but I still had some good moments on that Sunday. Running around a festival listening to music you like with your mates can only be “so bad” and I eagerly await my next opportunity for a two stepping session.
I’ll be back, Boiler Room. Can’t wait.