Drum and Bass and Sausage Rolls

This article explores the 2022 edition of Boomtown Fair, the UK's leading festival for alternative, underground music. This particular event was notable due to the surprising prevalence of participants dressed in clothing bearing the logo of Greggs, the high street bakery. This was the result of a partnership between Greggs and the fashion retailer Primark, who the weekend before Boomtown had released a "festival collection," featuring multiple items of clothing promoting the bakery. During the festival itself, hundreds of participants could be found proudly wearing items from this collection, to a degree that was difficult to ignore. An apparent affiliation between these three enterprises —Boomtown, Greggs, and Primark—had undeniably resonated with audiences, a situation worthy of study due to what may subsequently be revealed about contemporary attitudes to fashion, music, and festival culture. I argue that the primary explanation for this occurrence is the presence of a post-ironic mindset shared by many of the attendees of Boomtown Fair. First being used to describe the writings of 1990s authors such as David Foster Wallace, the notion of post-irony is characterized by its unconventional blend of both genuine sincerity and ironic detatchment. The concept has since been used to explain and rationalize numerous aspects of modern culture. Through an analysis of the post-ironic mindset, I present a case for why the Greggs-Primark range appealed so extensively to the Boomtown audience of 2022. I provide a comprehensive investigation that also reveals insights into contemporary trends surrounding the interaction between brands and consumers, considering the extent to which festivals and events like Boomtown have helped to facilitate this interaction.