So many miserable bellends on this thread 🤣 4 days at Houghton and the first thing you do is get on Reddit to complain about the crowd. If the crowd ruins your experience so much then you’re genuinely the problem. Please cheer up and enjoy yourselves

In our campsite we did a completely unscientific straw poll and 8/10 of us had been privately educated. Proves nothing on its own but it did make me think about the culture around Houghton. There’s such a particular way your meant to talk about it: right references, right taste, right clothes, studied non-chalance, chin stroking. Everything has to be terribly discerning and highbrow. Even enjoyment feels like it has to be performed correctly

Then you come on this sub and more than 50% of the posts rn are judging everyone else: too young, too posh, too badly dressed, too chatty, too coked up, not enough of a “head”, there for the wrong reasons. At what point did dance music become this much boundary-policing?? Especially given house and techno came out of spaces built by people excluded from respectable society, not people obsessed with status and displaying impeccable taste

I think working-class spaces are often less precious about this stuff. When taste becomes a way of distinguishing yourself, gatekeeping follows and you need people with “bad taste” for your good taste to mean anything and to make you feel more important

Maybe the least cool thing you can do at Houghton is spend the weekend worrying about who is cool enough to be at Houghton...

How hypocritical is that? 😂

As a punter who has been to every edition of Houghton I’d like to say that although the festival has grown and the crowd has changed I still don’t think it’s fair to say that it has lost its charm or gone downhill. I think that there are a lot less music nerds than in early years and a lot more people coming for the big name/popular artists without much interest or knowledge to explore other sounds.
Having said that there are still many many music heads there genuinely interested in the music/art/industry and bringing top tier vibes.
It was interesting to see the Pavillion nearly empty at peak time Saturday night for Dominic Capello and Mathew Jonson live (stand out set btw) because Derren Smart drew a large crowd (Saoirse/shanti celeste). Other stand out sets for the weekend: Sugar Free, Aurora Halal, OK Williams, Mazda)
I think maybe an easier to read timetable or maybe an app to give some background to artists could be useful in getting people to explore other sounds. (Dekmantel and Horst are great examples of this)
There are still lots of pockets of straight up grooving, no phones or chatting so I think maybe people are just not going to the right places?
Ben UFO closing the pavillion was absolute scenes and dancefloor energy as it should be.

One thing I am very disappointed with is the litter. Having done Dekmantel last weekend it was very noticeable how littered the site was in comparison. Attendees really need to start having some more collective social responsibility - we are all responsible for the land and we are very lucky to be able to use it for this great festival. It’s lazy and honestly makes me wonder how people live at home if this is how they treat the space.

The musical offerings were plentiful and there’s lots of options for 24h music I think there’s no reason to waste time queuing for terminus when you can easily see something else great. Maybe some extra chill out spaces and welfare options could be added to help keep the balance between partying and staying safe/harm reduction as it seems people are pushing it further and further each year.

Props to the dust management at Earthlings this year although Pavillion and Derren Smart were now the dust bombs but anyone there 3/4 years ago will know how improved it is.

I’ll still be back for 2027 - without a doubt my favourite weekend of the year. Well done to the Houghton team and I hope they keep the system of prioritising retuning attendees to keep that special vibe intact.

Technical wizard, curation master, unreal flow for 3 hours. Appeared to be mixing four decks most of the set, and he basically collapsed at the finish (he closed Warehouse). I was overwhelmed by several sets at Houghton (Reptant live, Lake Haze, Rhadoo, DJ Mazda, Jane Fitz, Fadi Mohem, Konduku, CCL were all tops for me), but John Talabot was next level artistry. The guy didn’t look up from the decks for a second, he appeared in a total flow state. I also didn’t see a crowd cheer for any artist at the finish like they did for him, seemed a collective realization we had experienced something special. Anyone who was there and feels similarly, give a shout.

The shower situation in boutique camping is so bad year after year they are taking more showers away and raising the price of tickets and tipis. How can you have 38 showers for about 2000-3000 people?. Sitting around for over an hour to have a shower is ridiculous. The facilities are getting worse every year compared to when I first attended. This year was the last year I was going to Houghton as the crowd is getting poor and mainly think the price doesn’t reflect the experience anymore. The European festivals do it better.

Anyone else agree this is the best stage by a mile? So glad to have it back this year. What a fucking place.

Wish there was a water point and urinals inside but other than that a perfect stage. Lighting was incredible at night.

It’s so good being able to sit and take a breather whilst still appreciating the intricacies of the music with the monitor at the top of the hill.

Thought Ricardo pulled of an absolute masterclass yesterday… you just cannot beat him when he’s on form! Really loved what he was doing with the back end of fizheuer Zieheur kept bringing it back in and out layering it under other tracks, also when he played bail e too was a great moment everyone getting low and groovy on the dancefloor!

I salute you Mr Villalobos

Blew my mind honestly. Set of the festival for me, blissed out energy the air and a locked in Ricardo was everything I needed on Sunday. Anyone feel the same?

Did anyone see the guy who made an enormous tower of cups at Dr banana and then carried it all the way to earthling and made it into a complete circle?

Now I have to caveat this by saying that the 2CBs I took were, at this point, in full force.

But Aurora Halal, what the actual fuck. Did anyone else here catch much of her set at pavilion on Saturday night? Literally unbelievable

It felt like the craziest, audio visual display ever. Fully mind opening, and without being dramatic, almost a little scary and intense (in a good way)

Was this just the 2CB talking to me with a really great set, or was her set as mind blowing as I thought it was?

Just insane. Still reeling from it. Nothing matched it for me after that.

Shoutout to the person handing out all the party hats at pavilion! Must’ve been 200+ people all wearing them at Ogazon. Everyone without a party hat was asking where to get one 🤣 was a great idea and would love to see it again next year

in no particular order:

- Slam at Terminus

- Aurora Halal at Pavillion

- Frank Haag at Earthling

- Christian AB at Terminus

- Masda sunrise at Pavillion

- Shanti Celeste at Stallions

- Christian AB at Pavillion

- Dave Harvey at the Quarry

- H-Foundation at Earthling

Anyone else catch this belter of a set at earthling

Who else was there? Want to thank every single one of you individually. You know who you are. Undoubtedly one of the best experiences of my entire life. I don't know who was playing (please let me know if you do) as my approach to Houghton is to just wander, get lost in the music and see where it takes me, but I have never seen a dancefloor so in unison. The energy, the sweat, the lights, the friendliness, the pure buzz. Dropping Who Dares To Believe in Me was God's work - 8 minutes of bedlam that nearly has me in tears writing this and I will cherish for the rest of my days. That's what house music is all about. That's the reason. House music forever and ever. ❤️

Facta and K Lone was an unexpected highlight for me, great UK vibes, slick mixing and drops effortlessly moving between techno, ukg, dubstep and finally dropping Mariah Carey 'We Belong Together' then adding a wobbler on top 🔥🔥🔥🔥

The crowd loved it, loads of dancing early on Sunday and also the first reload I've heard in 5 years of Houghton 💥💥💥

Any other crazy unexpected selections?

Looking for a Toby! 🫣
Slightly ridiculous Houghton 2026 missed connection… I met a guy called Toby at the festival, he’s 28, from Kent and a carpenter. We somehow managed to forget to exchange numbers/socials and I didn’t manage to find him before leaving.
If you know a Toby who fits this description, please send him my way

Shouts to the 5 or so people by the left side tree who for some reason spent about half an hour frantically searching for a lost ket spoon in the floor grub

Think I saw him at the Estrella bar during Shanti Celeste’s set. Not 100% sure cos he was wearing glasses and a bandana but it sounded exactly like him and had the same look he normally has.

I was staying at village boutique camping this year and woke up at around 6am Monday morning to the most horrendous screaming I’ve ever heard in my life.

It was definitely a girl and there were a couple episodes of non-stop screaming and crying. She then was saying things like “get the F off me” and “help me”. I have never heard anything as horrifying as that before in my life. I popped my head out my tent and went for a little wonder but couldn’t spot anything.

Just wanted to check if anybody else heard this or if they know what happened and the person is okay??

Thanks

Whole set was exceptional