The organiser of Boomtown has revealed it is increasing its use of hydrogen power at this year’s festival following the successful introduction of hydrogen at last year’s event.

In 2025, Boomtown featured HYDRO – a hydrogen-powered festival stage. Now, the organising team has announced plans for HYDRO XL, a “bigger, bolder and re-engineered” stage with a capacity for 20,000 people compared to 8,000 in 2025.

Positioned at the heart of Downtown in the former Origins footprint, HYDRO XL steps into one of Boomtown’s most iconic flagship stage locations, marking a major leap forward in both production and sustainable innovation.

As one of the first main stages in the UK to run entirely on green hydrogen, HYDRO XL demonstrates that zero-carbon solutions can operate at full festival scale without compromise. Powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology, the stage delivers emission free energy while maintaining the high-impact sound, lighting and spectacle expected from a flagship Boomtown stage.

Acting as a key anchor in Boomtown’s narrative, the stage will host one half of both the opening and closing ceremonies, where the city’s story begins and ends through large scale performance and spectacle.

Luke Mitchell, Boomtown co-founder, said: “We’re absolutely over the moon to be working with GeoPura to bring HYDRO XL to life at this scale. Seeing the smaller HYDRO stage in action last year at Boomtown was incredible. Personally I spent a lot of time behind the stage as it was fascinating to see. Where you would normally hear diesel generators, there was just silence, with nothing but water vapour as the by-product, and the water was so pure you could drink it. It inspired us to take the leap and develop the idea intoone of our main stages this year.

“We really value this partnership with GeoPura, it’s a significant investment to pull this off and a real journey this year to prove it works on this scale. GeoPura’s ability to produce truly green hydrogen using renewable energy is another important factor, not just for Boomtown, but for the wider events industry who we hope to see adopting this technology too. It’s crucial that others with resources in our industry invest in this new green technology, so we reach a point where it’s achievable for all to use.”