Creamfields Festival 2017, Daresbury
Entering its 20th anniversary festival giants Creamfields had a big task on their hands. Having pledged to consistently better each previous year which had already seen it win Best Major UK Festival in 2016 among many other Best Dance Event and Best Dance Festival awards in previous years.
The Daresbury based four day festival has grown in significant scale since its inception in 1998. Originally being a one day event based in Winchester but still attracting a sizable crowd of 25,000 and over 100 DJs, including big headliners such as Daft Punk and Sascha. Following years would see them set up camp in their spiritual home of Liverpool and steadily grow in size before moving to their current home in Daresbury. Those years leading up to now would see the one day festival attracting 25 thousand people augmented into a four day award winning festival, attracting 70 thousand people day.
Venue
Daresbury is a quiet and tranquil village, until the August bank holiday when tens of thousands of ravers descend onto the area for Creamfields that is. Thankfully the venue is a fairly ideal spot and tucked away nicely from the main village area. Police and staff surrounded the roads linked to the entrance of the festival to act as a deterrent for any trouble to the local area. As you can imagine traffic in and out of the venue was a nightmare although manageable. We drove in for Saturday and Sunday of the festival with both days taking no longer than 40 minutes (usually a 10 minute drive).Once you enter the festival area it's only a short walk to the main entrance for wristband collection. A pet hate of ours is having to walk miles across fields trying to find to the entrance so a thumbs up from us here.
Queue time to get through security and wristband collection was short and efficient. Day one arriving fairly early took us barely 5 minutes to get through. Day two arriving later at 3pm took no longer than 10 minutes. There's nothing worse than waiting hours in a disorganised queue whilst all the action is happening and a lot of events get this wrong, thankfully not Creamfields.
Tents/stages are also situated fairly close together with the furthest away stages; Arc and Horizon being visible from each other meaning you can stumble (or float) to the next stage fairly easily. Inside festival tents you can often find yourself in a mud bath where people have annihilated the ground by two stepping or god forbid, shuffling on it. A nice touch from Creamfields to reduce this (not the shuffling unfortunately) but to reduce the muddy terrain was to add wood chips onto the ground keeping the surface and also our feet in a much healthier condition.
Drink Prices
All bars were cash with the odd cash machine also dotted about (for £2.50) if needed. There were a lot of bars in most corners of the venue and where the normal bars didn't offer much in terms of variety there were cocktail bars on offer, although they'd set you back a pretty penny at £8 a pop.
Here's a list of drinks and related prices at the main bars :
Happy, helpful and quick on their toes keeping the queue times to a minimum. Even with what looked like a large queue would go down within a maximum of 5-10 minutes. Bars often working with a system where another staff member would prepare the drinks whilst one serves which seemed to work well.
Crowd
Due to the venue being only around a twenty minute drive from Liverpool, the event was and always has been dominated by people from the local city and surrounding midlands. A variety of ages were present which was no surprise with the 2017 installment marking the 20th anniversary and Creamfields introducing a new stage "Nation" aimed at some of the timeless legends from previous years. The event was of course very busy being such a popular festival although not over sold which is something we are seeing more and more. There was enough free space in crowds so that you didn't feel like cattle but more than enough people to keep the atmosphere electric. No trouble was seen within the stage arena although photos and stories have emerged of issues in the campsites which was horrible to hear, security arguably could've played a part in reducing this as the searches on the way in weren't exactly extensive.
Heat
With many of the stages being enclosed in structures or tents; heat can often be an issue. Luckily the majority of stages here were a fairly comfortable heat even when busy and the weather held out which is always a plus, although seeing Brits mud slide into each other is always a festival highlight.
Production/Sound
Production
Something truly special about Creamfields is the level of production. This is where they show their true value and demonstrate their dominance in the industry. Whilst of course we focused on the structures and tents that featured house & techno, it could not be overlooked the sheer brilliance of the two main stages. The UK's largest festival stage The Arc featured multiple separated screens that curve into an arc shape and when in action looks truly astonishing.
Take a short trip to the other side of the festival and you'll find the Horizon stage where at one point we even saw fireworks being continuously set off in time to the beat of a drop, like wow. Hundreds of lighting features all working together as one, creating much more than just a DJ set. They truly are masters of their craft in this respect.
The other stages also had their own share of production with many having backdrop visual screens, impressive lighting arrangements that acted incredibly responsively with fine work from lighting technicians as well as sparklers, fire jets, Co2 cannons and confetti.
Sound
Sound quality was another impressive feature of the event for the majority of stages. Multiple line array speakers were strategically placed both around the stages and also further back within the crowd giving ravers a 360 degree immersive experience, even deep within the crowd. A big thumbs up from us for this. One stage that didn't seem to follow this however was the new Warehouse structure. Whilst the sound quality was adequate it certainly wasn't on par with the other stages and could definitely do with an upgrade of additional speakers further back in the structure, should it return next year.
Something truly special about Creamfields is the level of production. This is where they show their true value and demonstrate their dominance in the industry. Whilst of course we focused on the structures and tents that featured house & techno, it could not be overlooked the sheer brilliance of the two main stages. The UK's largest festival stage The Arc featured multiple separated screens that curve into an arc shape and when in action looks truly astonishing.
Take a short trip to the other side of the festival and you'll find the Horizon stage where at one point we even saw fireworks being continuously set off in time to the beat of a drop, like wow. Hundreds of lighting features all working together as one, creating much more than just a DJ set. They truly are masters of their craft in this respect.
The other stages also had their own share of production with many having backdrop visual screens, impressive lighting arrangements that acted incredibly responsively with fine work from lighting technicians as well as sparklers, fire jets, Co2 cannons and confetti.
Sound
Sound quality was another impressive feature of the event for the majority of stages. Multiple line array speakers were strategically placed both around the stages and also further back within the crowd giving ravers a 360 degree immersive experience, even deep within the crowd. A big thumbs up from us for this. One stage that didn't seem to follow this however was the new Warehouse structure. Whilst the sound quality was adequate it certainly wasn't on par with the other stages and could definitely do with an upgrade of additional speakers further back in the structure, should it return next year.
DJ Sets
With so many stages to choose from holding sets from 100+ DJs it was a like a electronic music playground. We've focused on a few sets that we thought stood out.
Solardo
First up are Manchester's breakthrough Tech House duo,
Solardo. It's been a crazy couple of years for Mark Richards and James Elliot
as their rise to the top has come in incredibly quick fashion. Known for their high
energy and loud shirts they've toured the country with Solardo Sessions;
selling out shows to thousands of ravers, at some of the biggest venues in the
country. Rewind two years ago and you'd find them in a bar cellar barely
filling 100 people. Their unique distorted sound and dedication to social media
has played a huge part in their success, making their style go viral and
everyone wanting a piece of the action. Their Creamfields set was no exception
delivering high tempo rollers to the Warehouse structure. Some of their own
iconic tracks like the bass behemoth that is "Tribesman" as well as
the one of their big releases from this year "On The Corner". A real
pumping set to fuel the crowd and drive the excitement levels through the roof.
Hot Since 82
Also gracing the Warehouse structure was Knee Deep In
Sound label boss; Hot Since 82. A firm favourite in the scene since his
moniker's inception only back in 2012. He always comes prepared to impress his
Knee Deep fans and give them exactly what they're craving. Rising to
underground stardom virtually by accident as he attended an Ibiza after party
back in 2010 when the music cut out, leading him to plug in his own music and
with a little help along the way from friend and fellow DJ/Producer Noir; the
rest is history. HS82 continued the high tempo momentum that had already built
from earlier sets,drawing on tracks like Camelphat's "The Jungle
Cook"; a tribal themed beat that's featured heavily in a lot of production
recently. Other notable bangers included his very own monster "Veins"
and also Oxia's "Domino" as began to dip into some other genres
keeping his crowd guessing his next move.
Kolsch
The Danish god of harmonic melodies was up next on the following day. Returning to The Steelyard after his
previous emphatic performance in 2016 and also featuring in Eric Prydz's EPIC 5.0 when the giant structure housing 15,000 ravers was brought to
London. The veteran of electronic music has slid between genres under many different aliases over 20+ years in the industry. Managing to keep the balance between commercial prowess and underground credibility; something very few can achieve. Not many would know that this man was behind the track "Calabria" under the name Rune RK. That iconic trumpet sound that would soon after be released as the dance anthem "Destination Calabria" by Alex Gaudino. Since his most recent incarnation as Kolsch he's played on fan's heart strings in his performances, including this set at Creamfields with atmospheric uplifting tracks of his own like "Cassiopeia" and "Grey". This set would also see him dip into sounds out of his usual character with Catz' n Dogz remix of "Women of the Ghetto" a thumping high tempo track with an acid esque twist. His big room track selection combined with the structural masterpiece that is The Steelyard went hand in hand, lighting playing a key part with multiple spotlights and coloured can lights both on stage and raised on beams running the length of the room, reflecting across the structure.
Hannah Wants 
Previously crowned best breakthrough DJ by both DJ mag and Mixmag, this Birmingham born superstar is no stranger to a big event. Her diversity as an artist has got her to the heights of success in the industry. Energy filled sets with twists and turns through genres you'd never expect to hear in a house set. Having originated from a bass filled sound she's recently opted to move with the current sub genre phenomenon; Tech House. She rocked the SUB AURUL tent with tracks like "House & Pressure" by Route 94, "Welcome To The Jungle" by Andrea Oliva and of course made time to throw in one of her usual selections "Freed from Desire" by Gala, erupting the crowd into a karaoke frenzy.
CamelPhat
Another Tech House duo who've flown into the limelight over the past 12 months. Previously being in the backgrounds of the scene but still producing cutting edge music from 2010. Mike Di Scala and Dave Whelan's footprint has since spread the nation and imprinted themselves as one of the figureheads of the Tech House genre. Their return to Creamfields played no exception to this style as they featured in the Area 10 arena, pumping the crowd ready for the night ahead. The BPM was sent through the roof with high tempo tracks like their very own "Hangin Out With Charlie", "The Jungle Cook" and also drawing on Eli Brown's master piece "Hocus Pocus" which was met with an explosive Co2 cannon moment. This duo are fast becoming some of the hottest property in the genre.
MK
Our final highlight comes from Marc Kinchen and what a highlight it was. This Detroit originating legend of house has been creating timeless classics that you wouldn't believe were released in the 90s such as "Burning" and "Always". His innovative and distinctive style is like no other. The continuous loops matched with popping vibey sounds fill the crowd with an electric atmosphere. Track after track in this set kept the crowd locked into the aura left by his unique sound. From the outset we knew this would be special with the entire stage lighting blacking out and tension building as you could hear the lyrics to "Piece Of Me" slowly creeping in before the beat blasted its way onto the speakers, igniting the crowd in cheers. This set was more than a set, it was a performance, a spectacle with Co2 cannons and sparklers being fired off perfectly in time to the drops of his biggest tracks, including "My Love 4 U" and his new release "17". Earlier we drew on the production value of the festival, here is where we saw it in all it's glory with intelligent lighting effects and visuals painting the picturesque MK setting. We would of course also see some of his famous remixes including Rudimental's "Powerless" which was blended effortlessly with the vocals of Clean Bandit's "Symphony". One of his final track selections and arguably one of his finest creations "My Head is Jungle" at the drop shot MK branded confetti showers into the crowds finishing on an absolute high.
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