Review: Creamfields 2015
A fantastic line-up for dance music fans.
Once again the fields around Daresbury, Cheshire were alight with lights, lasers and fireworks for the Bank Holiday weekend.
Every year the festival has got bigger and 2015 was no exception. With the hospitality arena moved out of the main festival arena it freed up much more space around the North Stage and the upper part of the festival.
This year also saw the introduction of 'new' arenas including the Pepsi Max Curve, Creamfields Towers and Creamfields Mega Arenas. Although the tents have featured before at Creamfields they were given a revamp this year. The Curve Arena was particularly impressive to 'experience', although it was one of the smaller tents it was packed full of LED screens in a massive curve either side of the stage.
The massive outdoor stages were also back, with twin North and South Stages surrounded by huge screens and all the usual pyro, confetti and streamers you'd imagine at a festival that attracts people from all over the world.
FRIDAY
Friday night saw nearly all of the tents open with only a couple of silent discos, the other tents were in full flow with the music pounding out as they did for the rest of the weekend.
Armin van Buuren and Hardwell were the big names playing on Friday night, both of whom featured later on in the weekend on the outdoor stages.
Also on the Friday night, fresh from their performances at V Festival the weekend before, Sigma ('Glitterball', 'Nobody to Love'), had a set in the 'Rebel Sound' tent.
SATURDAY
Saturday as usual was a the 'big day' with the main festival arena opening at 2pm for day ticket holders until 4am Sunday morning.
Arriving at the festival mid-afternoon it was clear everyone was ready for a party and with the stellar line up that Creamfields boasted who wouldn't be?
Performing at the festival for the first time tropical house DJ Kygo ('Firestone') got the party off to a start with his summery vibes on the North Stage, followed by Annie Mac.
The Irish DJ who has previously hosted her own tent brought her Tropical Party from V festival to Creamfields and played amongst neon palm trees while the screens were filled with suitably tropical visualisations.
Saturday's highlights were Avicii, The Chemical Brothers and Steve Angello.
Headlining on the stages Avicii and The Chemical Brothers played to tens of thousands. Avicii who was raised on a platform above the normal stage played out hit after hit from his collection, including mixing 'Hey Brother' into 'LE7ELS' featuring the soulful voice of Etta James to which the crowd responded with a massive cheer.
Meanwhile on the other stage The Chemical Brothers brought their 'dark and meaningful' set to a generally older crowd to that of Avicii. It probably worked in their favour though as many of the younger revellers would have been too young to remember some of their 90s back catalogue.
The duo originally from Manchester who also headlined Ultra Europe in Croatia this year brought with them the familiar stage props; two robots who appeared during 'Under The Influence' and the huge glitter ball that appeared during their 1997 number one 'Block Rockin' Beats'.
After the entertainment finished on the stages attention turned to the tents where the fun would continue until 4am.
Steve Angello hosted his own 'Size' arena and delighted ravers to 1.5 hours of relentless tunes, starting with his 'trademark' 'Show Me Love' which is becoming a bit tiresome now was still received well by the revellers.
He quickly upped his game though mixing and sampling one banging tune after another. This set included some older dance tunes such as 'Sweet Dreams', 'Insomnia' and 'Hey Boy, Hey Girl' along with the obligatory Swedish House Mafia hits, 'Save The World', 'Don't You Worry Child' and 'Reload'. He also dropped in the Sam Feldt version of 'Show Me Love' which also received a fantastic reponse.
Steve Angello's lighting rig was one of the most impressive at the festival this year combining spot lights, strobes and 'filament' lights which coupled with pyro, confetti cannons and streamers saw the crowd come to life throughout his set, even singing most of the top 10 song 'Save The World' much to the Swede's delight.
Despite being 'early' in the day the crowds loved the mix of old and new songs the sisters put together which included everything from The Outhere Brothers' 'Boom, Boom, Boom' to David Guetta's 'Lovers In The Sun'.
Although not known for many of their songs as 'NERVO', the Australian sisters have been songwriters for a number of years and penned the number one hit for David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland 'When Love Takes Over'.
Sunday's headliners included Tiesto and Hardwell on the outside stages and dance legend FatBoy Slim headlining his own 'Smile High Club' tent, while ex-Swedish House Mafia's Axwell Λ Ingrosso headlined the Cream tent.
The 'Smile High Club' tent was suitably decorated with FatBoy Slim's iconic smiley face logo including a massive inflatable smiley outside the tent. The tent was filled to the brim with a mixture of young ravers and the more 'discerning' clubbers who remember FatBoy Slim from the Big Beach Boutique era.
Starting with a video featuring the tent and its iconic yellow smiley faces, his set started with his most recent release 'Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat' and for an hour and a half continued to blast out the tunes. The legendary DJ never took to the microphone during his set, as his tunes did the talking.
11pm arrived too quickly as yet another fantastic festival drew to a close. The weather was kind again this year and there was not a bit of mud to be seen.
If you didn't manage to go to Creamfields this year you can watch some of the highlights on Yahoo! Music where the event was streamed live. You can also watch interviews with some of the DJs who were at festival.
Although dance music isn't everyone's cup of tea for those who love it this is one of the best festivals around with the chance to see so many world class DJs in one location.
Roll on next year!
Check out our Creamfields gallery here
Main photo credit: Geoffry Hubbel