Festival review: Creamfields 2011

Alex Jukes enjoys a weekend at the hands of global dance brand Cream and the 11th annual Creamfields Festival.

It’s still dark on Friday the 26th of August, and across the UK, thousands of bleary eyed ravers are dragging themselves out of bed, piling up their cars with tents and booze and venturing out to Cheshire for the UK’s best loved dance music festival, Creamfields.

For the festival's 11th year, the masterminds at Cream booked an array of artists capable of exciting any music fans ears, and for the first time, gave the option of a 3 day camping ticket. Those keen to make the most of it headed down for the extra day to enjoy events such as a silent disco, the Swedish House Mafia's movie playing and other musical delights, before partying well into Saturday morning!

Those who could only hack the mud for two nights arrived bright and early Saturday to set up camp and tuck into their alcohol. And mud there was! A total downpour on Saturday morning turned the site into carnage as people waded in up to their ankles for a splash around.

After getting giddy in their tents during the afternoon, the music aficionados then donned their rain ponchos and trudged their way towards the arena where the beats could be heard beginning to build. With over ten different areas to visit, the Creamfields faithful were spoilt for choice. In the ‘Pryda Friends’ tent, Sébastien Léger built up more than enough atmosphere for music legend Pete Tong’s electricfying set, whilst elsewhere, Skrillex proved a popular choice for those in search of a taste of Dupstep.

As the sun set over the ‘Annie Mac Presents...’ arena, Mark Ronson played an eclectic array of pop and dance remixes such as Armin Van Buuren's version of Colplay’s ‘The Scientist’ and his own hit track “Ooh We.” Despite the commercial sounds not initially appealing to everyone, he soon had the whole tent dancing and singing along, before finishing with ‘Valerie’ in homage to his close friend, the recently deceased Amy Winehouse. Annie Mac herself later took to the decks, skilfully blending in her trademark drum and bass and electro house vibes.

Tiësto proved to be a popular, if predictable headliner on the Clublife Stage, playing his typical mix of trance and house classics, but the real star performance of the night was courtesy of the Chemical Brothers. Playing an onslaught of their hits mixed in with a few lesser known tunes, the larger South Stage became a mass of arms punching the air and whoops and cheers. The unforgettable set came to a close as the rain begin to lash down, providing the perfect chance for clubbers to dash back to their tents and party well into the night.

Shaking off the hangovers on Sunday, the arena opened at midday for those keen to carry on the revelry. The Cocoon tent was a popular choice, with the likes of Josh Wink and Onur Özer setting the scene earlier on, before German techno king Sven Väth took to the decks for his faithful fans.

Kaskade and Chris Lake entertained house heads across the two stages before the North Stage filled up with a decidedly younger crowd all waiting for one man… Afrojack.

The Dutch-House sound’s poster boy played to an overexcited audience, smashing through his bass heavy hits such as ‘Bangduck’ and throwing in a few cheeky surprises throughout. As nightfall came, headliners across the fields prepared to bid farewell to Creamfields for another year, with most of those attending split between the Swedish House Mafia's packed out tent, Armin Van Buuren’s atmosphere filled stage and David Guetta’s recent chart hits blaring out on the other side of the event. All three acts knew their audience well and sent everyone off on a high note, back to the campsite for some well earned sleep, all ready to dig their cars out of the mud for the trek home!

With an unbeatable line up offering beats for everyone, there’s a reason 50,000 people flock to Cheshire for the August bank holiday weekend each year. And with tickets already on sale for next year, you can be sure this is one colossal party that will never end.

Words: Alex Jukes

Photos: Marc De Groot

Tickets are no longer available for this event