Creamfields is commonly known to be one of the UK’s most high profile festivals, specifically catering to fans of dance and electronic music. Having started out in Liverpool, the Cream label is now renowned for hosting its world famous club nights in Ibiza and Majorca, but of all its exploits, Creamfields, is without a doubt the biggest event on its calendar. As festival announcements come pouring in from all the other usual suspects, it is already clear that 2014 is shaping up to be a monumental year for the festival. Here’s a quick rundown of reasons why Creamfields is the kind of festival you don’t want to miss.
Woah, quite a bold statement to start with, but to put it simply, this is what the UK’s top music events organizers decided last December. At the UK Festival Awards 2013, Creamfields was awarded the title of ‘Best Dance Event’. It’s hard to find a more official recommendation than that. The festival has a history of securing the title, having won it six out of ten times since the awards began back in 2002.
Ok, so this one might be a bit obvious as the music itself is most likely going to be the main deciding factor for festival goers, but Creamfields excels in the fact it brings together almost all of the biggest names in dance music in one location. No matter your preference, Creamfields’ line-up of acts is diverse enough to cater to almost all tastes in dance music. Many of the most prolific DJs will be in attendance, with many of DJmag’s list of Top 100 DJs gracing the stage in Liverpool, this year including the top three, Hardwell, Armin Van Buren, and Avicii, as well as some of the biggest names in electronic and dance music in the world, Tiësto, Eric Prydz, deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Above & Beyond, Steve Aoki, Dmitrii Vegas and Like Mike. Despite the fact some of them are topping other UK festival lineups, you’ll be hard pressed to find another festival that has the sheer quantity of such acts as Creamfields. In amongst these heavy hitting goliaths of dance music, there is still a broad offering of the UK’s finest, with Sub Focus, Gorgon City, and Duke Dumont, headlining some of the more varied smaller tents and stages that also give representation to more niche sub-genres.
An entire extra day of music!
Taking place on the August bank holiday, Creamfields anually goes head to head with Reading and Leeds Festival, contesting to draw the biggest crowd of festival goers. At a similar price point to Reading and Leeds and other large festivals such as Bestival, one of Creamfields’ most glaring faults is that, unlike its rivals, it provided only two days of music as opposed to three. This has now been remedied, as shortly after the initial lineup announcement, additional acts and stages were announced for the Friday along with respective headliners. The customary giant Friday night silent discos will also still be taking place.
Production
Last year, Creamfields boasted the UKs largest ever festival production, with an enormous main stage, featuring 7 huge LED boards, along with pyrotechnics towers in among the crowd. It is safe to say, having been there myself, the experience was absolutely phenomenal. But, of course, not wanting to rest on their laurels, the Cream team aren’t just bringing it back this year, but they are bringing two. That’s right, Creamfields will essentially have two identical main stages for you to choose between at your leisure, depending which headliners take your fancy. Not only that, but they will be the two largest festival stages in the UK, at one single festival.
All points considered, I think it’s safe to say that 2014 is going to be Creamfields’ best year yet.
Creamfields 2014 will take place over the August Bank Holiday, on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th, tickets are available now for purchase from Ticketmaster.
