Creamfields


Creamfields is an electronic dance music festival series founded and organised by British club promoter Cream, with its UK edition taking place on August Bank Holiday weekend, with a number of international editions held across various territories worldwide.
First held in 1998 in Winchester, the festival moved to Cream's home city of Liverpool the following year, taking place on the old Liverpool airport, before moving to its current location on the Daresbury estate in Cheshire. The festival, having initially begun as a one-day event with 25,000 people in attendance, is now a four-day event with camping options hosting 70,000 per day.
The festival is the UK's oldest and most prestigious electronic dance music festival.

History

Creamfields initially began in 1998 as a one day annual event run by the Liverpool night club Cream. This first edition was held in Winchester, Hampshire and attracted 25,000 people. The following year Creamfields moved to Liverpool, Merseyside, with the festival being on the old Liverpool Airfield. The move put the festival closer to its parent night club and the new site was able to hold 50,000 people for the festival. In 2002, Cream was demolished, however the brand continued to run the festival. 2006 saw the festival move outside the city to its current location in Daresbury, Cheshire. The 10th anniversary of the festival saw it expanded to a two-day event with 50,000 people attending across the weekend. The festival saw its site expand over the next few years after its first sell out in 2009 of 60,000 across in weekend. In 2010, the site was expanded for extra tickets sales and growing demand for campers. In addition to this, the festival sold out 80,000 tickets and again in 2011 with 100,000. In 2012 the festival ownership changed hands as Cream was bought out by Live Nation who are the current organisers of the event. In 2012, the festival was also set to expand to a three-day event, however, on the final day the festival was abandoned due to heavy rain. The following year a £500,000 investment into the site was made to protect it against bad weather. The three-day event allowed an attendance of 150,000. 2014 saw the edition of a second primary stage, the North and South Stage; and in 2015, the festival was live streamed for the first time seeing 500,000 online attendees. 2016 saw the introduction of the Steel Yard stage which spawned with events held in Liverpool and London, it also saw the festival become a four-day event with site expansion in 2017 allowing for a maximum attendance of 280,000. In 2019, a £2,000,000 investment was made to improve security and safety as well as reducing environmental impact. The festival itself saw Creamfields host Swedish House Mafia in their Save the World Reunion Tour. The show was the supergroup's first UK show since 2012 and saw the group as the sole occupiers of the festival's iconic Arc Stage on the day of the event. The 2020 edition of the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Edition's summary

Nb: Artists shown in the table below were headliners for the event. For full line-ups see List of Creamfields line-ups.
YearVenueDatesAttendanceHeadlinersRef.
1998Winchester, Hampshire29 August25,000Sasha, Paul van Dyk, Daft Punk.
1999Liverpool, Merseyside28 August50,000Pet Shop Boys, Basement Jaxx.
2000Liverpool, Merseyside26 August50,000Judge Jules, Groove Armada, Basement Jaxx, Moloko, Laurent Garnier.
2001Liverpool, Merseyside25 August50,000
2002Liverpool, Merseyside24 August50,000Faithless, Underworld, Kosheen.
2003Liverpool, Merseyside23 August50,000Paul Oakenfold, Erick Morillo, Harry Romero, Audio Bullys.
2004Liverpool, Merseyside28 August50,000The Chemical Brothers, Goldfrapp, Mylo, Scratch Perverts.
2005Liverpool, Merseyside27 August50,000Basement Jaxx, Faithless, Caged Baby.
2006Daresbury, Cheshire26 August50,000The Prodigy, Gnarls Barkley, Goldfrapp, The Zutons.
2007Daresbury, Cheshire25 August50,000The Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada, Kelis, Mark Ronson, Carl Cox.
2008Daresbury, Cheshire23 and 24 August50,000Fatboy Slim, Ian Brown, Gossip, Paul van Dyk, Kasabian, Tiësto, Paul Oakenfold, David Guetta.
2009Daresbury, Cheshire29 and 30 August60,000Tiësto, Mylo, Basement Jaxx, Paul van Dyk, Dizzee Rascal.
2010Daresbury, Cheshire28 and 29 August80,000David Guetta, deadmau5, Leftfield, Tiësto, Calvin Harris, Paul van Dyk, Swedish House Mafia.
2011Daresbury, Cheshire27 and 28 August100,000The Chemical Brothers, Tiësto, Paul van Dyk, David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia
2012Daresbury, Cheshire24, 25, and 26 August100,000Avicii, David Guetta, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello, Skrillex, deadmau5, Tiësto, Calvin Harris, Axwell.
2013Daresbury, Cheshire23, 24, and 25 August150,000The Prodigy, Avicii, Tiësto, David Guetta, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Above & Beyond, Paul van Dyk.
2014Daresbury, Cheshire29, 30, and 31 August150,000Aly & Fila, Armin van Buuren, Avicii, deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Calvin Harris, Hardwell, Paul van Dyk, Tiësto.
2015Daresbury, Cheshire28, 29, and 30 August150,000Armin van Buuren, Hardwell, Jamie Jones, Martin Garrix, The Chemical Brothers, Avicii, Knife Party, Alesso.
2016Daresbury, Cheshire25, 26, 27, and 28 August200,000Armin van Buuren, Chase & Status, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Avicii, Martin Garrix, Calvin Harris.
2017Daresbury, Cheshire24, 25, 26, and 27 August280,000deadmau5, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Armin van Buuren, Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Eric Prydz, Tiësto, Martin Garrix, Hardwell
2018Daresbury, Cheshire23, 24, 25, and 26 August280,000Carl Cox, Armin van Buuren, The Chainsmokers, Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Giggs, Tiësto, Hardwell, Eric Prydz, Fatboy Slim, Adam Beyer.
2019Daresbury, Cheshire22, 23, 24, and 25 August280,000deadmau5, Martin Garrix, Carl Cox, Calvin Harris, The Chemical Brothers, Swedish House Mafia.
2020Daresbury, Cheshire
2021Daresbury, Cheshire26, 27, 28, and 29 Augustdeadmau5, Carl Cox, Eric Prydz, Martin Garrix, Adam Beyer, Tiësto, Timmy Trumpet, Laidback Luke
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Album

On 9 August 2004, British DJ Paul Oakenfold released his fifteenth DJ Mix album entitled Creamfields. The album was released in advance of the sixth edition of the festival in 2004 of which Oakenfold was due to perform. The album itself is third in a series of remix album with the other two being made by other DJs. In 2019, Oakenfold released a further DJ mix album to celebrate the festival's twentieth anniversary.

Creamfields: Steel Yard

The 2016 edition of Creamfields saw the debut of the Steel Yard stage at the main event in Daresbury, Cheshire. The stage is a 15,000 capacity super structure designed and built by Acorn Events.
Steel Yard Liverpool made its debut in 2016 at the city's Clarence Graving Dock, and now occurs annually in late November or early December.
Steel Yard London initially took place in late October at Victoria Park, London in 2017, before moving to Finsbury Park for 2018 and 2019 respectively, with a new date on the late-May bank holiday weekend.
In 2018, Steel Yard Liverpool partnered with Tomorrowland and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike to bring "Garden of Madness" to the UK for a special one-off event.

Creamfields International

In addition to the main UK event, Creamfields also operates a number of international spin offs including:

[DJ Awards]

[DJ Mag]azine's top 50 Festivals

YearCategoryWorkResult
2019World's Best FestivalCreamfields – Liverpool, UK13th

Festicket Awards

YearCategoryWorkResult
2016Best EDM/Dance FestivalCreamfields

[International [Dance Music Awards]]

[UK Festival Awards]

YearCategoryWorkResult
2004Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2005Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2008Best Major FestivalCreamfields UK
2008Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2009Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2010Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2011Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2013Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2014Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2015Best Major FestivalCreamfields UK
2015Best Dance FestivalCreamfields UK
2016Best Major FestivalCreamfields UK
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