A Brief History of the Creamfields Festival

Creamfields is a massive British festival for dance music which features both live acts and DJs. The very first festival was held in Winchester in 1998, attracting about twenty-five thousand people. What began as a festival sponsored by Liverpool’s Cream nightclub, they had no idea what it would become the biggest EDM festival in the UK. In addition, there are also sister events being held all over the world in countries such as Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, and many more. In fact, Australia has been holding an annual Creamfields Festival since 2010. The following is a brief history of Creamfields Festival in a timeline format.

• 1998- Creamfields Festival is first held in Winchester attracting twenty-five thousand people and featured live performances from artists such as Primal Scream and Run DMC as well as DJ sets from hundreds of DJs including Sasha, Paul van Dyk, and Daft Punk.
• 1999- The festival moves to North of England to the ”Old Liverpool Airfield which became its new home. Over fifty thousand people show up this year to see live performances from artists such as Pet Shop Boys and Basement Jaxx.
• 2000- The Live Outdoor Stage is introduced at Creamfields, attracting a crowd of fifty thousand and breaking records. Creamsfield was voted as the ”Event of the Year” by Muzik Magazine and ”Best Event” by The Guardian.
• 2001- A successful festival brings South America into the Creamfields’ fold in Buenos Aires, Argentina, attracting twenty thousand people.
• 2002- The Live Outdoor Stage features live performances from artists such as Faithless and Underworld. Meanwhile, Dublin, Ireland hosts a record crowd of twenty thousand.
• 2003- Creamfields continues to expand internationally, staging events in Czech Republic, Turkey, and Argentina.
• 2004- The Festival Awards in UK voted Creamfields as ”Best Dance Festival”. Bringing together a total audience of nearly two hundred thousand, events are staged in Spain, Czech Republic, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina.
• 2005- For the second year in a row, the UK Festival Awards voted Creamsfield ”Best Dance Festival” and the House Music Awards voted it ”Festival Event of the Year”. Argentina attracts a record-breaking crowd, making it one of the biggest EDMs in Latin America.
• 2006- The festival moves from Liverpool to Daresbury, Halton, which is its current home. This move proved to be a great success, attracting a more diverse group. Festival-goers travel from all over the UK and abroad to attend Creamfields UK located in the middle of the Cheshire countryside.
• 2007- Delivering a phenomenal performance, The Chemical Brothers headline the festive, attracting a record amount of international festival-goers and increasing the festival capacity.
• 2008- The festival celebrates its tenth anniversary, marking the occasion by making it a two day format to include camping for the first time. A new, fresh line up of live performances raises the standard for electronic music festivals, featuring Fatboy Slim, Ian Brown, Tiesto, and Kasabian.
• 2009- For the first time ever, the festival sells out to a record sixty thousand people over the weekend. the UK Festival Awards voted it ”Best Dance Event” and VisitLiverpool voted it ”Tourism Event of the Year.”
• 2010- The festival’s capacity per day is increased and the site is expanded for accommodating the camping demand. Creamfields attracts another record-breaking crowd, selling out a month before the festival. UK Festival Awards voted it ”Best Dance Event” for two years in a row. In addition, Music Week Awards, which are highly lusted after, voted it ”Festival of the Year” beating other festivals such as IOW Festival and Glastonbury. Creamfields stages festivals in Australia for the first time.
• 2011- The festival’s capacity per day is increased again. However Creamfields is sold out again. New Zealand jumps on the festival bandwagon as well.
• 2012- Although this festival was set to be one of the best, disaster struck, cutting the event short by one day. The final day ended up having to be canceled due to adverse weather. This was the first time this had ever happened. However, major renovations and site improvement were made, making a contingency plan possible during wet weather.
• 2013- The festival comes back bigger and better, adding a larger daily capacity and including a new main stage with explosive pyrotechnics and interactive FX towers in addition to a huge firework finale.
• 2014- A second stage is set up after the success of last year, becoming a permanent fixture. Additionally, Creamfields is live-streamed with performances from both stages. Furthermore, the festival becomes a three-day party.
• 2015- a has its biggest budget ever. Half a million fans are watching live-streaming of the most technically developed festival in the UK. This year had over forty live performances from both stages, becoming the world’s leading EDM festival.