25th August - For the first time in 7 years...

… I’ll be missing Creamfields this year. My first time at the festival was in 2012, when it infamously got flooded off on the Sunday thanks to that iconic Cheshire downpour, and truth be told, it took me a few years to recover from the PTSD of waking up and feeling like our tent was a bowl used for Coco Pops, with the muddy water playing the role of ‘milk’ in this production. I spent the next few August Bank Holidays at SW4 Festival on Clapham Common, which… Back in the day, actually featured a pretty decent line-up. I remember one year, we got MK followed by Eric Prydz and deadmau5 on the main-stage, whilst another year, we were one of the very few packing into a tiny tent to see a promising (then) up-and-coming youngster, by the name of Oliver Heldens. I wonder what happened to him in the end?

But by 2016, the SW4 line-ups had dwindled dramatically in quality, and it’s no surprise to see that the company has now fully gone out of business, based on those final few years. With that in mind, I decided to make the trek up t’North once again in ‘16, this time swapping the murky camping experience for a nearby hotel, which then became our home for the next 6 consecutive Summers on the most eagerly anticipated weekend of the year. 2017 was absolutely fucking mental, and arguarbly my favourite of all time, as flew straight into Liverpool from Ibiza on the Friday night having completed a week on the white isle prior to our CF arrival. 

2018… Less so. It pissed down for the whole weekend, and I woke up on the Sunday morning to a text from the girl who was meant to be driving us back home to London to say she’d already fucked off as she couldn’t be arsed to rave in the rain… Absolute amateur. On the Monday, I headed into central Liverpool and picked up a last-minute MegaBus for a £1. The price alone made the hungover 7 hour journey back down to Victoria worth it. 2019, though…. My my my that was a BIG one. Big Sunny vibes throughout, some incredible sets (that Third Party performance in the Pepsi Max Arena is still unrivalled as the greatest Creamfields set of all time, imo), and the real enhancement of The EVENT brand. Aside from the Swedes delivering one of their most underwhelming sets… It couldn’t have gone any better. But then, of course, COVID kicked in and in 2020 we were all forced to watch a livestream version of previous years, which… I thoroughly enjoyed, until my boiler packed up later that day and I was forced to evacuate to a nearby hotel for the week on account of having no running water.

Last year had a weird vibe about it. The pandemic had cleared out the ravers from years gone by, with many now unable to commit to flying over on account of localised rules etc. Whilst others had lost their passion for it during the big two-year break. What we were left with was an army of mess-heads with very little interest in the music, who just wanted to let off some steam and get hammered/drugged up in a field for the weekend. You could feel the vibe had changed and the crowds - notably rowdy at Creamfields - were now tame AF. One girl, who had her back to the stage the entire time Alesso was on, even turned to me and asked ‘Who’s playing now?’. Maybe if she had turned around, she would have noticed the giant L.E.D screens behind her with his name written on them in 50 foot high lettering. 

They say the vibe of those you surround yourselves with, is the vibe you yourself end up adopting, and though my own happiness was somewhat tinged by a finger up the arse from security upon entry on the Saturday, we were also staying in a hotel room with a depressed man for a full 4 days which really impacted all of our moods. The man in question had just come out of a 6 week relationship, and refused to eat, or even worse, to wash/shower for the weekend, with flies circling him in the room. His remedy was to make himself sick, and drink beer for breakfast every day, amassing around 20 pints per day. I’m all for people having fun, but the whole vibration of the squad was impacted by this, and the man in question has since held his hands up and apologised for his needless mood-sapping state. What I will say, however, is that I’ve had many of the best moments of my life at Creamfields. 3 of the 4 closest friends I now have were met in raving scenarios, and 2 of them at Creamfields. This is a place where you’ll make friends for life. For each and every one of you attending over this weekend…

Enjoy every moment and feel grateful for what you’re about to receive.