CREAMFIELDS 2004 in LIVERPOOL, UK

DATE : 28th August, 2004 (Sat)
PHOTO & REPORT : Matt Cheetham (HigherFrequency, samurai.fm) / Official Site
TRANSLATION : H.Nakamura (HigherFrequency)

Event Detail

The event was a dance music fans wet dream, the lineup was most people's fantasy festival. Creamfields 04 started late but with high anticipation as the 40,000 strong crowd started filing onto the old airfield that for the next 15 hours was to see the highest concentration of people paid rather well for spinning 2 pieces of plastic, anywhere in the world. This year was the biggest and most ambitious Creamfields yet with over 100 A list DJ's and live performers keeping the action going in 10 music arenas.
The problem with a lineup that big is just who do you go and see first, wandering over the rough grass that covered most of the site the sunshine electro sounds of Mylo on the main stage got my attention and took me over to witness one of my favourite sets of the whole event. An unusually small crowd watched a cheerful Mylo run through the tracks off this year's smash album, 'Destroy Rock and Roll'. The Cuban Brothers prancing around in their underpants just didn't get me musically so I wandered off over to the Essential Mix arena where Plump DJ's were warming things up nicely with their selection of fat beats and killer riffs. Fast becoming one of breakbeat's biggest stars the crowd was well appreciative of the early evening set the duo banged out.
Making the most of the sunny Merseyside evening, (and there aren't usually that many), I passed up the opportunity to watch Yousef and Seb Fontaine and went over to Radio 1's outdoor stage where Judge Jules show was being broadcast in front of an audience of at least 15,000 smiley house fans. Feel good house was the order of the day and Jules certainly served it up as the sun went down moving the party up a gear. I had time to pop my head back into the essential mix tent enjoy a few of Deep Dish's deep progressive tracks before heading over to the main stage to watch special guests the Scissor Sisters playing their catchy jiggy rock pop on the main stage. Storming into the charts with their debut album earlier this year and Bono from U2 is apparently a fan. The next big thing supposedly but I must admit I did find myself getting quite into the catchy single 'Take your Mama'. I wanted my night to be a bit more electronic though so I headed over to the Subliminal tent where label boss Erick Morillo was entertaining the crowd with his flavour of chunky New York house.
This has definitely been a good year for Erick Morillo, his name is never out of the news and his album, 'My World', receiving rave reviews and remixes from fans and artists alike. No doubt his association with P Diddy has helped fuel this blanket coverage by the media of all things Morillo. I don't know what it was but Erick's music just wasn't doing it for me today so I cut my losses and decided to go and watch Infusion, the Aussie trio who were half way through what finished off to be a blinding set, the breakbeat boys giving fans a preview of tracks off their new album, tracks that had the crowd bouncing off the sides of the tents with their chunky breaks.
Not long left until the main stage closed so I ducked over to watch the last 30 mins of the Chemical Brothers set. It was good, naturally, they gave the fans what they wanted with some tracks played out for the first time, their well known tracks being stomped out by the 20,000 or so spectators but for me it wasn't that good. Nothing like the legendary Glastonbury sets by the recently retired Orbital or live favourites Underworld. It was just alright. Noise restrictions closed the outdoor arenas at 12 and the action moved undercover which was probably just as well because it started raining just a few hours later. I headed back to the Cream MTV arena to find Sasha playing his involver breaks to a very attentive audience. He finished to a thunder of cheers for more, one of the performances of the festival it was a hard act to follow but who better than Bristol breakbeat trancesters Way Out West who took to the stage to play a live showcase of tacks off their new album that featured guest vocalist Tricia Lee floating her gentle lyrics over the sweaty pit that had developed at the front of the stage.
Oakenfold has always been a bit special for me as he was one of the DJ's who first really got me into dance music so I really wanted to hear his set in the Goodgreef arena. Hard progressive tracks mixed with twisted vocals had me and about 8000 others who were packed into the tent going absolutely nuts, Oakey, no stranger to crowds and events like this was well into the mix, deep concentration blending the tracks seamlessly. Catching a couple of tracks at the start of Jeff Mills set I really wanted to go over and watch Felix Da Housecat doing his hard electro thing in the Subliminal tent. Definitely the highlight of my evening Felix kept me in there for his whole set, fat electro fat beats and grinding acid. There aren't so many DJ's I find interesting to listen to but Felix with his inspired track selection and awesome mixing was captivating.
Ducking in to see Dave Clarke who was playing live and Krafty Kuts over at Chibuku Caukus Tent I found my way into the Strongbow (English Cider company) into a packed room that was going off to Skint's breakbeat duo, FC Kahuna. Aided by their energizing big beats and a free flowing supply of Strongbow I spent an hour happily bouncing around in the middle of the packed dancefloor. The night was drawing on, it was raining and my legs were getting tired but I wasn't beaten, not yet, so many tents so little time, it was all becoming one big blur walking around different tents, too many DJ's, Danny Howells, Gabriel and Dresden I found myself eventually back in the Subliminal tent to a wet but determined crowd who were still going strong to The Audio Bullys who were doing their big beat rap thing on stage.
With one last burst of energy I staggered into the Tidy tent to see Japanese tranceter Yoji Biomehanika twisting the fried brains of at least 3,000 with his hard fast tracks. Definitely my dance music event of the summer Creamfields was over for another year, the Liverpool faithful making their way off to the countless after parties where the action no doubt continued to get much messier well into Sunday. The best DJ's, a well up for it crowd and great production from the organisers Cream who clearly demonstrated why they're still one of the major forces in UK dance music. The only question now is How about Creamfields Japan.