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Creamfields 2009
DETERMINED not to be fazed by the increasingly treacherous conditions under foot, the Creamfields crowd of 2009 continued to dance, cheer (and slip) their way through to the wee small hours of Monday morning.
Since its gates were first opened 1998, Creamfields has become renowned for showcasing the biggest names in house and electronica.
And yet while the likes of Basement Jaxx, 2manyDJs and Paul van Dyk cemented this tradition on Sunday’s closing night, it is important not to forget about the many and varied acts playing away from the two main stages.
Artists including Sasha, Delphic and Dubfire - who are all used to selling out club venues alone - were somewhat overshadowed by the big crowd-pleasing names, and instead consigned to the far reaches of the Daresbury site.
Yet these acts seemed more than happy with their positioning, knowing that those who had trudged all that way to see them play were there for one reason only: the music.
Timo Maas, who would normally be better suited to play a post-12am slot, got things started in the Subliminal Sessions tent on Sunday afternoon; his own brand of progressive, wet funk soon helping the crowd shake away the previous day’s cobwebs.
As the sunlight darted in from outside, the German DJ’s two-hour set shifted from deep-and-dirty tech house to the more searing, string-soaked numbers for which he has become renowned.
The rains began towards the end of the afternoon, but this became the ideal climate for Iranian-American DJ Dubfire to bring his own punk-infused aesthetic to Creamfields. So too for the twisted disco of Deadmau5, who took things smoothly into the evening on the exposed Mixmag Terrace.
Creamfields remains one of the UK’s big closing parties, signalling the traditional end of the year’s festival season. Yet, like the Amsterdam Dance Event, its unique position towards the back-end of the calendar has resulted in the festival becoming a key barometer for what to look out for next year.
Two acts are worth a particular mention here, the first being Laidback Luke, the young Dutch tech producer who, after a prolific tour and collaboration season, seems to be coming into his own - the brash confidence of Hey! and Heartbreaker leaving the crowd no choice but to get down.
But this was also true for longstanding dance music stalwart Erick Morillo, who, having flown to Creamfields from Ibiza, marked a definite shift away from anthemic funky house to a more progressive, tribal groove.
While the non-campers began to trawl their way back through the mud at around midnight, those with tents were showing no signs of stopping the party.
But ultimately, despite the downpour the music shone through. And by the end of the night not a single person looked like their spirits had been dampened.
Reviewed: Tue, 01 September, 2009
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