The Prodigy rock a delirious Creamfields with their only UK outdoor show

Creamfields 2013

Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th August 2013
Daresbury Estate, Halton, Cheshire, WA4 4AR, England MAP
£125 for 2 day camping tickets, or £145 for 3 days

Daily capacity: 60,000

With the memories of the biblical storm of 2012 still fresh in my mind, there was nothing that could make me smile more than arriving at Daresbury park under a blue sky! With the tent whipped up in no time, it was time to see how Creamfields would bounce back from last years wash out.

With the South stage boasting the title of the largest stage production of any UK festival, I decided to start the day there, and they were not wrong it was a very impressive sight. Spanning 60 metres wide and 18 metres high, this behemoth of a stage would really come alive after dark.

First to grace this monster was Jakob Liedholm, a young Swedish house producer, although this end of the site seems to have very low numbers for the first couple of hours, as it is the opposite end of the site from all the main camping areas. His set was going down very well, especially with the droves of loyal flag waving travelling Swedes, until a few gremlins crawled into the PA, with a few minutes of sound difficulties, it was not long before casual punters started drifting off to find something else.

In the Pryda & Friends tent we caught Fehrplay, the latest addition to Eric Prydz, Pryda & Friends label playing a good range of dark to deep progressive house. The tent was rammed, after about half an hour we travelled the 50 yards into the Annie Mac presents tent. Each of the tents has a different name on each of the days at Creamfields, each day curated by different DJ’s, record labels or club nights.

About to enter the Annie Mac arena was the supplier of one of this summer's smashes Baauer, with an insanely loud sound system with the sub bass cranked to maximum, Baauer’s sound could of collapsed lungs! A real intense sound, which sent the throngs wild, the tent was jumping, after spending most of 2012 inside tents sheltering from the monsoon, I decided I would spend the day outside as much as possible.

Albin Myers was mixing up a storm back on the South Stage, with a look similar to Skrillex, and an equally industrial sound but leant more towards the house end of the spectrum, with hugely impressive visuals. I took a seat with a few drinks to watch the whole show from the ridge that runs along the field, with the sun baking hot, this was just the weather the loyal fans deserved. I went and had a little look around the special effects towers dotted throughout the crowd, there were 6 ready to be unleashed after dark. They were packed full of lasers flame throwers, fireworks and co2 cannons, to provide a totally immersive experience further back in the crowd each evening. It's something I'm not aware of happening at other festivals.

Nicky Romero was on top form next on the South Stage, after shooting to fame in 2012, sharing the number 1 spot in the UK with ‘I Could Be The One’ with Avicii,. The field was full for this set, the first act of the day to utilize the full size of the stage wide screens, the atmosphere certainly seemed to jump to another level. He was followed by Knife Party, rising from the ashes of Pendulum, Knife Party are to me a quintessential festival act, much like one of the evenings headliners The Prodigy. They could play at pretty much any festival in the UK, with there sound appealing to clubbers and rockers alike, tonight they were playing before Avicii.

I couldn’t help but think that Creamfields missed a trick here as they would of suited the spot playing before The Prodigy a bit more, I left half way through Knife Party to get a good spot for The Prodigy and to catch the second half of Madeon’s set before the headline show. As ever Madeon put on a display to drop jaws, but as soon as he finished there was a huge crowd swap over, it seemed everyone who had been watching Knife Party was headed for The Prodigy and vice versa Madeon to Avicii, this made life pretty easy for me to get right to the front of the stage so I was a happy man. I have seen many headlining performances this year, but I must admit this was on another level!

Kicking off the show with 'Voodoo People' backed up by 'Jetfighter', it was a vicious start by The Prodigy! Closely followed by another full on double assault of Breathe and Omen, then for a new track, 'Rock Weiler', the Creamfields crowd lapped up their only outdoor UK festival performance. If this is a taster of what’s to come from the new album then fans will not be disappointed. After dropping fan favorites 'Firestarter' and 'Run With The Wolves' into the middle of the set, they closed the performance with the pounding duo of 'Invaders Must Die' and 'Smack My Bitch Up'. They received a huge response, and then Keith, Maxim and Liam headed back for a furious 6 song barrage consisting of 'Take Me To the Hospital', 'New Beats', 'Their Law', and an amazing rendition of 'Hyperspeed', 'Comanche' and last but not least, the timeless 'Out Of Space'. Leaving a pile of bodies scattered on the floor they had certainly ‘been outnumbered but not outgunned’.

At many other festivals it would then be time to return to your tent, but not at Creamfields. With the tents booming on into the early morning, I managed an hour of Steve Angello headlining hi Size Matters arena. This was followed by half an hour of Eric Prydz before I crashed, but the hour and a half that The Prodigy had supplied had pretty much done the damage and finished me off.

review by: Jamie Licence

photos by: Martin Evans