The Chemical Brothers deliver a huge performance on the Saturday of Creamfields

Creamfields 2015

Friday 28th to Sunday 30th August 2015
Daresbury Estate, Halton, Cheshire, WA4 4AR, England MAP
£175 for 2 days with camping, 3 days is sold out

Daily capacity: 70,000

With Saturday the blue skies were unveiled above the Daresbury Park sky. After finding the noodle bar with possibly the finest vegetable tempura to be found at any festival we made a move to the gigantic North stage.

We thought we would start the day with a bit of summertime soundtrack in the form of Kygo, a good yard stick of what is hot right now. Making his main stage debut at Creamfields, he drew in a huge crowd for such an early in the day slot, it was a good set but turned out to be just that bit too relaxing for our party. We went in search of something a bit more upbeat, we spied on the lanyard that Martin Garrix was due on stage any time on the South stage. This was at the opposite end of the site. Yet with a few positive changes of layout from last year, this transition was made almost effortless with the good crowd management in place. Having relocated the hospitality bar and stage from a real pinch point half way between the two there was now much more passing space even at peak flow, this meant stage hopping was now a less stressful event.

After a quick bar stop we arrived at the South stage to find Martin Garrix was running late, Cazzette were doing an admirable job of keeping the crowd dancing. Normally any act would lose punters turning up to expect a favourite artist but they kept the atmosphere very lively with a very varied set.

After 30 minutes though I think they were majorly relieved when young Garrix turned up, as surely there is only so much spare music carried in your record box or more often than not it seems these days a memory stick. Garrix now had a shortened set due to his late arrival, so there was no time to waste. Martin barrelled head first into the melee swinging with his powerful arsenal of house hits culminating in a house shaking rendition of Animals. A very impressive display, any other year this may have been one of the highlights of the day however that honour was to befall the next entrant into the South arena...

Enter a legend of trance Armin Van Buuren. A name that’s long been bandied around during many a best DJ in the world conversation, and this was a solid testimony from the man graduated from law school! With a progressive trance heavy set it was easy to close your eyes and truly fly away on waves of euphoria emanating from the gigantic sound system. The giant big screen displays really came into their own as the darkness befell the Cheshire night. It was hard to imagine anything could top this performance.

That turned out to be the truth for Saturday's efforts, the unenviable position of following Armin fell to Avicii. Normally a banker when it comes to bringing the headline performance, but for some reason he never seemed to get going. It seemed a bit slow and a bit tame, also whether the wind direction had changed it seemed that the sound system just wasn’t loud enough for a headliner.

We decided enough was enough and we would go for a look see how The Chemical Brothers (DJ set) were bubbling on the south stage. In total contrast to Avicii they had turned the system up to 11! I have never heard a sound system scream out into the night sky so loud in all the years I have been attending festivals. With their industrial sound throbbing, Out Of Control had never sounded so good, this was a huge performance.

After a long day busting some serious moves out, we went for a wander around the middle hub of the festival containing the bulk of the shops and food retailers, where we found some tasty fully loaded nachos with pulled pork and jalapeno cheese. We also found a great stall selling Cats Eyes glasses. These magical specs have light refracting lenses fitted, which splits all light sources into all the colours of the rainbows and turns a single beam of light into 9 more. I spent the week on soft drinks, and these really helped the weekend bounce along for me, as they intensified every show I watched, I can’t recommend them highly enough.

For me there was only one man on the line-up to finish the evening who I knew I could depend on to smash it out of the park, Steve Angello. So often a go to man on line-ups for me, as he just always turns out a set I know I am going to thoroughly enjoy. Tonight was no different, even with a few howling electrical problems taking all the sound out, apart from his own wedge monitors, his spirits could not of been dampened! Rounding the night out with a plethora of tried and trusted hits from his days of old - it was just what I needed to round the day off.

review by: Jamie Licence