Creamfields Turns 10

The U.K.’s Creamfields celebrated its 10th anniversary by expanding to a two-day festival and including more live bands on what’s historically been a DJ-driven lineup.

The August 23-24 bill still had a large smattering of top jocks, including Paul Oakenfold, Paul van Dyk, Tiesto and Fatboy Slim, but appearances by Underworld, Kasabian, Ian Brown, Soulwax and Roots Manuva look to have created a popular balance.

“There were some delays getting customers into the campsite early on Saturday morning, but this was soon sorted out,” said Cream chief exec James Barton. Although providing camping space was another first for Creamfields 2008, 85 percent of the crowd took advantage of it.

There was a crowd of 35,000 on Saturday and 30,000 on Sunday, which are both a few thousand up on previous numbers at the one-dayer.

This year’s event was the second time it was held on a 50,000-capacity site on the Daresbury estate at Halton, near Runcorn, having left Liverpool’s Speke airport in 2006 because the area was being redeveloped.

Succeeding in its first year as a two-day camping festival is a bonus for Barton and for venture capitalists Ingenious Live, which put in a million pounds to fund the expansion. Barton co-promotes other Creamfields events in mainland Europe including in Spain, Poland, Czech Republic and Romania.

Crime was at an all-time low with only seven reported incidents of theft from the campsite and many of the crowd used the Lockerbox service the festival provides.

Following Creamfields’ anniversary, Barton and his team will have another October 10, when the Cream night the company runs at Liverpool’s Nation nightclub celebrates its 16th birthday.

Having pioneered the dance music movement in the early ’90s, Cream has gone on to become one of the world’s most famous and influential clubs.