Creamfields Festival 2011

TPi caught up with the festival’s promoters and production crew to find out about the advances being made across the site and the production spectacle that’s reinvented legendary Liverpool superclub, Cream’s event to truly become the people’s dance festival.

Co-Founder and CEO of Cream International, James Barton, is clearly passionate about his growing festival. He’s ambitious, determined to deliver the best and at the same time, is reassuringly calm that he’s steering the event with clear direction.
   The move to a new location in Daresbury, Cheshire in 2006, was a watershed in the festival’s development, as Barton explained: “We always had strategy behind the move to achieve two things: firstly, I wanted a two-day camping show, and secondly, with the growing popularity of the UK festival market, we wanted an aesthetically better site.”
    This year, the move proved a bigger success than ever. “Initially, the move gave us new things to figure out such as how best to use the site,” continued Barton. “Plans were drawn and redrawn; we had to see how our core audience would react to the move – and we lost some of the Liverpool crowd when it stopped being a local event for them. Here we are in 2011, with a capacity of 50,000 people and an event that sold out five weeks in advance.
    “In fact, we’re now selling more tickets in the South than North. The demographic and type of person we’re attracting has changed and the mentality of our audience changed, so we’re faced with delivering an event that suits them, but remains true to our core values and tastes,” he added.

SAFETY IN SECURITY
The most notable change to Creamfields in 2011 was a significant one for Barton and co. This year the festival opened its doors on Friday night, adding a third day for the very first time.
    “Our market research has indicated a lot of our customers are between the ages of 18 and 22 and coming to Creamfields for the first time. In this business you have to move forwards; the ticket buyers want to see their festivals taking a step forward.”
      Taking on an extra day at Creamfields created a high volume of guests, but crowd safety and management is continually a major priority for the crew. 
    Said Barton: “We’ve committed to a five year deal directly with Showsec to provide continuity which allows us to grow our expertise. I’m delighted that Mark Logan is now a part of our festival management team as Festival Security Director. The security has to be right for our audience; this is not a Camp Bestival crowd, it’s a young dance / party audience. We invest as much money as we do in the production services as we do in the line-up to make the overall experience work.”
    Festival Director Jim King has been part of the management team of Creamfields since the event was introduced in 1998. He stated: “After moving to the new site, our next big leap came in 2009 when we had our first two day camping festival with a 35,000 capacity. This year it’s 50,000.”
      A major commitment was the integration of Showsec into the team as long-term security partners. It’s been about finding the right balance of enough security with a focus on customer service.
    “I feel we’ve got this right through constantly revisiting our management model. We maintained a high profile campsite security presence and had no significant criminality or vandalism on site,” concluded King.
    Security Director Mark Logan of Showsec concurred: “The promoter gives us a clear message of how they want to present their product and how they want their ticket buying clients to be treated. They want a safe, secure event that is respected and creates a unique customer experience. This has been a very competitive tender process and I was proud that they chose Showsec because of our known strengths that would enable Cream International to take the festival forward as an event that can be marketed across the full spectrum of the ticket buying public.”
    Although the production staff, artists and most importantly of all,
the crowds felt secure in their weekend environment, the bigger picture extended to the surrounding areas in which local communities may be affected. King explained: “We’ve been very pro-active in engaging and meeting the needs of the local community. This is a rural site with four villages within a mile. The first year we came here, we had 500 objections to our licence, we’ve only had 20 this year and a three-year licence granted, which is a testament to how well the festival has run.”
    King elaborated: “Noise and public disturbance were the main concerns of the locals. We’ve worked closely with Vanguardia [Consulting] on sound management to minimise the environmental impact of the music, so we get great sound for the audience but within acceptable levels. By working closely with the police and Showsec to bring in very robust systems, we make sure there is a minimum impact to the local community.
    “Our combined focus has been to maximise use of security personnel across the site, making the site safer while looking to facilitate everyone having a great weekend. Security is high profile and proactive but the staff themselves are available and approachable to help,” added King.
    The security strategies enforced are for the benefit of a safer party environment. Showsec’s Mark Logan explained: “We’ve implemented sophisticated crowd flow systems, with intelligent staff deployment, alongside careful planning of routes that change over the
weekend from ingress to egress peak times. We’ve also introduced a new ejection procedure, which protects everyone’s interests. No one gets ejected unless approved by the festival management, the police and if appropriate we include the back up of welfare and medical facilities. This provides a clear audit trail for ejections and allows us to identify trends which we can develop operational systems to mitigate going forward.”
    In addition to Showsec’s crowd safety methods, Mojo Barriers supplied stage barriers. Far more than being an equipment supplier, Mojo Barriers’ UK Director Jim Gaffney has brought his wealth of experience and knowledge to the site - and assisted with site planning and barrier configurations. Cream International has invested in further crowd barrier systems, reinforcing a genuine commitment to site safety.

SONIC EXCELLENCE
Adlib’s Otto Kroymann and Jay Petch undertook the task of achieving sonic excellence in the Cream Arena - the largest tented space of the festival, with a capacity of over 9,000. Saturday night’s line up was presented by Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules and Eddie Halliwell.
    Adlib supplied its JBL VerTec sound system, consisting of main hangs of 10 VT4889’s per side and two 4889’s per side. The low frequency design featured 12 VerTec VT4880As per side with a central sub array of eight L-Acoustics SB 28’s. Camco Vortex 6 amps and the Vertec subs by Lab.gruppen PLM 20000s drove the VerTec high packs.
    Utilising two Soundcraft Vi1 consoles for FOH and monitors, and all of the processing, system EQ and time alignment was via the new Dolby Lake Processor. Kroymann explained: “It was a question of ‘back to real bass-ics’ with tried and tested hardware that we knew from experience was totally appropriate”.
     DJ monitors were Adlib MP3 series – two MP3 drum subs per side with an MP3 wedge on top, augmented with Nexo Alpha side-fills.
    The Pryda / Cocoon Arena was presented on Saturday night by cutting edge Swedish DJ Eric Prydz. Adlib’s Carlos Herreros oversaw sound requirements with a full coda system. A code Airline LA12 line array and 16 Coda SC8 sensor controlled subs were featured, with five LA12 per side in the main hangs flown off the front lighting truss, together with three more LA12 a-side as delays hung from the mid-tent lighting truss.
    With no live acts and only DJs performing in the arena, monitors and FOH mixing were engineered from one Avid VENUE SC48 console, with Lake LM 26’s for the matrixing, time alignment and EQ. Using the coda system offered plenty of advantages. The sound was “Powerful and clear,” said Herreros.

BESPOKE LIGHTING STRUCTURES
Adlibs’s Head of Lighting Peter Abraham project managed the supply of lighting to the same three areas. Cream’s Saturday night was designed by Paul van Dyk’s team and the Sunday by Adlib’s own TPi Award winning LD Ian Tomlinson. The two very different styles and looks for the stage necessitated an intense overnight changeover.
    A ground support system was erected at one end of the arena (by Prism), and two 15 metre long trusses were flown either side between the tent poles to provide positions for the audience lighting. Each truss was loaded with 10 Martin  MAC 700 Wash moving lights and three Atomic strobes. The delay speaker arrays were also flown on these trusses.
    On the stage were 22 Martin MAC 700 Spots, 18 MAC 301 LED washes, 14 Atomics, 12 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700’s and six 4-cell moles. Consoles included an Avolites Pearl Expert with a Touch Wing and a High End Systems Road Hog Full Boar with two playback wings, the latter specified by Paul van Dyk’s Visual Designer Oli Metcalfe and operated by Rik Schoutsen. Adlib’s crew were Andy Rowe, Mike Summerfield and Geoff Bond.
    Adlib also supplied its new Pixled F-30 screen comprising 35 tiles. The screen was fed with content from a Catalyst media server, with two consoles - another Avolites Pearl Expert and a High End Systems Whole Hog 3 with a Mini Wing - optimised to drive it. Robert Zlotnicki operated lighting and visuals.
    “The production values and everyone’s expectations of visual presentation have increased considerably in the last five years, especially for dance / electronic events - they have really become aware of how visuality can help make or break the atmosphere and feel of an event,” confirmed Abraham.
    Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting for both the open-air stages headlined by The Chemical Brothers, Tiesto, Armin Van Buren and David Guetta. This was the first time CSE had lit Creamfields since 1999. Said CSE’s Haydn Cruickshank: “It is always good to work with the LarMac LIVE team, who really appreciate good quality production values and the amount of effort, planning and detail that goes in to making events like this run smoothly.”
    The two CSE crew chiefs were Stuart Picton and Phil Lee, and the kit supplied to the two stages was identical. Between them, it included Martin MAC 2000’s, Vari-Lite VL3000’s, Vari-Lite 2500 Washes and Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 moving lights, over 100 GLP Impressions, backed up with an array of Atomic strobes and Molefeys.
    In the Pryda / Cocoon live areas, Neil Holloway and Stu Wright ensured that everything ran smoothly. The design, again, featured two audience trusses, and Ian Tomlinson produced a completely bespoke structural design for the stage, based on a variety of different towers and stands, which gave it a real 3D depth and definition, plus a quirky appearance.
    HSL supplied lighting and constructed two structures in Creamfields’ Arena 4 - which was shared between the chart seizing Size Matters and Swedish House Mafia.
    Swedish House Mafia’s chevron shaped monument was designed by Immersive, and built from Layher Scaffolding by Concept Staging (contracted by HSL) in an operation that took four days. It was then clad in 200 sq metres of Stealth screen supplied by XL Video.
    Cheifed by Simon ‘Piggy’ Lynch, HSL’s team built a three tonne ground support system to accommodate Steve Angello’s Size show. This featured 12 points of Kinesys automation, together with 40 moving lights including Robe Robin 300 Beams and Robin 600 Spots, plus over 100 Chroma-Q Color Block DB4 Mk 2 LED battens. To light this, HSL provided additional Robe Robin 300 Beams, LEDWash 600’s, ColourSpot and ColourWash 2500E ATs, and Martin MAC 3000’s.

COORDINATING THE TECHNICALITIES
LarMac LIVE coordinated all technical production aspects with a team led by Production Manager Ian ‘Lar’ Greenway, assisted by Anthony Norris. It was the second year that LML has worked in this capacity for event producers Loudsound, for whom they also facilitate production on several other major UK festivals, including Rockness and Bestival.
   For the company, challenges included dealing with the erratic weather, ensuring that the rigorous environmental noise levels were adhered to. LML worked closely with Vanguardia to manage the environmental noise control, governed by a 68dB limit at the nearest offsite monitoring point, dropping to 45dB after 11pm when the main stages closed.
   Said Greenway: “The emphasis on production values is always high at Creamfields, with a real commitment to deliver the very best for the 50,000 capacity audience, which was again completely sold out. We built on our experience of production managing last year’s event and were able to introduce new elements and streamline existing ones to get the best results.” On the outdoor stages, LML brought in CSE for the first time to look after the lighting requirements, alongside other newcomers Britannia Row for the audio.
   LML followed its successful model of having one rental company supply integrated lighting / visuals and sound packages for most of the other arenas, and using a proportion of local suppliers. Having a selection of different companies dedicated to the individual arenas helps the flow of logistics during the site build and de-rig.
    Star Events Group supplied site wide staging and decking. Local crews came from The Roe Street Runners, LS Live from Wakefield supplied the risers and DJ Rentals for the backline / DJ set-ups.
   Greenway highlighted: “The whole event market is getting more demanding and ambitious in wanting to offer different visual environments over the course of each festival, with dance leading the pack. It’s a great challenge and something that we pride ourselves in delivering for our clients and their ultimate clients – the audience.”

VISUAL VIBRANCY
Screen masters XL Video supplied a total of 1,000 sq metres of LED screen deployed site wide, plus crew, engineers and two camera systems, all project managed on site by XL’s Steve Greetham.
   Identical portrait format Lighthouse R7 screens were built for the two outdoor stages - North and South - for left and right IMAG, and a three camera PPU was also provided for each stage. The camera directors were Jerry Rosenfield on the North and Dan Ormerod on the South arena.
   Onstage scenic screen at the North stage was 220 sq metres of Pixled F-25, and on the South, 60 sq metres of F-30. Both stages had a complete reconfiguration of the LED screens (changed overnight) for the next day’s headliners, along with installation of the Chemical Brothers’ touring screen. In the Cream Arena, XL supplied 100 sq metres of Pixled F-25.
   XL Video also supplied a Catalyst media server to store the entire SHM playback content. The system was programmed and run for XL by James Cooksey, with XL working for BPM SFX, which coordinated SHM’s live production.

CREAM OF THE CROP
Showsec’s Mark Logan concluded the story of the 2011 event: “Creamfields has become part of the main festival culture now, so our security operations reflect that. It’s no longer a niche festival born from the nightclubbing culture, it’s mainstream and shares the same cross demographic as festivals such as T In The Park.”
   While Creamfields may be a true festival contender in the British calendar, it still retains the secure yet euphoric dance atmosphere created by a fantastic crew from the cream of UK-based live production resources.
TPi

Photo by Marc De Groot

www.creamfields.com