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Features
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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna |
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CREAMFIELDS 2003 - Old Liverpool Airfield - 23rd August 2003 Review
Reported by Dory-EE
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Submitted 27-08-03 08:40
"Hey, where r u?"
"I’m in a field!! In a tent - facing the stage!!"
...If you never never go, you’ll never never know...
Creamfields is an all senses experience, where you see world class dj’s, hear dance anthems, feel the euphoria, smell excitement and scream F*ck Yeah because you are a privileged adrenaline-infected festivalgoer!! 15hrs of timelessness...
A dance music festival of this high quality and reputation, is what bring feet from across this island and across the world together; it’s what make you wake up very early on a drizzly Saturday morning, getting all dressed up and traveling 6hrs by bus, cause you know that there r 59 999 other dedicated nutters doing the same thing!!
Busload after busload of colourful people keeps streaming into and onto the airfield. Ready to fly through the sky to a playful planet. The big blue tent (Bugged Out! Arena) teasingly tested its sound system while we patiently queue for entry. The gates opened (at 3pm) and the queue surprisingly moved very fast thanks to the efficient 15-row entrance, closely monitored by loads of Merseyside police officers and security personnel. Free cups of Strongbow welcomed us on the inside. Just a pity that there were NO cloakrooms...and due to the no re-admittance rule, we couldn't go back to the buses either, so we were forced to keep our bags with us all day/night - which can be a bit of a bother when you used to dancing like a bouncy gibbon who thinks he's got mad cow disease.
Surprisingly the weather cleared up nicely, not too hot, not too cold, just fresh clouds watching over us. So, early pm is a good time to just walk around, orientate yourself, identify the tents and toilets, absorb the mixed beats and notes whizzing around your head, planning your line-up (which dj where and when and for how long), have something to eat and drink, realizing there's so much fun to be had!! It is highly advisable to have at least one (official) programme in your group, as one's memory tends to fade like afternoon daylight at these festivals...I can never remember why...;-)
Wondering around we found a pole dancing display...mmm not quite sure that it fit in with the Cream image, but hey, I guess one can see the entertainment value behind it, especially as Aftershock sponsored it...and very few people say no to free shots. Opposite Aftershock was the celebrity football field: Girls, don't lean back when you take a penalty kick, it will go up in the air every time, but who am I to give coaching tips, men love watching women in shorts, doesn't matter what they do, they must just BE in them!
5pm: Guffy (4 - 5:30pm) in the Nukleuz tent distributed deep beats into the eager crowd, beating a smile on their faces which developed into spontaneous whistling and cheering. This was by far the fullest tent at this stage of the day - also the smallest in my opinion; I guess hard house is not as popular in the north as it is in the south. Hard trance on the other hand, is euphoric, energetic, entertaining and addictive!
Cally and Juice, the Welsh geniuses lived up to my expectations. Bouncing brilliance. Loved by many, admired by more...they have so much energy and they love what they do down to the bone. Can’t wait to hear more of you in Cardiff’s Emporium! I was blessed enough to experience Rob Tissera’s debut at Creamfields. Man, such a vibrant personality! It was beautiful; just the way he tickles those innocent black vinyls to life, and wellf*cking done for playing Nick Sentience’s mix of ‘we come 1’ by Faithless. Rob looked well chaffed too, or did he have something up his sleeve? With that lovely everlasting smile, fine motoric control and precision, the beat suddenly started running away with us and the crowd went demented!! I swear those big blown-up lollies hanging from the tent started looking sweeter the more we danced. Must be the positive passionate people around me too. My mind was freed. It wasn’t mine anymore; it belonged to Creamfields...
Paul Glazby had to be at his best to continue after Rob. Unfortunately there seemed to have been a technical problem with one of the decks, which caused a few glitches. I could see that Paul wasn’t happy, but it got sorted and this hero continued. Water break. To my surprise I couldn’t find the (free) water taps??? I was led to believe that there was none after two different security personnel told me that there aren’t any and that I have to buy it by the bottle??? Not a happy camper (especially after finding out the next morning that the taps were just VERY hard to find, i.e. left of the main outdoor stage and two by the ladies toilets)!
Enter the Bugged Out! Arena. ‘It’s just a big disco’ (banner inside). That’s so true. Big tunes, for big people having BIG fun. The Radio 1 Essential mix tent was filled with eager bodies and feet, swaying gracefully to the lights and the music. OOOfff!! Feel that bass pumping your blood rhythmically: from the feet and head till the fingertips and belly button! - Thank you Steve Lawler!! The Subliminal Arena with E-Smoove was nice and mellow, providing a breather from hard house for me. Song: Superstyling (Groove Armada) rounded off our visit well.
Every time I came out of a tent into the fresh night air, my ears felt blocked - probably all the beats piling up on the eardrum: Equalize. Realize: There’s a lot to absorb tonight. The rides are a must when you’re feeling this good! "Extreme" and "Freakout" spinned us into another blood type!! Talk about extremes, 9pm meant that Massive Attack was live on the Main outdoor Stage, RUN!! They entertained us with solid good golden music. Talented, confident, just right for this perfect night. The Matrix-like computer screen backdrop was hypnotic. ‘Circle of Life’ was Quality!
Back to Radio 1 Outdoor stage for Mauro Picotto: the teasing crowd-pleaser!! He lifts your hands up in the air, gets you on your toes, and then drops you - it’s that free-fall feeling that gets me every time. Pity you had to finish at 11pm. We always seem to find the best spot, probably because we were always in the spot!! In the center, in the front, right by the speakers and close enough to the DJ to feel the music first!! TIESTO is CALLING me to the Cream Arena! He brings back that tingling feeling, which I last had when he played at Amnesia in Ibiza. Magic Muzik! TIESTO, alias Tijs Verwest, is so modest and so strong. He loves seeing the influence of his music on the crowd, which in turn stimulates him! He controls thousands of enthusiastic clubbers by connecting them with each other, with his music and with himself. Even the lazers and lights were skipping happily off the walls! Internationally, he’s the Cream of the crop. The master of build ups, sparked chemical reactions in my body with songs like Isolator by Mark V (Tiesto’s remix) and Radiohead’s Fade out. God made music. The dj’s are his instruments for playing music, and what a finely tuned instrument Tiesto is. "Please sir, can I have some more?"
Oh, there’s so much to tell, especially as the night continues to build up after midnight. Paul van Dyk is such a good follow-on from Tiesto. Confident clear quality guaranteed. I acknowledge Eddie Halliwell’s talent and impressive scratching style, but my ears weren’t ready for hard house after the uplifting Dutch sets. The mad 112%-effort Lab4 and world class Yoji Biomehanika was overwhelming. Standing on the decks psyching the crowd up, was a bit too much for my timid soul, so I left. I realized that I’ve been spoilt with too much world-class dj exposure in one night. It bamboozled my judgment, but I found my refuge in the bumper cars. 4min of controlled chaos was all that we needed to re-charge before Andy Farley...!!
Farley a busy man (played at two other gigs as well) but he didn’t show any sign of fatigue or lack of concentration. Nope, he showed the rest how it is done, f*cking well done! He even had Lisa Lashes and Anne Savage dancing on stage behind him!? How bizarre, how festival-like! He pulled out all the stops with his last song "R u Ready", white lights on full power and turned the volume up a bit too. That marked the end of Creamfields 2003 for me. It was difficult to choose who to see, I mean, I couldn’t get round to see Zander Kleinenberg, Seb Fontaine, Dave Clarke, Chemical Brothers and Oakenfold. But it’s better to see a few full sets than run around and never really getting into the music completely.
And that’s why YOU are going with me next year to see for yourself why CREAMFIELDS is a truly fantastic phenomenon.
Dory-EE
All photos courtesy of Sim Pat 
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Other Features By Dory-EE:
Hardhouse Academy 3rd Birthday - Review!
Demented @ the Elektrowerkz - 30 May 2003 - Review
UNITY: Frantic meets Sundissential & GoodGreef - Review
Mainframe Outdoors - Review
Heat - Review
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1.gif)
Great review as well 
halloooeee!! and thanx for comments. i can hear the stone circle inviting us to come visit again in 2004!