Confessions Of A Dance Festival Virgin

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I used to think that dance music should be reserved for the end of a night out, when you've had so much to drink that nothing matters anymore. I certainly never thought I could stand, let alone enjoy, two days of non-stop dance beats.

Well, Creamfields has definitely taught me a few things.

Not being an avid dance fan I was looking forward to the more commercial headliners.

Saturday's biggest acts on my 'to see' list were David Guetta and Tiesto. I'm sure Guetta put on a great show for those who were able to make it into the Cream tent, but I couldn't really appreciate him from the queue outside. His popularity however turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I ended up going to see High Contrast followed by Chase + Status instead, and never looked back.

A noticeable advantage of Creamfields was the size. Although there were enough people to make sure every tent was always alive with an anticipating audience, the site wasn't so big that it took half an hour to get from stage to stage. Queues for bars and toilets were also manageable and because it was just a 2-day festival, the loos were... well, not horrendous anyway. The main arena was also open until 4am on Saturday, pretty late for a festival, which would have been great if I'd had enough stamina to last until the end that is!

Wandering into the arena on Sunday to test out some fairground rides (not the best idea with a hangover) we dropped in on Laidback Luke. He really got the crowd going with his energetic set and kept my attention to the end. Acts on the main stage performed earlier than billed so I unfortunately ended up missing 2manyDJs and Calvin Harris.

Harris' appearance however during Dizzee Rascal's Dance Wiv Me and Holiday was a highlight of the day, though it was really Dizzee who set the crowd on fire during a relentless downpour from the heavens. Having seen Basement Jaxx perform at the Isle of Wight festival I allowed my more experienced friends take me to see DeadMau5 at the MixMag tent.

It seemed it was DeadMau5 that really pulled in the crowds as they performed a killer set and rounded off the music for the weekend.

Creamfields '09 was, for me, a learning experience. I arrived with barely any knowledge of dance music and left with a few names to look up to prepare for next year!

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