Playa d'en Bossa was host to a mass take-over yesterday by Creamfields Ibiza, the first venture on the island of the UK based dance festival which has already conquered more than half the globe.
It was new territory for Ibiza security, which might have slightly overcompensated for the occasion; trying to enter Creamfields felt like trying to enter Fort Knox! The white walls of the Ushuaïa complex and the Hard Rock Hotel gleamed at me and lured me into its deeper threshes with the rumble of bass by a predominantly UK line-up. Once inside with the logistics covered, we could relax and enjoy the show, catching a glimpse of Deetron at the Ants stage – except to find out on closer inspection that a dusty blonde behind sunglasses was taking over the decks instead – a surprise last minute fill in by Lauren Lane. No matter, because she was in her element and so was the slowly filling dance floor. The Ants stage was definitely the smaller, more intimate stage of the Creamfields festival, but not boasting a smaller line-up. On the contrary, with big timers Ilario Alicante and Andrea Oliva on the bill who played the closest thing to techno for the entire stay of the festival.
With so many delicious options on the menu we decided to move to the main stage at Ushuaïa where Duke Dumont was playing some vibrant happy house hits including a rendition of David Zowie's House Every Weekend, a track which has probably been played in every club in Ibiza this summer, as everyone was singing and swaying a long happily. Ushuaïa was packed to the brim. Everyone was facing the stage adorned with colourful decorations, soaking up the sun and the tunes. Before the blink of an eye Duke Dumont traded in his position with MK who had no hesitations in track selections that did absolute justice to the state of the art sound system that Ushuaïa had on display.
Before I ventured back to Ants I stopped just long enough to see the beginning of BBC Radio 1 host Annie Mac, who dropped the music down to a minimal to really signal the start of her set as she shouted a friendly “how you feeling” to the crowd who were already going wild for her set before it even started – an indication of how wildly popular Ms. Mac is. After going to see the Italian chicos at Ants, it was soon time for the main act of the evening for many, The Prodigy - set to play at the Hard Rock Hotel.
The Prodigy came on stage and took total command of the crowd, it was absolute mayhem as everyone surged forward to get involved with the fast paced, high energy bass beats that they were dishing out. The Hard Rock Hotel open stage was the perfect backdrop to the rave legends whose show has lost none of its power over the years. The Prodigy's performance was by far that with the most energy on and off stage, with the crowd going absolutely mental for the dense barrage of sounds being thrown at them, really letting loose for the last sweet moments of the first ever Creamfields to be held in Ibiza.
WORDS | Maya Dupont PHOTOGRAPHY | Ushuaïa
