View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Creamfields (@creamfieldsofficial)

This year will see the festival with 2 new stages (Electric Forest and HALO) plus the return of the Teletech Arena. That brings the number of major stages for this year’s festival up to 8, with a total of 30 stages across the entire festival. As well as more stages, Creamfields will debut their new area ‘Downtown’. This is their new entertainment village, including sports and wellness activities to refresh after visiting the stages. This includes football, basketball, mini-golf, bingo and karaoke. Theatre performances and quizzes will also feature at this new area. For the disciplined, the area will also include a fitness centre and a new ‘Culinary Quarter’, filled with healthy options. Creamfields are also introducing their new wellness centre ‘Freshfields’, including a spa, ice-bath, ‘pamper tent’ and hot showers, perfect for a 4 day festival.

Creamfields began as the world-famous Cream nightclub, based in Liverpool. Alongside the Hacienda in Manchester and the Ministry of Sound in London, Cream was a focal point of the 90’s rave scene, launching the careers of DJ’s such as Paul Oakenfeld, Carl Cox and Paul van Dyk. The club launched the first Creamfields festival in 1998 as a one-day festival and instantly became a hit with its lineup. Sadly, Cream closed it’s doors for the final time in 2002 but it’s legacy lives on with Creamfields, now in its 27th year strong.

‘Electric Forest’ is one of the new stages revealed this year. This stage is nestled within the forest (reminiscent of Boomtown) and will provide an intimate space surrounded by nature. This stage will feature sets from the likes of Eats Everything, JWAVE and special guest East End Dubs.

HALO, the other new stage, is an evolution of the Runway stage and provides an immersive, 360° experience. This stage shows the ambition that Creamfields have approached their 2025 festival with. The stage was created by renowned stage and show design studio ‘Lucid Creates’. In an interview with Creamfields, Chris Carr from Lucid states “Creamfields has never underestimated the importance of pushing boundaries with high-end production, keeping their dedicated audience excited and engaged with numerous site upgrades, as well as new arenas and stages year on year. We’re incredibly grateful to be given the space and the opportunity to create such ambitious structures and shows like RUNWAY and now HALO with Creamfields. It’s not an easy thing to pull off, but creating these groundbreaking experiences really is what drives us all”. This stage will feature sets from Jamie Jones, Patrick Topping, Four Tet and others.

Creamfields runs from Thursday, August 21 – Sunday, August 24 2025, tickets  are available here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 808 State (@808stateofficial)

808 State were a band born in Manchester during the height of rave culture, helping bring about the birth of house and techno music. Described by NME as ‘acid house pioneers’, the group were influential in the ‘Madchester’ scene, which Dale Grogan of ‘Skiddle’ describes as combining acid house and psychedelic indie music, giving us groups such as Happy Mondays, Stone Roses and 808 State themselves. They were known for top 10 hits such as “Pacific State”, which gave them recognition after being picked up by BBC Radio 1 back in 1989. Considered important influences by well-known groups like Aphex Twin and The Chemical Brothers, many famous names have taken to Twitter to offer their condolences, including Liam Gallagher (of Oasis) and Rowetta Idah (of Happy Mondays).

Andy barker RIP — Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) November 8, 2021

Barker had begun DJing at the age of fourteen after having been influenced by hip-hop and electronic music. In a 2019 interview, he said: ‘By the time I was old enough to go out clubbing, house music had arrived. The similarity between electro and house was what seduced me to the new genre. It had a huge influence on what I was playing in my sets and creating in the studio.’

The band was founded in 1987 by members Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson, the latter of whom left in 1989 to form his own outfit, A Guy Called Gerald. In his place, Barker’s duo outfit – Spinmasters – joined the group. They went on to have several successful albums, such as 1989’s 90, which was described by Slant Magazine as a ‘thrilling expansion of the possibilities for acid house and arguably the best LP ever produced in the style’. Collaborating with well-known artists such as Bjork and Bernard Sumner of New Order for their 1991 album Ex:el, the band were at the centre of the early nineties acid house craze.

In recent years the band’s membership had been whittled down to just two, founding member Graham Massey and Barker himself. The band has been active even in recent times, their latest album, Transmission Suite, having been released in 2019. 808 State had recently finished their 2021 Autumn tour last Friday with a performance at the Liverpool Arts Club. Since Barker’s death, Graham Massey has become the sole remaining member of the group.