Christopher BarrettLive Nation (LN) has ended its run of Creamfields festivals in Chelmsford after only two years. The inaugural Creamfields in Chelmsford took place on 3-4 June 2022 as a 50,000-capacity event at Hylands Park.
LN said it would merge its Creamfields South event with the long-running North edition in Cheshire, which in recent years has had a 70,000 capacity. It said, “Fresh off the back of another sell out year, one of the world’s biggest electronic music festivals Creamfields has announced its return for 2024 and its already set to be one of the highlights of the summer, as the North and South editions unite for one electrifying weekend across the August Bank holiday, and with over 150,000 sign ups already registered for 2024.”
According to a spokesperson for Chelmsford City Council, it has a contract for a festival in Hylands Park over the May bank holiday weekend with Live Nation’s Festival Republic.
Creamfields will return to Daresbury, Cheshire, on 22-25 August. The first artists are expected to be announced in December. Last year, headliners included David Guetta, Four Tet, Calvin Harris and Ewan McVicar.
The launch of Creamfields in Chelmsford coincided with the 25th birthday of its sister event. Since its launch in 1998 Creamfields has grown to become an international festival brand with editions in countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Malta, Peru and United Arab Emirates.
James Barton founded club and festival brands Cream and Creamfields. LN acquired Creamfields for £13m in 2012, with the deal seeing Barton become president of Live Nation Electronic Music. In 2017 Barton joined multinational festival owner Superstruct Entertainment as CEO. Two years later James’ brother Scott Barton was taken on by LN to head its electronic music division Electronic Nation.