cinch presents Creamfields North – brand new 20,000 capacity stage announced

The countdown is on for this year’s cinch presents Creamfields North, which returns for another 70,000 capacity sell-out this August Bank Holiday weekend.  Having already dropped one of the biggest festival lineups of the summer, the announcements continue as Cream HQ has just unleashed plans for a brand new 20,000-capacity outdoor stage ‘Runway’ presented by SHEIN.

Creamfields is one festival that consistently raises the benchmark when it comes to festival stage and production, with Arc and Steel Yard just two of their creations now firm fixtures.  2022 sees them continuing to push the boundaries joining forces with stage and visual art supremos Lucid Creates, whose challenge was to create a mind-blowing structure and 360 immersive experience for the festival’s 25 year anniversary. 

Lucid – whose expertise lies in stage design and bringing to life some of the largest and most visually exciting stages in the UK has created ‘Runway’, presented by fashion brand SHEIN.  The all-new 20,000-capacity outdoor venue is an imposing large-scale industrial structure dominated by a huge overhead video screen. Enveloping fans by day, the structure then fades into the darkness as night falls, leaving the suspended visual spectacular to take over.

It’s easy to see already that this is likely to be one of the biggest production developments in the UK festival scene since the introduction of Steel Yard in 2016.  ‘Runway’ is set to be the backdrop, and in many cases centrepiece, of iconic moments in dance music.

Taking us through the weekend and providing the soundtrack to the stage´s first outing, is a wealth of DJs and some of Creamfields’ firm favourites. Friday, Jamie Jones and his Paradise brand will be at the helm, featuring the likes of Loco Dice, Alan Fitzpatrick b2b with Richy Ahmed, Sosa and Alisha. On Saturday, Patrick Topping makes his hosting debut with his Trick label, featuring a performance from the likes of Ben Hemsley, Hannah Laing and DJ Minx, and the legend Skream. Then finishing the weekend off on Sunday, is another hosting debut from Solid Grooves, with Michael Bibi and PAWSA joined by the likes of Seth Troxler, Hot Since 82, Wheats, Blackchild and Lindsey Matthews.

Certain aspects of festival history go beyond legendary or memorable DJ sets or performances and are more focused on production. Some stages around the world become almost bigger draws than the line-up and are ushering in a new era for the festivals they appear at.  It would seem that ‘Runway’ is going to be one of them.