Creamfields boss: James Barton

VF: There are Creamfields festivals all over the world. Are you involved in them all?
JB: Yeah, I deal with the whole lot. We set out what we wanted to do with Cream years ago, and part of that was make it a worldwide business. We're putting on eight events this year, one in Central America, four in South America, and three in Europe. My favourite has to be Liverpool, as that's the only one we have complete control over every aspect. All the others are done in association with partners.

VF: Are there going to be any surprises at the UK Creamfields this year?
JB: We have tweaked certain parts of it, but we always ask ourselves, 'what are we famous for?' The answer is the original, biggest and best festival for electronic music. That begins by securing a killer lineup - that's where our main focus and investment goes - and I think that ticket sales this year, plus the response we've had from fans, show people agree that this year is one of the best, especially with two outstanding headliners in Faithless and Basement Jaxx. But it's also about introducing new music, so we've also put money into bringing the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Ivan Smagghe, and 2 Many DJs. That's what a good festival is all about; it sounds cheesy, but a tapestry or a jigsaw of different things.

VF: And how are the preparations going?
JB: We're 50 per cent up on ticket sales compared to this time last year, so I think it's fair to say we'll get more people in on the day. That's based on a number of other things too; a stronger lineup, our own experience in festival organisation, and the fact that there's less competition. A lot of dance festivals have fallen by the wayside.

VF: And several have altered their lineups, and become a bit more 'rocky' to fit the changing music landscape, while Creamfields seems to be sticking to its guns. A brave move?
JB: We don't necessarily stick to our guns and we'll never become complacent. I take my hat off to Homelands in what they've tried to do, but whether it worked or not I just don't know. It was a great lineup and a very positive step forward, but I don't think ticket sales reflected it. Any business always evolves and changes by its very nature. We always seek to introduce new music to evolve the festival and move it forward accordingly, but we're also very aware of retaining our original fans base. Remember, we were the first dance music to incorporate a live music stage, and that was three years ago. We noticed a shift in music taste and reacted to it accordingly. That's half the reason we closed our club down. So we have changed. You just need to look at the two headliners of the last two years (Massive Attack and Scissor Sisters) to see that. So we're evolving in a very managed and strategic way, without making wholesale changes. You'll see more changes next year than this year.

VF: How about a two day Creamfields then?
JB: We will consider anything that makes the show more appealing and popular. We can see the benefits of a one day event as well as the benefits of a two day event. We assemble a huge structure, in terms of stages and the arena itself, all for just one day. So that makes you think another day would be worthwhile. But then would the concept work over two days? It's all about looking at what's worked in the past, while also looking to the future. So we wouldn't rule it out.

VF: What about moving the festival to another home?
JB: It's a well known fact that the site in Liverpool that we're currently based in is a development site, so at some point we'll have to move Creamfields. But I don't want to move outside of Liverpool. It's part of the city's musical fabric now. It's a well known fact that we're looking for a new site and have been working with the council for the last couple of years towards finding another venue.

VF: What will be the highlights this year?
JB: We've made an interesting change to the main stage this year. In previous years a live act has come on, performed, and then the audience has had to wait while the stage is set up for the next band. This time round we'll have another stage directly in front of it, the 'Galaxy Outdoor Stage', and in between artists DJs will play through the stage's sound system, so in effect the music will never stop. Effectively we'll have two stages in one. Hopefully we'll have five live acts. So far we've got the Jaxx, Faithless, Caged Baby, and one that's confirmed that we'll be announcing at the end of the month. As well as Basement Jaxx, I think Fatboy Slim will be a major highlight - anyone who saw either of them at Glastonbury will know what I'm talking about. There's loads of new music that should be amazing. The Chibuku Shake Shake Arena has one of the best lineups, with the likes of Layo & Bushwacka, Dave Clarke and Plump DJs all playing. And The Strongbow Rooms looks cracking as well. Whereas in previous years it's just been a sponsorship thing, this year it's been much more integrated into the festival and stands as a very cool and credible venue on its own. Also, the hospitality area, this year hosted by Hed Kandi, looks really good. There's so much, and I'd really like to see a lot more than I probably will - but I expect I'll spend most the time running round the place manically! 

VF: So are we now witnessing the anti-death of dance music? A renaissance even?
JB: I don't want to answer that question! From our point of view, we have always tried to do our own thing and we're confident in what we do. Whatever's happened in the last five or so years, be it the closing of superclubs, the changing face of dance music, or the slump in record sales; I think now we're through that. 4,000 more people came to Creamfields last year than they did the year before. We sold more records than we did the year previous. And more people came to our nights in Ibiza. The signs are really good, but I don't want to tempt fate!

Creamfields 2005 takes place at Speke Airport, Liverpool, on Saturday, 27 August. Click here for more.