Cream Closing festivities started a little earlier than normal for us this year, as resident Sean Hughes treated Cream and Amnesia workers to a half hour of hip hop in the main room before the doors opened on Cream Closing proper. Getting crunk with a few other seasonal weirdoes on an empty dance floor was quite the unexpected pre-party, so that when doors opened at midnight and punters quickly spilled in around us I was in high spirits, and ready to see Cream off with as many bangs us the party could muster.
The changeover track between Sean Hughes and the first guest of the evening was Maceo Plex's Crossfade, an appropriate choice to bridge the gap between the eclectic house of Hughes and the first trance act of the evening, Ben Gold. Gold's energy was high but it wasn't until around 1am during the piano breakdown of Willem De Roo's Rush that the room really started to matching him and embrace the trance vibes, as I saw eyes beginning to close as arms were held aloft and the main room lighting guru Zeles (or Thor, god of lasers, as we like to call him) brought the laser-lightening out to play for the first time.
Over in the terrace Mac J was casually flicking a pointed finger in the air whilst smashing the amassing crowd with saw-toothed synth lines coated in syrupy sweet vocals as in a suped-up remix of Kiesza's Hideaway. It seemed the hip hop theme we began with wasn't quite ready to be stifled, as Mac J threw some Dr Dre into the mix before returning to his electro onslaught. The energy was building but it was all about the main room for me, so I traversed Amnesia once more to be back in time for the Mr Cream in 2014, Paul van Dyk.
2014 has really been Paul van Dyk's year at Cream, with fewer dates from Above and Beyond he has had even more opportunities to make the room his own and at the closing party Thursday night you could really feel it. The energy instantly lifted when he came into view in the booth, cheers rang out, hands waved and he met it with Super8&Tab's Elektra and a trademark cheeky grin. What followed was a rowdy celebration of the trance genre, as he wove current hits into classics from the rave history books. There were too many sing-a-long moments to count, highlights including seeing grown men wailing at the top of their lungs to Tiesto's remix of Silence by Delerium, 4 String's Take Me Away and later having my own special Cream moment down the front singing Motorcycle's As The Rush Comes, with my eyes closed of course.
Cream is predominantly a young crowd, but with a few glorious exceptions pulled in by the magnetism of a trance classics night, like a couple of seasoned ravers dressed in tradition day-glo garb, potentially the very same they wore in the 90s - vintage! People like this make up a small, but important component of the Cream crowd – making sure there's someone to scream wildly when a DJ might drop a classic from the 20th century that hasn't made it into contemporary popular culture and reminding us that this clubbing giant has actually been on the island for around twenty years, the first Cream parties beginning before some of the freshest faces in the club were even born.
Paul van Dyk closed with his own track Home, and had the room hanging off his every flick of the wrist, dragging the volume down to better hear our sweet cherubic voices chorusing together, then smashing it back up for the climax. It was hard not to feel a little glum as he waved, hugged Zeles (they have a strong bromance) and left the decks, but we were soon to discover Van Dyk wasn't quite done with us yet…
Over in the terrace Laidback Luke was caped and jumping, in the midst of showing the punters what Super You & Me is all about. I walked in on a particularly dramatic number, Laidback's remix of Alex Metric's Heart Weighs A Ton, which was accompanied by an excellent combing laser show, their beams reaching every dusty corner of the cavernous interior. Later, Benny Benassi would educate the masses by weaving Maceo Plex and Coldplay into one another (no small feat!), but for now it was back to team trance.
John O Callaghan and one half of Aly & Fila were controlling the main room by now, with a chunky but melody focused set which grew more intense as the night progressed into morning, with tracks like Will Atkinson's remix of Fictivision and C-quence's Symbols. The pair didn't shy away from the hits either, indulging in G&M Project's Sunday Afternoon and Energy 52's unbeatable Café Del Mar. It was around 5am that Paul Van Dyk re-emerged, not only in the booth to support is colleagues, but right down on the dance floor amongst his fans. He really was the life of the party this night and the closing wouldn't have been the same without him. Well done Paul van Dyk, Cream main room is all yours.
WORDS | Jordan Smith PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
