My rating for the festival: 2 out of 10. I think calling it a “festival” is a bit of an exaggeration, at best it is a large club event… It definitely does not live up to the Creamfields name. The lineup was mediocre, all in all I am “meh” about it
As some of you know, I am a huge fan of electronic music. I heard about Creamfields having an edition in Florianopolis, and this may or may not be why I planned it as my first stop 😉
My hostel, Tucano House, facilitated by selling tickets and providing transfer! Hostel staff told me never to buy tickets before arriving at a location, because someone always knows someone who has discounts. R$100 ($40) for a 12-hour festival (6pm-6am) is pretty great in my opinion. The transfer, organized in vans by the hostel for R$35, came with cheap vodka, Guarana, and ice! After a 40 minute bus ride with some crazy Australians and English folks, we arrive at Creamfields. At the festival, I hung out with a Brazilian girl Aline from Parana that I met at the hostel – I felt that it was kind of ironic that everyone on the van did not speak Portuguese, so I feel that she might have felt kind of left out! I was glad she was there, though, since the Europeans were a bit too crazy for me …
Electronic dance music is not as big in Brazil as it is in the US, as Brazilians enjoy a lot of different types of local music, like Sertanejo, Forro, Samba, and Rock. However, the venue was still packed to the max.
The festival takes place in Music Park, which is in Jurere (the “Hollywood” of Florianopolis, with huge glamorous houses and no fences) on the Northwest of the island. Music Park is an agglomeration of 3 venues, and is owned by Pacha. There were 3 stages at the festival – one for big room house, one for tech house, and a smaller stage for techno. I only knew 3 of the DJs, but was happy to check out new music.
A note about consumption at events and clubs in Brazil – there is always a “Caixa” (Cashier) where you make the payment and get a wristband or card charged with the value, and then you go to the bar to redeem your drink. This two-step process is probably meant to prevent bartenders from stealing money and to reap the benefits of unspent value, and it creates an unnecessary barrier between me and my drink!! Drinks are not cheap – I got a combo of 2 vodkas + one red bull for R$50 (~$20), but I guess it’s still cheaper than the US.
Now, obstacles aside, the festival was great fun! I love checking out new music and really liked Renato Ratier (Brazilian) and ELEKFANTZ (Brazilian) that plays live percussion to techno with live singing. My crazy Brazilian and Scottish hostel friends even put me on their shoulders a couple times!
Some observations of American festival vs. Brazilian festival:
- The crowd: People say that people in the south of Brazilian are more “closed off”, which I have definitely been feeling – they don’t interact as much with other groups of people next to them. No shuffling, dance circles etc. like in the US. People either dance alone in groups or in pairs. We’re in the south of Brazil, so it’s all white people :p Minority races (Asian, black) probably compounded to less than 1% of the whole festival population.
- Attire: Male similar. Female not as revealing. No kandis, costumes, crazy outfits, as I expected