Electronic music festival Creamfields Thailand has become a sit-down event with a day’s notice after a statement from local police called on attendees to refrain from dancing – a call that was ignored, footage from the festival shows two days.
The UK-based Creamfields dance music festival made its Thai debut in the city of Pattaya on May 28-29. However, on May 27, a day before the festival, local police announced that the sale and consumption of alcohol would not be allowed during the event, according to Pattaya News. In addition to this, police said festival goers should not dance at the event.
The police announcement on Creamfields urged compliance with Chonburi Communicable Diseases Committee Order No. 143/2564, an official order dated December 1 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Later that day, Creamfields Thailand announced that the festival would become a seated event as a COVID-19 safety measure. The statement did not specify whether alcohol would be sold at the festival.
แจ้ง เพื่อน ๆ ชาว CRÉMIELDS Thaïlande ที่ กำลัง จะ มา ร่วม งาน ทุก ท่าน 🚘 เพื่อ ความ ปลอด ภัย ใน การ จัด งาน ภาย ใต้ สถานการณ์ Covid-19…
Posted by Creamfields Thailand on Friday May 27th, 2022
Some have taken to social media to express their disbelief at the new arrangement, with one user calling the festival a “picnic with a DJ. Bangkok-based content editor Shayan Naveed called the planned festival seating at Nong Nooch Garden a “ridiculous joke”, sharing a video comparing Creamfields to 2017’s infamous Fyre Festival.
Ridiculous joke!!!!! This is the height of Amazing Thailand #creamfieldsthailand pic.twitter.com/ejmaHuQ5Yn
—Shayan | Dose of Life (@doseoflifecom) May 28, 2022
Although there are pictures that show participants respect Per the no-dancing rule, as the festival went on, videos appeared online showing standing attendees dancing to the music, some even holding chairs aloft.
look how Creamfield TH is doing!! 😡 #creamfieldsthailand #fields of cream pic.twitter.com/DxRVQTTTkz
— Bunchalit (@Bunchalit) May 28, 2022
American DJ Jauz, who was part of the Creamfields Thailand line-up, wrote about Twitter: “Everyone had the chairs above their heads dancing”, pronouncing the show “so epic”.
The seated arrangement continued on the second day of the festival, with participant Shayan Naveed writing about Twitter“It’s the same story. The chairs are back. We are not allowed to dance. But wait until the sun goes down and the place is packed, they can’t stop us anymore. Seriously sad. I thought today at least would be different. Feel bad for early DJs.
Creamfields Thailand asked everyone to sit down and not dance, but Calling came 🐐
(🎥: Ratchanon Tapcha/FB) pic.twitter.com/SZlMC05Qe5
– Dancing Astronaut (@dancingastro) May 28, 2022
Creamfields Thailand Day 2
疲れたら座れるから椅子ありも悪く無いかも pic.twitter.com/1FN4qwXcwJ— каiей@？？？ (@gigaswampert) May 29, 2022
Meanwhile, at Creamfields #Pattaya….it seems the crowd is fed up with the mandatory seating and dancing rules. pic.twitter.com/LEwkDAWj1D
— Pattaya News/TPN Media (@The_PattayaNews) May 28, 2022
NME reached out to Creamfields and a representative from Live Nation Electronic Asia, one of the companies behind the Thai festival, for comment.
Creamfields in Pattaya marked the debut of the long-running British festival in Thailand following previous Asian editions in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China. To attend the festival, attendees had to be over the age of 20 and fully vaccinated with an antigen test kit or a negative RT-PCR test result. One of its headliners, Dutch DJ Fedde Le Grand, canceled his set the day before the festival after testing positive for COVID-19.
Besides Creamfields, other festivals taking place this year in Thailand include Kolour In The Park and POW Fest. The Maho Rasop festival will also be back in November.
