Creamfields Unveils Ambitious ‘Runway 2.0’ Stage for 2027

Creamfields is marking its 30th anniversary in a big way. The UK festival has announced Runway 2.0, a new stage concept that merges two of its most recognizable arena designs into one structure, set to debut when the festival returns to Daresbury, Cheshire for its 2027 edition.

Runway 2.0 combines the DNA of two stages that have defined Creamfields’ production arms race over the past several years. Runway first launched in 2022 and quickly became a fan favorite for its immersive, high-energy setup. It evolved into HALO in 2025, a 45-metre circular arena built around 360-degree video, lighting, and sound that wrapped crowds in a kind of visual bubble. Rather than pick one over the other, Creamfields is fusing both into a single new arena for next year.

The stage comes from Lucid Creates, the creative studio behind both the original Runway and HALO builds. The London-based team has worked with Creamfields since 2022 and has become something of a go-to for festivals looking to push outdoor stage design past the usual LED-wall-and-truss formula.

Runway 2.0 will hold 20,000 people across a footprint measuring 60 metres long by 40 metres wide, making it one of the largest stage builds in the festival’s history. The layout folds HALO’s circular, surround-sound approach into Runway’s signature overhead structure, which extends out above the crowd rather than sitting behind the DJ booth. At the center of it all, three 15-metre overhead diamond structures lined with LED screens will serve as the stage’s visual anchor.

The screens aren’t just decorative. According to Creamfields, the overhead display system is designed to run sweeping visuals and lighting cues that flow continuously from the stage itself up across the diamond structures, with the DJ positioned at the center of the whole setup. The goal is a configuration that keeps shifting visually throughout a set, surrounding the crowd from multiple angles rather than just facing them toward a screen.

Creamfields has built its reputation over three decades partly on this kind of production escalation—Runway, HALO, and now Runway 2.0 are really just the latest chapters in a festival that treats stage design as its own form of competition. For an event entering its 30th year, leaning into that legacy with its most ambitious build yet tracks.

Creamfields 2027 runs Thursday, August 26 through Sunday, August 29, over the UK’s August Bank Holiday weekend in Daresbury, Cheshire. Tickets are on sale now via creamfields.com.