For whatever reason, most folks love to have a go at whoever is on top. When I tell people I do a visual mix each Friday night with Pete Tong, they like to have a go at him as well. I always respond by telling them about Creamfields.

It was just after midnight, and Pete was about to take to the decks in the main arena. Carl Cox had been mixing for three hours and had the crowd banging so hard you had to scrape them off the ceiling. I looked out at them, looked at Pete, and thought, "What in the world is he gonna do? How can you follow that?"

Pete stepped up to the decks, dropped a banging tune, and kept them right where they were - then out of nowhere dropped everyone back to earth with something seriously ethereal.

Over the next thirty minutes Pete built his set up slowly, upping the ante with each new tune. By the time we went on air, half an hour after he’d started, Pete had taken the crowd higher than Coxy, whipping them into a frenzy. The "on-air" lights came on, and the place went off.

I learned what a master DJ was that night. Since then, I’ve seen Pete mix in a dozen other live situations, each one different from the one before. Pete walks into the room, reads the crowd like a book, knows precisely what to do, and delivers. To my eyes, Creamfields separated the men from the boys that night.

Respect.

Charles Kriel