Now you can relive the moment that Big Beach Boutique II, the free concert held on 13 July 2002 by Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) on Brighton Beach, Brighton, England put Brighton and Fatboy on the global map! The concert was attended by over 250,000 people, four times the expected 60,000 and due to the far higher than expected attendance the local authorities were severely underprepared, which led to many incidents including two deaths, over 170 injuries, and six arrests.
On the day of the concert Sussex Police reportedly considered cancelling the event due to the vast numbers of people, but decided not to as they feared a riot. The concert was attended by more than 250,000 people, double the city’s population at the time and more than four times the 60,000 expected attendance and more than three times the 80,000 maximum which had been planned for.The A23 road was backed up past Gatwick Airport, more than 25 miles away from the huge numbers of people travelling to Brighton. Abandoned cars were left along the coast to nearby Hove.
As a result of the enormous crowds, the local authorities, such as the police and ambulance service, were very underprepared. Several hours before the concert started, the beach was crammed with people. In a live TV interview on his seafront balcony at The Grand Hotel, Fatboy Slim said: “I’m quite scared”. During the concert, people clung to ambulances to escape the crowds. A coastguard helicopter hovered over the shoreline throughout the evening, with scores of unconscious people being rescued from the sea. Paul Cruise, who attended the concert, said that “all of the seafront hotel balconies were packed and people were hanging off lamp posts and railings”. As the tide came in, people were reportedly “up to their necks in the water”, and small boats had to rescue many of them from the sea.
After the concert ended, the hordes of people who attended the concert began to make their way home. People clung to the doors of trains to try and prise them open and buses were forced to operate unplanned night services to ferry the crowds out.
Now the official live recording of Fatboy Slim’s legendary DJ set on Brighton Beach during the largest outdoor event the UK has ever seen at Big Beach Boutique II in 2002 is available to stream and buy!
Available to stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2vU9nJ
Available as a part of a celebratory Boxset with 48 page hardback book : https://townsendmusic.store/product/9
Available as a part of a digipak : https://townsendmusic.store/product/9
Tracklisting
1 Intro
2 Tim Deluxe – It Just Won’t Do
3 Kurtis Mantronik pres Chamonix – 77 Strings
4 X-Press 2 – Lazy (Norman Cook Dub Mix)
5 Mint Royale – Sexiest Man In Jamaica
6 Shakedown – At Night
7 Conga Squad – Delicious
8 Basement Jaxx – Get Me Off (Superchumbo Supergetoff Remix)
9 Layo & Bushwacka! – Love Story
10 Glen Masters – Hi Jackers
11 Static Revenger – Long Time
12 Cylone – Lord Of The Land
13 Underworld – Born Slippy / Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now
14 Camisra – Let Me Show You
15 Fusion Orchestra – Farfisa
16 Santos – Ke Dolor
17 Fatboy Slim – Star 69
18 Mr. Hermano – Hypnotista (Ambient Dub) / Space Cowboy – I Would Die For You
19 Tim Deluxe – It Just Won’t Do (Dub Mix)
20 All Saints – Pure Shores (Norman Cook Re-Edit)
