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00:00:00 (soft music)
00:00:02 A letter from our Norman.
00:00:11 Skeptics might say of this informal gathering,
00:00:15 why the hell are you doing it again?
00:00:17 Last year was a one-off triumph.
00:00:19 Well, they have a point,
00:00:22 but the reason of course is that I love to party
00:00:25 and the party we had on the beach last year
00:00:26 was so much fun, so beautiful and so right
00:00:30 that it would be criminal not to try doing it again.
00:00:33 No, I never thought we made a mistake,
00:00:38 but I mean, we were a lot younger then
00:00:41 and inexperienced and naive.
00:00:45 And of course they're like shields really
00:00:47 because you don't realize how precarious the situation is.
00:00:51 But that's quite nice 'cause it means you go to the edge
00:00:54 and you go a little bit further.
00:00:56 And usually it's at the edge where good stuff happens.
00:01:00 (crowd cheering)
00:01:02 (upbeat music)
00:01:25 (crowd cheering)
00:01:28 (upbeat music)
00:01:30 (crowd cheering)
00:01:33 (upbeat music)
00:02:02 - In 2001, we get a phone call from Channel 4
00:02:06 all about cricket.
00:02:07 They had just bought the franchise
00:02:11 to show test cricket in England
00:02:13 and they wanted to celebrate that by playing it in parks
00:02:16 and outdoor venues throughout the summer
00:02:18 to get people into the idea of watching test cricket
00:02:21 on Channel 4.
00:02:22 They were coming down to Brighton
00:02:25 to show one of the test matches
00:02:26 and they had a sound system for the commentary
00:02:29 and a big screen.
00:02:30 (upbeat music)
00:02:32 They just phoned me up and said,
00:02:34 as you know, Brighton is representative of dance music.
00:02:36 Do you wanna DJ an after party for free
00:02:40 for the people of Brighton to a little dance on the beach?
00:02:43 We lost the cricket on like day two.
00:02:47 So no one came and watched the cricket.
00:02:49 An awful lot of people came to the after party.
00:02:51 - I think there were 40,000 people there.
00:02:55 Just this thing happened.
00:02:58 It was phenomenal.
00:02:59 My first thought when we finished was,
00:03:02 we have to do this again next year.
00:03:04 We have to own this.
00:03:05 - Sun was shining and it was free.
00:03:09 And who doesn't like a party?
00:03:11 And who doesn't like a party on a beach?
00:03:14 And who doesn't like a party on Brighton beach
00:03:15 with normal DJ?
00:03:16 I mean, I can't see it.
00:03:18 It's a no brainer.
00:03:19 (water splashing)
00:03:28 (upbeat music)
00:03:30 - It filtered in over the years, Brighton.
00:03:34 I'd go down early on when I'd left drama school
00:03:36 and there's just something about it.
00:03:39 I don't know what it is.
00:03:40 There's some kind of calm, it's beautiful,
00:03:43 but it's also got that city edginess.
00:03:46 It's just a lovely vibe.
00:03:48 I think maybe 'cause there's loads of students,
00:03:49 loads of artists, loads of musicians,
00:03:52 you know, and things like that.
00:03:54 (upbeat music)
00:03:56 I came here because of music.
00:03:59 I came here because of gigs.
00:04:01 I came here because Brighton is beautiful.
00:04:03 Brighton started with the whole thing
00:04:05 of coming here for health.
00:04:07 You came to Brighton to drink the waters,
00:04:09 to bathe in the waters.
00:04:10 And then, you know, Prince Regent came
00:04:12 and gave the town a notoriety.
00:04:16 (upbeat music)
00:04:18 It's cabaret, it's burlesque.
00:04:21 Occasionally, you know, it's sing-alongs
00:04:24 and the town's always done that.
00:04:26 Sometimes, being a resident in Brighton,
00:04:36 you hand over your town to visitors
00:04:40 and you accept that.
00:04:41 You accept, you live here and you embrace
00:04:44 all of the elements that the town has to offer.
00:04:49 We welcome those visitors.
00:04:51 We want them to enjoy themselves,
00:04:54 to indulge in their legitimate pleasures,
00:04:56 however odd they may seem to us.
00:04:59 - Were there a lot of them?
00:05:02 - Yes, all crammed.
00:05:03 We couldn't move.
00:05:04 It was jammed.
00:05:05 About 200, I should think.
00:05:06 I went to lock the door and they pushed me over.
00:05:09 - And they just left you lying on the floor?
00:05:10 - No, one of the rockers picked me up,
00:05:12 another rocker at another table.
00:05:14 He was very sweet.
00:05:15 (upbeat music)
00:05:18 I've been in Brighton now 22 years.
00:05:22 I paint things on walls for people.
00:05:25 Yeah, this one here, the client said
00:05:28 they wanted something Brighton.
00:05:30 So I thought, yeah, what's more Brighton
00:05:32 than Fatboy Slim these days?
00:05:34 - So the connection with Fatboy Slim goes way back
00:05:41 and a lot of the artists we work with,
00:05:43 as well as a lot of the local people in Brighton
00:05:46 have a connection with him.
00:05:47 He's a bit of a gallery favorite.
00:05:49 He has collaborated with a few of our artists.
00:05:54 One such example would be this Mark Bethle here.
00:05:58 And he actually approached us and said,
00:06:00 "I love Fatboy Slim's work.
00:06:01 "I wanna do a project with him."
00:06:03 Which culminated in this series.
00:06:04 So this is actually Norman Cook's own record collection.
00:06:08 ♪ Check, check, baby, check, check, one, two ♪
00:06:11 ♪ Check, baby, check, baby, check, baby, check, seven ♪
00:06:13 - There's a kind of two-way love affair
00:06:16 between me and the city of Brighton.
00:06:18 But also there's a pride.
00:06:20 I mean, I am very proud of this city.
00:06:21 I think it is the best city in the world.
00:06:24 There's something about its relaxed attitude,
00:06:27 its tolerant attitude, and its eccentricity
00:06:30 that I just really love.
00:06:32 I mean, Brighton is here to be invaded
00:06:33 for people to have fun.
00:06:35 ♪ One, two, one, two, one, two ♪
00:06:39 - Here at Brighton, a seaside town not far from London,
00:06:44 is one of Britain's most modern universities,
00:06:47 the University of Sussex.
00:06:49 (gentle music)
00:06:52 - I grew up in Surrey.
00:07:00 And my sister went to university in Brighton.
00:07:02 And I used to come down and stay with her.
00:07:04 And I just thought, this is the place.
00:07:06 This is where I belong.
00:07:08 And so when it came time for me to go to college,
00:07:11 I just wanted to go to Brighton.
00:07:12 I didn't care what degree I did.
00:07:14 And I stayed ever since.
00:07:16 - This year, it's very much the House Martins
00:07:21 that have been in the news.
00:07:22 We're proud as punch that they're back in the city today.
00:07:25 I'll be chatting with them in a few moments' time.
00:07:27 - I know, can I help you?
00:07:28 - Hello. - Hello.
00:07:29 - Hello. - Hello.
00:07:33 - We're the House Martins.
00:07:35 - We're a comedy team. - That's good.
00:07:36 - I first got involved with Norman
00:07:38 as I was the radio plugger for the House Martins.
00:07:43 Norman had a nascent alternative career as a DJ.
00:07:47 - Obviously, I didn't intend to be a DJ.
00:07:51 I always wanted to be in pop bands.
00:07:53 But I was a record collector.
00:07:55 If you're having a party
00:07:56 and you wanted the best records there,
00:07:57 you had to have somebody
00:07:58 who had a really good record collection.
00:08:00 So I used to get invited to parties
00:08:01 by people I hardly knew,
00:08:03 just 'cause they knew I'd bring my record collection.
00:08:06 But teenage parties being how they were,
00:08:08 my records started getting covered
00:08:09 in vomit and cigarette butts.
00:08:12 And so one time this girl invited me
00:08:14 and said, "Do you wanna come?"
00:08:15 "No, will you bring records?"
00:08:16 And I'm like, "Actually, yeah,
00:08:17 "I'm not gonna bring my records if that's all right."
00:08:19 And she went, "Oh."
00:08:21 And then she said, "What if my dad
00:08:23 "hires these kind of double decks,
00:08:25 "you know, like a DJ console,
00:08:27 "and you're in charge of the records?
00:08:29 "With that, then would you bring the records?"
00:08:31 And it sounded like fun.
00:08:33 And something very, very fundamental happened.
00:08:36 I really, really enjoyed controlling
00:08:39 the dance floor and the music.
00:08:40 It triggered off a realization
00:08:43 that my love of music is heightened
00:08:45 by sharing it with other people.
00:08:47 I started thinking of it more than just a hobby.
00:08:51 And it was around that time
00:08:52 when I was old enough to start playing
00:08:54 in licensed venues.
00:08:56 And so mixing became a really big thing
00:08:59 for me to learn how to mix.
00:09:01 To afford to buy the turntables
00:09:03 that had vary speed on so you could mix.
00:09:05 And that was about the time I moved to Brighton.
00:09:09 And when I moved to Brighton,
00:09:10 they had bars and clubs that had Technics 1200s.
00:09:14 And so I used to go and work in those places for free
00:09:16 just so I could practice on their decks.
00:09:18 And eventually bought my own.
00:09:20 - What you gonna do?
00:09:22 Grab that beat and go.
00:09:24 (beatboxing)
00:09:26 - It's not so young.
00:09:28 Finger on that.
00:09:29 That's not another fader.
00:09:30 - Shoo, shoo.
00:09:31 - Picture of concentration, you know what I mean?
00:09:36 - I don't know when that goes to town.
00:09:37 - I'm sorry, now I'm rubbish.
00:09:41 I better leave it to the professionals.
00:09:42 (upbeat music)
00:09:43 - When I was in the house mines in the late 80s
00:09:47 and playing white indie pop,
00:09:49 but all the time that wasn't this kind of music
00:09:51 that I dug.
00:09:53 But then they invented the sampler and the drum machine.
00:09:58 And all of a sudden white dudes like me
00:10:00 could make this music without having to pretend to be black.
00:10:04 And that just, that sort of unleashed
00:10:06 a whole new sort of career for me.
00:10:07 And that kind of ended my relationship with the house farm
00:10:10 into that kind of music.
00:10:11 It's like, I can't do that anymore.
00:10:13 And so I moved back to Brighton
00:10:15 and went back into DJing.
00:10:17 (upbeat music)
00:10:20 (upbeat music)
00:10:22 - DJ culture and club culture was just absolutely exploding.
00:10:40 It had been in this sort of ghetto
00:10:42 where you had to be over 18
00:10:44 before you ever heard these records.
00:10:45 And you had to go to the cool clubs
00:10:47 to hear the cool records.
00:10:48 But then things started happening.
00:10:50 I think when house records started getting on top of the pops
00:10:54 kids started hearing them.
00:10:55 And they go, "What are these records?
00:10:56 Where can I hear this?"
00:10:58 - A lot of people were like, "What's happening?
00:11:02 What's going on?
00:11:03 These parties I can hear that start at two o'clock
00:11:06 and finish at eight o'clock in the morning.
00:11:08 Where are they?
00:11:09 Who are the DJs that are playing this music?"
00:11:11 All this wonder, which was making it really exciting.
00:11:15 (upbeat music)
00:11:18 - When I was 16, we were all going to like telepathy
00:11:21 and sunrise and rain dance.
00:11:23 There wasn't hard house necessarily in the beginning.
00:11:26 It was like, you know, stuff that had come over
00:11:28 from Detroit and Chicago.
00:11:30 And then it started to get like a London feel to it.
00:11:33 (upbeat music)
00:11:36 And then the chimes by Orbital.
00:11:46 That's what kind of got me in the back of my mate
00:11:49 Matthew Miller's car, driving to fucking Basildon
00:11:52 to meet some dodgy bloke.
00:11:55 Or like driving for two hours to school,
00:11:58 like an eighth of hash.
00:12:00 Like, "What?"
00:12:01 (upbeat music)
00:12:04 Honest to God, it was just fucking terrifying
00:12:06 and frightening, but exhilarating, you know,
00:12:09 and exciting and seeing like the weirdest fucking people.
00:12:12 You know, "What the fuck is this?"
00:12:15 You know, "Where are we?"
00:12:16 (upbeat music)
00:12:19 I think the reason it was such a big culture
00:12:24 at the time, clubbing, you know,
00:12:25 let's not beat around the bush about it.
00:12:28 I think a lot of it is to do with ecstasy.
00:12:30 I think, I think.
00:12:33 And so that just changed everything.
00:12:35 I mean, it changed football violence.
00:12:37 That stopped overnight.
00:12:38 You know, it was the end of the eighties
00:12:39 and everything just changed.
00:12:40 It was like this suddenly this culture of love.
00:12:43 It was just happy times.
00:12:44 (upbeat music)
00:12:47 - It was the best years of my life.
00:12:52 Even now, there's friends who I've met raving
00:12:55 who are some of my best friends.
00:12:57 Lots of the big gigs we go to,
00:12:59 that we drive for miles.
00:13:02 I went to Weekender.
00:13:04 It's called Kamikaze Do or Die.
00:13:05 Got a few free parties, you know,
00:13:08 you just drive along and wait to find out
00:13:10 where you're going to be going.
00:13:11 You meet up with a few people.
00:13:13 There would be people that you would see at certain gigs
00:13:15 and you just go up and just be chatting
00:13:17 and have a really amazing time.
00:13:19 There was never any grief.
00:13:20 You just go there and literally dance all night.
00:13:24 - For five years straight,
00:13:26 I was doing maybe two parties on a Thursday,
00:13:29 two or three parties on a Friday,
00:13:31 two or three parties on a Saturday,
00:13:33 two parties on a Sunday
00:13:34 and possibly one party on a Monday.
00:13:35 For five years.
00:13:37 And I was in my car going up and down,
00:13:39 down as far as Cornwall,
00:13:40 as far as up in Scotland,
00:13:42 party, party, party, party, party,
00:13:43 party, party, party, party, party, party, party, party, party,
00:13:46 back to Brighton, back out again.
00:13:48 I was like this,
00:13:49 like a whirlwind,
00:13:50 working my ass off the whole time.
00:13:52 (upbeat music)
00:13:54 - Around that time,
00:14:00 my main job was a band called Freak Power,
00:14:02 like a traditional lineup band.
00:14:05 And it just became more and more apparent to me
00:14:07 that nobody really wanted to see bands anymore.
00:14:10 I have 10, 12 of us on the road with Freak Power
00:14:15 and X amount of people would come.
00:14:18 And if I didn't bring the band and I just played records,
00:14:22 10 times more people would come
00:14:23 and there was only me,
00:14:24 me and a tour manager I had to pay.
00:14:26 So it became very apparent
00:14:28 that more people wanted to see me DJ than play bass.
00:14:31 (upbeat music)
00:14:34 - You know, we were having our time, I think.
00:14:37 But the problem was the government,
00:14:39 the government were not happy
00:14:42 with the way how things were being run,
00:14:44 that they wasn't able to control this society
00:14:47 of what was happening.
00:14:49 So they made up a criminal justice bill.
00:14:51 And basically they were like saying,
00:14:54 if you have five people dancing around a car
00:14:55 with repetitive beats,
00:14:57 you're going to jail.
00:14:58 And the promoters was also the same,
00:15:01 if you're putting on a party in this way,
00:15:03 you're going to jail,
00:15:04 unless you did the events properly.
00:15:07 You know, licensed events,
00:15:08 contracts for the artists and DJs.
00:15:11 The racing as a whole did get quashed,
00:15:13 but it then re-emerged into super clubs.
00:15:16 And then we had the rise of the superstar DJs.
00:15:18 - Norman quietly became Fatboy Slim,
00:15:23 and then it started to become something.
00:15:26 This might sound strange,
00:15:27 but I really can't put a date on it.
00:15:30 It was just some time in the past,
00:15:33 but it was an exciting time.
00:15:34 To see Norman DJing was quite a thing.
00:15:38 It was quite an unbelievable thing.
00:15:39 - It was a very exciting time.
00:15:48 The Tory government had gone,
00:15:49 Blair was in,
00:15:50 it was the,
00:15:51 it was, yeah, we can do anything.
00:15:53 And I think the industry was very much like that.
00:15:55 We can do anything.
00:15:56 Records were selling,
00:15:59 gigs were kind of selling,
00:16:01 festivals were getting bigger.
00:16:02 You go to work,
00:16:03 you go to a gig,
00:16:04 you go to the after show,
00:16:05 you'd go to bed,
00:16:06 you'd go back to work the next day.
00:16:07 And it was a really exciting time.
00:16:09 - I just remember it being a really, really
00:16:17 kind of fertile time as well for creativity.
00:16:20 And Spaced was our way of kind of
00:16:22 writing what it was like to be a sort of
00:16:27 20-something in London at the turn of the century.
00:16:29 And all the kind of stuff that we felt
00:16:31 was never represented,
00:16:32 like casual dope smoking or going clubbing
00:16:35 or whatever, you know.
00:16:36 I felt like I really wanted to write an episode
00:16:38 of the show that reflected the true
00:16:41 experience of going clubbing.
00:16:43 - Brighton has always been a good place to come and party.
00:16:57 There was amazing clubs down in the arches.
00:17:01 And that was something that Brighton really had
00:17:03 in such a close proximity as well.
00:17:06 - This is Fatboy Slim.
00:17:07 You're at the Big Beat Boutique.
00:17:08 I'm one of the resident DJs.
00:17:09 And apparently we are the underground club of the year.
00:17:12 - What was going on at the boutique was something
00:17:20 he was very much doing naturally
00:17:21 as his own Friday night out.
00:17:24 There was another Gareth around at that point
00:17:27 who was running the boutique,
00:17:28 a local promoter.
00:17:29 And those two cooked this whole thing up.
00:17:31 Really what he was doing was musically
00:17:34 was mashing stuff up that nobody else
00:17:36 was even contemplating
00:17:38 and creating this atmosphere where people
00:17:41 could absolutely freak out.
00:17:43 When I went there, it was dazzling carnage.
00:17:46 - Right now what I'm doing is just mixing
00:17:53 the hooks from pop music,
00:17:55 the anarchic spirit from punk,
00:17:57 the breakbeats from hip hop,
00:17:59 and the acidy energy from house music.
00:18:02 And that became what became known as Big Beat.
00:18:05 - What he did was put UK dance music
00:18:14 on the map in the late 90s
00:18:15 and exported it to the world.
00:18:17 And it was like fun, energetic, exciting.
00:18:21 And that's what connected with me as a 14 year old,
00:18:23 you know, to like get into dance music.
00:18:27 - Norman put out "Best of Living Through Chemistry,"
00:18:31 which kind of just had that natural, organic connectivity.
00:18:35 It had a fan base who were turning up
00:18:37 every Friday to dance along to it.
00:18:40 The big challenge of any new artist
00:18:42 is usually the second album.
00:18:44 - But that first album was a cool record
00:18:48 that tastemakers liked.
00:18:50 It hadn't crossed over in the way that
00:18:52 everything after that did, you know.
00:18:54 Everything basically changed with Rockefeller Skank.
00:18:57 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:19:00 ♪ Check it out now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:19:04 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:19:07 ♪ Check it out now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:19:11 - The previous two or three years of the club
00:19:15 meeting with Kems and all my other friends
00:19:18 who were doing similar things,
00:19:20 it kind of, it was all coming into this,
00:19:22 I know what I'm doing here.
00:19:24 And so the second album just kind of came out really easily.
00:19:28 Yeah, it was just kind of bottling
00:19:30 what we'd been doing for three years
00:19:31 and distilling it and then open it with one big pop.
00:19:35 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:19:38 ♪ Check it out now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:19:41 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:19:44 - If you turned on Radio 1, you could hear Norman,
00:19:47 but then if you turn on commercial radio,
00:19:48 you could hear his songs being used for adverts as well.
00:19:51 The publisher used to send us faxes back then already,
00:19:54 and then we slowly got onto emails,
00:19:56 where they would ask for permission
00:19:58 for a certain song to be used,
00:20:00 so the artists had to kind of give permission.
00:20:02 I remember one time, one came through,
00:20:03 and I had to phone Norman.
00:20:05 I said, "Norman, we just had a sync request through."
00:20:07 And he said, "What's it for?"
00:20:08 I said, "It's for Friends."
00:20:10 And there's a scene in Friends where Ross is having a party
00:20:13 and you hear Rockefeller's gang.
00:20:14 (rock music)
00:20:16 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:20:19 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:20:24 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:20:29 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:20:34 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:20:39 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:20:44 ♪ Right about now, the Fonksaw brother ♪
00:20:47 - Quite intoxicating.
00:20:49 - Ladies and gentlemen, Fatboy Smith!
00:20:52 (audience cheering)
00:20:53 ♪ Double sugar, triple sugar, triple sugar ♪
00:20:54 (laughing)
00:20:56 - You've come a long way, baby, went to number one.
00:20:58 And that led to the idea that a DJ could be more
00:21:02 than just a DJ, and you could sell hard tickets,
00:21:06 as we sort of now call it.
00:21:08 So he was culturally very visible.
00:21:11 He was dating Zoe Ball, so there was the tabloid interest.
00:21:15 So he was basically the world's most famous
00:21:18 and possibly ubiquitous DJ.
00:21:21 ♪ Right now, right now, right now, right now ♪
00:21:24 ♪ Right now, right now ♪
00:21:26 - When a band breaks, they transition from pubs to clubs
00:21:30 to theaters to concert halls to arenas.
00:21:34 DJs had never done that.
00:21:35 They'd never done that before.
00:21:38 And the opportunity came for us to start climbing up
00:21:42 that kind of ladder of progression.
00:21:44 ♪ Right now, right now, right now, right now ♪
00:21:47 - I had a history in big shows for bands.
00:21:50 I heard a record on the radio in Los Angeles,
00:21:53 Rockefeller's Gang, and I called a guy in London,
00:21:57 David Lever, who's Norman's agent, unbeknownst to me,
00:22:01 and he said, "Well, he's a DJ and they play in clubs."
00:22:04 And I said, "Well, one day, maybe if he plays bigger
00:22:06 "than clubs, I'd really like to be involved."
00:22:08 And it took about six months.
00:22:10 (audience cheering)
00:22:13 Next thing you know, we're playing two nights
00:22:14 at Brixton Academy with Alan and Helden,
00:22:17 which was really the first big venue gig
00:22:21 for a DJ in the UK.
00:22:23 (audience cheering)
00:22:26 - From Brighton, England, right here, right now,
00:22:31 Fatboy Sleer!
00:22:34 - This is where it's great work to win.
00:22:41 Norman, he's always up for trying something different.
00:22:43 We built a boxing ring that rotated
00:22:46 and we set it up as a boxing match.
00:22:48 So it's Norman versus Armand Van Helden.
00:22:51 Yeah, we sold it out, it was amazing.
00:22:53 (audience cheering)
00:22:56 (upbeat music)
00:22:58 Norman was very conscious within the experience of a show
00:23:19 that a lot of DJs, with all due respect,
00:23:21 it was a bit like going to see someone do the washing up.
00:23:24 And we went for lights and sound and video screens.
00:23:27 To fill those big spaces, you have to over-egg the pudding.
00:23:32 And that's how it escalated.
00:23:33 - Red Rock seats about 8,000, 9,000,
00:23:45 and here it's gonna sell out.
00:23:48 - It's gonna be packed.
00:23:48 I think that this techno scene is more popular
00:23:52 than anybody gives it credit for.
00:23:54 I think it's gonna go until the city shuts it down.
00:23:57 - The show's got bigger and bigger
00:23:58 and then more production came on board.
00:24:00 So we got production team on board,
00:24:01 visuals got bigger, and we're doing shows in,
00:24:04 you know, we did Europe,
00:24:05 we did snowboarding up in a mountain,
00:24:07 a mountain show we've done.
00:24:09 Red Rocks was like a massive show.
00:24:11 (upbeat music)
00:24:14 - In the summer of 2001,
00:24:37 we had a large number of really good events in the city.
00:24:40 And one of those was the Channel 4 on the beach.
00:24:44 It was the summer tour for the cricket.
00:24:46 So it was beautiful.
00:24:47 It was four days of cricket,
00:24:49 the Ashes being shown on Brighton Beach,
00:24:51 just near the West Pier.
00:24:53 - It was very much a Brighton thing.
00:24:57 It was very family-orientated.
00:24:58 And then there was this offer for Norman to play
00:25:01 on the stage that was already built there, you know.
00:25:03 And I think the numbers were like 40,000 people.
00:25:08 Everybody came out, kids and old people,
00:25:12 just united around our love of Brighton and music.
00:25:14 And it was mainly local people.
00:25:16 - The council absolutely loved it,
00:25:18 said this is what Brighton's all about,
00:25:20 doing things like this.
00:25:21 The police loved it 'cause they thought it was hilarious
00:25:23 and everyone was really well-behaved.
00:25:25 All the sort of local traders loved it
00:25:27 'cause people spent tons of money.
00:25:29 And I know, but I do remember
00:25:31 when I came off stage so elated,
00:25:34 I just hugged my manager and said,
00:25:37 "My God, it just doesn't get any better.
00:25:38 How can we ever top this?"
00:25:40 Careful what you wish for, kids.
00:25:44 ♪ Eyes for the anchor that swings the town bound ♪
00:26:04 ♪ Before the boat spritz through the wild seas do plough ♪
00:26:09 ♪ Seaports and capstings, we're merrily around ♪
00:26:13 ♪ T'yar the day bridge, we lower our boats down ♪
00:26:18 ♪ Sing, I sing, oh, wherever you go ♪
00:26:22 ♪ Give a sailor his tot and nothing goes wrong ♪
00:26:27 - Brighton is a seaside town.
00:26:30 It had recently become a city at that time.
00:26:33 It's a vibrant, colourful place.
00:26:36 From a policing point of view,
00:26:38 anything that you might expect the police
00:26:40 to become involved with across the country
00:26:42 would happen in Brighton and Hove.
00:26:44 It's a good place to be involved in policing
00:26:46 because there's a lot going on.
00:26:48 - I think Brighton was unique at the time, post-millennium.
00:26:55 There was a lot of investment from the council into events.
00:26:58 So it was a really creative city.
00:27:01 - I was the assistant events officer
00:27:04 at Brighton and Hove City Council from 2001 to 2004.
00:27:09 We had a really vibrant art scene and culture scene,
00:27:12 loads and loads of DJs, loads of different club nights.
00:27:16 Wasn't a kind of a mainstream city.
00:27:18 - We used to have very regular meetings
00:27:22 with the council events planning team.
00:27:24 They used to give us a list of the events
00:27:26 that were coming up,
00:27:27 but sometimes events would come up at short notice.
00:27:30 And I can't remember exactly when
00:27:33 I first heard about the event.
00:27:35 That was possibly a couple of months beforehand.
00:27:40 - There was whisperings that it was gonna happen again,
00:27:45 and then you heard it publicly announced.
00:27:47 So there was a buzz, there was excitement around it,
00:27:50 but I'm sure there was also some doubts
00:27:52 as to whether it should be happening.
00:27:53 And at the time there was a Seafront Traders Association
00:27:57 where all the shop owners and bar owners
00:27:59 get together maybe two or three times a year,
00:28:02 have a discussion about what should
00:28:04 and shouldn't happen on the seafront.
00:28:05 And I remember some rumblings about,
00:28:07 you know, the effects it might have on the town.
00:28:11 - The relationship with the local council was pretty good.
00:28:18 These people universally loved their city.
00:28:21 They understood it represented a different ethos
00:28:26 from perhaps other parts of the country.
00:28:30 It had gone so well in 2001 that everyone was behind it,
00:28:34 the police and the council and the emergency services.
00:28:37 It was very different in 2001, 2002
00:28:40 to how it is now 20 years on.
00:28:42 There were, whilst Brighton and Hove Council
00:28:46 had a really good example of multi-agency planning,
00:28:49 I don't think the people working on it
00:28:51 were necessarily as experienced of major events
00:28:54 as people necessarily are now.
00:28:56 So not always knowing what we were looking out for.
00:29:00 So during those planning meetings,
00:29:01 we'd often discuss things like medical provision,
00:29:03 security provision, making sure
00:29:06 that we had the correct numbers in place.
00:29:08 We were estimating 60,000 people were gonna come
00:29:11 and we were planning for 80,000.
00:29:12 - The first multi-agency meeting for this event was on,
00:29:25 it was either 30th or the 31st of May that year.
00:29:28 So it was only a few weeks before the event.
00:29:31 And that already started alarm bells ringing,
00:29:34 not just with myself, but with people from Health and Safety
00:29:38 and the council and various others.
00:29:40 This was a large event.
00:29:42 It was going to be on the beach.
00:29:43 Therefore, there was work to be done and time was short.
00:29:47 - We wanted it to be a free event
00:29:53 because you can't expect people to pay on a beach.
00:29:55 As E4 or Channel 4 had paid for it previously,
00:29:58 we had no concept of what it would cost to put an event
00:30:01 for effectively 60,000 people on a beach.
00:30:04 It was quite a lot.
00:30:07 So this is what it's gonna be.
00:30:09 We had to put police, we had to put security.
00:30:11 Oh, stewards, toilets, sound arrays,
00:30:17 crowd control, merchandise.
00:30:21 So we all sat down, tried to work out
00:30:24 how we were gonna pay for it.
00:30:25 Norman's quite popular in America, isn't he?
00:30:27 So Gary spoke to his live agent and said,
00:30:31 "Norman is willing to do a gig in a corporate gig."
00:30:35 What the sort of thing he does.
00:30:37 "What can we get for it?"
00:30:38 And he managed to get a gig and it was approximately,
00:30:42 I think it was like half a million dollars.
00:30:43 And the money for that gig was gonna pay
00:30:45 for all the infrastructure that we needed
00:30:48 to be able to put on a show for free in Brighton.
00:30:51 So he flew out, did the gig.
00:30:53 I remember the feedback at the time.
00:30:55 I think there might've been 150 people there
00:30:58 at this corporate gig.
00:30:59 It was dead.
00:31:00 I mean, it's a corporate gig,
00:31:01 a massive DJ with people in suits.
00:31:03 Kicking Spin Asia, May, June 2002.
00:31:10 This is a general synopsis of what's going on.
00:31:14 Show day in Seoul, England v Sweden.
00:31:17 - Building up to that show was just another show.
00:31:20 It's in the cycle of gigs that we were doing.
00:31:21 It was just another show.
00:31:23 Before Norman did the show in Brighton,
00:31:27 he was gallivanting around Japan
00:31:29 as the official DJ for England World Cup.
00:31:32 So yeah, leading up to it was a really, really busy time.
00:31:35 - No gig today, so we're gonna have a wander around.
00:31:39 And right now we're off to Adidas
00:31:40 to go and meet David Beckham's boots.
00:31:43 Joy.
00:31:43 Joy.
00:31:46 Okay, right.
00:31:48 If you ask anyone who was the biggest DJ
00:31:52 or dance music producer,
00:31:55 you would, I reckon nine times out of 10,
00:31:58 people would say Fatboy Slim.
00:31:59 - Fatboy Slim.
00:32:01 - Fatboy Slim.
00:32:02 - What Norman did, he made the foundations
00:32:16 for stadium dance music.
00:32:19 You know, it was proving that a DJ could sell out a venue
00:32:23 rather than say a rock act.
00:32:25 That was an important thing.
00:32:27 I really liked this idea that you could have a job
00:32:30 in dance music.
00:32:31 It could be serious.
00:32:32 You could take your career seriously,
00:32:33 but you didn't have to take yourself too seriously.
00:32:36 The USP was, let's be serious about our fun.
00:32:39 (upbeat music)
00:32:42 In the last multi-agency planning meeting
00:32:49 in the run up to the event,
00:32:51 I realised from kind of the network that I was plugged into
00:32:54 in terms of the kind of clubbing and dance scene in Brighton
00:32:57 that we were getting an awful lot of coverage.
00:32:59 So I kind of, you know, tentatively raised my hand
00:33:02 and I said, look, I think that we're gonna have
00:33:04 a lot more people coming than we're planning for
00:33:06 because it's getting a huge amount of coverage.
00:33:08 And I just so clearly remember a senior council officer
00:33:11 turning to me and saying, don't be silly, Becky.
00:33:14 This isn't the Beatles.
00:33:15 It's just a DJ.
00:33:16 (upbeat music)
00:33:18 - T4 was the show that talked about the music.
00:33:25 We were the ones that gave our opinions
00:33:27 and that we rode that wave.
00:33:29 Like if the NME was talking about it,
00:33:31 we would talk about it.
00:33:31 So Norman and that kind of music was always on our playlist.
00:33:36 And then it was like,
00:33:37 oh, we're gonna do big beach boutique.
00:33:39 Do you fancy it?
00:33:40 I'm like, yeah, two-footed challenge.
00:33:41 Into that, please.
00:33:43 - We'd hide all the front suites of the brand
00:33:49 for family, friends, DJs.
00:33:51 We drove up on the Friday morning,
00:33:53 proceeded to go to, got in the car,
00:33:55 went up to see the room, had a heart attack
00:33:57 because of course I organised the rooms
00:33:58 and oh my God, the view.
00:34:00 - We'd hide a room so that my parents
00:34:04 and my son Woody, who would have been one,
00:34:07 had somewhere safe to watch.
00:34:09 Yeah, I mean, this is probably just about
00:34:11 the best view of Brighton,
00:34:13 but one that locals seldom get to see.
00:34:16 - Everything was all in place.
00:34:20 So we went out for dinner with Gar and family
00:34:21 as far as I remember.
00:34:22 Then we went over to Norman's house and Zoe's in Hove.
00:34:27 First time I'd actually properly met him.
00:34:29 We're all in there.
00:34:30 It got to about midnight and he said,
00:34:31 oh everyone, I wanna play the song
00:34:32 that I've remixed for the end song.
00:34:36 - It's still something a lot more like
00:34:40 the hands in the airy beautiful.
00:34:42 - I'd done a version of Pure Shores,
00:34:48 which we got pressed up on an acetate,
00:34:50 which had cost me like 80 quid.
00:34:52 So I was definitely gonna play that.
00:34:54 - Probably edit their version down
00:34:57 'cause it's a bit long.
00:34:57 It's kind of, there's too many gaps in the middle.
00:35:00 Edit it down and then just overlay that.
00:35:02 Overlay that all over it.
00:35:07 So you definitely, it needs a bit more thump.
00:35:10 So I've got it going now at 100 BPM.
00:35:12 I get out the 100 BPM disc
00:35:14 and then we just got a whole load of different beats.
00:35:18 (drumming)
00:35:20 - You can just end up like that.
00:35:32 Just start at the drum beat and just slowly bring it in.
00:35:37 See that's doable.
00:35:38 (upbeat music)
00:35:41 - I remember going to bed on the Friday night,
00:35:51 really in a state of high anxiety,
00:35:54 praying enough people would come.
00:35:55 Because we'd risked a lot to set this up
00:35:59 as on the assumption it would be bigger
00:36:01 than the previous year in 2001.
00:36:06 And of course the next morning was a beautiful day,
00:36:10 but you never know it's gonna work until it's happening.
00:36:13 - Sunrise or sunset, you ask me.
00:36:21 As you get pebble dust between your toes.
00:36:23 I don't know.
00:36:26 Both, I lie.
00:36:27 I've never been an early riser.
00:36:31 To let my body wake with the dawn
00:36:34 would be a betrayal of the dreams that hold me down
00:36:36 until at least 10 a.m.
00:36:38 The sunset is deeper.
00:36:41 The last showdown of sky.
00:36:44 Clint Eastwood firing the last round
00:36:48 from a revolver before the credits roll.
00:36:50 A rap party.
00:36:52 A swan song.
00:36:54 Do you feel lucky?
00:36:56 - I never forget it.
00:37:00 I opened the window, looked outside
00:37:02 and I turned around and I said, "Fuck.
00:37:05 "Fuck."
00:37:07 She said, "What's wrong?"
00:37:08 I went, "There's no cloud in the sky
00:37:10 "and there's 30,000 people on the beach
00:37:13 "and it's not nine o'clock."
00:37:14 - The weekend starts here.
00:37:16 - Come on!
00:37:27 - The weekend has landed.
00:37:28 - Just, it was just party time.
00:37:30 - It was just party time.
00:37:32 Car full of people, loads of tunes,
00:37:34 windows down, banging, weather was great.
00:37:36 Off we went.
00:37:37 - Our friends had been to the first big beach.
00:37:40 Some of them came up to us saying,
00:37:42 "Oh, they're just doing another one.
00:37:43 "Do you wanna come along?"
00:37:45 We're like, "Yeah, all right, yeah, why not?"
00:37:47 - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:37:48 We all see what this is about.
00:37:49 - Yeah.
00:37:50 - What's the worst that can happen?
00:37:52 - Yeah, exactly, yeah.
00:37:53 So we ended up tagging along with them
00:37:55 and heading over to Brighton.
00:37:59 - Neither Nick or I had a car,
00:38:01 so we borrowed this knackered old Ford Sierra
00:38:03 to get down to Brighton.
00:38:05 I don't even know if, like,
00:38:07 if we were supposed to drive it, really.
00:38:10 I mean, I'm pretty sure we sorted out the insurance,
00:38:13 et cetera.
00:38:14 - I got a call from my wife at about half 10, 11 o'clock.
00:38:22 She was driving down,
00:38:23 and she said, "I've got a problem.
00:38:25 "I've got a problem.
00:38:26 "I've got a problem."
00:38:27 She was driving down,
00:38:28 and she rang to say that there must be some accident
00:38:31 on the M23 because there was a traffic jam.
00:38:35 So I said, "Look, don't worry, Jill.
00:38:36 "Just go.
00:38:37 "We know the back roads.
00:38:38 "Just come off and go the back roads."
00:38:40 Anyway, I kind of got on with preparing the show,
00:38:43 not realizing that that traffic jam
00:38:45 was people coming to the show.
00:38:47 - The closer we got,
00:38:50 the more people we could see that were going,
00:38:53 and we were passing people on the motorway and waving,
00:38:56 and there was a lot of music coming out of different cars,
00:38:59 and there was a lot of, "Oi, oi!"
00:39:00 There was a lot of that.
00:39:02 - All ready for our weekend.
00:39:04 I woke up in the morning,
00:39:06 and getting all this stuff together,
00:39:07 and for some reason, I just thought,
00:39:10 "Do a pregnancy test."
00:39:11 And then the pregnancy test was positive.
00:39:14 Phoned my mom.
00:39:15 She was like, "You're meant to be going out this weekend.
00:39:17 "You're gonna have to change your plans."
00:39:18 I was like, "Oh, shit, yeah.
00:39:21 "Shit, what?
00:39:22 "Yeah, I'm meant to be going out."
00:39:24 So that was a massive, amazing, amazing find,
00:39:29 'cause I would've been drinking alcohol.
00:39:33 So I obviously made sure I didn't do that.
00:39:35 - I just started working at Mixmag,
00:39:38 so this was the first month
00:39:40 that I was literally in the office.
00:39:41 I'd left uni about a month before that,
00:39:44 so I'd moved from Bournemouth up to London
00:39:45 for my big new job,
00:39:47 and I got sent down to Brighton to cover the beach party.
00:39:51 I got the train down on my own from London
00:39:53 to meet my mates in Brighton.
00:39:54 - It was me, my boyfriend at the time, Sam,
00:40:03 my best friend there, Louise,
00:40:05 and maybe three other folks.
00:40:08 And we're on the train,
00:40:10 and it just felt like this giant party on the train.
00:40:14 You felt like you were making friends immediately.
00:40:17 Everybody's sharing their food and their drinks
00:40:19 and other things, and lots of music going on the train.
00:40:24 People are dancing on the train,
00:40:27 just riding high, huge expectation for the day.
00:40:31 - It felt like Southern Railways
00:40:41 had got every train in the UK,
00:40:43 just picked people up wherever they were,
00:40:45 dropped them off in Brighton.
00:40:46 And honest, I think we did a couple of links
00:40:49 for T4 outside Brighton station,
00:40:52 and we just couldn't move the people coming at us,
00:40:54 not going that way towards the station,
00:40:56 just coming off.
00:40:57 It was insane.
00:40:59 - We all lived a little bit outside of Brighton.
00:41:08 So on the day of the party,
00:41:10 we had no idea how big it was.
00:41:12 So I drove my car with four of my mates.
00:41:15 Basically, there was queues going all along the downs,
00:41:18 and we couldn't get through.
00:41:20 It was like, there was traffic.
00:41:20 It was like, fuck this.
00:41:22 We drove on the other side of the road,
00:41:24 like all the way through.
00:41:26 It was like, fuck it, no cars coming our way.
00:41:27 We've got to get there.
00:41:28 We have to get there.
00:41:29 - We got there early enough
00:41:32 to where we could find everything we needed.
00:41:33 Like we actually got food.
00:41:35 We had sunscreen, we had enough water,
00:41:38 and we just chilled on the beach.
00:41:41 But quickly that changed, you know,
00:41:43 within the course of an hour or two
00:41:45 of us arriving there in the late afternoon,
00:41:48 it's like, oh shit,
00:41:49 I'm having trouble moving through the street.
00:41:51 You know, like we're going to have to hunt for a bathroom.
00:41:54 - There was so much fucking traffic.
00:42:00 There was nowhere to park.
00:42:01 And then we kind of went right up toward Hove,
00:42:04 just keeping on driving.
00:42:05 But everywhere was just fucking cars,
00:42:08 like abandoned cars everywhere.
00:42:10 People just parked anywhere they could.
00:42:12 We just thought, fuck it.
00:42:14 Let's just park on the town and just get a ticket.
00:42:17 So I think we just left it.
00:42:19 (laughs)
00:42:20 We abandoned it.
00:42:21 - We might as well have just torched it there,
00:42:23 although we needed it to get back.
00:42:24 But we just sort of like put it on a curb,
00:42:27 got out of the car and headed down to the beach.
00:42:29 - I remember getting a call from a friend
00:42:33 who was driving down from London saying,
00:42:36 Becky, you need to shut the road.
00:42:37 You need to shut right.
00:42:38 And we're in a traffic jam.
00:42:39 It's going all the way back past Gatwick.
00:42:41 And it's crazy.
00:42:42 (laughs)
00:42:44 I was like, yeah, I'm not sure I've got that authority,
00:42:47 but I'll pass that on.
00:42:49 (laughs)
00:42:51 - I remember arriving into Brighton
00:42:52 and just thinking, wow,
00:42:53 it's like the whole city had been closed down.
00:42:55 Everybody was hiding in their houses
00:42:57 and it was just a huge rave.
00:42:59 And so it was quite mind blowing actually.
00:43:01 It was quite a sight to behold.
00:43:04 (sad music)
00:43:11 - The weekend starts here.
00:43:13 - Lots of police officers in Brighton Hove,
00:43:29 as I did, didn't live in the city at the time.
00:43:31 We had to travel into the city.
00:43:33 We were all told to come in at four o'clock
00:43:35 for a briefing by the command team.
00:43:37 Straight away, it was apparent,
00:43:40 just driving into the city,
00:43:41 that the estimates of 50,000 people were not right.
00:43:46 This is not the day we planned for.
00:43:50 It's gone wrong.
00:43:51 - Right, you all happy then?
00:43:55 - Yeah, more than happy.
00:43:56 During the day, we've done some vox pops,
00:43:58 which is voice of the people.
00:43:59 With vox pops, you always try and be quite cheeky
00:44:01 or irreverent and just ask stupid questions.
00:44:04 Now I've got some very tedious,
00:44:05 fat boy slim questions to ask you now, okay?
00:44:07 What's Norman Cutts?
00:44:08 Might wanna do that again.
00:44:12 What's Norman Cutts' real name?
00:44:14 - The beach front was packed.
00:44:16 And everyone was up for it,
00:44:17 everyone just couldn't wait
00:44:17 because they all knew the music.
00:44:19 And there was a huge air of anticipation
00:44:21 for him just dropping.
00:44:22 Check it out now, the Bon Sol, brother.
00:44:25 Yes, I'm checking it out on the beach!
00:44:29 It was just nuts.
00:44:30 (crowd laughing)
00:44:33 There was a real energy, a real momentum
00:44:36 for people to have a good time.
00:44:38 And, you know, I won't lie,
00:44:41 there was a couple of points where we were recording
00:44:43 and you'd get the odd idiot jump in
00:44:44 and grab the mic and try and beat him.
00:44:46 Thinking, "There's a possibility
00:44:47 "this could get out of hand."
00:44:49 - People just kept coming and coming and coming.
00:44:54 And things started to already get quite tense
00:44:57 and stressful down there.
00:44:59 People couldn't get to the toilet,
00:45:00 people couldn't move.
00:45:01 The beach was really, really full
00:45:03 directly in front of the stage.
00:45:05 And it narrows slightly in places.
00:45:08 So people were spreading to the east,
00:45:10 but lots of people were coming from the west
00:45:12 or still coming for the trains from London
00:45:14 and coming straight down directly
00:45:16 into the main footprint of the event site.
00:45:19 - We were late, as per usual, I'm always running late.
00:45:26 And it was just mayhem.
00:45:29 But I didn't think it in a bad way.
00:45:31 I really liked it, I really enjoyed how it felt.
00:45:33 I really loved that kind of excitement.
00:45:37 There was an edge, but it didn't feel dangerous.
00:45:41 We got to the bottom of West Street
00:45:43 just by where the cinema is.
00:45:45 And it was just rammed.
00:45:47 It was chuck up all the way down to the seafront.
00:45:49 There was no way that we could have gone to the beach.
00:45:53 - It was so packed when we got down there
00:45:56 trying to find someone.
00:45:57 And this is pre-smartphones,
00:45:59 you couldn't drop a pin back then.
00:46:01 This was literally me being on the beach
00:46:02 counting how many windows across on one of the hotels.
00:46:05 I was to say, look, I'm six windows across
00:46:08 on the blue building underneath the stones.
00:46:11 I think a lot of people were doing that around me as well.
00:46:12 So it was quite a well-trodden path
00:46:14 to not finding your mates.
00:46:16 - I had friends living down here at the time.
00:46:20 So I was looking for them.
00:46:21 And of course, no chance of finding them.
00:46:24 So we just found a little spot down that way,
00:46:27 down going down towards West Pier.
00:46:29 And that was it.
00:46:30 Got ourselves settled, a few beers, ready for the evening.
00:46:34 - When I first arrived in this room,
00:46:37 I was just looking out going,
00:46:38 "Oh, this is brilliant, there's so many people."
00:46:41 And then it went from, "It's so many people,"
00:46:42 to, "There's so many people."
00:46:45 And then the first,
00:46:48 sort of every hour I'd be sort of chatting to people.
00:46:51 And then they're like, "There's so many people."
00:46:54 - Fifteen seconds.
00:46:55 - Fifteen?
00:46:56 Right, cool.
00:46:58 (crowd cheering)
00:47:01 - I remember I was waiting,
00:47:04 and him walking in,
00:47:05 and he felt like, he looked really agitated,
00:47:07 which made me a little bit nervous,
00:47:09 'cause I'd only been doing telly for,
00:47:11 you know, maybe two or three years.
00:47:13 We both turned around at the same time.
00:47:15 And I say something along the lines of,
00:47:17 "Wow, look at this."
00:47:18 And we're both kind of like,
00:47:20 - We are gonna dance tonight.
00:47:23 It's Mr. Norman, Fatboy Slim, Coke.
00:47:26 - Good evening.
00:47:26 - How you doing, Norman?
00:47:27 - I don't, I see you.
00:47:28 - I'm quite scared.
00:47:29 - Can I just say, look at what you've created.
00:47:31 - I know, it's a monster, it's gone out of control.
00:47:34 - I remember absolutely shitting myself,
00:47:36 walking out of the briefing.
00:47:38 The briefing was in a small cafe in Arches,
00:47:41 on the bottom of the seafront.
00:47:42 And I basically had to fight my way through
00:47:43 to get into the briefing.
00:47:45 And on the briefing on the way out,
00:47:46 they basically went, "Right, you're on this point,
00:47:48 "get to it."
00:47:49 Pretty much having to fight my way through the crowd
00:47:52 to get to the point.
00:47:53 And that was four and a half hours
00:47:55 before the gig was even due to start.
00:47:57 So I knew at that point it was going to be massive.
00:47:59 And as I said, it was the first big gig I'd worked at.
00:48:02 So for me, it was a real baptism by fire.
00:48:04 - We were probably deployed out into the city
00:48:09 and the event area sometime around 6 p.m.
00:48:13 Almost immediately, our team's officers were lost.
00:48:18 You couldn't see anyone.
00:48:19 It was difficult to get hold of people on the radio.
00:48:23 I realized, and I spoke to my sergeants
00:48:25 and made sure that they understood that,
00:48:27 regardless of the orders we'd been given earlier,
00:48:30 it was now about keeping people safe
00:48:32 and keeping ourselves safe.
00:48:33 - They had loads of stewards positioned
00:48:37 on the high tide line of the beach
00:48:39 to stop people going beyond that point
00:48:41 because we knew that the tide was due to come in.
00:48:43 And I understand that around up to 80 stewards
00:48:46 resigned on the spot who were supposed to be
00:48:48 maintaining the high tide mark.
00:48:50 And I remember control going, "Where are all the stewards?"
00:48:53 And asking me where the stewards gone.
00:48:55 And I'm going, "I don't know."
00:48:56 'Cause he was asking me to look and spot them.
00:48:58 And I had a bird's eye view
00:48:59 and I couldn't see a single steward on the high tide mark.
00:49:02 - We went and stood on the groin with Kevin Claxton,
00:49:06 who was the bronze police officer.
00:49:08 And I remember us looking down the beach
00:49:10 and it was absolutely full of people.
00:49:13 And we looked at each other and I just went,
00:49:15 we were like, "What are we gonna do?"
00:49:17 - We had a sort of emergency meeting
00:49:20 with the chief of police
00:49:22 who was considering canceling the event.
00:49:26 Norman was very concerned about anyone being hurt
00:49:31 or anything going wrong.
00:49:32 He was very conscious of that.
00:49:36 But we were also thinking,
00:49:37 we've spent our whole lives building up to this moment.
00:49:40 We can't not deliver.
00:49:42 - I could see from the police's faces there,
00:49:46 like we are overwhelmed here.
00:49:48 So I was like, "Okay."
00:49:50 So I've met, you know, prepared myself.
00:49:52 Maybe it's gonna be snatched away.
00:49:54 I think they took me into one of the port cabins
00:49:57 and they sat me down and said,
00:49:58 "Right, we're gonna go ahead with it,
00:50:00 "but only," and I said,
00:50:03 "Only 'cause it's more dangerous not to do it.
00:50:06 "It's 'cause you've got all those people there
00:50:08 "and they've all been drinking all day,
00:50:10 "but they're happy.
00:50:11 "And if you shut the place down,
00:50:12 "they'll be unhappy and it could be ugly."
00:50:14 And they said, "Yeah."
00:50:16 - This is a public safety announcement.
00:50:20 (crowd cheering)
00:50:21 We're sorry to disrupt your enjoyment of the evening,
00:50:24 but we are endangering the lives of people
00:50:28 at the top of the groin.
00:50:30 - I remember there were like announcements where,
00:50:32 I think it was something like, "Please relieve the groin."
00:50:34 Which if you don't know what a groin is,
00:50:36 which is like a sort of thing
00:50:37 that separates the sound of the beach,
00:50:39 everyone's looking at each other like, "What?
00:50:41 "Whose groin are we relieving again?"
00:50:44 - Of the police and the stewards
00:50:47 and start to pull away from that groin area.
00:50:50 - We were trying to stop people getting backstage.
00:50:55 And so we were stood on this slippery,
00:50:57 green, covered in seaweed groin as the tide went out.
00:51:00 All along the beach,
00:51:04 there were people urinating in the sea,
00:51:06 mostly men, but not all.
00:51:07 And then a yard in front of them,
00:51:09 there were people swimming in the sea.
00:51:11 And you just think, "This can't be going on.
00:51:13 "It's not real.
00:51:13 "It can't be happening."
00:51:15 - They had to get police in to stand on the groin
00:51:19 to stop people getting to the edge and falling off.
00:51:21 And they put on riot gear
00:51:23 for their own safety and protection.
00:51:25 And I was reporting through things that were going on.
00:51:28 And then suddenly I turned around
00:51:29 and they'd all disappeared.
00:51:31 I remember going through to control,
00:51:33 "Where have the riot police gone?
00:51:34 "What's happened?"
00:51:35 And after a bit of going on different frequencies,
00:51:38 he came back and said,
00:51:40 "Apparently they've been told to withdraw
00:51:41 "for their own safety."
00:51:43 (dramatic music)
00:51:45 - I'm having one of them Ibiza moments.
00:51:55 The sun's setting behind us.
00:51:57 Everyone's enjoying the atmosphere.
00:51:59 And I've bumped into John Simms, star of Human Traffic.
00:52:01 Are we having it large, John, or what?
00:52:03 - We're having it big, stylish, aren't we?
00:52:04 - Oh, yeah. - Or what, aren't we?
00:52:06 - Or what?
00:52:07 - Now, what do you think of the whole event
00:52:08 and the whole atmosphere at the moment?
00:52:10 It's pretty mad, isn't it?
00:52:10 - Unbelievable.
00:52:11 Unbelievable.
00:52:12 I've never seen so many people in my life, folks.
00:52:15 Unbelievable.
00:52:16 There's more people than pebbles.
00:52:18 - And what's happy is that I've not seen any violence,
00:52:20 nor trouble.
00:52:21 Everyone is up for it
00:52:21 and everyone's here for the music.
00:52:23 - Yeah, well, that's how it should be, absolutely.
00:52:25 - And no recollection of that whatsoever.
00:52:27 (laughing)
00:52:30 - This is a public safety announcement.
00:52:33 (crowd cheering)
00:52:34 The gentlemen flying in landmarks must return to the ground.
00:52:40 The show must stop until all people are-
00:52:44 - Read various riot acts about what I could or couldn't do.
00:52:48 If they told me to switch off the music,
00:52:49 he said, "You don't argue with us.
00:52:51 "You just switch off the music."
00:52:52 This is not the best,
00:52:53 not the best frame of mind to be in.
00:52:56 - I sat with Norman a little bit
00:52:59 and we knew everything was ready to go.
00:53:00 When he wanted to play,
00:53:01 we could go over the street and play.
00:53:03 I came to the hotel.
00:53:05 I took Norman's record bag.
00:53:06 Norman and the record bag stayed apart from each other.
00:53:08 Absolutely the minimal amount of time.
00:53:12 So I came to the hotel, did one trip with the records
00:53:14 and then came back.
00:53:15 The walking over the street came later
00:53:21 because ultimately we were like,
00:53:23 how the hell are we gonna get from here to there?
00:53:25 And it was decided that the element of surprise
00:53:29 is what would get us across the road.
00:53:30 But as soon as we walked down the steps of the hotel,
00:53:33 it was like, it was just mob handed.
00:53:36 Took us 15 minutes to get to the backstage,
00:53:39 which is a two minute walk.
00:53:40 - Looking back, I don't remember much about the actual gig.
00:53:47 I must've been completely on autopilot,
00:53:50 but it wasn't the most relaxed I've been
00:53:52 'cause I was aware that we were potentially,
00:53:56 if anything went wrong,
00:53:57 we could be in a lot of trouble safety wise.
00:54:01 But what I do remember is just feeding off
00:54:04 the energy of the crowd.
00:54:06 There's one shot where you can see
00:54:16 I'm just looking at the stage and looking around
00:54:19 and you can see that like the muscles in my neck,
00:54:22 in my cheek twitching with the stress of it all.
00:54:26 Then you suddenly see my eyes light up
00:54:29 as I see a friendly face,
00:54:31 this old friend of mine called out
00:54:32 and I just go, give me a big kiss
00:54:34 and everything's all right again.
00:54:36 People screaming and weeping and hollering
00:54:41 and you know, the old cheeky comment,
00:54:42 which you like, you know, I give a bit of a bounce,
00:54:44 which is all good fun.
00:54:45 And I just remember thinking,
00:54:48 I can't wait for this to start.
00:54:50 - Atmosphere was electric, it was buzzing.
00:54:59 I don't ever experience something like that at all.
00:55:01 It was just, fuck, we're gonna do this.
00:55:05 We're gonna do it.
00:55:06 - Yeah, I remember getting our spot on the beach
00:55:13 and there being that buzz,
00:55:14 I suppose anticipation as well,
00:55:16 'cause being 19 and not really sort of,
00:55:18 not really venturing too far out of our comfort zone as well
00:55:22 and really, I think it was the first gig
00:55:26 we'd really sort of gone to.
00:55:28 And yeah, Rich had made a flag.
00:55:31 - I'm pretty sure he unveiled it when we got down there.
00:55:33 He said, "I've just bought this."
00:55:34 And he just unveiled this Indian Jack flag
00:55:36 with Norm's top two written on it.
00:55:57 - "What Tim Deluxe Just Won't Do"
00:55:58 was like the song of the summer at that point.
00:56:01 And for him to open that with that was just like,
00:56:04 okay, he's not fucking around here.
00:56:06 This is just gonna be a party.
00:56:08 ♪ My eyes, they can look the other guys ♪
00:56:13 ♪ That are cuter ♪
00:56:16 ♪ And my ears, they can look here ♪
00:56:19 ♪ My friends say I should walk away ♪
00:56:23 ♪ I got my heart, it just won't do ♪
00:56:27 ♪ It won't do, it won't do ♪
00:56:30 ♪ I got my heart, it won't do, babe ♪
00:56:34 ♪ It just won't do, it won't do ♪
00:56:37 ♪ My knees, they don't go weak ♪
00:56:41 ♪ They don't go giddy up ♪
00:56:43 ♪ When you don't call me ♪
00:56:45 ♪ And my head, it doesn't bend ♪
00:56:49 ♪ So I'm drowning with your sweet nothings ♪
00:56:52 ♪ I got my heart, it won't do, babe ♪
00:56:56 ♪ But it won't do without you ♪
00:57:00 ♪ I got my heart, it won't do, babe ♪
00:57:03 ♪ It just won't do without you ♪
00:57:08 - I remember just being caught up in it all a lot
00:57:11 and trying to enjoy myself
00:57:13 as well as trying to remember what was happening.
00:57:15 This was a very important moment
00:57:17 and I had a very important job to do
00:57:19 to try and capture it all and try and remember it all.
00:57:22 ♪ My mind is bugging out ♪
00:57:25 ♪ When I get it ♪
00:57:27 ♪ See me like a negative network ♪
00:57:29 ♪ My goals, why so cruel ♪
00:57:33 ♪ Don't call me babe ♪
00:57:35 ♪ 'Cause I, you're a negative ♪
00:57:37 ♪ I got my heart, it won't do, babe ♪
00:57:40 ♪ But it won't do without you ♪
00:57:44 ♪ I got my heart, it won't do, babe ♪
00:57:48 ♪ It just won't do without you ♪
00:57:52 (upbeat music)
00:57:54 - The toilets that we had on the Kings Road,
00:58:09 they had people in front of them,
00:58:10 it was probably about 10, 20 deep
00:58:12 and I saw there was a guy dancing on top of the toilet.
00:58:16 One of the senior council officers said,
00:58:18 "Oh, you need to tell him to get down."
00:58:19 And at that point he just dropped into the loo.
00:58:22 And they said to me, "You need to go and get him out."
00:58:26 I was like, "That's not happening."
00:58:28 (laughing)
00:58:29 So I don't know, I think that man must have,
00:58:31 he must have spent the whole gig in the toilet
00:58:34 'cause there was no way those 20 people in front
00:58:36 were gonna get out of the way.
00:58:38 - We had had a boat donated by a guy called Jack Stewart
00:58:44 and it was a lovely big fishing boat
00:58:46 and it was put out on the beach.
00:58:48 And he rang me at about six or seven o'clock
00:58:52 saying, "You've gotta get down here
00:58:53 "and do something to protect this boat."
00:58:55 I was at the far end of town,
00:58:57 there was billions of people in the way,
00:59:00 I couldn't possibly have got there.
00:59:01 And I spoke to him the next day
00:59:03 and he said he'd spent the whole night on the boat
00:59:05 trying to encourage people not to get on it.
00:59:07 But of course everyone was trying to get a view.
00:59:09 And sadly it did get sort of smashed to bits.
00:59:12 ♪ And my toes ♪
00:59:14 ♪ Watch the floor ♪
00:59:16 ♪ Don't want me to leave ♪
00:59:18 ♪ 'Cause I hate you ♪
00:59:20 ♪ And you're so unloved ♪
00:59:22 - It got really stressful.
00:59:23 There were people who had obviously consumed
00:59:27 lots of alcohol and drugs and they were not in a good way.
00:59:31 It was relentless.
00:59:32 The medics were, there was nothing they could do
00:59:34 and they were just people coming to me all the time
00:59:35 and saying, "Help me, help me."
00:59:37 And we had nowhere to put them
00:59:39 because our medics tent had basically been,
00:59:41 our area had been taken over.
00:59:43 (upbeat music)
00:59:46 - Felt like something really special was happening.
00:59:54 Even my friend got punched.
00:59:56 'Cause he's like, some guy was like,
00:59:58 "Oh, which way are you going?"
00:59:59 And he's like, "Calm it, mate."
01:00:00 And then like, he got punched.
01:00:03 I was like, all right.
01:00:04 ♪ I'm wicked and I'm lazy ♪
01:00:12 ♪ Don't you wanna save me ♪
01:00:15 (upbeat music)
01:00:22 - To watch a bloke commanding like that,
01:00:40 it was monumental.
01:00:42 We couldn't even get, I was like,
01:00:44 a thousand people at least back.
01:00:47 You couldn't get anywhere near it.
01:00:49 (upbeat music)
01:00:52 - At one point, we nearly lost the sound desk
01:00:59 because just the weight of people
01:01:00 meant that the Harris fencing broke down.
01:01:03 And the people on the sound desk were coming up to me
01:01:05 'cause there were just people dancing right next to it
01:01:07 going, "Get them away, get them away."
01:01:08 'Cause if the sound desk goes down,
01:01:10 that's it, the gig's over.
01:01:11 And I was frantically radioing through going,
01:01:13 "I need security here, I need security here.
01:01:16 "We're going to lose the sound desk."
01:01:18 And control going, "I'm completely sympathetic to you,
01:01:20 "but we can't get them through the crowd.
01:01:21 "The crowd is just too big."
01:01:23 (crowd cheering)
01:01:26 (upbeat music)
01:01:31 (upbeat music)
01:01:33 - I had quite a low waist pair of trousers on
01:01:46 as my G-string hopped out the back
01:01:50 and Graham's brother, Neil,
01:01:51 went over and did a little ping.
01:01:53 So I turned around and went, "Oi, cheeky."
01:01:55 And that was it, we just started talking.
01:01:58 I'm a shy person and Karen is very easy to talk to.
01:02:03 And yeah, I was pretty much grabbed from the start, really.
01:02:07 I think it comes out of any high hopes for the day.
01:02:10 And then I found myself having this fantastic experience.
01:02:14 (upbeat music)
01:02:16 (upbeat music)
01:02:19 - Oh, I mean, it was magical.
01:02:45 That's all I can say, in some of the set list he played,
01:02:47 plays "It Just Won't Do," he plays Shamanic 77 strings,
01:02:51 plays "Sexiest Man in Jamaica," "Mid Royale,"
01:02:54 but then he plays "Commissara."
01:02:56 (upbeat music)
01:03:13 The defining moment in that set for Nick and I
01:03:16 was that he played "Commissara," "Let Me Show You,"
01:03:19 and that was the track we used in "Spaced."
01:03:22 (upbeat music)
01:03:23 We were like, "Oh, we love this, blah, blah, blah."
01:03:26 And we started jumping up and down and dancing.
01:03:27 And whoever was with us turned and said,
01:03:29 "He's playing this for you."
01:03:31 I mean, Nick and I, we couldn't have been more
01:03:35 wreathed in giant smiles, you know?
01:03:37 It was kind of like, it was this perfect night
01:03:40 and everything was perfect.
01:03:42 You know, the vibe and the music,
01:03:45 and then the superstar DJ on the stage was playing a track
01:03:49 just for me and Nick, 'cause we were there.
01:03:51 It just doesn't get much better than that.
01:03:53 (upbeat music)
01:03:56 - Wow, it was amazing.
01:03:57 It was amazing, you know?
01:03:58 Just fucking thrilled, you know?
01:03:59 It was like, and then that was,
01:04:01 that kicked off like just the best night, you know?
01:04:05 (upbeat music)
01:04:08 (crowd cheering)
01:04:10 (upbeat music)
01:04:13 (crowd cheering)
01:04:16 (upbeat music)
01:04:45 - I had no way of conceiving how massive the crowd was
01:04:49 at that point.
01:04:50 Like, you know, you're just in your little space
01:04:52 in your little moment.
01:04:53 Sam was over six feet tall.
01:04:55 So I'm like, "Let me get on your shoulders."
01:04:57 You know, like, "I wanna see what's going on."
01:04:59 And getting up there, it's just like,
01:05:01 I couldn't see the end of people.
01:05:03 It's hard to put it into words,
01:05:05 but it felt like you were part of this giant organism
01:05:08 that is just beyond you.
01:05:10 And you're just this one little part, you know?
01:05:12 - I remember feeling overwhelmed with joy
01:05:15 and being able to share this moment with other people.
01:05:18 (upbeat music)
01:05:21 - The decision was taken with the event organizers
01:05:30 to finish the event early.
01:05:32 I believe it finished sometime after 10 p.m.
01:05:34 (crowd cheering)
01:05:37 (upbeat music)
01:05:40 - I was very, very grateful
01:05:58 when I heard Pure Shores coming on.
01:06:00 And I still get ghost bumps when I hear it.
01:06:03 And I just thought, "Oh, thank God it's gonna be over now."
01:06:07 (upbeat music)
01:06:09 You know, I just thought it was just amazing.
01:06:20 I had a good dance.
01:06:22 And I didn't dance as much as I would have liked to
01:06:24 'cause there wasn't enough space.
01:06:25 But it was just one of the best, best evening.
01:06:28 (upbeat music)
01:06:31 (crowd cheering)
01:06:33 (upbeat music)
01:06:36 (crowd cheering)
01:06:39 (upbeat music)
01:06:41 (crowd cheering)
01:06:44 (upbeat music)
01:06:47 (crowd cheering)
01:06:49 (upbeat music)
01:07:17 - There was a general consensus that the vibe of the gig,
01:07:20 it was a fat boy slim, it was more chilled out,
01:07:22 meant that a norm developed
01:07:24 where people were more tolerant and more accepting.
01:07:26 And it was a kind of more convivial atmosphere.
01:07:30 I remember talking to a senior security person afterwards
01:07:33 and he did say to me,
01:07:34 "If that had been an Oasis gig, we would have been fucked."
01:07:36 (upbeat music)
01:07:46 I remember it being kind of chaotic looking out,
01:07:50 thinking, "Wow, where are all these people gonna go now?
01:07:55 How are you getting home?"
01:07:56 You know, Jesus.
01:07:59 I'm thinking, "I'm so glad
01:08:00 I don't have to try and get back to London."
01:08:02 (upbeat music)
01:08:05 - I know someone in the group had a plan.
01:08:16 We rushed through the crowd and ran to the train station.
01:08:21 We were able to get on a train.
01:08:26 When we were waiting for the train to take off,
01:08:29 there were these hordes of people
01:08:30 that just climbed on top of the train
01:08:33 because there was no more space
01:08:35 and they were prying at the doors
01:08:36 and they were shaking the train
01:08:39 and it took forever for like staff to, you know,
01:08:42 get them off of the train.
01:08:44 It was definitely one of those scenarios
01:08:46 where the potential for danger was very much present,
01:08:49 but that whole day just feels like a dream to me.
01:08:52 Like everything went so well that I was like,
01:08:55 "Oh, we got on the train and we're safe and we're here.
01:08:58 We're gonna get home.
01:08:59 Ha ha, there's people on the train."
01:09:01 And not really like being aware of like,
01:09:03 "Oh shit, this is a shit show."
01:09:04 (crowd cheering)
01:09:05 - Ladies and gentlemen, fantastic evening.
01:09:08 And now we want you to go home safely.
01:09:13 Fantastic evening, please leave Brighton safe
01:09:16 with good memories.
01:09:17 Please do not push.
01:09:20 Please do not push.
01:09:22 Listen to the police and the stewards.
01:09:26 - By this time, we were already tired.
01:09:29 It had been a hot, sticky, difficult evening.
01:09:32 You know, we'd run out of drinking water a long time ago
01:09:34 and there's no time to refresh or whatever.
01:09:39 We had real trouble getting people safely off the beach.
01:09:44 I saw people slipping and falling underneath people
01:09:47 and getting trodden on.
01:09:49 - Start making your way home, but please don't push.
01:09:54 Listen to the police and the stewards.
01:09:59 - Remember having to walk through the crowd holding hands
01:10:02 in like a jam just so we didn't lose one each other,
01:10:05 you know.
01:10:06 - Buzzing still.
01:10:07 - Yeah, buzzing, yeah, yeah.
01:10:08 - It was such a great day.
01:10:09 Yeah, just, yeah, probably with the suntan as well.
01:10:12 - Yeah, it's a bit.
01:10:13 - It's been so long, but.
01:10:14 - Some tan lines, yeah.
01:10:14 - Yeah.
01:10:15 - Yeah, just.
01:10:16 - The sea of people, wasn't it?
01:10:17 Just sort of trying to get home.
01:10:19 - Please take their advice.
01:10:21 - There were tens of thousands of people
01:10:28 moving off the beach into the town.
01:10:31 Lots had come by rail and we knew that there weren't
01:10:34 a lot of trains laid on to take people away afterwards
01:10:37 and very quickly the gates to the railway station
01:10:41 were shut by the railway company.
01:10:43 We tried to get a few trains in
01:10:47 and we did get some trains in.
01:10:48 We had buses laid on to take people,
01:10:52 I think at least as far as London.
01:10:54 There was a huge operation went on to try and get people
01:10:57 safely out of the city.
01:10:58 - At that point, the last buses were in the garage by 1230.
01:11:04 That particular night, there were no night buses as such.
01:11:07 I think we invented them that night to get them through
01:11:10 due to the number of people that were still around.
01:11:12 We got calls out to the drivers to say,
01:11:14 those of you that want to do extra for us tonight,
01:11:16 if you want to do an extra round trip,
01:11:18 you know, you'll be paid accordingly
01:11:20 and it'll all be moved on.
01:11:21 From there, we had to make sure we could get
01:11:23 as many people on as what we could
01:11:24 and try to ensure that those more vulnerable
01:11:27 were getting on to get home.
01:11:29 - I was supposed to go back to London
01:11:32 and I was a bit like, well, I don't think
01:11:34 I'm going to get a train at the moment.
01:11:35 So we were just like, oh, we'll just hang out on the beach.
01:11:37 Damien disappeared off somewhere.
01:11:38 I hung out with Graham and Neil.
01:11:40 We had a couple of beers on the beach
01:11:42 and then we sort of had a bit of a wander around.
01:11:45 - You couldn't move, but the buzz was unreal.
01:11:48 The amount of people that were there,
01:11:50 the conversations taking place,
01:11:52 the happiness and the madness of people
01:11:54 was just absolutely mental.
01:11:55 The last time I saw anything like that
01:11:57 was when I went to Wembley
01:11:58 for the Brighton Man United Cup Final.
01:12:00 And that's the only time I've seen that amount of people.
01:12:03 - Some drivers had never driven certain routes before
01:12:05 and because they'd have just now appeared
01:12:06 'cause we got some drivers to stay on
01:12:08 and come and do extra services.
01:12:10 And we almost came to a decision
01:12:12 that if you don't know where you're going,
01:12:14 effectively, you know your end goal,
01:12:16 get yourself there and get back as soon as you can
01:12:19 'cause I can't see the pavement yet.
01:12:22 There's still that many people.
01:12:24 Thankfully, it was a brilliant, peaceful party.
01:12:29 There was no aggravation, no argument, no trouble.
01:12:32 It was great fun.
01:12:34 It was a massive challenge
01:12:36 and it still ranks as one of my highest memories in my job.
01:12:39 - What was that, a video camera?
01:12:46 ♪ Murder, brain ♪
01:12:49 - It was time, we were starting to get a little bit lighter.
01:13:00 We walked back up towards the train station.
01:13:03 Graham and Neil walked back up with me
01:13:05 and as I was going, Neil said,
01:13:09 "Oh, can I take your number?"
01:13:11 - Well, they are my brother a lot.
01:13:16 - Sorry.
01:13:17 - More than I can say.
01:13:18 - So I quickly scribbled it down
01:13:19 and was kind of like, "Yeah, be great to hear from you
01:13:23 "looking at Graham."
01:13:24 And that was it.
01:13:27 I went off into the night,
01:13:28 well, went off into the early morning,
01:13:30 got back to West London, showered,
01:13:32 straight back into Central London
01:13:34 and did a day's work at my desk going,
01:13:37 "Oh my God, what a night."
01:13:38 - Can't believe you did that.
01:13:41 - All of us who started that evening
01:13:43 at sort of four o'clock the previous afternoon
01:13:46 didn't generally get off until five, six, seven o'clock
01:13:49 in the morning.
01:13:51 I decided to try and drive along the seafront,
01:13:53 which I did with some difficulty
01:13:55 because the rubbish and everything.
01:13:57 The whole beach between the piers
01:13:59 just looked like some huge refugee camp.
01:14:02 - There were just cars abandoned everywhere.
01:14:06 They were just closed.
01:14:08 It was like there was shoes.
01:14:09 It was just like people had just disappeared
01:14:11 and just left everything.
01:14:13 And there were bodies of people lying,
01:14:15 just sleeping on the ground.
01:14:17 I ended up not going home
01:14:18 because I realised my housemates were having a party
01:14:20 and I went to my mum's instead and hid there
01:14:24 while trying to work out what on earth.
01:14:27 Yeah, I just felt like I'd destroyed my hometown.
01:14:30 It felt so awful what happened to the city.
01:14:34 And that was so sad
01:14:35 because it should have been such a good thing to celebrate.
01:14:38 - I drove along there and then ended up back at home.
01:14:44 And I remember standing there
01:14:46 and then looking down and realising
01:14:47 that I still had my full uniform on.
01:14:49 I had all my kit on,
01:14:51 kit that I should have left at the police station.
01:14:56 And just thinking,
01:14:58 I don't know what's gone on.
01:15:01 I just don't know how we've got through that.
01:15:04 - The following morning, I had my kids with me.
01:15:19 The tidy up was going on.
01:15:21 We jumped on our bus
01:15:23 and we headed down on holiday for two weeks.
01:15:26 So the thing I remember most about that
01:15:28 was getting a phone call from Zoe saying,
01:15:32 why aren't you here?
01:15:33 Why aren't you dealing with this?
01:15:36 That we had no crisis management strategy.
01:15:40 So there was an aftermath.
01:15:41 - I also had another job where I worked out of town
01:15:46 and I had to get up early.
01:15:47 I had a pickup truck at the time.
01:15:50 And I remember driving through the rubbish
01:15:52 along the seafront
01:15:54 and the rubbish being as high as the wheels on my truck.
01:15:57 - So I woke up the next morning,
01:15:59 I spoke to my boss
01:16:02 and he told me that a clean up was starting,
01:16:05 but he told me to stay at home.
01:16:07 He said, I didn't need to come down,
01:16:08 didn't need to work on it.
01:16:09 But I felt incredibly guilty
01:16:11 because I felt like I had done this to my town.
01:16:16 So I did go down later on
01:16:17 and I went and helped pick up rubbish.
01:16:22 - Of course what had happened
01:16:24 was that then the sun didn't stop shining.
01:16:26 So we could have done with some rain
01:16:28 to wash away the lovely smell of urine
01:16:31 that was over the whole beach.
01:16:32 So it absolutely stunk for about two weeks.
01:16:35 - I was mortified that I thought everyone in Brighton
01:16:39 was gonna love me for what we'd done.
01:16:41 And the idea that they would all hate me,
01:16:42 it was like, no, I can't,
01:16:44 literally don't shit on your own doorstep.
01:16:46 So no, I immediately said, just whatever it takes,
01:16:49 I'll pay for the clean up.
01:16:51 Broken glass and piss,
01:16:53 the two things you don't want in your life
01:16:56 when you go to the seaside.
01:16:57 - This was written 20 years ago, this week, I think.
01:17:02 I know we held the magazine back
01:17:04 because we wanted to get this in
01:17:05 'cause print magazines, the deadlines are really tight.
01:17:09 And to get something in this,
01:17:10 that's new is really difficult.
01:17:11 So we held back this double page spread
01:17:13 to get the story in.
01:17:15 Well, first of all, the headline,
01:17:16 Fat Boy Slim is fucking in trouble.
01:17:18 When this was happening,
01:17:21 all the papers, the kind of buzz and the media around it
01:17:25 was just the kind of sort of negative reaction
01:17:27 to what had happened in a way.
01:17:28 People weren't necessarily celebrating
01:17:30 what had happened positively.
01:17:31 They were sort of talking about how
01:17:32 Fat Boy Slim has to leave the country
01:17:34 or they've caused such a massive mess
01:17:35 or people have been injured.
01:17:37 - We got into the office on Monday,
01:17:41 had a sort of a debrief,
01:17:42 and that's when the press had started to come out
01:17:44 that someone had died of a heart attack.
01:17:46 There was lots of aggro.
01:17:50 A lot of false reporting,
01:17:52 but we didn't feel you for it.
01:17:53 We felt broken.
01:17:55 - Most people had a good time.
01:17:58 There was a few, few injuries,
01:18:01 but considering that amount of people,
01:18:03 I mean, there's six arrests,
01:18:04 which is apparently less than there normally is
01:18:06 on a Saturday night in Brighton.
01:18:08 - There was a lot of distress amongst the services,
01:18:11 amongst the police and amongst the ambulance services,
01:18:13 because they had no control over the situation.
01:18:16 There was a lot of anxiety there,
01:18:17 and that kind of fed into the media a bit.
01:18:19 - They were available to comment on the event.
01:18:21 They weren't commenting upon it as a musical experience,
01:18:26 a cultural experience.
01:18:27 They were commenting on it as an adverted disaster,
01:18:32 like a Hillsborough that nearly happened.
01:18:34 An Australian nurse died.
01:18:48 She fell off the escarpment.
01:18:50 She'd been at a party after the event
01:18:54 and had an accident falling off the escarpment.
01:18:57 - It was a horrible thing that someone had to die that night,
01:19:03 and the poor girl, Karen, the nurse,
01:19:06 I managed to get in touch with her parents,
01:19:09 and I spoke to her mum, and I just said,
01:19:11 "Look, I'm so sorry."
01:19:12 And she said, "Don't worry."
01:19:15 She said it was going to happen.
01:19:18 She said she phoned me early that night
01:19:20 and said, "I'm having the best night of my life."
01:19:23 And she said, "Thanks for making the last night of her life
01:19:25 the best night of her life," which really kind of got me.
01:19:28 But yeah, it's...
01:19:30 I still feel, because I was the reason
01:19:36 she was in Brighton that night,
01:19:37 I feel somewhat responsible for her death,
01:19:38 and that will always haunt me.
01:19:41 (traffic humming)
01:19:44 - The city had to learn from the events of that evening
01:19:51 that had things gone more wrong,
01:19:53 it might have been that several people
01:19:55 could have been put more in harm's way.
01:19:57 My own organisation, the police,
01:20:00 we had a big debriefing where events were openly discussed.
01:20:04 There was a council inquiry,
01:20:08 which I went to and spoke at.
01:20:12 The city as a whole collectively came to the view
01:20:16 that an event of that size needed better planning,
01:20:20 and at that scale, shouldn't be allowed
01:20:23 to happen on the beach.
01:20:25 What happened on that night was a brilliant event
01:20:28 for lots of people,
01:20:29 but it wasn't a great event for everybody.
01:20:32 And it was a traumatic time,
01:20:34 and I think history shouldn't lose sight of that.
01:20:39 (upbeat music)
01:20:41 - This kind of thing of having a big free party
01:20:56 used to be the norm in the UK.
01:20:58 This was part and parcel of going out at the weekend.
01:20:59 This was what the late '80s and early '90s was about.
01:21:02 A lot of my generation grew up when we hadn't ever got
01:21:05 to experience the free party scene,
01:21:06 so we don't know what it's like to turn up
01:21:08 to a free party and just dance.
01:21:10 So it's kind of weird in a way that suddenly,
01:21:13 out of nowhere, there's this massive free event
01:21:15 that everyone can turn up to, and it's just liberating,
01:21:18 and everyone's having a great time.
01:21:20 And then immediately the morning after, you're like,
01:21:22 actually, we're probably never going to get
01:21:24 to do that ever again.
01:21:25 (upbeat music)
01:21:31 - The problems that there were on the day,
01:21:32 and there were massive problems,
01:21:34 were to do with infrastructure.
01:21:35 Myself and other people who work in the field
01:21:38 of crowd psychology use this as an example to show,
01:21:41 yes, this was a near catastrophe,
01:21:43 but the catastrophe was to do
01:21:44 with the infrastructure collapsing.
01:21:46 It was absolutely nothing to do with crowd behavior,
01:21:48 and it's a very good example, I would say,
01:21:50 of the crowd actually preventing disaster,
01:21:53 because there were times when we had to work with the crowd.
01:22:00 One of the things that came out
01:22:01 after the Big Beach Boutique concert was
01:22:03 that there were going to be no more free,
01:22:06 unticketed events in the UK.
01:22:08 We were incredibly lucky that day,
01:22:10 but it was only a short amount of time
01:22:12 that there would have been another free ticketed event
01:22:15 where something could have gone really wrong.
01:22:17 So I think without Big Beach Boutique,
01:22:19 kind of setting the line and making sure that we,
01:22:22 it really helped the industry improve dramatically,
01:22:25 and it has meant that we've gone on in the UK
01:22:27 to have some of the best and safest events in the world.
01:22:31 ♪ She said yeah ♪
01:22:34 I think one of the nice things I remember was,
01:22:37 well, the phone didn't stop ringing from all over the planet.
01:22:39 We started to play beaches all around the world.
01:22:42 So Big Beach Boutique happened in Rio.
01:22:45 On an even bigger scale, it happened in Japan.
01:22:49 By then it was selling tickets,
01:22:51 and it was a different kind of model.
01:22:53 It wasn't the kind of free spirited,
01:22:55 spontaneous, acid house spirit.
01:22:59 It was a bit more organised,
01:23:02 and it just took Norman to another level internationally.
01:23:06 This party in Brighton was a milestone in dance music.
01:23:13 It was a change in how people perceived DJs
01:23:16 and what they could do.
01:23:17 It was not just a turning point for dance music and DJs,
01:23:21 but also for music culture in general.
01:23:23 I think an acceptance that dance music
01:23:25 is more than just sweaty nightclubs or underground raves.
01:23:28 It was something for everybody.
01:23:30 For me, it opened more doors
01:23:37 just in my relationship with the city.
01:23:40 I kind of thought there might be sections
01:23:43 of the community down here who would hate me
01:23:46 after what we'd almost destroyed the city.
01:23:50 But everyone seemed to love me.
01:23:51 And from then on, everybody I meet walking down the street,
01:23:55 the first thing they say is,
01:23:56 "When are you gonna have another beach party?"
01:23:58 (crowd chattering)
01:24:00 (crowd cheering)
01:24:04 ♪ I have to celebrate you, baby ♪
01:24:15 ♪ I have to praise you, my love ♪
01:24:19 ♪ I have to praise you, my love too ♪
01:24:26 I'm still doing this because I genuinely love it.
01:24:30 I love hearing tunes and just instantly wanting
01:24:34 to share them with other people.
01:24:36 And something very, very powerful happens
01:24:38 at raves and at parties where it becomes stronger
01:24:43 than the music, it becomes stronger
01:24:45 than the sum of the people who are there.
01:24:47 Something happens where the room just becomes as one,
01:24:51 this massive energy.
01:24:52 And that's what gives me my energy.
01:24:54 I kind of feed off that.
01:24:55 It's something that drives me along
01:24:58 and something that I'm very grateful
01:25:01 that I've been allowed to do for so long.
01:25:03 (upbeat music)
01:25:05 - So I teach event safety
01:25:14 and crowd management at universities.
01:25:16 I often use Big Beach Boutique as an example
01:25:18 of an event that obviously where things kind of did go wrong
01:25:22 and, but what we can learn from it,
01:25:24 what we take away from it.
01:25:26 Some of them have never heard of it,
01:25:27 of Big Beach Boutique before I tell them about it.
01:25:30 And they're always blown away by the scale
01:25:32 of what happened and the size of it.
01:25:35 ♪ I have to praise you, my love ♪
01:25:39 ♪ I have to praise you, my love too ♪
01:25:41 - When you're there in the moment,
01:25:43 you don't always think about it,
01:25:44 but it's only looking back on it now.
01:25:46 You kind of think, wow, that was a huge cultural milestone
01:25:50 in our country, in our country's history.
01:25:53 And I was there.
01:25:54 - That for me was the point in my life
01:26:04 where I was like, I want to do this.
01:26:05 I've got to get into this.
01:26:07 You know, it's a goose bumps already, you know,
01:26:09 like just thinking about that day, you know,
01:26:11 and thinking, you know,
01:26:12 this is just some guy playing records, you know,
01:26:14 but look how happy.
01:26:16 - I could do that.
01:26:17 - Yeah, I could do that.
01:26:18 How hard can it be?
01:26:18 (upbeat music)
01:26:21 - I was 30 years of age
01:26:26 and I've been quite unhappy for 10 years, really.
01:26:31 Fighting, shy, lonely, I've had depression.
01:26:39 This day has completely changed my life,
01:26:44 completely turned it around from a very, very bad place.
01:26:49 (upbeat music)
01:26:51 It's hard to put into words.
01:27:00 It's just like pure elation, you know,
01:27:04 it's this full spread of me on Sam's shoulders.
01:27:08 It was like such a beautiful day.
01:27:11 And I felt like that picture,
01:27:13 like really captured my time that day
01:27:16 and how a lot of people must have felt.
01:27:19 (upbeat music)
01:27:22 - From a little thing this big,
01:27:34 growing up to be this fantastic, amazing,
01:27:39 kind, generous rugby player.
01:27:44 Yeah, so he's doing really well now.
01:27:45 So he's my little miracle.
01:27:48 (upbeat music)
01:27:50 - I think it's apt that it took 20 years
01:28:07 for the council to allow us back on the pebbles.
01:28:10 The first rule was it can't be free anymore.
01:28:12 See, I would love to do this for free.
01:28:14 I don't do this to make money.
01:28:17 You know, I do this 'cause I love this city
01:28:19 and I get so much pride in doing it.
01:28:21 But in order to control it,
01:28:23 you have to fence it in and have a certain amount of people.
01:28:26 You can't just invite the world.
01:28:27 That was one lesson we learned.
01:28:29 (upbeat music)
01:28:31 ♪ I am the stranger ♪
01:28:36 ♪ I am the stranger ♪
01:28:45 ♪ I am the stranger ♪
01:28:58 ♪ I am the stranger ♪
01:29:03 ♪ I am the stranger ♪
01:29:11 ♪ I am the stranger ♪
01:29:18 (upbeat music)
01:29:21 (upbeat music)
01:29:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]