Fatboy Slim to release documentary on 2002 Big Beach Boutique party
Fatboy Slim will be releasing a documentary on “the biggest outdoor party the UK has ever seen”, which was, of course, the infamous Big Beach Boutique party of 2002. The event was free of charge and had originally been organised for around 40,000 people.
However, on the day, more than 250,000 people showed up, leading to big changes in the event industry in the UK. Discussing the film, Fatboy Slim (real name Norman Cook) said: “It has been wonderful with the fullness of time and some hindsight, to revisit such a seismic event in both mine and my hometown’s history. Warts and all, the story told in full… Watch, sleep, rave, repeat.”
While several partygoers enjoyed the event to the full, many others did not, with around 150 being injured and others having to be rescued from unconsciousness in the sea. One woman even died after falling from the pier; a man also suffered a heart attack at the show’s conclusion. Cook later expressed his regret at the event turning out the way it did.
A synopsis for the documentary film reads: “Now, 20 years on, Norman, and those who were on the front line of this seismic historical moment, talk us through the process and the obstacles, the immense difficulties and struggles that the local police faced with such an unexpected amount of descendants on the city, the councillors and residents that opposed the controversial event and many of those who participated in what Norman has described as a ‘Woodstock moment’.”
The synopsis continues: “Right Here, Right Now features interviews with those who were there on the Brighton sands and witnessed it first-hand, including Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Vernon Kay and John Simm, all giving accounts of their personal experiences of the era-defining gathering. The crowd was more than four times the expected size and, at the time, doubling Brighton’s population for the day.”
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