AudioMedia - November 2008 - (Page 70)

11|08 AM BIG BEACH BOUTIQUE 4 Fatboy Slim plays a blinder on his home pitch JIM EVANS grabbed himself a ticket for Brighton’s big beach show, and went to find what lay behind the big sound of (not so) big DJ, Fatboy Slim. he Big Beach Boutique events featuring DJ/ producer/performer Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, have enjoyed a colourful and at times controversial history. This year’s show was no exception. In July 2002, Fatboy Slim performed the second of his free, open air concerts on Brighton beach. Despite expecting a crowd of around 60,000 people, the event instead attracted an estimated 250,000, who crammed the promenade and beach between Brighton’s piers. Local police forced the event to end early amid safety concerns, overcrowding, and one death. After the music had finished and the crowd began to dissipate, traffic ensued throughout the Brighton area with many caught in traffic jams until the morning. On New Year’s Day 2007, he played to an audience of over 20,000 fans along Brighton’s seafront. Titled Fatboy Slim’s Big Beach Boutique 3, tickets to the event were made available only to Brighton residents. On that occasion, gale force winds and driving rain dampened T proceedings considerably, and sparks flew on stage as equipment shorted. This year, the Hove-based DJ – no doubt on advice from the meteorological office – scheduled Big Beach Boutique 4 for the end of September, and the elements as well as the performers duly obliged. A crowd of some 22,000 squeezed into the narrow Madeira Drive, armed with ambre solaire rather than overcoats to enjoy the seven-hour DJ extravaganza. The concert was the finale of summer events for Cook who has performed 38 gigs this year, including major music shows across Europe almost every weekend. “This is my last date of the whole summer season and that’s good news for two reasons ,” he said prior to going on stage. “ I’ll be very excited and celebrating and, secondly, the show is pretty tight now. I think people are going to really enjoy it. The one thing I can guarantee is that it will be better than New Year’s Day, it couldn’t really be worse.” However, as on previous occasions, the event was not without controversy. The venue – a long and narrow stretch of esplanade nestling at sea level between the beach and the upper promenade – is far from ideal. Fans complained of dangerous overcrowding, especially during the build-up to the headliner’s scheduled appearance. He came on stage on time, but not before a number of disgruntled fans had left because of the overcrowding and being unable to see or hear what was going on half a mile away. There were also complaints of poor sound quality and restricted vision towards the back of the tightly-packed crowd. Event manager Jim King of Loud Sounds said, “It is clearly disappointing to hear that some people had safety concerns on Saturday, and we take these very, very seriously. But it must be noted that only a few hundred people left before the end, with more than 21,000 people remaining until the end, enjoying a great show.” > 70 AUDIO MEDIA NOVEMBER 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - November 2008

AudioMedia - November 2008 Contents Recording News Post News Broadcast News Geofocus: Italy What's Up UK AES Review For the Record Studio Snapshot: Aquarium Abbey Road Plug-ins Brilliance Pack Neumann TLM67 Mercenary Audio KM-69 IZ Technology ADA Final Cut Special: Bond TC Powercore 6000 EP Productions Nagra VI Product Sampler: Location Tools Video Guide AMSR News Shure KSM9 Big Beach Boutique 4

AudioMedia - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.