They expected 60,000 attenders, but 250,000 showed up. Staff quit, police had to flee and – as this documentary shows – tragedy loomed. Or it would’ve, if not for the loved-up ravers…
Lingering snobbery towards dance music means the Big Beach Boutique II, a DJ set by Norman Cook – AKA Fatboy Slim – on Brighton beach on 13 July 2002, tends not to be mentioned alongside era-defining gigs like the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park in 1969, the Stone Roses at Spike Island in 1990 or Oasis at Knebworth in 1996. Right Here, Right Now (Sky Documentaries) might rectify that, but it isn’t just a thrilling document of the event itself. The combination of what happened, and what might have happened but didn’t, turns Jak Hutchcraft’s film into a surprisingly intense experience, a rush powered by the euphoria of irresponsible adventure and the sweet sadness of distant youth.
This is good going, considering that the first half is a relatively tedious summary of Norman Cook’s earlier career. We shuffle through his stint as the bass player in 80s band the Housemartins, whose tinkling guitars contrasted with the deep knowledge of funk and dance records Cook was acquiring in his spare time. By the time the Housemartins had run their course, he was a DJ, ready to embrace the new era of club culture. In 1996, he released his debut album under the moniker Fatboy Slim, layering ingeniously chosen samples over dance rhythms to create what became known as big beat. When Channel 4 held an open-air screening of an England cricket match at the Brighton seaside in 2001, it asked Fatboy Slim – who by then had scored top-five hits with Praise You and The Rockefeller Skank – to DJ afterwards. Thousands of people turned up. Fatboy Slim decided to stage a sequel the following year, planning a free set for as many people as the beach could take.
