Big Beach Bootique 5

With the beach no longer a viable option and The Seagulls’ spanking new, award-winning stadium in need of an inaugural music event, it was a no-brainer that Norman Cook would keep his long-time promise and choose the ‘Amex’ to relaunch his mammoth party.

A huge stage with five massive screens took over a whole stand and after a full afternoon’s programme it was up to fellow superstar DJ Carl Cox to warm up the crowd before the headliner’s set. A real favourite with the up-for-it dancers surrounding the stage he kept raising the bar by dropping mega crowd-pleasers that had the more reserved punters in the stands spilling their drinks as they waved their hands in the air. Even the painfully-long queues for the pitch-side bars were making shapes to occupy their long wait for refreshment.

Thankfully the clean up crew made a great job of clearing the thousands of plastic bottles and glasses that covered every surface.

As dusk descended, Fatboy kicked off with ‘Praise You’ and it was game on. ‘Where’s Your Head At?’ hit hard and everyone, including local legend Peter ‘Mr Dancing Hands’ Turner rose to the occasion. Brighton featured heavily with ‘I’m At The Amex’ chants and seafront scenes looming large behind the decks. An amazing lights and laser show elevated an inspired set peppered with snatches of The Supremes and too-brief tributes to Etta James and Donna Summer and everyone behaved impeccably to make this a great success.

Amex Stadium, 1 June 2012
Rating:
Steve Clements