CelebCity with Jo Brooks: Big Beach Bootique Special

Fatboy Slim’s Big Beach Bootique takes centre stage as the good and the glorious come to party

Big Beach Bootique 5 was bigger and better (if not beach-ier) than all of its predecessors. Bringing together the finest names in house, techno, bass and dance music, the vanguard Amex stadium gig blew all expectations out of the (seaside) water.

Friday saw over 14,000 ravers turn up and party to Norman’s pick of the best house acts around. Kicking-off the day were The 2 Bears, a fantastic up and coming act signed to Fatboy Slim’s Southern Fried label, who recently released their debut album Be Strong. They opened the day brilliantly, with their single ‘Bear Hug’ ensuring the crowd got moving from the get go.

Next up was the charismatic Maya Jane Coles who has already been burning up the decks across the world, on course to be one of today’s hottest house music stars. Many fans had flocked down to the stadium early to make sure they caught Maya in particular and she sure didn’t disappoint – confirming why she was awarded ‘Best Breakthrough DJ 2011’ by Mixmag last year.

Luciano brought the whole family along for his eclectic set which saw more than a few crowd pleasers pumped out into the stadium. His two little kids got down to Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ as the crowd sang along with beers in hand.

Then it was time for megaman Carl Cox to take to the decks and show the youngsters how it’s done. Long-time friend and colleague of Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox has established himself as one of the definitive names on the house music scene. Blasting out bangers such as Todd Terry’s ‘Keep On Jumping’, Carl was the perfect starter before we gorged on two hours of Fatboy Slim. Norman blew the Amex away with his mixing – encompassing his own tracks alongside house, techno, acid and bass. All in all Friday only left us wanting more – and we weren’t alone, with many revellers turning up for day two as well.

The second day of BBB5 took off with a bang as Union took the stage to entertain the first set of eager fans that stumbled into the stadium, some still recovering from the night before. The fans loved Union’s set and the DJs got the audience well and truly warmed up.

Next on the turntable was Doorly, a DJ who had a lot of people bouncing on their feet throughout his entire set. He proved himself a winner with remixed versions of Prodigy’s ‘Thunder’, which set the fans excitement scale up an extra notch.

Then Jaguar Skills provided another fantastic set, with the masked musician living up to expectations. The enigmatic DJ set the audience on fire (not literally of course) with his remix of ‘My Name Is’ by Eminem, called ‘My Name Is Jaguar Skills’, and other bangers.

Next up was fresh off the charts, DJ Fresh, who played popular songs such as ‘Hot Right Now’ and ‘Golddust’. Fans demanded more when the artist finished, but his time was up, and he gave way to the beautiful Annie Mac. She gracefully took to the stage, playing blends of Rihanna and Azealia Banks, alongside club anthems. Afterwards the Radio 1 DJ greeted fans who had manage to squeeze through to the front of the crowd, taking time to pose for photos and shake the odd hand – even allowing herself to be doused in ‘fairy dust’ (glitter that is – nothing sinister).

The penultimate act of the weekend was the superstar English duo Nero. At this point, there was no stopping the audience, who seemed to be having the time of their lives. Nero unleashed their world-renowned songs such as ‘Guilt’ and ‘Promises’, getting them worked up for the main man to come.

Fatboy’s set on Saturday was a fitting finale to a brilliant weekend. With over 21,000 people getting down to his amazing mix including a tribute to Donna Summer, whilst he dazzled the crowd with pyrotechnics and a laser show that left us reeling. Fatboy Slim cemented his position as not only the dance king of Brighton but a confirmed member of worldwide DJ royalty as he reigned supreme over the two day festival. It won’t be a weekend we’ll be forgetting in a hurry – all we can think about now is when and where BBB6 will be.