Photo by Marek Richter

Yes, it’s true: this year’s Beach Boutique has been cancelled. The event was set to take place on the weekend of September the 4th and 5th 2009. Norman has been battling alcohol addiction and has spent time in rehab earlier in the year.

Councillor David Smith, Brighton and Hove City Council cabinet member for culture and tourism, said he was disappointed Beach Party 5 had been cancelled because of the number of people it brought to the city.

20,000 people attended the last event, which took place along Madeira Drive. The event was completely different from 2001’s inaugural Big Beach Boutique, which saw 65,000 people hit Brighton’s beach or 2002’s which attracted 250,000. The change from free party to commercial venture – mixed with high ticket costs, poor sound and inaccessible location have not helped the reputation of the event develop.

While the original Beach Boutique parties are remembered with disbelief and are stuff of legend, the recent incarnations would probably not be too missed.

Photos by Patrycja Gawejko

We bring you a few photos of Audio’s Monday night special with Norman Cook. Cook was joined on the decks by secret guest, ex underworld member, Darren Emerson. The promoters have previously booked Emerson to play for a one off party at the Concorde and have featured artists from his Underwater records label at Audio. 

In an interesting twist, Above Audio was supposedly hosting a range of “celebrities” as part of the evenings entertainment. We’d love to know which celebrities attended. It can’t be as bad as when the Honey Club had June Brown, the actress who plays Eastenders Dot Cotton, in attendance. That’s exactly what you want when you go to a club – a haggard chain smoking beast. We’ve never been sucked into the media’s hype of celebrity, or in to gimmicks when it comes to gigs/clubbing. So what celebrities did we have at Above Audio – let us know.

Photo by Marek Richter

Love him or hate him he’s one of the biggest DJs Brighton has ever produced. He’s recently made a comeback with a new project; The Brighton Port Authority, or BPA. The act debuted in 2008 with a collaboration with David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal in a track titled “Toe Jam”, check out the video if you get a chance. If you like nakedness it might be for you.

It has to be said his last venture to Audio, as the Mighty Dub Katz, did fall very short of expectations. Let’s see what he has in store this time.

Tickets available on the door. £10

26/01/08

Photo by Marek Richter

It has been announced this week that Norman Cook is set to bring his Big Beach Boutique party back to Brighton. The council has set aside September the 4^th and 5^th for the DJ’s return. Be prepared to fork out the usual extortionate ticket price, listen to his mix of cheese hits and brave the long walk to the toilets.

Check out our photos from Beach Boutique 4:

http://www.brightonfusion.co.uk/live/2008/09/27/big-beach-boutique-4-photos/

We will bring you more information as and when we get it.

It’s Saturday, 10am… Hung-over, tired and grudgingly wondering round Top Shop looking at bras and panties. Amy the Filmmaker sidles’ up uttering about buying clothes to wear for the United Nations. With quick as a fox reflexes I offer her a sweet from Woolworths and mention Norman Cook being on later that evening. You may or may not have read the articles we put out after Norman’s last beach bash. The general gist was not so positive. Maybe that’s an understatement… we said the night, Norman and probably most the people were shit. With that in mind Amy shrugged and looked at me with disgust when mentioned I would be attending this evening. Unlike some I am more forgiving of a wank evening.

Fast forward some hours. Vodka and Whisky consumed and the cabs are called. Our cars dwindle along the Old Stein. It’s raining, the Ladyboy’s have packed up their gay-bags and it’s a bank holiday weekend in Brighton. We arrive early to beat the initial queues and head straight in to Audio.

We enter just after 11:00 to medium packed venue. People are skipping and Ashley Beadle is warming up the crowd. I must say I’m a bit biased when it comes to Beadle… the last time we saw X-press 2 was some years back at the Ocean Rooms. This was probably one of the worst (some what respectable) nights we had ever attended. And if you get food poisoning once from a restaurant you never go back for more. All apprehensions aside I began to dance about with my usual uninspired chicken steps (I am available as a dance instructor). Beadle played a range of tracks from Missy Eliot’s – We run this, moving into your somewhat “written in stone” DJ play-list with Booka Shade. Alas the crowd enjoyed every moment with people looking slightly more compus mentus then a usual Stompa Phunk shindig.

Norman arrives to the crowd’s adoration. I stand and watch as they heave and scream at a man they love so much. He starts his set with his usual can’t be fucked stop-start style of mixing. Impressive in your living room, sure I’ll give him that, not so extraordinary on the dance floor. The track selection in his short set often seemed poor and missing any current kick. Playing old Michael Jackson bootlegs (Detroit Grand Pubahs – Sandwiches (Samich Jackson Mix) and Elton John is not really cutting edge. And to be forthright, who wants to pay £15 to listen to Elton John anyway? I’d happily let people round mine for £5. I could even open up a few cans of cider and play “Candle in the wind” on repeat (tickets currently on sale from all good outlets). Did Norman Cook offer us more? I don’t think so. Norman Cook playing under the Mighty Dub Katz pseudonym once again offered us something different from his Fatboy Slim alter ego. Yet in practise it delivered nothing new, nothing creative and nothing to rave about. Gone are the days of the Boutique and Norman’s reign. He’ll need to recreate himself, as he has done so many times in the past, to once again be hailed as a current part of Brighton’s music scene. This may sound harsh and over the top… but if you put aside what Norman has done and who he is then it makes sense. If anyone else had played his set he would be booed from the building. Stand up for him sure but realise it’s his personality that kept the night alive and not the music. Alas I shall not be attending the next one.

Stompa Phunk regular Caged Baby was up next. He did his usual Ableton set and really made the crowd go wild compared to Norman. In fact a lot of people in the crowd didn’t even notice Cook was on and after his short set he had skuttered away as swiftly as his appearance. Next time go for Caged Baby alone and let Norman stay at home and look after his wife and kids.

It came to 4am and we felt a tad warn out and let down. We retired to the Funky Buddha for some more action which probably became the highlight of the evening. A nice walk along the seafront at 7am and the night was over.

If you want a real good night go see Andrew Weatherall @ Audio on the 2nd of June 2007. Weatherall – A DJ who is certainly not out of touch and riding on the back of his once established reputation. Pure gold.

Oh and Amy… you were right.

Audio
http://www.audiobrighton.com

10 Marine Parade
Brighton
East Sussex
Tel: 01273-624343

info@audiobrighton.com

Words: Marek the Czech