Big Beach Boutique II
2002 CE.
Shown on the map at 50.821°, -0.150°.
Big Beach Boutique II was a free concert held on 13 July 2002 by the English DJ Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) on Brighton beach in Brighton, England. In 2022, Mixmag described it as the largest outdoor party ever to take place in the UK. The concert was attended by around 250,000 people, four times more than expected. Local authorities were severely underprepared, which led to more than 170 injuries and six arrests. Two people died in the hours after. The cleanup operation lasted days and cost over £300,000, with 160 tonnes of rubbish collected from the beach. Cook donated £75,000 to the cleanup. Big Beach Boutique II became a case study for event management and no similar free concert has been permitted in Britain. Cook feared a backlash, but received support from Brighton residents. He performed further concerts on Brighton beach in later years, with increased safety procedures and a limited number of tickets. Cook released a live album and DVD, Big Beach Boutique II, in 2003. In 2023, for the event's 20th anniversary, Cook released a boxset, Right Here, Right Now.
Text from the Wikipedia article Big Beach Boutique II, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.