Memories of Fatboy Slim - Brighton 2002

[paulmch]

This morning I was reading about Fatboy Slim's free concert on the beach in Brighton in 2002. The authorities, having expected a crowd of 60,000, were totally unprepared for the 500,000 people who showed up and by all accounts the risk to public safety was extremely high.

The Wikipedia page contains a brief mention of the chaos at Brighton station in the aftermath and I was wondering if anybody here had any recollections of it, either as a passenger or member of staff?

After the performance, thousands headed to Brighton railway station, where the last train to London was due to leave at 11:03 pm. The power to the tracks was cut when people began falling from the platforms; some walked along the tracks.

Brief Wikipedia summary

 

[Rab Smith]

Free concerts are definitely a thing of the past. It just wouldn't pass the health and safety nuts nowadays. I've always seen it as a tad naive to think that a popular act at the time giving a freebie wouldn't expect thousands and thousands of people to show up.

That of course, brings it's own logistical problems, one of them being transport.

I was at a free music day in Glasgow back in 1990. The big day was a free concert with acts such as Hothouse Flowers, Wet Wet Wet, Deacon Blue and Big Country who were all huge at the time.

After the Glasgow Green element had finished, I remember utter carnage as people tried to get home, with the train Station at Bridgeton being like the scene of a disaster movie!

Nowadays, a lot of planning goes into the logistics of a big gig.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Free concerts are definitely a thing of the past

Unticketed ones are. Free but ticketed is a bit less problematic

 

[dgl]

Jean-Michel Jarre has done a fair few free concerts that have had more people turn up than he would ever have dreamed. With him breaking multiple records (his own sometimes) and has performed to an estimated 2.5m at the La Defense in Paris and 3.5m in Moscow (videos of which are on YouTube, as are for all his huge shows)
Though British bureaucracy did get him in 198, and he wasn't able to do the size of concert that he wanted to do at the docklands in London (which was a paid for event) and had to be split on to two much smaller concerts (200,000 on each night, in basically storm conditions!), despite his previous concerts of similar size having no real issues.

 

[zwk500]

Free concerts are definitely a thing of the past. It just wouldnt pass the health and safety nuts nowadays. Always seen it as a tad naive to think that a popular act at the time giving a freebie wouldnt expect thousands and thousands of people to show up. That of course, brings it's own logistical problems, one of them being transport.
I was at a free music day in Glasgow back in 1990. The big day was a free concert with acts such as Hothouse Flowers, Wet Wet Wet, Deacon Blue and Big Country who were all huge at the time. After the Glasgow Green element had finished, I remember utter carnage as people tried to get home after it with the train Station at Bridgeton being like the scene of a disaster movie!
Nowadays, a lot of planning goes into the logistics of a big gig.

I don't know if it was the case for this particular concert, but Fat Boy Slim used to have a condition that you needed a Brighton area postcode to register for the annual summer concert, but the tickets were free.

 

[Rab Smith]

Unticketed ones are. Free but ticketed is a bit less problematic

Yes, of course. I was at a free concert in Bordeaux this summer that was ticketed. It wasn't overly busy though.

 

[Taunton]

Jean-Michel Jarre has done a fair few free concerts ... British bureaucracy did get him in 1988, and he wasn't able to do the size of concert that he wanted to do at the docklands in London (which was a paid for event) and had to be split on to two much smaller concerts (200,000 on each night, in basically storm conditions!), despite his previous concerts of similar size having no real issues.

Not far from my house, so I walked over. On the ground where the Excel Exhibition Centre now is, projected across the dock. No Liz Line or DLR then, the rail service was to Custom House on the then 2-EPB DC North Woolwich electric line with minimalist substations which couldn't be reinforced, so of all things a 3-car Pressed Steel suburban dmu (maybe more than one) was borrowed from Old Oak Common, which ran shuttles to/from Stratford !

 

[dgl]

Not far from my house, so I walked over. On the ground where the Excel Exhibition Centre now is, projected across the dock. No Liz Line or DLR then, the rail service was to Custom House on the then 2-EPB DC North Woolwich electric line with minimalist substations which couldn't be reinforced, so of all things a 3-car Pressed Steel suburban dmu (maybe more than one) was borrowed from Old Oak Common, which ran shuttles to/from Stratford !

Me jealous, of course not

I do have the four? concert videos box set that I acquired a few years ago but their not the best, have edited audio (China specifically due to quality issues with the live recordings, and La Defense due to equipment malfunction (proven by the live radio broadcasts that were recorded) and are incomplete, still nice to watch though.

 

[MP33]

I know someone who attended the Isle of Wight festival and also the Weeley festival in the early 1970s. This was promoted by the Clacton Round Table, who had no knowledge about the popularity of acts such as T-Rex. The station at Weeley was overwhelmed at the end of the festival.

 

[Taunton]

The 1988 London Docklands Jarre concert included multiple genuine WW2 searchlight sets, must have got them out of a museum, each with a substantial diesel generator, the beams projected upwards were enormous, they must have cautioned aircraft passing over to Heathrow. There were also substantial crowds outside the paid area, and a notable entitled attitude of these that they had identified viewing positions and nobody was going to sit or even walk in front of them. A very late requirement was to enhance the rubbish disposal and toilet provision; large numbers of bins and Portaloos were installed in useless positions where nobody was passing, and these were actually still being installed among the arriving throng when the music started, being conveyed by dumper from a delivery lorry, as they had engaged a construction contractor to do the work, doubtless all on overtime.

 

[lostwin(m)]

i travelled down from London by train for this event. We left early afternoon and I recall the train was busy but we were able to find a seat. When we arrived in Brighton, it was clear that the crowd was going to be big, all the off licences and supermarkets down from the station had queues with people stocking up. You will have seen pictures of the beach where the concert took place, we were probably about half way down, about 100m from the stage. As far as I am aware, there were no extra trains being put on, which meant the last train back would have been a bit after 11pm. We didn't even attempt it, it was clear it was going to be carnage, so we slept as best we could on the beach.

I guess around 6am, we started the trek back to the station - remember this was a Sunday morning - so everything was closed. Arriving at the still locked station, it looked like a refuge camp with hundreds slumped around, cold and hungry, waiting for the gates to open, the first train was maybe not until 8am. Now this is where a bit of local knowledge comes in helpful as it suddenly popped into my mind that hidden around the back of the station, in the car park, we had been to a Car Boot sale last time we visited - could that still be on? It was! No one but the locals seemed to know about it, so it was a calm and civilised oasis. We had a cup of tea and a bacon butty from the catering truck and I distinctly remember sitting there, the sun coming out and it being absolutely wonderful, like you had been rpulled out from the rubble after a natural catastrophe. The cherry on the cake was finding a mint condition Nikon L35 AF on one of the stalls, I'd been after one of those for ages.

We gave it till 9 or 10 to allow the first couple of trains to clear the crowd and caught a not especially busy train back up to the Smoke.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Not far from my house, so I walked over. On the ground where the Excel Exhibition Centre now is, projected across the dock. No Liz Line or DLR then

I might have walked in your footsteps. I lived for 1 year (April 2005 - April 2006) in a property on the Thames-side overlooking Victoria Dock.
Coincidentally, this video by Peter M, has a shot of where I lived.

Youtube links and Video sites

The Intercity Master Cutler tour today:

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[D365]

Free concerts are definitely a thing of the past.

Not so. I was at a free concert for Everything Everything last September (2025) in Burton-upon-Trent. No tickets, no entry fee - I just showed up in the town centre for the evening performance.

 

[Taunton]

i travelled down from London by train for this event ... As far as I am aware, there were no extra trains being put on, which meant the last train back would have been a bit after 11pm. We didn't even attempt it, it was clear it was going to be carnage, so we slept as best we could on the beach ... I guess around 6am, we started the trek back to the station - remember this was a Sunday morning - so everything was closed. Arriving at the still locked station, it looked like a refuge camp with hundreds slumped around, cold and hungry, waiting for the gates to open, the first train was maybe not until 8am ... We gave it till 9 or 10 to allow the first couple of trains to clear the crowd and caught a not especially busy train back up to the Smoke.

All a bit different back in BR days. Went to the 1978 Blackbushe Airfield rock concert, 1/4m audience, finished hours late as ever, well after midnight. Return trains to London all lined up on the Up Slow at Fleet to take us back to Waterloo, a huge operation. Described here:

Southern Region services 1975-82 and Arun Valley 1983

Hi, A while back I asked about old timetables, but wondered if anyone could give information on the typical pattern of Southern Region services over selected years in this period? Specifically the mainlines (non-suburban) on the South Western and Central divisions between 1975-82? I ask as this...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[WesternLancer]

i travelled down from London by train for this event. We left early afternoon and I recall the train was busy but we were able to find a seat. When we arrived in Brighton, it was clear that the crowd was going to be big, all the off licences and supermarkets down from the station had queues with people stocking up. You will have seen pictures of the beach where the concert took place, we were probably about half way down, about 100m from the stage. As far as I am aware, there were no extra trains being put on, which meant the last train back would have been a bit after 11pm. We didn't even attempt it, it was clear it was going to be carnage, so we slept as best we could on the beach.

I guess around 6am, we started the trek back to the station - remember this was a Sunday morning - so everything was closed. Arriving at the still locked station, it looked like a refuge camp with hundreds slumped around, cold and hungry, waiting for the gates to open, the first train was maybe not until 8am. Now this is where a bit of local knowledge comes in helpful as it suddenly popped into my mind that hidden around the back of the station, in the car park, we had been to a Car Boot sale last time we visited - could that still be on? It was! No one but the locals seemed to know about it, so it was a calm and civilised oasis. We had a cup of tea and a bacon butty from the catering truck and I distinctly remember sitting there, the sun coming out and it being absolutely wonderful, like you had been rpulled out from the rubble after a natural catastrophe. The cherry on the cake was finding a mint condition Nikon L35 AF on one of the stalls, I'd been after one of those for ages.

We gave it till 9 or 10 to allow the first couple of trains to clear the crowd and caught a not especially busy train back up to the Smoke.

Good call on the station car park car boot!
That had been going since at least the mid 80s when I worked at Brighton station. I assume it’s not still a fixture, but it was certainly popular in my day.

 

[Skiddaw]

i travelled down from London by train for this event. We left early afternoon and I recall the train was busy but we were able to find a seat. When we arrived in Brighton, it was clear that the crowd was going to be big, all the off licences and supermarkets down from the station had queues with people stocking up. You will have seen pictures of the beach where the concert took place, we were probably about half way down, about 100m from the stage. As far as I am aware, there were no extra trains being put on, which meant the last train back would have been a bit after 11pm. We didn't even attempt it, it was clear it was going to be carnage, so we slept as best we could on the beach.

I guess around 6am, we started the trek back to the station - remember this was a Sunday morning - so everything was closed. Arriving at the still locked station, it looked like a refuge camp with hundreds slumped around, cold and hungry, waiting for the gates to open, the first train was maybe not until 8am. Now this is where a bit of local knowledge comes in helpful as it suddenly popped into my mind that hidden around the back of the station, in the car park, we had been to a Car Boot sale last time we visited - could that still be on? It was! No one but the locals seemed to know about it, so it was a calm and civilised oasis. We had a cup of tea and a bacon butty from the catering truck and I distinctly remember sitting there, the sun coming out and it being absolutely wonderful, like you had been rpulled out from the rubble after a natural catastrophe. The cherry on the cake was finding a mint condition Nikon L35 AF on one of the stalls, I'd been after one of those for ages.

We gave it till 9 or 10 to allow the first couple of trains to clear the crowd and caught a not especially busy train back up to the Smoke.

You never forget things like that do you? Lovely story

 

[Jan Mayen]

I seem to recall reading about a concert in (maybe) Brighton, where the it was noticed an exceptional number people were turning up by train. While the concert was in progress, BR Control (or whichever railway company) somehow managed to arrange a dozen extra trains late at night. I actually thought it was Fatboy Slim, but obviously not.