Fatboy Slim documentary trailer about shambolic Brighton gig where one man died and dozens were injured drops: ‘It was just mayhem’

A new documentary will look back at Brighton’s The Big Beach Boutique concert headlined by Fatboy Slim and what went wrong at ‘the biggest beach party the UK has ever seen’.

Back in 2002, the DJ was already a huge hit, so when it was announced that he would be performing a free open-air concert on July 13, punters understandably sped to the seaside to get a chance to watch him in action.

However not unlike when people flocked to the Bahamas for Fyre Festival, this concert quickly became overwhelming for organisers, who didn’t quite anticipate how many people would turn up.

While they were expecting around 40,000 people to attend, more than 250,000 arrived.

What happened ended up changing the way events in the UK were run forever.

The trailer for the documentary, which was released on Friday, begins with a bird’s eye view of the concert, which shows people packed on the sand like sardines as Fatboy Slim, real name Norman Cook, explaining that when he first arrived that day he thought it was ‘brilliant’ so see so many people there.

Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) is speaking about the infamous concert (Picture: SKY)

One of the organisers is then heard recalling how she voiced concerns about the crowd, but was told: ‘It’s not the Beatles, it’s just a DJ.’

However, the problem was that Fatboy Slim was the most popular DJ in the world at the time, as Vernon Kay says in the trailer.

Archival footage then shows Fatboy Slim starting to look nervous in an interview as he admits the crowd looks like it’s gotten ‘out of control’.

More than 250,000 flocked to Brighton to see him play (Picture: Steve Dennett/REX/Shutterstock)

People who were there that day then explain how they felt like they were ‘part of a giant organism’, while another said he was questioning where the police were.

‘It was just mayhem,’ one added.

Another organiser said it turned into a day they had not planned for and went totally ‘wrong’.

The DJ performing at the concert in 2002 (Picture: James Boardman/REX/Shutterstock)

There on the day were also Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, who speak about what unfolded from where they stood.

Things became so fraught that by the end of the event, one man was dead and 100 were injured as the crowd surged.

The man who died suffered a heart attack, while a woman was critically injured after falling from the esplanade.

Others suffered broken legs and another broke their back.

Thousands were forced to sleep on the beach after trains stopped running (Picture: John Horsley/ Avalon/ Getty Images)

With trains totally full too, thousands were forced to sleep on the beach.

Now, two decades on, the DJ and those who were there look back on what happened.

As the documentary synopsis explains, it looks at: ‘This seismic historical moment…the process and the obstacles…the immense difficulties and struggles that the local police faced with such an unexpected amount of descendants on the city, the councillors and residents that opposed the controversial event and many of those who participated in what Norman has described as a “Woodstock moment”.’

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Speaking about the upcoming release Norman said it had been ‘wonderful with the fullness of time and some hindsight, to revisit such a seismic event in both mine and my hometown’s history.’

He added it would be a ‘warts and all’ retelling of the story ‘in full’.

Right Here, Right Now is streaming on Sky Documentaries from February 4.

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More than 250,000 people turned up.