Fatboy Slim, Arena Birmingham - review and pictures
There was an odd feeling around this gig from the moment we walked in.
Ticket sales hadn’t been fantastic it seemed, and those huge black Arena Birmingham curtains were hanging from the ceiling blocking off most of the seating area past the first block, while the standing space had been shrunk a bit too.
Yet despite that, everything still felt so far away from each other. We were close to the spinning DJ podium with its 360° wrap-around LED screen, yet it still felt like we were a little detached from what was going on.
The people around us were dancing around for most parts, and yet at others people seemed to have disengaged from what was going on and stood around having a natter.
It was great to have some home-grown support. Birmingham-born and University of Wolverhampton-educated Hannah Wants was the second DJ of the evening before Fatboy himself and she seemed to be loving her hometown performance.
The former Aston Villa Ladies star bounced around between decks like Tigger controlling the sounds at a rave in The Hundred Acre Wood, finishing off in a vivacious fluffy coat which made her look the business.
When Fatboy Slim, AKA Norman Cook, did arrive the atmosphere audibly lifted. And he had the crowd hooked for his opening soiree.
The usually banging Eat Sleep Rave Repeat was his first dish, but with it being mixed in with this and that it lost a lot of the ferocity of its booming beats and was disappointingly disjointed.
Fatboy left a lot of his big smashes out sadly. There was no Gangster Trippin, no Slash Dot Dash, no Weapon Of Choice and no Ya Mama. Instead, we had a lot of covers that, while sounding good, failed to keep everyone engaged as stated earlier.
Rihanna’s Pon De Replay got a spin, as did Run-D.M.C.’s It’s Like That. And from his own collection, Star 69 and Renegade Master did get an airing and had those who had come for an early spring rave flailing limbs (and beer) into the air.
His encore was the best part of the night as that huge 360° screen showed off his beaming smile with live Fatboy footage.
Right Here, Right Now, Campelphat, Praise You and The Rockafeller Skank all blasted out and sounded fab, while The Rolling Stones’ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction succinctly summed up our feelings of the evening in one song.
