Page 35 - We Rave You Magazine | September 2022

INTERVIEW > FROM THE 90’S TO THE 20’S WITH FATBOY SLIM

Since you performed at the very first edition of Cream-
fields in 1998, what are the biggest differences you’ve seen
from that edition all the way up until now?
I’ll be honest, there’s not a huge amount of change. It’s
still run by the same people, who put the same love into it.
And it’s still frequented by similar people, who are differ-
ent generations but still share the same love. What I love
about here [Creamfields] is because it’s all DJs, and it’s all
dance music, it hasn’t got that edge. It’s our family, it’s our
community, and everyone has just one goal which is to have
fun and look after each other. It’s very passive and beautiful.
But yeah, it hasn’t really changed. Rock music, politics and
things like that change but dance music has always had
the same drive.

How do UK crowds compare to any other crowds around
the world?
Better than some, not as good as some. For me, the main
difference with UK crowds is because they know me. I’ve
been around so long that i’m part of the furniture, like “oh it’s
Norman!” so there’s a friendliness and an acceptance. I’ve
got nothing to prove, they know what i’m going to do and
how I am. The further you go abroad the more you have to
persuade people that you’re cool. Here I couldn’t persuade
them that i’m cool because they know me!

Speaking of UK crowds, it’s been 20 years since Big Beach
Boutique and you did another show there recently. Was it
like stepping back in time?
A bit, yeah. There’s always that same love, I mean Brighton
is my hometown, I live on that beach. It’s quite funny, when
I arrived someone said “How does it feel to be back?” and
i’m like, “I go past this way every other week!” There was a
lot of that same kind of pride in my hometown, and pride
that they allowed me to do it. It took 20 years for them to
allow me back on that beach, it did get out of hand 20
years ago. It was just a glorious celebration and relation-
ship with my home city.

Speaking of out of hand, the Woodstock ’99 documen-
tary came out recently on Netflix and you had quite the
experience there. What was it like watching it all unfold
from stage?
I didn’t see a lot of it. When I saw the film I was like “oh my
god, I got away in my little aircraft!” It wasn’t as bad in my
aircraft hangar as it was on the mainstage. It was weird, it
was like one of the hairier nights of my life, and I don’t go
back to it too much in my mind for fear of having night-
mares. Doing the interview [for the documentary], it did
bring up some slightly edgy memories. I thought I was over
the PTSD of it but perhaps not.

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