DJ Fatboy Slim

DJ Fatboy Slim is planning a very large party on the beach at Brighton. It will take place on New Year's Day 2007 and there is very little organising left to do so that the party can happen. Listen to this report from the BBC in Brighton:

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He has said they had a yes from the council from the word go. And then they got a yes from the police and a yes from the coastguard. So all the yes's were coming in. It's been really exciting.

He has said that 20,000 people will be admitted to this New Year's event, which will be ticket-only. Concerns were raised after a beach party held by Fatboy Slim in July 2002 ended in chaos when 250,000 people turned up. Brighton council leader Simon Burgess said the 2007 gig would be completely different - it would be one tenth of the audience and in a contained area.

Sussex Police previously said the 2002 event put a huge strain on the city, which could not happen again. But the force said it was not opposed to a party being held subject to strict restrictions.

BBC Southern Counties

Listen to the words

has given an update
has told the latest information

subject to
dependent on

superstitious
believing in something that's not based on reason or fact but on old ideas about luck, magic, etc.

they're 99.9% of the way there
they have very nearly achieved their goal

backed by
supported and encouraged by

from the word go
from the very beginning

admitted
allowed to attend

chaos
complete disorder and confusion

gig
a concert, a live performance (an informal word)

put a huge strain on the city
gave the city a lot of trouble because of the difficult situation

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