July 13, 2002

Unbelievable. 1/4 of a million people on a thin strip of beach and one street. We danced on flowerpots in front of The Grand! I'm amazed more people weren't hurt in the melee...

Read what the media said:
BBC
Argus
Argus Photo Gallery

Then read what I say:

I had a fantastic time. Becky, Mark, several other friends of Becky's, and I danced on the raised flowerbed platforms outside The Grand hotel, which ended up being the best spot in the whole place (apart from the people dancing atop the portaloos, that is). We were even with the stage, so we could hear perfectly, even though we couldn't see anything, but we could dance freely and had perfect views for people watching (some of those people watched include Fatboy Slim and Zoe Ball outside the Grand). I had my name on the list for the media area, but Becky and I tried to get down there but couldn't even get near it because of the crush of people. Sad thing was, the people on the balcony of Kings Road weren't even moving and were just looking miserable, where as further to the side on our flowerpots, spirits were high and people were generally great to each other and it was a fantastic atmosphere. Oh, and we're bound to be in newspapers or Channel Four after being photographed a thousand times with our new friends, two lovely and very camp guys with pink antennas, glow necklaces, and little else on. :) I've yet to look around for our photos, but if I find us, I'll pass us on.

Anyway, I'm incredibly glad we went this year, because I doubt it'll happen again. There just wasn't enough support services for the amount of people, and the shops and food places were just overwhelmed. One of the off licenses along the seafront actually shut at about 9pm because THEY RAN OUT OF EVERYTHING ALCOHOLIC. everything. some poor sod was drinking bitters, you know. woof. From where we were standing, there was people literally as far as the eye could see in other direction, and thousands more on the beach that we couldn't see. One of Becky's friends went home to Hove to get a bit to eat, and even down there, she said she was seeing 200 people every 30 seconds washing past her house in the direction of the stage area.

One of the most surreal bits about the evening, though, was that there was a convention of Jehovas Witnesses in the Brighton Centre right in the center of our debauchery. They even had the cheek to put "The Kingdom of God" massive on the marquee, which made for many good photo opportunities!

Finally, to put it into perspective, there were over twice as many people on Brighton seafront on Saturday than there was at the entire Glastonbury site this year (or 2000 for that matter). Or, for the PSU alums, that's also over twice the capacity of Beaver Stadium, all on a thin strip of beach and one street!