Fatboy Slim @ Terminal 5

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Sunday, 28 June 2009 23:06

The first emotion besieging anyone who entered Terminal 5 on Wednesday was nostalgia. Norman Cook, pseudonym Fatboy Slim, was onstage imperiously gazing down on the expectant audience while the huge screen behind him played not one scene but a montage of clips from both the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the 2005 incarnation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As Gene Wilder’s voice on the song “Pure Imagination” floated out of the massive loudspeakers, Cook was preparing himself for what has to be one of the strongest electronica and big beat sets to have graced Terminal 5’s stage.

Before I went to the show, I attempted to casually express my excitement to a co-worker quite a bit older than I am. When I brought up Fatboy Slim, she looked at me in surprise, saying, “I didn’t know that younger people even knew who he was.” I recoiled in horror, indignant on behalf of all of us kids who know good music can come from people who were alive before we were. To be honest, if you know anything about mainstream dance music or have watched teen flicks from the 1990s (She’s All That anyone?) you know who Norman Cook is, though you may not know that Norman Cook is his real name.

Cook has clearly cemented a place for himself as a pioneer in electronic music and time has not dulled his edge in any way. His set was fluid, with transitions that continually kept waves of excitement rolling through the crowd at every turn. It was not only the set that made the performance so intense– his entire performing space and he himself were a huge part of the appeal. The venue was large enough that the crowd could move comfortably without hurting one another as the inevitable dancing began, and the video show behind Cook was a huge focal point.

Innovative and interesting, Cook filled it with graphics that followed the beat and occasionally clips of his own music videos that seemed tailored for the show. Cook himself was dancing and rocking to overwhelming positive reactions from the crowd, clearly enjoying every minute of the show and extending that to all those watching. Cook was also in New York performing as the Brighton Port Authority, along with cohort Iggy Pop. He pulled a quick identity switch to perform this one Fatboy Slim show, his only East coast performance.

-Nida Nizam