Fat Boy Slim is always fucking in heaven

A couple of months ago now, I had the pleasure of working up at this festival called Rock Ness. It's an incredible setting on a field leading down to Loch Ness there were about 25000 people there to see the likes of CSS, Fat Boy Slim, DJ Yoda, 2ManyDJ's, Soulwax, Editors and so on and so forth. 

During this festival I was lucky enough to be working for Canon doing a promotion there. The great thing about doing this was that we were given production wrist bands which meant we could go anywhere other than actually on the stage. When you do mix backstage at a festival of this size you ultimately end up meeting some pretty cool people. A person I did interact with on a work level over the weekend was the head of press for the event. I'm guessing this chick was mid-30's still looked very good for her suspected age and had a huge amount of confidence. The funny thing about this chick was what a massive name-dropper she was and what a massive groupie she appeared to be. I'm sure she had done this role at different festivals for quite a few years which made me think about the amount she would have seen and done with world-beating names. She really should write a book uncovering it all.

As the first day was coming to an end we met up with this captivating press lady who took us side of stage for Fat Boy Slim who was headlining the first night. As I was speaking to our friend she was quite obviously off her head on something (bless her). 

Anyway, being side of stage for a headlining act at a relatively large festival was something I'd obviously never done before. This is one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. To watch a very relaxed, bare-footed Norman Cook control the crowd the way he did was absolutely amazing. He is a master of controlling and entertaining an audience and they responded accordingly. He had the hearts and souls of 25000 people completely in his control, and from that experience I learned that it is way more of a show for him that it ever is for anyone of the 25000 people watching.

The interesting thing about being side of stage for his set is that i was barely focusing on him or his set at all. I was completely entranced and focused on the crowd the whole time. This was such a rush and what a lucky fella to be able to do this week in week out. Bastard!

Words and Photography: Tom Rohr