DJ Norman Jay brings festival sunshine to The Big Chill
For many at the festival, Norman Jay OBE is Mr Big Chill.
Like the star midfielder, he’s first on the teamsheet when organisers start creating the line-up for the following year’s event – not least because he always seems to bring out the sun, whatever the weather has been doing the rest of the weekend.
“It’s an ongoing theme now – I think it’s one of the reasons why they hire me!” he laughs.
Norman’s two-hour Sunday lunchtime session has been a part of the festival pretty much since its mid-90s birth; a post-hangover set for the hundreds stretched out on rugs in front of the main stage.
Why the Notting Hill DJ keeps coming back for more is simple: “It’s the premier festival in the UK for me,” says Norman. “Notting Hill Carnival has a different dynamic, but as far as UK green field festivals go, it’s the numero uno.
“It’s something I really love because I’ve been part of the Big Chill family since almost the beginning; it’s a very loyal fanbase, fantastic people and I love the cross pollination of the background of people that come there; very wealthy country ya-yas, inner city kids, families, international travellers; it’s a fantastic mix of really good people.”
Norman, who was awarded his OBE in 2002 for services to music, will this year rub artistic shoulders with Massive Attack, M.I.A., Lily Allen, Gregory Isaacs and Roots Manuva, to name but a few.
“When I first did it many years ago I think it was the second or third one,” he recalls.
“It started off very organically, a couple of hundred people horizontal and sitting down, in the blazing sun and the last half hour or so I got the feeling that one or two people might want to stand up and jump about a bit so it kind of evolved from there into one of the main attractions on the Sunday.
“Originally the whole vibe was I couldn’t do Fridays or Saturdays cos I’m a club DJ first, so I’d come from a gig on Sunday morning, straight to The Big Chill and just basically wanted to do a recovery set; starting off very slowly for people post-hangover with a couple of dance tunes tacked on the end.
“I just use stepping stones of music,” he adds. “Each tune slightly quicker in tempo so by the end there’s a ‘hand in air’ finale – but only for two or three records.”
Norman, who will play his 30th Notting Hill Carnival weeks after The Big Chill, says he’s a different person when he plays to the crowd at Eastnor Castle Deer Park.
“I don’t care who runs the festival provided the ethos remains the same or as close to the original as possible – left of centre music and live acts, a sort of right-on green policy as well, that’s another one of the attractions for me,” he explains.
“I do all the dance festivals and it’s a wholly different crowd; when I come to The Big Chill I get to play the gentler side of Norman Jay, the effeminate side of Norman Jay, the chilled side of Norman Jay – and the crowd give me a lot of leeway, show me a lot of love – and hopefully I respond.
“It’s never pre-planned,” he insists. “I play purely off instinct, emotion and feeling; I couldn’t do a gig of that size pre-planning – if I was 100 per cent conscious I’d probably suffer with stage fright.
“There’s anything between 20-30,000 people standing in front of me, I’m a lone figure on a huge stage. When I look back at some of the footage I have to take a deep breath – that’s part of the reason why I always wear dark glasses cos I’d be frightened otherwise – and an effort to hide the late night before and the sun’s rays out of my eyes.”
* Big Chill co-founder Katrina Larkin and managing director of organisers Festival Republic Melvin Benn outline their highlights for this year's festival
* Massive Attack
Melvin: “I saw them in Norway recently – absolutely fantastic show, it’s just extremely good; the most excellent music, the most excellent visuals, but at the same time never letting go of that awareness of the politics that are occurring in the world, never ever letting go of that or who Massive Attack are”
Katrina: “Daddy G’s been coming to The Big Chill since the Enchanted Garden days; I think I first met him there in ’98 and he’s been coming with his family ever since, so it’s just logical, it’s a band that should have played with us years ago and now we have a chance to have them on stage”
* M.I.A
Katrina: “She is like a personal favourite of mine, I’m a little bit obsessed and I love to see a strong female artist on there”
Melvin: “Inevitable she is a highlight; the new album is absolutely fantastic”
* Thom Yorke
Melvin: “One of the things that you definitely have to go and watch is Thom Yorke playing solo; he did a solo performance at Latitude Festival last year and I’ve got to tell you it’s just off the scale good”
* Chrome Hoof
Katrina: “I love Chrome Hoof – oh my god, they dress like KLF’s [Justified] Ancients of Mu Mu, they’re like futuristic versions of that – they’re worth doing a Google image search on...”
* Ziggurat of Flavour
Katrina: “It’s this giant pyramid that you go into it’s filled with vapour of fruits that you breathe in – a bit like that Antony Gormley piece at the Hayward Gallery called Vapour – and then you go up a ladder and you go down a giant slide on the outside”
* Illusion
Katrina: “They are these giant spheres, it looks very lunar-like and they glow inside but they’ve got a 24 hour soundtrack so people can wander all round them and sit around them and look down at the festival”
* Starburst
Katrina: “They look like a Rubik’s Cube lit up and people will be given headphones and they will be able to dance into the wee hours all around it”
