How to celebrate two Millenniums. Impossible in one lifetime but maybe not in the same 24 hours by flying backwards over the International Date Line from Sydney Australia to Honolulu Hawaii with dance music the choice of the occasion. An EG idea to reality for the BBC with delivered aplomb..
Kakaako Waterfront Park, Honolulu Oahu, the venue for 10'000 Hawaiians to see in the Millennium to DJ Carl Cox and DJ OO-Spot. Broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Sat 1st January 2000 live to the world.
Carl Cox's set Live @ Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia 1999-12-31 Millennium produced by EG (and Countdown at 3:18)
Phuture 2000 Hawaii TV doc the Race Against Time - link
Carl Cox's set Live @ Honolulu Hawaii 01.01.2000 produced by EG :-)
Countdown at 29:50 - real history for Carl, the only DJ ever to see in TWO Millenniums behind the turntables live on the BBC around the world. Well done Carl, Greg & Jay.
One of my truly greatest visions. To celebrate the new Millennium with events
linked around the earth's dateline from Australia to Hawaii. It took a
great deal of explaining but I believed from the outset it could be done.
In January 1998 I approached the Controller of BBC Radio 1, Andy Parfitt, with the idea of broadcasting these parties as an all day celebration of the turning of the next 1000 years.
He fully embraced the idea and sent me around the world accompanied by Jonathan Ruffle a BBC
spokesperson and Steve Richards a BBC Outside Broadcasting Expert. We
went around the world twice all coordinated by Jonathan who used to
produce the Steve Wright and Simon Bates Radio 1 shows so was always up
for a crazy idea or three.
The three of us had an absolute blast to tell you
the truth visiting India, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan,
Thailand, Brazil, South Africa, New York, Los Angeles and Hawaii in the
USA, Singapore. Many of the photos on this page are from the places
visited.
Then to crown it all we actually pulled the events off.
Jonathan and I really did have two Millenniums by crossing the dateline
from Sydney, Australia to Honolulu, Hawaii. Leaving Sydney at 4am Sat
1st Jan 2000 and arriving in Honolulu at 8pm Fri 31st Dec 1999 after a
9 hour flight in a plane full of party people, transvestites and DJ's.
The
Bondi Beach gig in Sydney was broadcast live in the UK on BBC Radio 1 at 1pm in the
afternoon to the world. I did the countdown on the mic, DJ Carl
Cox drove them wild with his music and 15'000 people on the beach went
loopy-loo but the best reception was in Honolulu because it was the
biggest dance music event to ever hit the island, plus was fully endorsed by the Hawaii
Governor as their official State of Hawaii Millennium party. The crowd were so hyped up that they
were running at the stage in sheer mania. It was electrifying and
made me smile proud at the madness of it all looking up at the stars in the open Hawaii night sky while Carl Cox set about them with his tunes and the stage security threw the eager bodies back into the audience like some crazy mosh pit at a stadium rock concert.
An amazing 24 hours and conceptualised all in my head 24 months before whilst eating breakfast in New York after completing a triple city '97 New Year's Eve broadcast in London, Manchester and New York. It was worth the heartbreak of leaving Manifesto Records to do this, amazing. We did it. Dance Music wrapped its arms around the entire world on the only Millennium night we all will ever see ! 19 years later dance music is truly global for all major media and brands, dance DJ's are millionaires too :-)
Thank you Andy, Jonathan, Richard, Ian
Parkinson, Carl Cox, Jeff and Ann Young, Danny Rampling, Danny Whittle
and last but not least of all Greg Dehnert in Hawaii now a lifelong buddy..
Love from Lorna Clarke @ BBC Radio 1 for Carl Cox's Bondi Beach, Sydney set on the Millennium.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/virals/ibiza/article224449.ece
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/585185.stm