Fatboy Slim has said the country needs “an anthem like We’ll Meet Again to lift us, to get us through this”.
The DJ, real name Norman Cook, was speaking after announcing that he is to stage a free concert in his home town of Brighton for thousands of emergency services workers.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “My job is mainly about escapism and frivolity but also it’s kind of the opposite of social distancing.
“You know everything about my job is about people coming together in large, unhealthy clusters so I’m kind of fairly redundant right now, but I did want to do something and obviously escapism and frivolity is something that’s short on the ground and so it just felt nice to do something to thank the key workers.
“I mean it started, some friends of mine who work for the NHS said ‘Will you do a little film just to cheer people up?’ and then I jokingly said at the end of it ‘When this is all over we should have a big party and dance together’, and they kind of took me up on that.”
The concert is due to be held at the Brighton Centre in October and Cook has extended the invitation to NHS, police, fire and ambulance workers.
Cook also spoke to ITV presenters Ben Shephard and Ranvir Singh about the power of music during the pandemic.
“Music has always just been a very powerful way of bringing a sense of community and a sense of togetherness. Even though it’s not physical togetherness, you can unite loving a song or enjoying a song; you can feel in touch with the artist who made it or the other people who like it without actually physically being in the room with them.
“So I think music has always been very important to lift people’s spirits or rally us together. It is, I suppose, just as important right now. What I think this country needs is an anthem like We’ll Meet Again to lift us, to get us through this”.
– The concert will take place on October 28, with 5,000 tickets available free of charge, on Ticketmaster from 7pm on Friday April 17.
