The UKs biggest student festival took place last week giving 10,000
revellers the ultimate party of the summer after the event moved site
with just 6 days to go! After doubling in size and selling out of
tickets for the first time ever, organisers were dealt a huge blow
when they lost their site leading to the most emotional and turbulent
week in BBL history. The unprecedented circumstances have had everyone
in the industry talking about it with early reviews proving
exceptional. Virtual Festivals gave Beach Break Live 10/10 for
atmosphere and BBC website front-page story saying, “It’s their type
of determination and spirit which would make established business
tycoons proud”.

Both Dizzee Rascal and Ladyhawke said BBL was one of the best gigs
they had ever done, with Dizzee’s turbo charged anthem ‘Bonkers’
setting the arena alight to close his Thursday night headline set with
thousands of revellers bouncing with euphoria following Ladyhawkes
stunning sun drenched set

Celia Norowzian, co-founder of Beach Break Live said “I still can’t
quite believe the event happened. It has literally been the most
emotionally and physically challenging weeks of our lives. On Monday
the 8th, just 7 days before ticket holders were set to arrive we had
exhausted all possibilities and were facing the end of Beach Break
Live.  In a last surge of hope and energy we found ourselves driving
through the night 325 miles across the country to Kent.  By Tuesday
afternoon the event was back on… we just had the small hurdle of
building it in only 5 days!  It was totally insane. We can’t thank the
crew, artists and ticket holders enough for the over whelming support
and extra effort from everyone. What this journey created was by far
the best atmosphere we’ve ever had at Beach Break and a real feeling
of something special. Thanks for keeping the faith!”

Last year Celia Norowzian and Ian Forshew, founders of Beach Break
Live were the stars of a BBC documentary about the highs and lows of
making a festival and this years Beach Break Live was the ultimate
turbulent ride. Industry and ticket holder support for BBL 09 has been
immense as the festival HQ has been flooded with letters and calls of
support from people amazed by how organisers managed to turn the
situation around when they lost their site just a week before the
show.

The crew were undeterred and after locating Port Lympe Safari Park as
the new site the beaches were built! Complete with palm trees,
volleyball nets and the whitest sand to be found in any Kentish zoo,
festival goers were playing beach games in their bikinis in no time!

The massive success of BBL 09 was unprecedented, a huge
congratulations goes out to everyone who made this happen. Bring on
2010!

BEACH BREAK LIVE 09 LINE UP:

DIZZEE RASCAL/ THE ZUTONS/ MYSTERY JETS/ FRIENDLY FIRES/ LADYHAWKE/
HADOUKEN / DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP / THE WHIP/ CUBAN BROTHERS/
WILL AND THE PEOPLE / RED LIGHT COMPANY/ DAN BLACK/ VV BROWN/ ESSER/
DELPHIC/ OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT / FLASHGUNS/ ZARIF/ RODNEY BRANNIGAN/
ALESSI’S ARK/ OU EST LE SWIMMING POOL?/ THE HITCHCOCK RULES/ VICES/
YEARNER BABIES/ 8 FOLD/ SPIRES/ THREE SEEDS IN PARIS/ ROKHSAN/ FRE3
PEACE/ THE DIRTY DISCO

DJ’S:

CHASE & STATUS FT. RAGE, TAKURA AND PLAN B/ DJ YODA/ SCRATCH PERVERTS/
KRAFTY KUTS/ CASPA & RUSKO/ TAYO / COUNT & SINDEN/ CRAZE AND KLEVER/
FREESTYLERS (DJ SET)/ JACK BEATS/ THE NEXTMEN / DEEKLINE / DYNAMITE
MC/ MC WREC/ URBAN KNIGHTS/ RADIOACTIVE MAN/ UTAH JAZZ/ TRG/ MARC
ROBERTS / DEKKER AND JOHAN

NOTES TO EDITOR

Background…

Beach Break Live first made its appearance on the festival circuit in
June 2007. With the success of the first festival under their belts
the two young entrepreneurs behind BBL, Celia Norowzian (24) and Ian
Forshew (25) both graduates of The University of Birmingham, appeared
on BBC2’s Dragons’ Den programme in November 2007.

They presented their plans and projections for the UK’s first
student-only festival and won over all four of the tough Dragons and
caused a bidding war to arise.

Out of the four offers made to them on the show they chose to go with
Peter Jones’ deal. However, in a bold move, the dynamic duo declined
his offer and concluded a deal with Outgoing Ltd the student event and
travel specialist best known for staging the infamous Snowbombing
Festival in Mayrhofen.

The couple were also the subject of a high profile BBC documentary
shown in August 2008, tracking the making of Beach Break Live 2008 and
the exciting twists and turns encountered along the way.

Celia previously managed another student festival when she was at
University, The Vale Festival in Birmingham. The success of this
spurred Celia on to create, alongside Ian, a nationwide students
festival and it was thrown into action in 2007. The festival has grown
from 1000 students in its first year, to 5000 in its second and is now
looking to sell a mighty 10,000 tickets in 2009.