AS we fast approach the launch of Southampton’s inaugural Common People festival some of its star performers have shared their excitement with the Daily Echo.

DJ legend Fatboy Slim aka Norman Cook, who tops the bill on Saturday, is in huge demand across the globe, headlining the world’s biggest music festivals.

He performed 90 worldwide live shows last year alone.

But he is particularly delighted to be heading to Southampton from his home in Hove, West Sussex, to headline on Saturday.

He said: “Living just down the road, I have an affinity with Southampton. It’s (Common People) run by the Bestival crew, and I did their inaugural festival ten years ago.

“It’s nice to be at this part of my career and do things that haven’t been done before. Glastonbury and Bestival are great but you never feel like you are breaking new ground.

“If Common People becomes part of the furniture over the years, it would have been great to have been part of the inaugural one.”

“Rob da Bank knows what the people want," he said. "He’s grown up being a party animal and puts a lot of love and care into building the party.”

Cook, 51, was originally a member of the socialist band The Housemartins before reaching mega-stardom as Fatboy Slim enjoying hits like Rockafeller Skank and Right Here, Right Now and the dance anthem Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat.

More interested in DJing to thousands of people now than producing his own material, he said: “I’ve got to that point in my career where I am not so passionate about making music as I am about playing it.

Daily Echo:

“I’ve fallen out of love with the process of making music and selling it to people. But DJing I have a lot of passion for.

“I spend two or three days a week on the internet listening to new music and weeding out the rubbish to find what goes into my set.

“Now everything is accessible we have to be curators. We trawl through the rubbish so you don’t have to.

“And when you play it to a crowd, it’s the greatest satisfaction that you can get.”

He had a final message for people heading to Common People: “Come prepared to party. Bring your dancing shoes and if you can’t find them, bring your dancing feet!"

London-based trio Years & Years who appear on Sunday are riding high right now.

Daily Echo:

They follow in the footsteps of Sam Smith, Adele, and Ellie Goulding in winning the coveted BBC Sound of 2015 Poll. And they also struck gold with a UK Number One single King this year.

Asked if they were looking forward to Common People, keyboard player Emre Turkmen said: "Oh yes! We played Bestival last year and it was one of our favourite shows- we had a great time."

Daily Echo:

DJ Yoda

Grammy Award winners Clean Bandit also perform on Sunday, following a phenomenal 18 months.

They won the award for Best Dance Recording at this year’s Grammy Awards and in 2014 sold more singles than One Direction globally with more than 11 million sales!

Last year they enjoyed sell-out UK and US tours and featured on the Band Aid 30 single.

Clean Bandit have been nominated for two Ivor Novello Awards for dance track Rather Be.

Last night ( May 21) the awards were due to be presented at a ceremony in London.

Asked if he was looking to playing Common People band member Neil Amin-Smith said: “Definitely! I love playing festivals and it’s my favourite part of the year. We can't wait!"