Fatboy Slim Spins Out Dynamic Beats

The big beat takes no prisoners. It dominates and defines, with limited room for other musical flavors on your local pumping, thumping dance floor.

Even a master musical surgeon such as Fatboy Slim must give in, letting his beats do most of the work.

So at his DJ set at the packed Spundae on Saturday, Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook) performed a two-hour soundtrack that was inevitably less about his acclaimed studio work than the party at hand.

However, he brought genuine personality and excitement to the gig, mixing eclectic tracks from rock, soul, disco, hip-hop and other genres into a dynamic whole.

Cook was a happy host behind the turntables, arms outstretched, hopping in place to the sounds and words, pulling out his air horn.

Fans near the DJ booth could see Cook sing along to pieces lifted from Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U,” as he looped the phrase, “No need to worry/ No need to cry/ I’m your messiah and you’re the reason why” to layered effects and an erupting disco beat.

Cook’s tour arrived in anticipation of the May release of his “Live on Brighton Beach,” which will document an improvisational DJ set not unlike his show at Spundae.

At his best, live Fatboy Slim means nonstop dance music with genuine pop hooks.

On Saturday, he depended not on one simple predictable rhythm, but was also confident enough to abruptly skip a beat or two, or to quickly shuffle his pace, all for dramatic effect. And the big beat hardly noticed.