The Prodigy is its own genre. And there aren’t many bands in history that can claim such a one-of-one reputation. Metal festivals? Yeah, they’ll dominate. EDM festivals? Best believe they are closing the main stage. The unimpeachable band, now officially the duo of Liam Howlett and Maxim, could even slot seamlessly into a hip hop festival.
The obnoxious largeness of their one-of-one sound, mixing B-Boy bigness with warehouse-worthy rave music, stitched together by a group of ravers-cum-musicians who folded into each other perfectly. It’s been a winning combination since the early 90’s.
I’m happy to report that it still is.
Though Keith Flint’s passing has left an obvious void in their live shows, The Prodigy still lay the smackdown thanks to Maxim’s impossibly large presence and barking vocals, heightening the drama and intensity of songs that are already brimming with power. These walls of sound have depth and dimension unlike any other.
I first saw The Prodigy in the early noughties at Big Day Out. I’ve always been familiar with their music. My eldest sister used to play them constantly when I was growing up, so I have no concept of a world that doesn’t exist without Maxim begging us the breath with him or Keith Flint confessing to pyromania.
Their live show has been seared into my mind since. It’s one of the few bands in the world that I’d walk over broken glass to see live. This was my ninth time seeing the unstoppable duo, and the first time in six years. I never thought I’d see them again, given Keith’s tragic passing, but Astral People and Handsome Tours had the good sense to jump on Liam and Maxim’s revival.
Back in their heyday, songs like “Their Law” were inescapable smackdowns that pushed rave culture to fold more into itself; to become more than it was. The Prodigy found a way to become The Clash for UK’s underground raves, uniting metalheads, dance aficionados and even increasingly present rap fans by channeling the high-energy interactivity of hip hop in its most rudimentary, call-and-response form.
And that sense of revolutionary rave music has been beautifully preserved. My only concern going into The Prodigy’s first of two sold-0ut Sydney shows at The Hordern Pavilion was that it’d be different. It’d feel different. It wasn’t. It didn’t.
And really, that’s all you need to know.
Those immense walls of sound are waves being pushed by Maxim’s thunderous, otherworldly energy (dude is pushing 60: how in the absolute hell does he have the energy? Forget Blue Zones; study this guy).
On occasion, those waves are too big to jump and you get swallowed whole.
As the set rolls on, Maxim transforms into the final boss of a horror survival game; a large, hulking ignoble presence. He knows those drops can be devastating, earth-shattering explosions of sound and he steps up to the occasion each and every time, matching that intensity tenfold. As he always has. “Voodoo People” to “Their Law” to “Smack My Bitch Up” to “Take Me To The Hospital,” all Maxim needs to do is ride whatever Liam throws at him.
Some clever touches really lifted these songs and filled the hole of Keith’s absence. Whether that’s Howlett recreating a New Order-style version of the “Knight Rider” theme and clashing it with “Deisel Power,” or “Firestarter” being turned into a big love-in for The Prodigy’s fallen soldier, complete with a more-is-more laser show.
And by the end, when the sweat blankets the Hordern Pavilion and the house lights signal home time, you really get the sense that The Prodigy are very much unstuck from the passage of time. It’s nice to know that this band is as consistent as a McDonalds cheeseburger, and what they offer is something you can absolutely not get anywhere else. Long live The Prodigy.
In an interview with NME last year, Howlett has this to say.
“There’s only one plan and that is to get on stage and proceed to tear the place apart.”
Mission accomplished.
FOUR AND A HALF (OUT OF FIVE)
Set List:
Voodoo People
Omen
Light Up The Sky!
Fight
Climbatize / Warrior’s Dance
Beyond The Deathray / Firestarter
Roadblox
Poison
No Good (Start The Dance)
Their Law
Invaders Must Die
Breathe
Encore
Smack My Bitch Up
Take Me To The Hospital
We Live Forever
Out of Space
Diesel Power
Chris Singh attended the show on Thursday, February 13 as a guest.
