In February 2019, UK electronic group “The Prodigy” returned to Melbourne for one night only (within their Australian tour) to spoil and thrill their audience with the their popular favourite songs that were chart toppers in Australia plus a couple of songs from their new album “No Tourists”. “No Tourists” was released in November 2018, giving audiences ample listening time and to decide on some favourites. For those unaware, The Prodigy is made up of vocalist / frontman Keith Flint, vocalist / rapper Maxim and keyboardist / synth / guitarist Liam Howlett. Their style is broadly electronica, but at times overlaps with big beats and dance music. There are plenty of techno remixes of Proidigy songs out there!

My favourite albums from The Prodigy are their older albums – especially “Fat of the Land” and “Invaders Must Die” . I made my recent ticket purchase as a last minute splurge – for I don’t count myself among their most die-hard fans BUT would relish the chance to see them play live, in a world where you don’t always get second chances to see bands play live in your own hometown. Pre-show, the crowd was warmed up by DJs Enschway and Shockone – who played some slamming tunes with heavy beats to get the crowd pumped for the epic performance to come. I particularly enjoyed the throwbacks to 90’s songs by Enschway, and when Shockone mixed in some psytrance into one of his new songs, it was fantastic. Everyone felt energized after their sets.

 I felt electrified when The Prodigy opened the show with bass heavy, chart topping “Breathe”! It made me so happy to watch the song live and dance along. Frontman Keith Flint looks pretty much exactly the same as he did in the band’s early days – still with a menacing stance and glare that the audience lapped up. All the iconic songs by The Prodigy that you know and love were played live along with my new favourites from “No Tourists” called “We Live Forever” and “Light Up the Sky” which were upbeat, uplifting songs. There were plenty of opportunities for audience members to get their hands in the air, and as soon as The Prodigy started, people couldn’t stop moving and dancing to their deep beats.

 The audience itself was a fair mix of people – there were expats from the UK that the band gave a shout out to; punks in tartan with all manners of hair spikes and mohawks; to people in their mid forties upwards with grey patches starting to appear in their hair. Such is the appeal of The Prodigy. Repeatedly, band member and rapping vocalist Maxim would thank and give respect to the audience for attending, which surprised me – as I’m used to acting the other way around and being super thankful for a band adding my hometown to their visit list.

I’ll admit that at times I’m hesitant to fork out money to see bands play stadium shows – I’ve been burned in the past, paying to see a show from a band who played none of their ‘old stuff’ (which was my fave stuff) and social media is littered with stories of performances and venues with bad concert audio. I’m so glad I put all that aside to see The Prodigy. Their finale of the evening was an old club anthem that I assumed wouldn’t get played, but I was delighted to my core when the band prompted the sound desk to turn the volume way up for their synth / base heavy “Smack my Bitch up”. The crowd went wild and we simply wished the night wouldn’t end. Everyone left on a high with a smile on their face.

If members of The Prodigy happen to stumble across this humble blog: please return to Melbourne – we love you! Your music excites so many and we sure love to dance.