Review: The Prodigy at Brixton Academy, Saturday 18th April 2009

 

 

Experience tells me there are three things that are impossible to do at a Prodigy gig at Brixton Academy. The first thing? Take notes. The second? Avoid drinking copious amounts of Strongbow. The third? Remain seated.

Let’s start with the last item on that list. Now, I didn’t book the tickets for this gig, but given that they were bought at 10am on the dot the minute the tickets went on sale, I had no reason to believe that they’d be anything other than standing in the stalls on the main floor. So when I was given them and read ”Circle: Unreserved seating”, I was absolutely gutted. We were at the sell out, final tour date of one of Britains best old skool dance acts, yet we weren’t going to be in amongst the sweating, beer guzzling, heaving masses on the main floor. To some people, this would be a relief. I however, was severely put out. I wanted a Strongbow shower in time to Smack My Bitch Up, and I wasn’t going to get it. There is absolutely no sarcasm here, by the way.

Then, having conceded to the balcony, imagine my disappointment when we read the numerous signs dotted around the upstairs circle, telling us in no uncertain terms to “PLEASE REMAIN SEATED THROUGHOUT THE PERFORMANCE”. I was outraged. Are you kidding me? They’ve banned dancing up here? The thought of being confined to a seat was more than I could bear. The warmup DJs, South Central, were already on, mashing together 90’s dance with grimey beats and electro basslines which were making me want to jump up and throw some serious shapes. Luckily, I spotted the standing capacity right at the back of the balcony. You had a birds eye view of the stage and it was already lined with people who had the same idea. We followed suit, found a space, and, dancing area taken care of, the night really begun.

Unfortunately, Dizzee Rascal was ill so the support acts were DJs instead. As I said, first up was South Central, they were followed by Kissy Sell Out - who both got thumbs up from me. They whipped up the crowd and we amused ourselves by watching the ’seat hover’ dance being employed by those attempting to follow the ‘no standing’ rule, and the frantic, mostly futile efforts by security to get people to stay sitting. It was like watching lines of jack in the boxes as they apologised, sat down, promptly forgot why they were seated and got back up again.

Remain seated? Good luck with that...

At 12am, a wall of lights filled the back of the stage; a low rumbling bass pulsated around the hall followed by the opening riff of Worlds On Fire. Lights flashed and everyone on the balconey stood up and stayed there, hands in the air. These people had paid to stand up and rave and the security gave up trying to tell them otherwise. Keith Flint and Maxim bounded on to the roar of the crowd, addressing them with one word: “BRIXTON!” Maxim launched into ‘Worlds on Fire’, followed by ‘Their Law’ and I headed as far down as I could go to be in among the crowd, dancing on the stairs in the aisle. An hour and a half (I think) of tunes old and new had everyone – everyone in the place raving hard.

The lights were impressive: when a pair of red eyes flashed over the stage, it was time for Run with the Wolves. Possibly the biggest reaction of the night went to Omen, and their next single Warrior’s Dance, two tunes which now everyone knows the words to. Not forgetting the old classics such as No Good For Me and of course, Breathe and Smack My Bitch Up, which only needed the first few seconds to introduce themselves to the crowd. If anything, I was glad to be upstairs in the end because the stalls were full to capacity, and there was no atmosphere lacking on the higher levels. After the final encore, they left the stage to rapturous applause, then DJs and MCs came on for a grimey drum and bass set, playing til 3am. We headed down onto the main floor and stayed until the end, crashing over the floor littered with plastic cups like debris after an explosion. The music and the atmosphere was a true return to the old skool, with the smell of weed and puffs of cigarette smoke filling the air as if the smoking ban never happened.

Left overs from the party on the main floor

Some might say that the Prodigy are old hat, that they’re getting on a bit - Keith being what, in his 40s now? But if last night is anything to go by, the boys show no sign of lapsing. It was an incredible night. For me, it was on a completely different level to the last time I saw them at Brixton in December, where I left feeling like it was over too quickly. If that had been the warm up to the tour, then this, the final night, was the long awaited pay off. They tore it up, ripped it down and suddenly you knew why, seated or standing, Brixton is still the only place to see the Prodigy play.