LIVE: The Prodigy – Perth, 24 Jan, 2019

Shane | 29 January 2019 | Reply

LIVE: The Prodigy – Perth, 24 Jan, 2019
RAC Arena, Perth – Thursday, 24 January, 2019
Reviewed by Melanie Scrafton
Photography by Stuart McKay

The Prodigy return to Australia to promote last year’s No Tourists release, and their first show at Perth’s RAC Arena was nicely warmed up by Perth’s own Shock One, aka Karl Thomas.

The venue was close to capacity in the standing area, and partially full in seating, not that the seating was required for this performance – looking around the entire crowd were on their feet and dancing throughout. The stage was set with backdrop images of the double decker buses like the one featured on the album cover, and the strobes were consistently mental. The audience was a mixed bunch of fans from the more mature original ravers to the much younger EDM crew.

The trio started the set with Prodigy classic Breathe and followed it with Resonate from their latest release. This seemed to be a deliberate theme throughout the night, alternating between one brutal classic dance anthem and another new track from No Tourists. My personal favourite from the new album is the title track and they didn’t play that – oh well, next time! They did showcase six of the ten new tracks off the album, though.

[Show picture list]

There was plenty of room for dancing and even though the weather was cooler for the show the crowd was steaming. It’s a shame that many forgot deodorant.

You could feel the vibrations through the floor and the sound was spot on. Time has not aged Keith Flint or Maxim – those two are as fit as the proverbial butcher’s dog, and didn’t stop dancing throughout the performance. The line-up included live drums and guitar, but with the total play time for the headliners only 1 hour and 15 mins including their encore, it really wasn’t long enough! Two hours may not have been either – maybe I’m just greedy.

The crowd notably lifted for every classic and the latter part of the show from Light Up The Sky, No Good and Smack My Bitch Up had the fans peaking. Maxim repeatedly chanted at the Perth people and Prodigy people but the trio didn’t really connect more than that. That would be my only criticism.

If you get the chance to see the guys on this tour – do it. It was a sweet experience and I’d go again tomorrow if I could.