2013.07.13 – Balaton Sound Festival, Zamárdi, Hungary

Date: 13th July 2013
Event: Balaton Sound Festival
Venue: southern bank of Lake Balaton
City: Zamárdi
Country: Hungary
Support: n/a

Tracklist:
1. Voodoo People
2. Jetfighter
3. Breathe
4. Omen
5. Rockweiler
6. Poison
7. Thunder (Dubstep)
9. AWOL
10. Firestarter
11. Run With The Wolves
12. Spitfast
13. Omen (Reprise)
14. Invaders Must Die
15. Smack My Bitch Up
Encore:
16. Take Me To The Hospital
17. New Beats
18. Gun Reprise
19. Their Law
20. Hyperspeed

Extra info:
Review by kenjah:
Well, it all started last year when me and my girlfriend decided to combine visiting various capital(s) together with seeing The Prodigy live. I remember when we were about to arrange a trip to Madrid (planned for May last year) and it turned out that The Prodigy will be playing in Bratislava as their first gig in a series of shows planned for 2012 and a hope to hear the new tunes (namely AWOL and Dogbite). You can imagine my girlfriend’s reaction when I told her ‘Honey, I don’t think Madrid will happen as they are playing in Bratislava…’ Try to imagine her pissed off face when I told her that The Prodigy will be also headlining Orange Warsaw Festival in Warsaw (another capital J) a month later… Well, at least I could hear AWOL (second version), Dogbite in Bratislava and Jetfighter in Warsaw.
So this year, as The Prodigy were about to play at Balaton Sound Festival, we decided to go for 2 days to Budapest and then stay for a few days at Balaton Lake. I got to say here that Budapest is really beautiful city, Hungarians are so awesome and food and girls…uff J. If you have a chance, go there – you won’t regret it!
Ok, that would be a few words of introduction – fast forward and we are at Balaton Sound Festival in Zamardi.
What a festival I must say. Located by the Balaton Lake reminded me the party vibes of Ibiza where I used to live a few years back . Nice weather, smiling people (wearing only bikinis and shorts, great music, awesome!
So we got there at around 6 pm, had a look who was playing on which stage (The Prodigy at MasterCard Stage – 9 pm) and went to check the whole venue: few stages with different sorts of music, lots of places with food (even McDonald had its own spot, but I fell in love with Hungarian lecso and gulash) and drinks (not only beer, but also proper cocktails and other refreshments) and we came cross the first band – Žagar. Sort of a chilled electronica with guitars. Reggae MC was hyping the crown, DJ’s scratching, nice sounds – overall good starter for the whole evening. Then, passing the Official Merchandise area, we moved towards the main stage. I spotted new Prodigy’s tees and bought myself the one with the flames.
Tees – KenjahTees – Kenjah
Once we got to main stage, Stave Aoki was already doing his thing. I am not a fan of this electro-house music which seems to be the current trend in electronic music but I couldn’t imagine a better warm up for The Prodigy. This guy is just mental, jumping into the crown, throwing b-day cake at people –crazy show.
He played for an hour or so and at around 9 pm Prodigy’s technical crew showed up on the stage and started preparations for the main show. That was a time when I became to be so excited. Well, I knew the track list in 99% but after hearing Exit Festival broadcast from a night before I was really looking forward to hear Rock Weiler (as I already heard both AWOL songs and Jetfighter before). I mean, I wish I could hear really new completed tunes but I always go their show because of the live and loud music – I don’t care what songs are being played to be honest.
At 9.45 pm the lights went down and the show started with a familiar INTRO. The band appeared on the stage, and the first tune kicked off – VOODOO PEOPLE. ‘Where are my Hungarian people! The Prodigy people!’ shouted Maxim and the crowd went crazy (well, it’s an obvious crowd pleaser, isn’t it?) – next one was JETFIGHTER – I heard it before at Orange Warsaw Festival last year in Warsaw but this time it seemed to me that a few beats have been added – still sounded incomplete to me though. Then Liam put FILLER DISCONTENT which was followed by BREATHE – crowd went mental with this one.
My girlfriend, who is not a really The Prodigy fan, got such a buzz that she… accidently kicked me in my balls a few times while dancing and jumping. Once Breathe was over another one come in – the one I was really looking forward to hear, ROCK WEILER. What can I say; it brings so much energy (even if it is not completed, it’s already my second fav live tune, after Run With The Wolves). Rock! Rock! Rock Weiler! were screaming both Maxim and Flinty but people in front of us seemed not to be into this tune (maybe they came mostly to hear classics…). Once done, OMEN turned out to be the next one – people finally woke up and I knew that it will be only better from now on (as POISON was to be played next). Whole see of people where jumping to Maxim’s ‘I got a poison, I got a remedy’ which was good as POISON CHAPTER 2 started – really energetic filler (or shall I call it a song?).Then THUNDER DUB – and here was something what my girlfriend noticed: ‘he isn’t swearing yet. No ‘fucking this’, no ‘fucking that’… What’s wrong with him?’ True, I noticed Maxim was a bit of… I don’t know, maybe tired, maybe crowd didn’t enjoyed it, hard to say, but as Flinty was giving 100% Maxim was only 75% that night. RELIGION LINK led to AWOL. Maxim left the stage and only with Flinty on vocals it sounded really empty. FIRESTARTER and RUN were played next (with the obvious crowd’s reaction to Firestarter) what was continued by SPITFAST. Still no Maxim on the stage – Flinty looked like a bit surprised, didn’t know what to do (I had such an impression) but I got to say it sounded nice as an instrumental (despite Maxim’s return at the end of it). The rest of the show was carried along the standard set list having been played for ages: OMEN REPRISE, INVADERS MUST DIE (‘oh, he’s swearing again, I can’t hear anything else from ‘fuck this, fuck that’ – my girlfriend), SMACK MY BITCH UP -encore- TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL and another new sound – BEATS (already being played recently) this night sounded a bit different from EXIT Fest. I didn’t record anything as I am rather old fashioned, don’t have a smart phone (as I don’t know how to use it) don’t know how to switch the cable TV on at home, not to mention jumping between channel J but probably there will be a videos on YT sooner or later). GUN REPRISE was next, then THEIR LAW and HYPERSPEED as the last song (got surprised by Rob’s solo riffs in the middle of the song). ‘Thank you, good night’ and the show was over.
Generally, I think it was a good show, sounded properly, I did enjoyed it all (even thought I knew the most of it), only wish Maxim did better but fortunately the festival itself saved it all and I will definitely be there back next year.

Poster: