2008.12.07 – Carling Academy, Liverpool, England

Date: 7th December 2008
Event: The Prodigy Concert – The Invaders Academy Tour
Venue: Carling Academy
City: Liverpool
Country: England
Support: Fight Like Apes, DJ Nick Halkes

Tracklist:
1. Invaders Must Die Intro
2. World’s On Fire
3. Breathe
4. Breathe (Dubstep)
5. Omen
6. Spitfire
7. Warrior’s Dance
8. Firestarter
9. Action Radar Link
10. Run With The Wolves
11. Mindfields (New Mix)
12. Voodoo People
Encore:
13. Invaders Must Die
14. Poison
15. Diesel Power Beats
16. Smack My Bitch Up
17. Your Love Link
18. Out Of Space

Extra info:
Premiere performance of dubstep mix of Breathe, Omen, Mindfields mix (played only at this gig) and Invaders Must Die.

Short report by neko:
Just back from the Liverpool show…
So, to give you an idea how i felt, I’ve had the flu the last few days and still today haven’t been feeling well. Yet, even in this state loved every minute of this gig in a very small, hot and sweaty venue!
i remember which trackes they played, but not the exact order…
Intro
Worlds on Fire – this was great live again
Breathe
some remix of Breathe
Omen – the track we hear is going to be the single in Feb. Very strong track yet very difficicult to judge after one hearing. This track has influences from rave, d’nb, punk rock and so on, very difficult to place (which is what makes it so ‘prodigy’). Both Maxim and Keith on mics. I can see this working as a single, but will need another listen to it.
Spitfire
Firestarter
Action Radar intro, but not the full track
Mindfields remix (!!!!)
New Punk Rock track with keith vocals (same as in Barcelona) – very cool, i like it.
Voodoo People
encore:
Invaders Must Die – this track so totally works live, loved it
Poison
Diesel Power
Smack My Bitch Up
Your Love Intro leading into OOS
Overall very very cool show, lots of short snippets of things played in between stuff, great great atmosphere in this tiny venue. If there’s one thing to critise, all this new stuff may have almost been a bit too much to the flow of the show. And, also, no Their Law!
Loooking forward to Glasgow tomorrow …

Report by KrissayLinxx:
JEEEEEZ what a fucking gig.
i saw the setlist before the boys came on so i sorta knew what was coming haha!
worlds on fire – has been edited in some way, the arpegio that comes in is shortnd’, and maxim says “too close, your too close” “instead of to close to the wire!”
breathe dubstep remix – heavyyy tune, just breathe with dubstep beats
omen – lyrics are somethin like “the writin’s on the wall if i leave you” somethin like that Laughing great old skooly riff in the middel similar to worlds on fire, and the beat 55 xylophone is in it
mindfields remix – sounds like a new tune with some mindfield samples, some old skool funky trumpet bass thingy riff in the middle
run – people went more mad for this than firestarter Laughing brilliant tune!
invaders must die – not the edit that weve heard, a difernt version that starts with the “we are the prodigy” sample
great gig, just met liam at the end aswell

Review by Phoenix:
I went to Liverpool last night …. It was good! all though I thought the Carling academy in Manchester is a better venue. Made me laugh when Maxim shouted something about Manchester!! The crowd didn’t respond to well
I mean, come on!! your in Liverpool and hes shouting About Manchester!! haha. If your from Liverpool or Manchester I don’t need to tell you that there rivalry between um. LOL.
Keith went into the crowd at one point … walked straight through the crowd and the place went MAD!! Didnt see that much. But could hear the screams! haha. Keiths a right Nutter!
Highlights of the night were:
Omen. it was a beast of a track … I was loving the drums on this one!! Big as fuck! it had catchy synths as well … definitely can tell why this a single. Its a very Good track! Loved it!! very sing along type of tune with the lyrics. I was buzzing of this one.
Run with the wolves. Another great track !! This one took yer head off!! it had loads of aggression and attitude … The drums on this one are fast and furious!! ha. Cant wait to hear Omen and Run with the wolves on the album, cuz between these and Warriors Dance and Worlds On fire these are the best sounding ones and I think they will be immense when the album drops, so there’s 4 great tracks so far!! No disappointments here so far!!
Minefields remix. This was a refreshing change to the track … At first I though .. Brilliant there playing minefields, then it broke out into a remix of sorts with loads of interesting samples and that. Should I stay or should I go now by the clash was very good! plus some other samples I couldn’t quite make out. But it was excellent!! You could tell Liam was using the Ableton Live to combine this elements together for this one … It worked very well.
Almost DJ like in the mix.
So all in all, It was a top night. I was stood at the top on the balcony … I thought the sound wasn’t too good up there… it was better right in the middle or the front. to get the full effect. But I still had top night tho … I was left a little disappointed that they didn’t play as much as I would have liked them to play … I though they might have played more older material … Perhaps “Your Love” They did the intro link to Out of space , but i thought they could have played some other stuff … instead they stuck to the same old same old stuff … which I suppose is always going to be crowd favorites.
I did prefer the Manchester Academy to the Liverpool one … Manchester has better sound and because of the layout of the venue you can see the stage from practically the back!! Last night was hard to see if you were ground level unless your about 6 foot and over!! haha. On the balcony was good cuz you can see the stage and that .. but the sound wasnt too good, there was certain parts of the music you could hear etc … spoiled it a little.
So
Worlds On fire was played: Brilliant tune
Omen: This is going to be MASSIVE I can tell yer!! I had a feeling they would drop this one … It didn’t disappoint!! Catchy as fuck and cant wait to blast this at high volume on stereo when I get my hands on the album. ANOTHER Brilliant tune! I can understand why Liam’s likes this one!! one of he’s favorites.
Warriors Dance: What can I say … Brilliant. The crowd loved this one! Singing along … Another great tune!!
Invaders Must Die: I must admit, It worked well LIVE … very well indeed! drums on this sounded good live! All though I thought there was mixed response with the crowd … Half was into it other half wasn’t to ecstatic about it. But I Loved it

Review by Andrew Campbell, Liverpool Echo:
YOU’RE either with The Prodigy or you can go home, read your Daily Mail and complain about loud music.
Uncompromising, tribal, dangerous, in-yer-face and offensive … this was the opening night of the world’s most successful dance band returning to small venues “for the fans”.
Like a prize fighter, Maxim strutted the stage, shadow boxing and proclaiming “you’re my f***ing warriors”.
His fellow tattooed dancer – turned punk singer – Keith Flint, sporting a “champion of the land” belt and white Mohican, treated grateful fans to numerous oral showers.
That’s what the The Prodigy do, and have done for more than a decade, and they do it so well.
They came on to sirens, synths and a pounding beat – playing the crowd before they’d even set foot on stage.
Three pairs of sinister orange eyes looked down on their fiendish spawn – Liam Howlett at mission control surrounded by keyboards and computers.
There were also live drums and guitars.
Their opening song World’s On Fire provoked the expected response – despite being relatively new.
The demented thrashing and leaping cranked up a few notches for the second number – the smash-hit Breathe.
Then came the second of five new tracks Omen followed by Spitfire then Warrior’s Dance (also expected to feature on their next album Invaders Must Die).They were unerringly catchy and a couple almost “poppy”.
Such was the energy, excitement and anticipation the crowd momentum was maintained full throttle into Firestarter.
New track Run With The Wolves was followed by Mindfields and Voodoo People with a sample of The Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
The encore included Poison, Smack My Bitch Up and then, finally, their 1992 hit Out Of Space sounding as fresh now as it did then.
It was 90 minutes of hardcore noise and dance from front to back and start to finish – not an inch of the venue failed to rock to the masters.
And so the anarchy ended … to the contrasting sound of Andy Williams’ Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. Half the crowd, sweat dripping and arms aloft belted out their own “I love you baby …” chorus.
What they’d really loved was The Prodigy.
8/10 Red hot