2018.11.10 – Arena Birmingham, Birmingham, England

Date: 10th November 2018
Event: The Prodigy Concert – No Tourists Tour
Venue: Arena Birmingham
City: Birmingham
Country: England
Support: Vin Dakoo, Ho99o9

Tracklist:
1. Breathe
2. Resonate
3. Nasty
4. Omen
5. Champions Of London
6. Voodoo People
7. Run With The Wolves
8. The Day Is My Enemy
9. The Day Is My Enemy (Bad Company UK Remix)
10. Need Some1
11. Everybody In The Place
12. Firestarter
13. Roadblox
14. Light Up The Sky
15. No Good (Start The Dance)
16. Smack My Bitch Up
Encore:
17. We Live Forever
18. Fire
19. Take Me To The Hospital
20. Timebomb Zone
21. Out Of Space Outro

Extra info:
Review by Leigh Sanders, www.expressandstar.com:
Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth Park, 2014. The Friday night headliners were The Prodigy – a bunch of ravers given the biggest slot in a predominantly metal festival ahead of Limp Bizkit.
Their show that night was nothing short of sensational. Their sound. Their setlist. Their stage.
Since that balmy summer night, every time their tour comes around this writer is ready for them to set up for a fall.
They can’t continually be that enthralling, right? Wrong.
What we witnessed here on this Saturday night at Arena Birmingham was nothing short of phenomenal. Yes, we know. Many will read this and think…’really?’ But in this case yes, really.
The evening had started in a rather tepid manner.
Ho99o9 opened up and nobody seemed clear what was going on. Part metal band part ravers they just seemed to sit on a weird middle plane that didn’t quite hit the heights either genre can reach.
But when The Prodigy arrived amid beams of light they smashed straight into Breathe. Still a huge favourite all these years later it sounded heavy as hell with its percussion drumming across our spines and those intimidating lyrics inviting us to play the game.
Nasty and Omen followed early on. These encapsulate the trio at their modern finest, vocalist Maxim stalking mercilessly while Keith Flint plays the aggy child antagonizing everyone.
Champions Of London off of new record No Tourists sounded menacing, before Voodoo People arrived to remind us what they could do early doors in their career by testing drummers on their staying power.
The venom continued. The Day Is My Enemy is one of their most unashamedly volatile tracks. It’s thundering drum beat wound up the crowd nicely before Need Some1 got the stomping feet shaking the Arena Birmingham floor as one, outstretched arms making each one of us look like victims of a Medieval torture wrack.
The Prodigy’s back catalogue is ridiculous. You can pick up any album and enjoy the rhythms hidden within.
No Good (Start The Dance) followed by the evergreen Smack My B**** Up closed the main set with a flurry of big electro cuts, and they still had room in the encore for the crashing sounds of Take Me To The Hospital and Timebomb Zone.
One final teaser of Out Of Space left us crying out for them to finish the track and completed their mission of leaving us wanting more.

Review by four_G, www.epitomeofepic.wordpress.com:
As soon as The Prodigy unleashed their latest album, No Tourists, they made no hesitation in starting their tour, hitting the road pretty much the moment it released. Having seen them headline the Saturday night at M’era Luna back in August, I was keen to see how much they’d up their game. The answer to that lingering question became pretty clear from the moment they took to the stage.
But first, were support act Ho99o9. I’d not listened to any of their material prior to this show, so I had no idea what to expect. I found myself blown away by their performance and sound. It was a chaotic mix of various influences from Punk to Drum n Bass, wrapped up in a Hip-Hop style presentation. Aggressively visceral, they seemed to have unlimited amounts of energy, and their set flew by. They were very impressive, and the perfect choice as support act. I’ll definitely be checking them out, and I highly recommend you do too.
To an explosion of cheers from the crowd, The Prodigy took to the stage. All MC Maxim had to ask was “Where my people at?” and it was clear that we were all here. As is tradition, they began big, with the iconic “Breathe”, and from the second it started the entire audience collectively lost their shit. From that point on, it was a non-stop torrent of track after track. Even with a few short breaks between, where they had more ambient moments, or the usual crowd banter, it didn’t feel like it slowed down at all, the atmosphere was too electrifying for that. At times the sound was so loud and the bass so intense, that I could feel it reverberating throghout my body! The setlist was a great mix of tracks from all across their back catalogue, and they were ordered in such a way that made the pacing perfect. It was surprising that they played so few tracks off their latest album, but I can’t say I was disappointed. That said, these tracks were clearly made for a live shows, their impact coming across tenfold in such a setting. The biggest surprises of the night were the addition of “Everybody in the Place” and “Fire”, the latter being the first performance of the track since 1992. It was great to see these classics being dug out, and it made the night feel like an even bigger event.
The only real critique I have, is that the set was a bit too short, at around 1 hour 30 minutes in length. I know it sounds a bit too demanding, but only another 15 or even 10 minutes would have sufficed. It was most noticeable when certain tracks were cut short, especially “Out Of Space” serving as an outro, rather than being the complete song. Hearing a brief snippet made me wanting more, rather than being completely fulfilled. However, it was a nice surprise to have it played last, and “Timebomb Zone” prior to it, breaking the tradition of closing off the night with “Take Me To The Hospital”. It just highlights The Prodigy’s prowess in subverting expectations.
Criticisms aside, it was an incredible night. It’s probably the best I’ve ever seen them, and even a friend who had seen them as early as ’97 agreed. If that’s not praise, then I don’t know what is! Thinking back through all the songs they played during the show, I honestly can’t think of any they missed out, or that could have made it any better. It was unrelenting from start to finish, and one of the best parties I’ve been to all year!
Review by Richard Franks, www.counteract.co:
The Essex rave veterans returned to Birmingham on Saturday 10 November for a menacing evening of reminiscent and futuristic dance hooks.
Tonight’s near-sell-out show at Arena Birmingham is opened by sole support act, Ho99o9, who are armed with tenacious punk riffs and dark hip hop. The room is filling nicely as the US trio appear on stage in kilts, fishnets and fluorescent police jackets.
Ho99o9 plough through a short set which is equal parts frenetic and curious as they switch from fast-paced punk to brooding hip hop on multiple occasions. As Ho99o9 smash through their repertoire, a pocket of fans down the front show their appreciation in the form of a mosh pit – it’s certainly a welcome return to Birmingham for them.
Backed by beams of light and some serious strobing, The Prodigy arrive and launch straight into seminal hit ‘Breathe’, with its pulsating rhythmic melody one of the most iconic of its kind. What follows for the next 90 minutes or so can only be described as an assault course, with no time for a breather, per se.
The Prodigy have a sound worthy of filling any arena and it’s evident on early set appearances from ‘Nasty’ and new track ‘Champions of London’; they’re in true menacing form and this Saturday night Brummie crowd is well and truly having it. Prodigy vocalist Maxim constantly prowls the stage, inciting all 16,000 here tonight to go wild – not that they need telling.
‘Omen’ – the song which catapulted The Prodigy back into the mainstream in 2009 – sees everyone bellowing “the writing’s on the wall / it won’t go away,” while the incredible light show dazzles and mesmerises. We’re soon transported back to 1994 as the modified lyric “Birmingham people, voodoo people” echoes around the arena just before those timeless beats kick in. You know what’s coming. Jackets go flying in the air and even people in the seats are moshing. All of this and we’re only six songs in.
There’s no time for the energy levels to drop either, with the pounding ‘The Day Is My Enemy’, new album lead single ‘Need Some1’ and seminal dance hit ‘Firestarter’ all following in quick succession.
Tonight, it’s hit after hit after hit and they’ve played so many already that it’s easy forget there are even more to come. The Prodigy end their main set with ‘No Good’ and ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ but – somehow – there’s still more to come.
After a few minutes of calls for their return, The Prodigy bring the flames in the encore with the first live performance of ‘Fire’ (Burning Version) since 1992, while ‘Take Me To The Hospital’ catapults us back into a modern area before they leave us longing for more with the ‘Out of Space’ outro. It’s a teasing finale but they know we’ll all be back for another bite of the apple.

Poster: