2019.01.24 – RAC Arena, Perth, Australia

Date: 24th January 2019
Event: The Prodigy Concert – No Tourists Tour
Venue: RAC Arena
City: Perth
Country: Australia
Support: Enschway, Shockone

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

Extra info:
Review by Jessica Vaini, www.heavymag.com.au:
Known for shattering the music genre paradigm, UK Rave veterans The Prodigy set the RAC Arena alight as they kicked off their Australian Tour in true Prodigy style. With the tour marking the release of their 2018 album No Tourists, the electronica legends hit the Perth stage alongside Triple J Unearthed DJ Enschway and ShockOne, making for one hell of an arena-sized dance party.
Sydney-born DJ Nic Schweighoffer (Enschway) kicked off the night, showcasing talent that Australia’s electronic scene is proud to call its own. Dabbling within the genres of Dance, Pop, and Electronic music, his performance oozed charisma, perfectly setting the scene for ShockOne to take the stage. Karl Thomas (ShockOne) proceeded to demonstrate exactly why he has earned his place as one of the big players in Perth’s bass scene, showcasing artfully timed drops and killer vocals from the lovely Reija Lee. I know you’re all here for the Prodigy, though, so let’s skip to that part (sorry guys!).
The audience was abuzz in ways I’ve never seen before, although that was likely the drugs judging from the assault on my olfactory senses. In all honesty, it was only befitting of the old school acid-sense the dance-rock musicians have incorporated into their latest album. Either way, the excitement that oozed from the crowd only stood testament to the besotted following that the Prodigy has amassed over their 28-year career, which can only have occurred with good reason. Whilst the excitable hum from the audience was contagious and made for a much anticipated build-up, I do have to say that the wait was far longer than necessary, especially considering we were left waiting in darkness. Despite this, their spectacular entry more than made up for it, as Liam Howlett, Keith Flint, and Maxim Reality emerged from a sea of fog blinded by a brilliantly chaotic light display. A special note must be given to the audio-visual team, whose ingenious light work turned the performance into the arena-sized dance party Prodigy fans hoped for. If anything, they were the real geniuses behind the show, creating a backdrop against which the Prodigy’s sound could be showcased with the platform it deserved.
Liam, Keith, and Maxim’s collective energy can only be described as contagiously aggressive, and in the best way possible. Their on-stage personas came to life in the most violently excitable fashion and the crowd loved it, violently thrashing with them as mind-numbing beats blasted throughout the venue. One thing’s for sure, and it’s that they certainly know how to play to a crowd. My only critique in terms of crowd engagement, however, was that everything Maxim Reality said was basically a variation of “all my [fucking] Prodigy people”, which quickly became old, although I doubt those on the dance floor noticed, being too enthralled in the beat to notice much else. If anything, that in itself should demonstrate the level of musicianship the Prodigy possesses; enthralling the audience so much that they notice little else.
No Tourists is best described as a rehash of the Prodigy’s past successes, which is either a brilliant decision or a lack of creativity. Whilst one might argue they’re giving us the sounds we know and love, others argue it’s nothing more than the recycling of old work. I’m inclined to agree with the latter, given that by the end of the night the pieces had begun to merge together and sound the same. What is new, however, is the fusion of industrial metal with their old electronic punk-rock, pop-esque style. As weird as this sounds, it actually works, for the most part anyway. Featuring typically metal guitar riffs, alongside some sampling, repetitive synth riffs, and distorted vocals, the Prodigy have fractured the genre paradigm once again, combining metal with electronic dance music in a weirdly satisfying way. Whilst it undeniably gives their work a delightfully heavy edge, there was the odd occasion where Keith Flint’s shrill screams did little more than pierce ears. Other times, however, it was the perfect level of distortion, completing their heavy dance piece with menacing vibes. For all of its metal elements and techno sensibilities, it still pertained to its pop-like dance background, retaining its accessibility.
Ultimately, No Tourists is an album created for dumb-fun, filled to the brim with hard-hitting break beats and catchy repetitive synth riffs. Whilst I can’t say it’s as good as their first three albums, it’s the perfect arena-moulded rock-rave designed to be lapped up by the crowd. This is perhaps a little too evident, with the album clearly being a rehash of previous successes shaped to make money, rather than the creation of something new. Despite this, No Tourists has been a huge success amongst the Prodigy’s fans so it’s clear there’s still life in the old dog yet, but some new content is definitely needed.

Review by Jim ‘Plugga’ Birkin, www.wallofsoundau.com:
“Come play my game, I’ll test ya….”
Test us they did. The Prodigy are known for their insane stage presence, energetic crowd and pulsating beats. They’ve played everything from Future Music Festivals to Big Day Outs down under, and have lined up on the biggest stages across the world from major dance festivals to Download Festival in the UK, perhaps the biggest heavy metal festival in the world! They were set to headline the cancelled 2016 Soundwave Festival alongside Disturbed and Bring Me the Horizon before that festival unfortunately imploded on itself. They collide genres. Yes, they are predominantly a frenetic rhythm of drum and bass, something Wall of Sound would ultimately steer clear of, however with their live members Leo Crabtree and Rob Holiday adding drums and guitar respectively for their live performances, all of a sudden the band take on a more rock or metal presence, so we went along to the band’s first show of their No Tourists Australian tour see what makes The Prodigy command an audience in this almost “rock show” fashion, and why tour after tour so many so-called ‘metalheads’ line up to to get a taste of these Londoners.
For starters, the band bring their own version of fireworks, in the form of a spectacular light show fronted by duelling vocalists, the evergreen, Maxim Reality and Keith Flint. Completed by Liam Howlett on keys the trio will celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2020. It’s been almost three decades of mayhem and judging by the band’s latest album, No Tourists, there appears no end in sight to this intensity in the near future. With the gigantic lighting rig and bank of lasers, there was nothing subtle about the staging. It was a ravers wet dream, which had me second contemplating WTF I had got myself into. I was a Prodigy live virgin. A metal-head, with an open mind, so bare with me in my findings……
Two DJ’s are supports, so already my ‘metal’ senses are telling me I’m outta my league here. The audience look like ravers, but a sprinkling here and there of metal t-shirts had me holding onto some kind of hope. 80% of them look like they’re on something, but maybe I’m wrong and they’re just happy to be here. There’s a whole lot of pushing buttons going on on stage and dancing going on in the aisles and floor space. What the fuck have I done?
Then the main course kicks in.
Classics like ‘Breathe‘ (the opener), ‘Firestarter‘, ‘Voodoo People‘, and ‘Smack My Bitch Up‘ are slick and fresh-sounding. Taken from the brilliant 1997 album, The Fat of the Land, these are the songs I was most aware of and by the looks of the crowd going apeshit in the GA section, it was the same for the Prodigy faithful or as frontman Maxim Reality likes to yell out, “warriors“. In fact, as the setlist barrels through almost 30 years of music, it’s these ‘warriors’, coupled with the crazy laser show and Flint and Maxim prowling the stage encouraging madness that really sets the stage alive. Is it metal enough to drag me? Still not sure.
However amongst the chaos, the throng of people of jumping in the air and carrying on, on the dance floor I see a strange phenomenon. A circle pit was in full whirlpool mode. I kid you not folks, a fucking circle pit. Maybe there is some ‘metal’ness in this chaos after all. Then ‘Champions of London‘ kicks in sounding a little Rammstein-like with the band’s sole guitarist going mental. ‘Voodoo People‘ makes the whole Arena erupt, again that killer electronica/guitar riff making the energy peak past the scale it should and all of a sudden I’m getting a clearer picture why The Prodigy plays festivals like Download. In fact, the next song in that little more heavier trilogy, ‘Run With the Wolves‘ is very Ministry like, from the pulsating drum beat to the riff and Flint repeating, “Whatcha going to do when the hounds are calling”? It’s something Al Jourgensen would approve and this metal-head is now fully into the vibrating beats bursting through the ample RAC Arena speakers.
Sure, the setlist does meander a little towards the back end as The Prodigy filter through some newer tracks, but in the scheme of things, the ‘warriors’ care little making the most of every bombastic drum ‘n bass line and in a simpler way to put things, just go fucking mental at everything.
The line between what is deemed ‘metal worthy’ or belongs on what festival is a lot more grey for this writer now after witnessing these legends parade their brand of drum ‘n bass mayhem. It’s a lot more industrial metal than what I thought it would be, but either way a great way to lose your mind for two hours and I encourage all ‘metalheads’ out there to take the plunge and get amongst the disorder because whilst The Prodigy are predominantly dance affiliated they are,in this writers eyes, ‘metal as fuck’!
Surprisingly, 8/10.

Review by Melanie Scrafton, www.100percentrock.com:
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.
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.

Review by Yasmin Richards, www.amnplify.com.au:
Entering through the general admission doors felt like the Twilight Zone. I was greeted into pure darkness with the exception of an eerie glow from the decks of Triple J Unearthed DJ, Enschway, which illuminated his silhouette. While only a small crowd gathered at the start, they were absorbing the ambient EDM underneath flickering strobe lights.
Enschway unveiled his mix of ‘Freestyler’ by Bomfunk MC’s to turn the crowd around and the leave them body rocking into a ball of nostalgia. Not one for using his turntables to shy away, he smiled and bopped around with the crowd. To end his set on an unsuspecting note, Enschway mixed up ‘All The Small Things’ by Blink 182 with some background dance.
Next up came Perth-born music producer and DJ, ShockOne. Without hesitation, he opened his set with an ominous arrangement of aircraft sounds and a drum build up that had my adrenaline pumping in wait of something big. Soon enough, the bass dropped and everyone was on their feet, arms spinning out of control and minds lost. Every so often he would engage and count the crowd in, helping even those without rhythm to discover it.
Being an observer of ShockOne’s capabilities, I believed him to be less attached to the Australian music scene, let alone the Australian dance scene. Here in front of me stood a man who could incorporate over 14 different variations of dance music and work collectively with artists such as The Ashton Shuffle, Netsky and Russo to name a few.
After a few more songs, a blonde-haired woman appeared on stage with a microphone in her hand.
“How the fuck are you Perth? Are you ready for The Prodigy? Give it up for my brother, ShockOne!”
Reija Lee, ShockOne’s biological sister and Triple J Unearthed winner, is also a musician and known mostly from her work in the Electropop duo Kito & Reija Lee. Now making a name for herself in the music world solo, she too has worked with a variety of artists such as T.I and OutKast’s Big Boi. Together, the siblings began their collaboration track ‘A Dark Machine.’ Reija prompted the crowd to join her in the lyrics.
There are a few of you out there who were directly subjected to the U.K. rave scene or Australia’s long deceased Big Day Out festival. Another select few missed out on the commercial success of ‘Music For The Jilted Generation’ and ‘Fat Of The Land.’ It has been nearly 30 years since aggressive cyberpunks and pioneers of rave; The Prodigy stormed the subwoofers of every club and rave party. Now, the band were back on Australian soil to prove that they are indeed ‘no tourists’ with the release of their newest album of the same name. Keith Flint, Liam Howlett and Maxim (dressed in what appeared to be a grizzly bear suit) walked onstage like ticking time bombs, ready to blow minds and combust hearts with heavy bass.
I had waited 20 years to see The Prodigy live. They were no longer pieces of colourful static moving around on a VHS player from the Electronic Punks tape. Instead, they were timeless icons dressed to kill.
Bringing on the harsh strobe lights, the band opened up with 1997 classic, ‘Breathe.’ The bodies once divided in the pit now joined together with fists pummeling the air and a chorus of singing fans. For a song over 20 years old, fans acted as if it was the first time hearing a masterpiece and despite beer keeping most feet cemented to the floor, no one was a stranger to jumping as high as they could.
Maxim Reality took to the microphone, addressing his ‘warriors’,
“All my warriors, my Prodigy people…how the fuck are you? We’re back in Australia and I’m not fucking leaving because the weather’s so nice.”
Even for a cold and rainy day, unattractive to most citizens of Perth, even a wet day in January seemed enviable to the natives of Essex.
Tonight, the band were set on delivering popular crowd pleasers to eager fans, hungry for their favourites to be played. Perhaps the scariest part of the night was when ‘Omen’ exploded through the speakers. Everyone had a taste for blood and the blood was most certainly brought, when people on top of shoulders swung their excited feet into the faces of innocent concertgoers.
‘Everybody In The Place’ targeted the ex-ravers, like my dad, who brought out their shape cutting, fancy footwork for a one night only special. There was something for everyone in each individual song.
Seeing as their newest album, ‘No Tourists’ was released late last year, the band included a few songs to promote its success. Songs like ‘Light Up The Sky’ proved that although it was a new piece of material, it still carried the same unique sound signature to The Prodigy. ‘Need Some 1’ carried a violent and desperate arrangement of sound that was well received by the crowd. It goes without saying that The Prodigy has the Midas touch in the world of rave and its subgenres.
For a minute there, I thought my phone was ringing with my choice of ‘No Good (Start The Dance)’ as the ringtone. Sure it was, at a volume of 200+ and across many subwoofers in front of me. This was the loudest and most involved I had seen the crowd all night. This time, everyone’s dance moves were almost choreographed and everyone joined in with the small section of lyrics. But even after, the energy didn’t cease as the controversial ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ entered.
The band walked off again, this time the arena lights flickered on and some bodies shuffled out. Though it hadn’t quite struck 11pm, The Prodigy had officially finished their set. Perhaps an antic to leave fans with an insatiable desire for more or that they’d be back again in a few years to pick up where they left off. Liam reappeared onstage to hand guitar picks and setlists to the VIPs in front.
I filed out smelling like an old gym sock, touching shoulders with shirtless, sweaty men and scuffing my shoes on plastic beer cups. I was going to wake up the next morning with a minging headache from the punch to the head I sustained during ‘Voodoo People’ and little bruises as battle scars from a successful and immersive experience I had been dreaming of for many years.

Review by Q, http://xpressmag.com.au:
There will be no return.
That was the ominous warning to fans as the lights dimmed and the bass started rumbling. Launching straight into Breathe, the Prodigy held nothing back, turning the dancefloor into an instant mosh pit. From start to finish, it was all in.
The Prodigy’s return to Perth for a huge stadium show at Perth Arena on Thursday night was somewhat different to the summer festival circuit they are used to playing, and the first show for the Australian leg of the No Tourists circuit.
Crowds were light on, but those who there, came with enthusiasm. Early on, support came from from Sydney DJ Enschway (aka Nic Schweighoffer), starting things off with a heavy dubstep set, playing everything from Pendulum to, strangely, Blink 182.
Next up, Perth legend ShockOne joined onstage with Reija Lee for live vocals, was the perfect warm up, bringing classic drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep, including his own hit Bleed Black. He had the crowd making shapes and got the dancefloor thumping.
Although The Prodigy don’t give in to using fancy pyros and gimmicks, their stage production is still spectacular. The absolute onslaught of lights and noise was impressive, at times completely shadowing the performance onstage. Live drums (Leo Crabtree) and guitars (Rob Holliday) accentuated the familiar beats and basslines from keyboardist and founding member Liam Howlett. MCs Maxim and Keith Flint played the part of devilish ringleaders, constantly moving around the stage and revving up the crowd. There was very little banter, aside from some encouraging words to Perth’s VIP warriors to keep it going. Which they did eagerly.
The vibe inside the general admission area was excitable, but friendly. Although there was plenty of pushing and shoving as punters jumped and danced, including the occasional break out mosh circles, the comradery of being there for the same purpose joined the crowd together as one.
The only (minor) downside for this stellar performance was the reduced set list. Spoilers were leaked early on via the Facebook page, with a list posted from the UK tour. If Perth is to go by, Australian crowds at upcoming shows may be disappointed to know they’re going to miss out on a couple of big early catalogue bangers. There was no Poison or Their Law, not even the Out of Space outro, which has been played in the Europe leg.
But newer fans would have been more than happy with plenty of hits off more recent albums, including 2018’s No Tourists: Resonate, Light Up the Sky, Champions of London, Need Some1 and encore double We Live Forever and Timebomb Zone. In fact, there was good representation from the later catalogue including Nasty, Roadblox (both from The Day Is My Enemy) and Omen, Run with Wolves and Take Me to the Hospital (from Invaders Must Die). Meanwhile, Everybody in the Place and Fire were cool throwbacks to Experience for the old skool junglists.
And then there were the bangers. The Prodigy know what their fans want. All the big commercial hits came out: Breathe, Firestarter, Smack My Bitch Up and this reviewer’s bucket-list track, No Good (Start the Dance), all had the crowds heaving and singing out. In particular, a heavier version of Voodoo People reminiscent of the Pendulum remix was a suitable nod to the Perth D’n’B originals.
The hype and build up on social media for this show has been persistent for the last few months. And with good reason. Over almost 30 years, the Prodigy have honed in on what makes a great live show, delivering a unique performance with unequalled energy and authority, proving that they are definitely not just tourists to us.

Poster: