Here is a nice and short review by Spencer from INTHISWEEK for The Prodigy’s Salt Lake City, Utah show.
Enjoy.
It’s been 14 long years since The Prodigy had a hit in the U.S. As quickly as “Firestarter” Keith Flint’s double Mohawk and bull-style nose rings frightened Americans into buying two million copies of the band’s third album, “The Fat of the Land,” the band disappeared from pop culture.
Friday night, at their first-ever Salt Lake City show, the British electro punks were back, with their sights set on conquering a new generation of unsuspecting American teenagers.
Though his hairline has receded some, Flint was still rocking the doublehawk when he took the stage with fellow MC/dancer Maxim. The two traded lines and moves on the cramped stage as mastermind Liam Howlett stood behind a wall of synthesizers and in front of a tower of amplifiers.
The band used “Fat of the Land” hit “Breathe” to kick off the set—maybe “blast off” would be a more apt description, as the bass was so incredibly heavy that it felt like a small explosion. The majority of the set, however, came from the band’s most recent release, 2009’s “Invaders Must Die.”
Flint and Maxim were visceral and vitriolic from start to finish, spewing their lines and taunting the crowd. Both made the most of the clouds of smoke and strobing red lights and stoked the frenzy of their long-time fans pressed up against the front of the stage. Howlett matched the intensity, never allowing the tempo to retreat for more than a few moments.
Unfortunately, the intensity came at the cost of any and all musical nuance. The mix was a muddy mess of bass and growl that made even the most recognizable track, “Firestarter,” sound foreign.
Though the band was serving as the opening act for Linkin Park, there was absolutely no acknowledgement that the crowd was anything other than their own. During the set’s closing and best track, “Smack My Bitch Up,” Maxim demanded that the crowd “get down.” Not get down, as in party, but literally get down on the floor. It was hard to not be impressed by resulting human wave when Maxim demanded that they then “get up.”
The Prodigy may not have quite won over the crowd with its music, but it certainly pummeled the audience into submission—which, in the rock world, is the next best thing.