Roseland Ballroom – New York, NY
Live Review: 3/26/09
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“Yes! My tattoos mean I have hepatitis.” “I’m so Goth I shit bats.” “Diablo.” Just a sampling of the many expressive T-shirts on display at the recent Prodigy show at Roseland Ballroom in New York City. The Prodigy just released their fifth album “Invaders Must Die,” to rather warm—if not forgiving—critical reception, but inside the ballroom, it’s roaring, raving enthusiasts only. The energy is so high and blinding that when some guy falls off the mezzanine onto the crowd below, hardly anyone notices, including himself. As a result, he hits the ground. “You all suck,” he mutters, standing up. “You were supposed to catch me.”

In this world, it seems no one has forgotten about the UK electronic dance trailblazers—composed of members Liam Howlett, Keith Flint, and Maxim Reality—though for many of us, hits like “Firestarter” and “Smack My Bitch Up” are the last we remember. No matter. The Prodigy picks up from their glory days: screaming vocals, thunderous drums, relentless strobe lights and all. Keith and Maxim perform their own frenzied dance-offs throughout the set, which includes the aforementioned hits plus many surefire ones from the new album, like “Omen,” Run With The Wolves,” and “Take Me To The Hospital.”

The Prodigy’s unflagging stamina is admirable, but much of the songs’ textures are lost in a messy, grimy noise, burying their catchy synth hooks and samples, and making us lose interest after a few. The pounding beats, the dizzying stage lights, all the rhetorical questions of “where are fucking are” and “what we’re gonna fucking do,” and especially Keith’s spread-eagle, god-like posturing, just make us wish something really crazy would happen, like Liam setting fire to his eponymous Moog Prodigy or someone ripping off his fitted white tank. That moment never comes, though, so eventually we go back to reading the T-shirt witticisms around us until the circus is over.

Photos by Mike Jones

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via Lydia Fong, 7 April 2009 11:04pm | 1 |