Date: 21st August 2005
Event: V2005 Festival
Venue: Hylands Park
City: Chelmsford
Country: England
Support: see timetable
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Their Law
3. Wake The Fuck Up
4. Hotride (El Batori Mix)
5. Breathe
6. Spitfire
7. Back 2 Skool
8. Firestarter
9. Action Radar Link
10. Warning
11. Climbatize Link
12. Voodoo People
Encore:
13. Poison
14. Method Beat
15. Smack My Bitch Up
16. Out Of Space
Extra info:
Capacity: 84,000
Channel 4 Stage timetable:
12:30 – 12:55 No Hope In New Jersey
13:15 – 13:40 El Presidente
14:00 – 14:30 The Frames
14:50 – 15:20 I Am Kloot
15:40 – 16:20 Thirteen Senses
16:40 – 17:25 Ordinary Boys
17:50 – 18:35 Turin Brakes
19:00 – 19:45 The Music
20:15 – 21:15 The Hives
21:45 – 23:00 The Prodigy
Review by Dezmond:
MY REVIEW FOR THE PRODIGY LIVE AT V FESTIVAL CHELMSFORD 2005
Back again, at another festival. I try to go once a year, camping or not depending on the bands/situation but this time
I was making sure it was a camping experience. Saturday blew over nice and quickly, despite not doing anything whatsoever
and before I knew it, the big day was here. I had not seen Prodigy live at a festival for 3 years now which was at Reading
in 2002 which also happened to be my first Prodigy live experience so my expectations were high as a floating cow.
The Hives had just made a humourous effort to stay on stage by ‘impersonating’ The Prodigy… albeit very badly but soon
they had left and the half hour was upon us. People started to flood the channel 4 field, I wasn’t totally sure if that was
because the Scissor Sisters were on or The Prodigy are still as popular as they ever were. People wondering past looking
at me saying hello just because I have a prodigy t-shirt felt quite exhilirating and respectful but that just added to the
anticipation. A girl and her friends were playing with these glow sticks on strings making all sorts of lovely psychadelic
lights and after watching many people walk into them I decided to ask her what they were. Soon after we got on to the topic
of The Prodigy, she had not heard much about them since Fat Of The Land was released and she was here to relive some old
memories of her listening to Mindfields in her subbed-out mini which I thought was quite amusing and charming at the same time.
The music calms down, people pay close attention and they were on, unfortunately I wasn’t too close to the front, but i’ve
been to a fair few gigs this last years that I wasn’t toally bothered about being dripped on by Kieths sweating armpits this
time around. The intro kicks in and the first thing I noticed was that Wake Up Call was dropped and they moved straight into
Their Law. Quite dissapointing I thought at first but then soon realised that they’re catering for a festival crowd which
was probably a good idea after all. Again Their Law was rocking, it’s such a good injection of energy for the crowd, maybe a bit
too much energy as people are looking quite tired already and it’s only just begun.
Maxim has a word with the crowd “This is my back garden” “Gonna wake up some of my neighbours” which obviously is linked to the fact
they’re back home and proud to show it. “This isn’t time for fuckin’ food! This is food!!!” Shouts maxim at the ousiders of the crowd
grabbing a quick snack during their performance.
This next tune is one of my favourites as of late, it’s an excellent new twist on Wake Up Call and sounded even better thanks
to LH not blasting out Wake Up Call right before it. The sound was fresh and exciting, the crowd didn’t really know what
to expect but once those drum beats kick in everyone adored it. It’s straight to the point and gets the crowd moving still.
Hotride comes on but only for a brief blast, bit dissapointing from the crowd and their reaction but soon enough Breathe
kicks in and the smiles are back, the strobe lights are on and the crowd go wild with excitement. It doesn’t matter how many times
I witness breathe live there are no words to do it justice, that strobe lightning is genious and perfect for that part of the tune.
Everyone is pretty up for it now but yet quite calm after breathe finishes soon enough the spitfire noise blast out, the crowd cheer with
excitement. The usual 05 edit blasts out except this time the crowd surrounding me weren’t as energetic was they once were.
Was it the tune? or just plain tiredness from their part, whatever they were doing I was still jumping and grooving.
I was pretty sure they had made a change or two in back 2 school but maybe I was just hearing things, the tune is still rocking as ever
and I think it’s a pretty important song from The Prodigy. I would be gutted if it didn’t get more attention as it’s rivalling the top
tunes as one of my favourites. The way maxim teases you when the tune softens up for a few seconds with lines like “it’s gonna hit ya”
it’s totally unexpected when the massive drums kick back in but when it does the crowd erupt. An awesome tune and definitely deserves
more love from everyone. The next tune is a tricky one, people used to love it back in the day, people wanted it and expected it but not so
soon? The intro kicks in and yet again a cheer erupts although this time it’s alot louder then before any other tunes played. People were
looking forward to this immensely but suddenly it changes and i’ve noticed it many times before people can’t adjust to it. Personally I love
the fact we’re not getting the same old Firestarter, I much prefer this new take and its minty freshness the way Kieth links to Action Radar
is cleverly done changing “i’m the firestarter” to “A Little action!!!” is perfect for settung up the Action Radar link.
This is where I wanted to hear the Action Radar/Memphis Bells remix again, but sadly(?) it moved onto something else too quick for my tastes, I previously
attended the delayed Brixton gig on August 7th and to hear something totally new was amazing, it was done really well but soon after the link
was ending the incredible Warning! was back for my listening pleasures. I’ve only heard this new version of Warning! live twice and it’s absolutely
insane, chopping up the lyrics and swapping them around is a great way to break up the usual method of singing a chorus and so on. It feels very
rock now, with Kieth providing some excellent vocals and surprising screaming and the way the noises have been changed, the crowd reaction is positive
and this has serious potential for a new single for the new album, it’s hard hitting straight to the point and puts Kieth back in the public eye for
Mr Joe Average to point at.
Climbatize slowly links to Voodoo People and it goes down a storm, this is another Prodigy anthem and it sounds better than ever. The 05 Edit on mp3 doesn’t sound
half as good as this despite it being pretty much the same, his sound system and Voodoo People were meant to be played live for the crowd it’s superb, it has changed a
tiny bit with chopping up some sounds adding some extra noises during the beats and generally making it sound like Voodoo People has had a wash and got some new clothes on.
But to my dissapointment after it had ended they had gone off stage, this felt premature and left us gutted. Sad faces round me wanted more, so we chanted for more and back
they came to play the favourites people expected, Poison and Smack my bitch up. Maxim got the crowd once again chanting P-O-I-S-O-N but maybe it was just me but it didn’t feel
as strong as it did two weeks ago in Brixton but then it was probably down to the fact they couldn’t spell poison despite having people chant it around them. This is what most
of the people were here for, the ultimate Prodigy anthem and is always an amazing way to end the gig, I couldnt hear much different apart from the usual change of words from
“Smack my bitch up” to some thing less noticable but it’s good that he’s not messing with Smack My Bitch Up it’s perfect and doesn’t need tweaking one tiny bit.
The final push from Smack My Bitch Up gets everyone jumping about, still so strong for all those years but it soon ends and people are assuming it’s the end, after all they have played their
best tune so people start looking around expecting to find an easy way out but why aren’t people moving? They wanted more and slowly but surely the disco ball is lowered and the new
Out of Space drums are in place and ready to launch the crowd into outer space. The flagship noise from Out of Space kicks in at the start and people are shocked that this tune
is on people climb down off of shoulders because they want to dance to the original tunes they onced danced to all those years ago. The typical chanting of the song is crazy, everyone
loves this even people who didnt know this was a Prodigy tune loves this and it feels like a great big “good bye!!” from us the crowd to the Prodigy. It doesn’t last as long as I would
like it as it sounds amazing an even greater ending to the unexpected crowd than they though. People were happy and fulfilled and not budging anywhere despite the actual tune finished
2 minutes ago, people wanted more!
Talk of the evening was The Prodigy from alot of people, probably helped by the fact there was nothing else decent on at the time apart from the sci– wait no, there was nothing else
decent on at the same time as The Prodigy. The heaving field emptied slowly and we all wombled off to our tent… exhausted and injured.
A Classic to remember.
Sorry it’s not formatted but i cant be arsed
Poster:
Ticket:
Photos from the show:
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