2008.12.09 – Carling Academy, Birmingham, England

Date: 9th December 2008
Event: The Prodigy Concert – The Invaders Academy Tour
Venue: Carling Academy
City: Birmingham
Country: England
Support: Fight Like Apes

Tracklist:
1. World’s On Fire
2. Breathe
3. Breathe (Dubstep)
4. Omen
5. Their Law
6. Spitfire
7. Warrior’s Dance
8. Firestarter
9. Action Radar Link
10. Run With The Wolves
11. Poison
12. Voodoo People
Encore:
13. Invaders Must Die
14. Diesel Power Beats
15. Smack My Bitch Up
16. Your Love Link
17. Out Of Space
18. Comanche

Extra info:
Review by evans:
Anyways, my day was awesome, had a lot f fun before the gig 😀 … didnt actually get inside the venue til late! figh like apes were almost done when i got in, new merchandise is niiiiiiice (got white T with purple snake design and soem dogtags 😀 ) Setlist same as glasgow, Worlds On Fire has been mixed about with, and it is niiiiiiiiiiiiiice, dubstep mix of breathe is damn good, maxim does a lil dance across the stage Laughing quality… Omen, oh my days so good, stillcant make out the lyrics Laughing gonna make an awesome single and people already knew the “the writings on the wall it wont go away” lyrics Laughing… their law went down amazing, massive cheers when it started and the crowd never stopped moving… warriors dance awesome as ever Laughing… Firestarter sent the crowds nuts,… Run With The Wolves, fucking killer tune! Cool … Voodoo People had the crowd going mad and singing along, all good…. IMD (think this was different from the Liverpool gig) it works sooooo well live and the crowd knew the lyrics 😀 … Diesel Power god damn, the bass was fucking unreal…. Your Love/OOS massive cheer when You Love started and that got louder once oos started :D…. Then came Comanche what a tune WHAT A TUNE! bass is something else had my ears go all funny haha 😀 Keith does a funny dance to this Laughing like an Indian rain dance Laughing fucking quality…. Quality gig, 10/10 has made the wait for the album even worse

Review by JimbQ:
I just got back, MAN what i night! expected setlist, but still amazing, from what i can remember:
Fight like apes came on, they were shit, they got soaked in beer and everyone hated them haha!
The Prodigy eventually came on, they played the intro then WOF which went down amazing, i’m surprised at how many people knew the words, everyone was singin along. its changed a bit, when it gets to that plinky plonky bit where it gets higher, thats done a few times in a row, then maxim scream “too close! your too close!”. then came their law i think, followed by breathe, the dupstep mix of it was FUCKING ace!!!! i’d happily have that replace breathe in the setlist, no questions asked!
then omen (my highlight of the night) awesome track, worked really well and was about a minute longer than the recording of it that was shown on here not long ago. errrrrrm, then spitfire came on, followed by warriors dance. warriors dance was pure awesome! maxim pointed and circled about 15 people (me and pyro included) saying “You are my warriors!” but when the track was coming to an end i fainted!!! hahah, i was right at the front with pyro (nice to meet you by the way dude) i have no idea what happened, everything went white, i was lifted over the barrier then i woke up with red cross people surrounding me hahahahaha. that fucked me off!!! i missed firestarter and then cuz i was out the back, (everything was still crystal clear) i heard run with the wolves (i’ve changed my mind on this track, i fuckin love it, way better than firestarter
errrrrrrm, then i think voodoo people came on, then there was a break, for the encore, it was diesel power, smack my bitch up, your love intro to out of space and then comanche! fuckin weird track but amazing, to me it sounded like a real heavy reggae or beach party song haha, no idea how to explain it. poison wasnt played which i found odd, but ah well. great night!
i waited outside to see keith maxim and liam, then jiltedgenerator came up to me and told me kieth had just gone, so i missed him, maxim drove past so didnt get a chance to speak to him, then me and my mates waited about 30-40mins after jiltedgenerator went to see liam but we gave up, too fuckin cold to wait any longer. we jumped in a taxi, head off, then out comes a merc with liam in! FUCKSAKE! ah well, there will be other times i’m sure. my ears are ringing still, so thats a good sign, and i bought 3 tshirts, which i’ve took photos of, the one on the left is the back of the shirt and says “The Prodigy” on the front
Great night! now i’m gonna sleep…. i dont think im gonna make it into work tomorrow, i’m still feelin weird from fainting, first time thats happened!

Review by Frequen-Cee:
Here’s my take on the new tracks and mixes, reviewing my footage…
World’s On Fire
A good solid banging tune which goes down really well with crowd – becoming more and more recognisable now. A lot of the gig recordings (including my own) don’t do the track justice – you need to hear all the bass with it.
Breathe Dubstep
A much more chilled version of the track; more of a head-nodder than a jump-around-like-a-loon style. But still retains the punchy beats.
Omen
At about 130bpm, you can easily tell why this has been selected as the new single. Both Keith and Maxim on vocals – very catchy with vocal lines like “The writing’s on the wall, it won’t go away”.
This went down really well with the crowd and, for me, was up there with personal favourites of the night.
Warrior’s Dance
Most have heard this now; very catchy and again, needs to be heard with all the bass and trimmings. It’s not a tune that induces the ‘pogo’ effect like SMBU and the like. It’s not as hard as Omen, but it’s really funky and shows elements of the old skool vibe more than most of the new stuff we’ve head. A good tune to dance to.
Run Like The Wolves
This is basically a wall of fucking noise – but good noise. But it shows the depth and variety of the new album with a punk-like edge with the toughened up beats. A lot of good ‘drop the bomb’ moments.
Invaders Must Die
I’m not the biggest fan of this track but it works okay live. I’m still of the opinion that this and Mescaline should swap places in B-Side status.
Comanche
The intro is a real throw-back to the mid-90’s rave scene with the synthy riffs. It’s quite minimal and short (at around two and a half minutes) and not hard to see why it hasn’t made it to the album. That isn’t to say it isn’t good, but consider it more of how The Trick is to Breathe. If anything, it sounds more like a track Liam had been buggering around with for a few hours – but it’s still pretty darned funky!
I’ll be honest, I heard IMD and started getting worried – but after hearing some of the other new tracks my faith is well and truely restored.

Review by Thomas H Green, telegraph.co.uk:
When the Prodigy finally left the stage, but before lights went up, Andy Williams’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You played over the house sound system. It was perhaps the band reminding everyone that although they’re snarling electronic punks, at another level it’s all simply distilled showmanship filtered through a lot of sweaty dancing.
Earlier, when they played their sweary, rebel-rousing anthem Their Law, it was debatable who was dancing harder, the tattooed, perspiring MC/frontmen Keith Flint and Maxim Reality (real name: Keith Palmer), or the capacity crowd, who they constantly challenged to move faster and whoop louder.
It’s easy to forget that, in the mid-Nineties, the Prodigy were one of the biggest bands in the world. Initially, they were a rave act, four Essex lads, one of whom, Liam Howlett had a knack for combining pounding beats with tasty riffs and memorable tunes. The other three (one member left in 2000) would dance and gurn, creating the live “Prodigy Experience”, the very opposite of dance acts who stood po-faced in front of computers. Howlett now plays master of ceremonies, centre-stage with his machines, accompanied by a live band that gave the rock-flavoured Voodoo People the meaty riffing it demands.
His two protégés, meanwhile, have long since ceased to be just hype men and sang/shouted hits such as Breathe and Firestarter. Flint, mohawked and tattooed, barked out the lyrics to the latter between spraying the crowd with mouthfuls of water. Stripped to a vest, he was given to sudden bursts of frantic activity, while Reality simply prowled the stage, naked from the waist up, bleeding dour theatrical charisma.
It looked for a while as if the fire had gone out of the Prodigy. They conquered America in 1997 with their Fat of the Land album, then disappeared to their Essex mansions for years. When they returned in 2004, they seemed to have become a Liam Howlett studio project rather than the raucous gang of yore.
All that has now changed. At least half their set was drawn from forthcoming album Invaders Must Die, and new numbers such as Omen, World’s on Fire and Warriors Dance have the energised moody tribal bounce of their best-loved material.
For their final number, however, they return to the heady days of rave, when at least half the crowd were still in nappies, and the reggae-tinged classic Out of Space becomes a venue-sized sing-along that Andy Williams would surely approve of.
It’s very pleasing to be able to say that, after a lull, the Prodigy are back to their best.

Poster: