2024.12.14 – The Warehouse Project, Manchester, England

Date: 14th December 2024
Event: The Prodigy Concert – Disrupta Tour
Venue: The Warehouse Project
City: Manchester
Country: England
Support: Jaguar Skills, Jack Saunders

Tracklist:
1. Voodoo People
2. Omen
3. Fight!
4. Climbatize Link
5. Warrior’s Dance
6. Light Up The Sky
7. Beyond The Deathray
8. Firestarter
9. Roadblox
10. Their Law
11. The Day Is My Enemy (Liam H Remix)
12. Poison
13. No Good (Start The Dance)
14. Get Your Fight On
15. Invaders Must Die
16. Breathe
Encore:
17. Smack My Bitch Up
18. Take Me To The Hospital
19. We Live Forever
20. Out Of Space

Extra info:

Review by Ed Walton, www.weshootmusic.com:
On a very stereotypically drizzly night in Manchester on Saturday just gone, around 10,000 people are crammed into the Mayfield Depot by Piccadilly Station for a night of enormous bass lines, raving and very likely ecstasy and any other drug you can think of. For the first of a two night residency in the warehouse, British electronic music pioneers, The Prodigy are in town for what would surely be a night of epic proportions. Ever since the untimely passing of Keith Flint back in 2019, many questioned whether or not The Prodigy would be up to the task of continuing without their iconic frontman, the answer is indeed yes but whilst Maxim does a great job of conducting the audience, he doesn’t quite have the presence and energy that Flint had.
Starting off at a unique time of 11:30, the show tonight is a late one that will see everyone moshing the night away until the early hours of the morning. Shortly after half past, the lights dimmed as the opening notes of Voodoo People began to blast around the room, hyping the crowd up enormously who were more than up for a night of mayhem. Almost instantly, the energy in the room shot up and stayed at a high standard for the whole night for a tour de force as Liam Howlett, Maxim and co powered through a set of iconic bangers for the next ninety minutes. Following on from this was Omen which saw the audience in fine voice as they sang along to the tune and the even bigger chorus, it was enough to produce goosebumps almost instantly.
Another early highlight of the night was a welcome snippet of Warriors Dance whose enormous beats shook the Mayfield Depot to its very foundations. When it came to performing the iconic track, Firestarter the band made sure that the legacy of Keith Flint remained on stage as through a bombardment of green lasers, an image of him appeared on the LED screen behind him sporting his iconic look of black mascara and the famous spiky hair, understandably this was met with rapturous applause and cheers as the energy unbelievably went higher, it made for an emotional moment as you knew it was all for Keith himself.
Their Law, The Day Is My Enemy continue the sonic bombardment as the band show no signs of letting up. It’s intense but the crowd were clearly loving every second of it. Before you knew it, we were facing the end of the main set which was brought to a close of the one-two punch of Invaders Must Die and Breathe. Returning for an encore, The Prodigy kicked things off again with Smack My Bitch Up which before continuing with Take Me To The Hospital, We Live Forever before bringing the madness to a close with Out of Space. We were left leaving the venue with our ears ringing and the light show burnt into our retinas. It was truly quite the show.
Whilst the night on the whole was great, there were some qualms to be had. Mostly to do with the venue. I have always respected The Prodigy for playing with a live band as it adds to their performance by genuinely being to see the skill by the rest of the band on show and gives the night an authentic feel about it. However, the sound in the venue felt a bit dulled down at times and it wasn’t until you were slap bang in the middle you felt the full force of it. At times Maxim’s vocals were lost amongst the wall of noise that was on display and put a slight dampener on the night, maybe the Mayfield Depot is better for a DJ show rather than a full band performance. For the most part, the crowd were on point throughout the whole night, however, parts of the crowd were needlessly aggressive throughout the show. I fully understand that a show by The Prodigy is going to be rough, but people didn’t have to be starting fights with others during the songs which caused the enjoyment for myself and those around to be soured slightly and brought a slight element of danger to the night which did feel at times mismanaged by the venue staff.
Overall, the night was a lot of fun. The Prodigy put on a show to remember for the people of Manchester and despite not being the only one whose jaw wasn’t swinging from Blackpool to Brighton, I had a great time. If you’re feeling apprehensive about seeing them even when they’re a member down, don’t say no, you’d be a fool to miss out.

Review by Jennifer Grace, www.aah-magazine.co.uk:
The rumble of trains passing through Piccadilly station, the hollers of touts (“tickets, buy or sell?”) and security (“have your IDs ready”), and the excitable chatter of gig-goers all audibly backdrop the outskirts of Manchester’s Mayfield Depot this dark, damp evening.
Leaving the outside chill and travelling along the interior main artery of the former train station, the sound briefly becomes that of a velvety big band number overhead in the neighbouring Freight Island.
Down the concrete tunnel and over the threshold into the belly of the Depot, the atmosphere is immediately thicker. Every inch of space is bathed in deep red hues and fog, frenetic stage lights pulsing in time to drum and bass, courtesy of Jaguar Skills. This follows the servings of Rich Reason, who spins jungle and garage to those devoted enough to arrive at the evening’s genesis.
There’s a liminal feeling to the Depot tonight, a debaucherous in-between untouched by a world outside which is physically close yet mentally, and momentarily, in the distant past. The substantial concrete walls serve as a barrier, making an abstract memory of anyone’s anxieties and worries, at least for tonight.
A man with a shock of toxic-green hair, meticulously shaped and gelled in the style of the late Keith Flint, walks by. A group of lads mill about during Jack Saunders’ ‘bat out of hell’-BPM set, one of them inexplicably producing a rubber pigeon mask for his mate to don before sincerely declaring, “we are all the pigeon”. Vape smoke, glow sticks and sunglasses indiscreetly obscure wide eyes.
Post 23:00, and for the first time all night, the lights switch to a rich blue, a visual cue marking the ever-nearing arrival of headliners, The Prodigy. Thirty-four years strong now, the band are undisputed cultural pioneers of the rave subculture, the fruits of their creative labour manifested in the eclectic culmination of those here.
It’s only been five years since enigmatic frontman, Keith Flint, passed away and, following a hiatus, MC Maxim now takes on the live vocals of his former bandmate and close friend.
From bold blue back to rich crimson, OGs Maxim and Liam Howlett, alongside touring members (Leo) Crabtree and (Rob) Holiday, take their first determined steps onto the Depot’s raised expanse. The jilted electronic staccato of ‘Voodoo People’ is a resounding war cry of a catalyst, thrusting thousands of bodies into immediate combat: “Where are my warriors at?!”, Maxim appropriately asserts.
The Depot is a felicitous space for The Prodigy’s Manchester headline; Howlett’s cacophonous cyber-synths are at the heart of the band’s sound, a distinct retro-futuristic industrialism suited to the venue’s steel and concrete innards. From ‘Omen’ to ‘Breathe’, the frenetic movement of the crowd creates one large, indiscernible pit.
A hedonistic mammoth of a machine, where bodies are cogs in motion stoked by the sonic steam of twisted firestarters (“I’m the trouble starter, punkin’ instigator”) and warrior dances (“Come with me to the dancefloor, you and me, ‘cause that’s what it’s for”).
Too soon, an encore arrives, a feral chorus of “change my pitch up, smack my bitch up” resounding over heady bass and crunchy keys, and beneath a blanket of Matrix-green lasers. From their 1992 debut album Experience, it’s only right the evening culminates in ‘Out of Space’, though its live ending is notably, and criminally, cut short.
Unexpended adrenaline is met with the raising of the lights, as The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’ plays. Like spectres, thousands float in a daze of high arousal and ringing ears towards the exit, out of space and back down to Earth.

Poster:

Tracklist:

Photos from the show:

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