Reading 2002: My review
Peter Thomas
glowstick-ravers (Experience) to intelligent hard dance (Jilted) was
summed up with the quote "I'm going to take my work back
underground...". The leap into FOTL saw the band become far more rock
festival orientated, and as Liam said at the time of Firestarter's
release, "We're going back to the alcohol crowds now".
However, with the band's live shows on a decline that began in 1997,
and showing no sign of stopping, what quote sums up their new era?
A rather worrying admission is found in last week's Kerrang : "We're
not cutting edge" confessed Keith. Sadly, this is all too accurate
since the new material started airing last year at the European
festivals. Trigger and Nuclear remain little more than the bastard
sons of Fuel My Fire and Serial Thrilla - the turds of the last album.
With Leeroy out of the spotlight, Keith is more omnipresent with his
Lydon-wannabe voice.
Still, at least he admits they are not doing anything new/exciting, so
I've been in a bit of a dilemma on how to review yesterday's
performance. Should I give the band a bit of leaway now that they're
obviously not trying any more and are on the decline? After all, no
one can reasonably expect Glastonbury 1995 or the Dublin Point New
Years Eve to happen again.
I'll take you back to yesterday, having met up with friends and
blagging my tent into Reading festival on a one-day ticket.
I had already heard about the first band on the main stage, Dillinger
Escape Plan. This sub-Slipknot band's lack of musical talent meant
that it seemed the members were playing different songs at the same
time. However, the frontman soon made an unforgettable reputation, by
taking a dump in a towel on stage, wrapping it up in a bag and
declaring that all bands appearing here were "sh*t", so he thought
he'd contribute. He then hurled the bag into the crowd, the
non-plussed crowd hurled it bag, and he opened it back up, and smeared
his own excrement across his chest and shirt, before blowing chunks
due to the stench. Zero out of ten for musical ability, but the
Jackass-esque faeces theatrics would make Mike Patton proud.
There was pleasure in hearing Corby metallers Raging Speedhorn (a band
kind of local to me) slag off their old manager, since I knew her and
what an egotistical pretentious muso pseud she can be.
I arrived in time to see Hundred Reasons on the main stage, who seem
to be the kind of filler material for afternoon stuff. Radio friendly
indie rock that Jo Whiley can play every day.
American punk is not my thing, but the legendary NOFX kept me amused
as they didn't take themselves too seriously, and gave us a
demonstration of self-deprecation as well as crowd-friendly Stateside
punk rock. "The guys who really like us are down here at the front,
while at the back, people are going 'What the hell is this, this isn't
the Prodigy!'" - good quote from the band in the middle of their
comedy caberet act.
The sterile tones of bland-rockers Incubus were avoided by myself,
having already seen them three times on a Korn tour years ago, when
they used to have a DJ (and were the better for it).
Slipknot take to the stage, in the third-to-the-headliner slot, and
they surely only got where they were because of wearing boiler suits
and clown masks. Without them, they wouldn't be noticed by Kerrang.
They start off with a number that involves a lot of screaming and
shouting, while playing lots of metal chords and fast drumming
randomly. Then they do another number just like that. And again, and
again. Crowd is quite huge, which shows how gullible teenagers are
these days. A good anti-Slipknot showing is in force from my vantage
point by the guest list area, with heckles like "I've seen better down
the Dog and Duck on a Friday!" and home-made t-shirts proclaiming
"Slipknot = Sh*t". Despite all the "heavy" sounds, the pit was
apparently populated by wimpy 15 year olds who didn't exactly 'slam',
more like just brushing past each other. No wonder Slipknot singer
Corey refers to his fans as maggots.
As Spinal-Tap-in-boiler-suits thankfully leave the stage, it is
evident the line up has been over-running, and at this stage it looks
like things are 35 mins behind schedule. Mercifully, Offspring's
Greatest Hits package is cut short to about an hour, which is great
for those of us not entertained by cheesy pseudo-punks.
Enduring these Orange County posers isn't fun, what with them ripping
off the Beatles' worst ever song (Ob La Di Ob La Da) under the
pretence of a 'song' called "Why Don't You Get A Job". However, it is
made easier when in the middle of the show, Dexter calls for an
"intermission", and some taped 1930's cha-cha music (a bit like Tea
For Two) gets played. "That's my favourite part of the show" declares
Dexter when it's over. Yeah, mine too, it meant we didn't have to
suffer you attempting to be a punk rock band for a few minutes.
As soon as Offstink finish their last song, I head straight into the
mosh pit, getting ready for the long awaited return of the Prodge to
Reading. It's been quite a chilly night, standing around enduring
Slipshod and Offstink in this bitter weather. I know I'll be sweating
buckets in half an hour though...
Festival crowds are mainly in their late teens and early 20s, and
every year I feel older when I go to these things. It is clear that
the vast majority of the crowd have never seen Prodigy before, so
tonight's game is all about a first impression to many.
Also, the Prodigy have managed to get at least 70 people on their
guest list! Mostly friends and family, but there is Natalie and Nicole
Appleton and Liam Gallagher (yes, the guy who once said the Prodigy
did his head in). A lot of Maxim's family/friends were spotted in the
backstage area.
The crowd get impatient about the wait for 10:25 (the scheduled time
for Prodigy). I point out to a few fans next to me that the band are
often late for their gigs (30 mins for Glastonbury 95!).
What with the slight overrun in the schedule, you can see technicians
and roadies are hurried preparing the set - banks of scaffolding for
Liam's machines as well as neon signs in the background. There is a
cheer for this being put together, such is the anticipation. Far more
Prodigy t-shirts have been seen than Offspring, The Strokes and
Slipknot, and I'd say it's a close tie with NOFX.
Also different for this festival is the amount of people - 60,000+,
which is a clearly higher number than the usual 50,000. The crowd
barrier is more 'indented' into the crowd, meaning more space between
the band and the audience.
About ten minutes after the scheduled appearance time, and we hear som
strange ambient sounds for about a minute, then we see Liam Howlett
walk on stage, followed by The Other Guy, and then Maxim.
Suddenly, without warning, an explosion of fast-paced breakbeat music
erupts, and everyone is compelled to just go crazy. Maxim is rapping
on about "going back to school", and thus far, it is a crowd-pleaser.
The atmosphere was electric for this, but by the time it ended, I
couldn't help thinking that it had just been FOTL stuck in a blender.
It was all Prodigy-by-numbers really. Sure, I did jump around and
enjoy myself for it, but hey, it was played really loud, and I hadn't
seen the band for ages!
Now, things get a bit messier from here. The following songs may not
be in the order they were played, I didn't keep check of the setlist,
too busy enjoying myself.
Nuclear gets an airing, and this crowd don't know it. They mosh for
the first ten seconds, then it just dies down, until we're practically
motionless, just looking at Keith running around the stage. A bit like
when we were waiting for the band to come on, staring at the Carling
video-booth recordings because there was nothing else to do.
It does go down well, as the song is punctuated by fans' generous
applause, but this crowd appears to be shy of dancing to tunes they
don't know.
We're back on track with Their Law, and the moshing and jumping is
back. However, it dies down during most of the song, and only returns
at key elements, like the first of a series of riffs, or a hook. What
with this being the last day of a three day festival, were the crowd
simply tired?
Breathe is more fodder lapped up by the late-90s-converts-to-Prodge.
Everyone and his dog knows the words. The mosh seems to remain in
force throughout this one, even causing a lot of the 4th to 10th rows
to fall completely on the floor at one stage.
We hear the familiar sounds of the Out Of Space chorus, in a faint
kind of way, being used in a dub style, and being repeated over and
over again for a while. There is an air of "will they?", but this is
sadly punctured when they move on to the next song, showing that it
was all a tease.
Trigger is fired up, if you can excuse the pun. Again, like Nuclear,
the crowd is bouncy for the first few seconds, and then we're in "what
is this?" territory. One guy next to me does know the words to the
chorus, so I guess he's an internet using fan. Round of applause at
the end.
Poison sees Keith as the dancer, and thankfully, he's not so much on
the vocal side of things this time. Another well-known track to this
crowd, but as usual, they're only moving for the hooks and the riffs.
Most of the time, it's nod-your-head stuff.
A thunderous SMBU is performed, textbook style. Actually, I'd say this
was one of the best outings of it, it went really smoothly. This is a
classic example of Prodigy getting the mix between dance and heavy
just right - unlike the dreadful AONO material. Crowd-rise, this goes
like Poison, but more of the words are shouted out. The female wailing
gives the hot and bothered crowd a bit of a well-deserved breather.
Gotta give Prodigy the credit on this one, it could have been 1997
again.
Between songs, people are shouting for their favourites -
"Firestarter!" and "Voodoo People!" being popular, although the latter
never got played. Playing along in smug mode, I shouted out "Nightboat
To Cairo", while various heads turned at me, with mutterings of "you
what?" and "you must be joking mate!". I just grinned, saying "They
did it at Leeds, they'll do it tonight, trust me".
And sure enough, this was the time for it. On came the saxophonist,
and Maxim shouted "Who here is from London?", giving a head-nod to
Madness' origins.
Many of you here have not heard the Prodigy version yet. I don't know
of any MP3s yet, maybe a £100-a-day-earning movie-rental-store clerk
can help you out.
So, if you ask me "What does the Prodigy version sound like?", my
answer is simply, "What you expect the Prodigy version to sound like".
Just like the Ghost Town, it is pure Prodigy-by-numbers. Token
breakbeats are thrown on top, and we're expected to buy into the
novelty of Keith Flint singing this classic Madness song, in his
Johnny Rotten voice. Given the original wasn't exactly 'sung', more of
a shout-a-long, this doesn't stretch Keith's questionable talents
much.
Don't get me wrong - I love the original song, I'm into British and
Jamaican Ska, I see how it's influenced Prodigy in the past.
But yep, this cover is pretty bad. I have never forgotten Reading '98,
where they picked a really good ska chart song (Ghost Town by the
Specials) from the early 80s to cover, in lieu of new material. Any
veteran fan having deja vu wouldn't need to be forgiven.
Just like the '98 airing of Ghost Town, this went down the pan.
Actually, I think it was even worse this time round. At least in 1998
a sizeable amount of the crowd knew the song.
This time round, the majority of the crowd was born when the song was
released. So this time everyone in the pit is stationery, save for a
few people (only just double figures) are dancing to it, myself
included. Still, is it really an excuse really, as Nightboat To Cairo
is a classic, gets played at pubs, discos, on TV, etc? Surely they
MUST have heard it somewhere? Sadly not.
And it's not as if it's a difficult song to dance to. No wonder the
skinhead movement took to it in the early 80s. Isn't it ironic that a
lot of bands in the hardcore-punk scene (NOFX, Rancid, Sick Of It All)
are heavily into ska/reggae, but many of their followers don't have a
clue? You could see this earlier on in the day, when NOFX did a reggae
number, and the teens didn't want to dance.
The rhythmlessness of this crowd just as much evident, even though
Prodigy's version is almost identical to the heavily-funky Madness
original. Oh, that's another bad thing about this sorry mistake - why
has hardly anything been changed about it? I've seen this song done at
kareoke sessions, so it wouldn't surprised me if Liam borrowed a
laserdisc off of some kareoke operator. Yeah, there's some beats he's
added, but they're hardly there, and they're all predictable anyway.
Even FatBoy Slim could have done a better job, and he's known for
cliched drumbeats.
The song ends, but the saxophonist still stays on stage, as some new
dark material is played, so the crowd politely applaud "Nightboat...".
Maxim raps, and no-one knows what to do, so it's all stand-still-time
yet again. As that piece of music ends, we all start to applaud, and
suddenly it's back to Nightboat! It's a reprise, and we just learnt
that the dark music was Liam's new 'addition' to the song - the only
thing significantly different to the original!
I don't know why he bothered. That music didn't sound at all in place,
no wonder we assumed it was a seperate song entirely. It really had no
relevance to Nightboat. Shoe-horned, that's the only way it got in
there!
So, back to the reprise it is, and Keith is giving it all the
"Niiiightboat ta Caiiiiiii.....rroooooooooooooooooooooooooow!!!!!" (I
know that if you haven't heard this yet, you already know what he
sounds like!), with Maxim egging him on.
Oh, yeah, Baby's Got A Temper - this got quite a lukewarm cheer, and
deservedly so. Liam played around with the beginning "ice cream van"
riff, and Jim Davies (who looked thrilled to be in the headlining slot
on that stage, rather than with his 'own' band Pitchshifter in their
usual afternoon slots) threw about some new guitar noises, and
practically mimed that guitar feedback you get at towards the end of
the song.
Crowd did know the song, but many got the lines in the chorus
transposed. The moshing was again only reserved for key moments in the
song.
Keith was loving himself, thinking he was being anarchic with this
song. Such a shame really, as ANY other singer would make the song
great. Like Katie Jane Garside from Queen Adreena and Daisy Chainsaw.
Imagine how powerful that'd be - it'd be truly something different
from the Prodigy - a record with a FEMALE punk rock singer who can
actually sound menacing and not a cliche like Flint.
Mindfields came up, and was treated as a token filler. Slight moshing.
Fake encore time. How predictable. The final two songs came up (and I
know the order of this, and so should you). Firestarter followed by
Fuel My Fire. <yawns>
Firestarter unsurprisingly goes down really really well. We know it's
the Prodigy's own Teen Spirit, the casual fans have been waiting for
this, and so we get the final waves of crowd-surfers (who probably
think it's the last song).
Then it's Fuel My Fire, same old routine. More crowd-surfers, and some
moshing to release off the last of the weekend's energt, because even
the inexperienced fans have realised we're coming to the end.
The music stops at about 11:45pm, so that's just over an hour of
performance. :-\
And so off they go, leaving the stage, and probably removing wigs and
make-up a la the BGAT video, because the crowd here have been quite
impressed with what they've seen. This is the result of a
rock-orientated Prodigy turning up to a rock-orientated festival day
in front of many naive people who haven't seen them before, and given
the ropey competition from Offspring and Slipknot, it's not too
surprising Prodigy come out of this smelling of roses.
However, there are those of us who have seen the band at their best,
doing those mid-90s gigs when jaws dropped because of the surprises
and the dancing.
Prodigy last night played to a bunch of people who think Offspring are
rebellious and that Slipknot aren't a one-trick-pony. No wonder there
was a lot of praise. Very few old-school Prodigy t-shirts noticed -
hell, not even much of the FOTL era for feck's sake!
It is quite clear that the Prodigy are on a definite decline. This was
a disappointing gig, but the new batch of fans won't be complaining,
so Liam and co will milk this rock-flavoured cash cow for as much as
possible. I think this Prodigy gig, may just well be my final Prodigy
gig.
There were elements of last night's gig that showed greatness. SMBU
was excellent, they could have done Out Of Space in full because even
that was recognized, and I do admire their recognition of a great ska
song, I just wish they didn't execute it so poorly. Oh yeah, I'll say
it again - STEAL KEITH'S MICROPHONE. He can dance, but stop the
'singing'!
Hey, I could have spent my time watching The Streets in the dance
tent, just for their one outstanding song.
Was it a Reading '98? No, but pretty close. They got away with it,
because the crowd was gullible. If they could timewarp last night's
performance into a 1996 tour, that would be career suicide.
Gotta say, props to the security on this gig. They kept the water in
plentiful supply (I didn't need it much, 'cos I only entered the pit
for Prodigy), and knew when to give it out. I'm not positively
commenting about the security in Leeds, because if you've heard the
news, you can see why they don't deserve any praise.
Oh yeah, some guys in the yellow camping field got their tents covered
in shower gel this morning because they were being c**ts to everyone
else all weekend (hope they're reading). My mates took care of that,
that's the kind of people they are. :)
--
pete {at} prodigy-nexus {dot} com
"Unfortunately, the current output of the band is also sullying the
old stuff for me. It's still great music of course, but the feeling of
being part of something that I had in the early days before FOTL has
gone. Liam Howlett once said that he looked up to the Specials both
because of their music, and because they were like a gang that you
wanted to be in. The Prodigy aren't like that anymore, and I feel
somewhat detached from themusic as a result :(" - Richard Worrall, 23
Apr 2002.
Magic Alex
"Peter Thomas" <see-m...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3d6a5624...@news.ntlworld.com...
<snip>
Great review Pete. Having seen them at Witnness i feel exactly the same as
you do... Howlett really is cashing-in for all his worth on the fact that
there really isnt much competition for the kid's attention these days.
Fair play to you for going through with another Reading.... the line up was
ropey at best.... hope you enjoyed the weekend all the same.
Dave.
Evil Sponge
> We hear the familiar sounds of the Out Of Space chorus, in a faint
> kind of way, being used in a dub style, and being repeated over and
> over again for a while. There is an air of "will they?", but this is
> sadly punctured when they move on to the next song, showing that it
> was all a tease.
>
Bastards...
David Lees
Ha ha. Very funny review. I liked the bit about the goats and the red
paint. How come the doors fell off anyway?
Chris Howe
> However, there are those of us who have seen the band at their best,
> doing those mid-90s gigs when jaws dropped because of the surprises
> and the dancing.
From your review it just sounds so comletely... fractured.
The times I've seen them, they've worked in material from
really distinct eras, and it's all gone off together fine. And the
energy... the best way I can think to describe it is like
Liam was hanging off those keyboards like he was clinging
to a truck doing 90 down a cliff, making minor course
corrections... unpredictable, out of control, and leaves you
standing there like you've been hit by a whirlwind. But from
what you say they just sound like a band now, which is a
shame. :(
--
Chris
Peter Thomas
<wez...@fergsass.com> wrote:
>Great review Pete.
I rushed it a bit. Sentence construction was a bit basic.
I completely forgot to mention the merchandise too.
>Having seen them at Witnness i feel exactly the same as
>you do... Howlett really is cashing-in for all his worth on the fact that
>there really isnt much competition for the kid's attention these days.
Yeah, we have to differentiate between the 20th Century Prodigy and
the 21st Century Prodigy. It's downhill from here.
>Fair play to you for going through with another Reading....
Well, I skipped it last year for the first time since 1996. Nice to be
back there, although every time I go, I feel so old.[1] Doubt I'll be
there in 2003.
Got no sleep last night (never do on my first festival night), so I'm
still knackered.
>the line up was ropey at best....
I heard some amusing stories about whiny Dave Grohl during the Foo
Fighters set, going overly-concerned about moshing to the extent that
he killed the atmosphere there.
>hope you enjoyed the weekend all the same.
I didn't go to all three days. In fact, I had forgotten completely
about Reading until last Thursday. On a one-day ticket/wristband,
you're not allowed to be camping on the site (only meant for three-day
people). If you can get someone with a three-day wristband to carry
your tent in through the entrance, then you're sorted. I was panicking
about this, 'cos I wasn't sure if anyone I knew was down there.
I was trying to make hotel arrangements in either Oxford or Reading on
the internet on Saturday afternoon, and only coming up with one
vacancy (far away from the site). Gave up on that, popped down to see
my mates in the pub, mentioned my dilemma, one guy pointed out that
his daughter and her boyfriend (whom I know) where down there, so I
just got their mobile and arranged to meet. Otherwise I'd have been
Johnny No-Mates (and probably staying in Reading's Comfort Inn, Alan
Partridge style, in the middle of a business park).
[1] You do get to see quite a few people over 40 now and then. That
makes me feel better. Especially when they out-mosh the schoolkids. :)
Peter Thomas
That's so true. Jilted is an album that sounds more like a compilation
than a regular band album, which is part of its appeal.
FOTL can't quite have that glory, because of the four Keith songs, and
then there's AONO, which looks set to be 100% Keith :(
Sod buying AONO... if you want to get an advance copy of it, just rip
tracks five and ten from FOTL, copy them each five times, then change
the tempos down a bit slightly. :)
--
pete {at} prodigy-nexus {dot} com
"I aint buying into BGAT or Nuclear.... I wouldnt follow that sh*te
round my f**king back-garden , never mind the f**king globe. Liam is
so far up his own hole - its f**king astounding. Theres f**k all
people that like that style of music they persist in playing. Giving
Flint more of a leadership role has killed off a once-great band. Now
they are more of a f**king parody of the once awesome force they were.
WAKE UP LIAM YOU IGNORANT COCK! FLINT IS SH*T! THE REAL FANS WANT
BEATS. If the band play Dublin with this sh*t theyll get booed. Thats
a f**king promise." - DaveyC, 12 Apr 2002.
David Lees
>
> Well, I skipped it last year for the first time since 1996. Nice to be
> back there, although every time I go, I feel so old.[1] Doubt I'll be
> there in 2003.
Nonsense! You are still young, you have your whole life ahead of you. Keith
Flint is getting on a bit though, won't be long until he dies.
> I was trying to make hotel arrangements in either Oxford or Reading on
> the internet on Saturday afternoon, and only coming up with one
> vacancy (far away from the site). Gave up on that, popped down to see
> my mates in the pub, mentioned my dilemma, one guy pointed out that
> his daughter and her boyfriend (whom I know) where down there, so I
> just got their mobile and arranged to meet. Otherwise I'd have been
> Johnny No-Mates (and probably staying in Reading's Comfort Inn, Alan
> Partridge style, in the middle of a business park).
I am sure the guy and his girlfriend were glad of your company too. I can't
imagine they wanted to be alone together all weekend. They must be so
pleased. Did you eat Gooseberries?
Evil Sponge
"Chris Howe" <mrmessiahwi...@iname.com> wrote in message
news:T9xa9.3748$Dq4.1...@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net...
> Peter Thomas said:
>
> > However, there are those of us who have seen the band at their best,
> > doing those mid-90s gigs when jaws dropped because of the surprises
> > and the dancing.
>
> From your review it just sounds so comletely... fractured.
> The times I've seen them, they've worked in material from
> really distinct eras, and it's all gone off together fine. And the
> energy... the best way I can think to describe it is like
> Liam was hanging off those keyboards like he was clinging
> to a truck doing 90 down a cliff, making minor course
> corrections... unpredictable, out of control, and leaves you
> standing there like you've been hit by a whirlwind.
Nice analogy... I like that... : )
But from
> what you say they just sound like a band now, which is a
> shame. :(
>
Shit, man.
Magic Alex
"David Lees" <ne...@davidlees.f9.co.uk> wrote in message
news:103040482...@iris.uk.clara.net...
> I am sure the guy and his girlfriend were glad of your company too. I
can't
> imagine they wanted to be alone together all weekend. They must be so
> pleased. Did you eat Gooseberries?
In fairness to you Lees - i had a cheap chuckle at that.
;]
David Lees
news:akej86$k6a$1...@dorito.esatclear.ie...
Thank you for that fair review of my review of Peter Thomas' review. Once
again, thanks.
des
> We all know that the Prodigy have their 'eras'. The transition from
> glowstick-ravers (Experience) to intelligent hard dance (Jilted) was
> summed up with the quote "I'm going to take my work back
> underground...". The leap into FOTL saw the band become far more rock
> festival orientated, and as Liam said at the time of Firestarter's
> release, "We're going back to the alcohol crowds now".
As ever an honest review from pete, wont go down well with the blind
blowin's thats seem to be more and more these days...1 to the 2 to the
3 yehhhhhhh love it wicked tune.....what a mess.
Peter Thomas
>> We all know that the Prodigy have their 'eras'. The transition from
>> glowstick-ravers (Experience) to intelligent hard dance (Jilted) was
>> summed up with the quote "I'm going to take my work back
>> underground...". The leap into FOTL saw the band become far more rock
>> festival orientated, and as Liam said at the time of Firestarter's
>> release, "We're going back to the alcohol crowds now".
>As ever an honest review from pete, wont go down well with the blind
>blowin's thats seem to be more and more these days...
I reckon it depends what side of 1984 you're born on.
--
pete {at} prodigy-nexus {dot} com
"Sad to think that I'm even reading this f**ked up newsgroup, where people
like you are quite happy to flame people one day, and then critisise
flaming the next." - William Millinship, 4 Apr 2000.
DomDP
>erupts, and everyone is compelled to just go crazy. Maxim is rapping
>on about "going back to school", and thus far, it is a crowd-pleaser.
>The atmosphere was electric for this, but by the time it ended, I
>couldn't help thinking that it had just been FOTL stuck in a blender.
Wasn't there a little 2/3 second pause in this song and then it started up
again? I'm sure it did - but I was very, very drunk.
>One guy next to me does know the words to the
>chorus, so I guess he's an internet using fan.
That was, without a doubt me. I was yelling my head off to that song. Dunno
why..Oh yeah, now I remember - I was very very drunk!