Yorkshire Coast Gigs

Review: The Prodigy at Bridlington Spa

• 7th May 2015
• Alex Foster

What happens when you put a bunch of awesome musicians together, then add a mix of electronica, drum’n’bass and just a dash of rock? The answer to that question? The Prodigy.

Before any acts had even started I could see this was going to be one hell of a show, with techno music blasting and shaking the ground as I walked in to The Bridlington Spa Theatre. There were people from all walks of life and every part of the planet flooding into the building as the suspense rose for what could be one of the biggest shows coming to Bridlington this year.

As the evening’s support act KillSoniK – a DJ/Dubstep duo hailing from our capital city of London – the thunder of bass from the dance and techno music whacked the walls of The Bridlington Spa Theatre. A great start to the night, KillSoniK had people moving from the off.

My only slight reservation about this act was that while their music did most of the talking for them with upbeat, bass heavy and sweetly mixed rhythms, I feel that they could have engaged a little more with their audience.

As KillSoniK finished their set and the lights went down I could feel the tension building. As the theatre began to cloud up with smoke and more people entered the room, I started to realise this was evidently going to be one of the biggest occasions of 2015 in Bridlington and maybe even Yorkshire, musically speaking.

Then, when everybody least expected it (myself included) The Prodigy flew on to the stage in a spectacular fashion with their hit single ‘Breathe’, which sent the whole place wild! A highlight for me was not only the musical side of this performance but also the light show – nothing sets the scene at a gig more than amazing lights which flow well and are synchronised with the music that’s being played.

The Prodigy in my mind pulled out all the stops in this performance, perfectly combining the lighting effects, their own unique sound, and engaging fully with their audience. This is what makes them one of the best live acts around.

To me the show was a masterclass in what a gig should look like. Keith Palmer (better known by his stage name of Maxim) appeared to my eyes to be the leader of this in-your-face, crowd-loving and tight-sounding wolf pack of a band. I say this because of his compassion, involvement with the crowd and his all round frontman abilities as a whole. It seemed like everyone fed off of his positive vibes and interaction with the audience.

Don’t be fooled by my previous statement though – when it came to Keith Flint singing some of The Prodigy anthems we all know and love such as ‘Take Me To The Hospital’, ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, and ‘Firestarter’, he held nothing back and went straight in for the kill, showing that he and his fellow band mates are still a force to be reckoned with in the industry and still will be for many years to come.

Naturally, everybody was singing and dancing along to some of their older more recognizable songs such as the crowd favourite ‘Omen’ and another modern classic in the tune of ‘Invaders Must Die’.

However, some newer material, such as ‘Wall Of Death’ and ‘Get Your Fight On’, from the Prodigy’s newest album ‘The Day Is My Enemy’, were like a breath of fresh air in their set – I hadn’t heard anything like this in recent years, especially live.

I couldn’t simply use one word to sum up The Prodigy, so here’s my slightly wordier summary on their performance. All round awesomeness, genuinely unbelievable and to put it simply, breathtaking. I’d give them ten out of ten in all fields of the performance.

The lights, the sound and the crowd reaction were all on-point and if there was ever going to be a tsunami in our small but ever-growing seaside town, they’d be the ones to cause it. A sea of people in a large room all moving in perfect unison as the drum’n’bass kicked back in was one of the best things to watch, and really did set my heart racing.

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