4th March 2009 Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland

Review by Arie van der Wende:
It’s Wednesday, 4th of March 2009. The Prodigy are doing their first show in The Netherlands this year. The location is Melkweg in Amsterdam, a small club holding only 1.500 people. The available tickets were sold out within five minutes after they went on sale. Those lucky enough to have a ticket were standing in a queue in front of the doors, which would open at 19:30. To the side were a few people who weren’t lucky enough, but some managed to get a ticket still.

When I entered the club I saw some familiar faces of other fans. Had a chat with some of the Dutch fan base and had a look inside the room where The Prodigy would perform. Nice and small, with a balcony all around the dance floor. A good place for an intimate show. Noisia, our national drum ‘n’ bass pride, were on before The Prodigy. They were already playing when I entered. The MC asked if people were ready for The Prodigy a few times during their DJ set. The crowd responded as one, yelling yeah as loud as they could. Last tune played was the Noisia Remix of Omen and it brought the house down!

The Prodigy were to perform at 21:30, but I soon heard that it would be delayed due to various interviews given by the band before the show, including one with RTL Boulevard Wink It would be around 22:00 before they would enter the stage, so I had a look backstage. I got a copy of the setlist and when the band got on stage earlier than expected at 21:45, I knew the crowd would go wild on the opener World’s On Fire. The intro wasn’t very spectacular, but World’s On Fire quickly made everybody forget about that! It works so well live!

Next was Their Law, which is an old time favorite of a lot of fans. Everybody was jumping, it looked like a sea of people. It must have been a great sight up from the stage! After Their Law, the guitar of Breathe started playing. People were dancing and singing along. Breathe was followed by the dubstep version which has been played live more often lately. Not many people seem to have heard it before. Being more slow, it gave some air, which was necessary as next was Omen. The crowd went crazy! The whole dance floor seemed to come alive. Unbelievable how well the first single of Invaders Must Die was received. I have no doubt that Omen will do well in the Dutch charts, as people absolutely love it.

We didn’t have much time to recover, as Poison kicked in. It hasn’t changed much over the years, but like Their Law it simply works. Crowd reaction was great. Maxim was on a roll, vibing up the masses. Warrior’s Dance, which is rumored to be the second single of Invaders Must Die, followed. It has this great old skool vibe to it, with those massive breaks and those sampled vocals. Again, a lot of people singing along. Next up was Firestarter which blended into the riff of Action Radar.

I was curious how the crowd would react to the next tune. I knew it was going to be Run With The Wolves and I wondered how it would be received. The whole crowd moved as one, while Keith Flint spit out the lyrics. Run With The Wolves is one of my favorites on Invaders Must Die and live it’s even better! Voodoo People was on next. Again, everybody screaming along: the voodoo, who do what you don’t dare to people. Now it was time for some “lost beats”, which would bring the house down…

This one is called Comanche, said Maxim various times. On the Lost Beats EP, which comes with the limited box set release of Invaders Must Die, was going to be a tune called Comanche, but everyone who had a look at the final tracklisting couldn’t find it on there, as it had been renamed to The Big Gun Down. When you put the Lost Beats CD in a CD player supporting CD text, The Big Gun Down still shows up as Comanche. I have no idea why it was renamed on the Lost Beats EP and apparently even Maxim wonders as well. It had a great response though, no matter what it’s called!

The band left the stage for a short while and returned with the title track of the new album: Invaders Must Die. How do we kill the invaders, asked Maxim. He answered the question himself: with Diesel Power! The bass was killing on this one! Next was Smack My Bitch Up. Everybody dancing again, still tired from Invaders Must Die and Diesel Power. We didn’t get any rest however as the last tune played was Take Me To The Hospital. This one is so wicked and a great closer to the show. Tired, but happy faces afterwards. I heard nothing but compliments. The band rocked it and the crowd loved it!

After the show I went backstage again. Had a chat with Rob, who gave some beers away. The band had another interview, this time with a UK magazine. It took ages. I waited for an hour to have a chat with the guys. Since it was getting so late and the band has so many gigs at the moment, we didn’t manage to see in the end. Went back to the car, still buzzing from a great show. Can’t wait for the next gig! Invaders Must Die!