22nd November 2005 Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Newcastle, England

Timetable:
18:00 Doors
19:00 Backstage Sluts
19:50 Audio Bullys
20:35 Backstage Sluts
21:15 The Prodigy

Review by Simon Armstrong:
"We’re gonna turn the clock back,” screams Maxim before the band tear into Charly.

But can they really? Though they were easily the greatest dance act to explode from the Acid House generation, times have long since changed.

Where the early 90s saw Middle England and the Government terrified by the threat of ecstasy to the point of introducing the Criminal Justice Bill to outlaw illegal raves, 2005 is very different.

The aircraft hanger-like Arena is two-thirds full but it’s a world away from the grimy warehouses and open fields of years gone by. Perhaps therein lies the dilemma: the night’s show is ultimately `safe’.

When Maxim shouts “Strap yourselves in,” before Spitfire, the realisation dawns that the Prodigy are no longer dangerous in the way they were at the height of their powers. And with that, you wonder if the game is already up.

Keith Flint was always equal parts scary devil and comic book character but tonight keeps the balance on the right side of being a caricature.

Driven on by Liam Howlett, they’re as ferocious and belligerent as anyone could hope for them to be as their explosive raw sound fills the cavernous venue.

On the back of their recent Number One singles compilation, Their Law, they rip into Breathe, Poison, Jericho and Firestarter.

And by the time they reach the encore and blast into a nostalgic Out of Space and an awesome Smack My Bitch Up, you almost believe they can go back in time.

Of course, it’s all over by 11 and on the Metro ride home, I’m sat next to two pensioners. I can’t imagine them at an all-night rave.