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.
Words by Ed Walton
Photos by Philip Goddard
