On Friday 4th of July drum n’ bass pioneers, The Prodigy, headlined Sonisphere festival in Knebworth.
With a black and white jetfighter backdrop and horse-shoe scaffolding holding countless strobe lights, they blew the crowd away playing tracks from past present and possibly the future.
From the opening bass line of ‘Breathe’, the crowd went wild as many people pushed to force themselves as far forward as they could and others opened up holes for bone shattering mosh pits. Roadies and stage crew had to run on stage and replace broken parts of the drum kit and ‘Maxim Reality’ was shouting for the PA system to be turned up to full. Many of the songs were mashed up and remixed to the point where some of them, like Spitfire, were almost unrecognisable. This often works well, as it gives a new take on the tracks people know and stops them knowing exactly what is coming – it creates a greater element of surprise.
For every beat, the crowd continued to boost the energy, we were constantly moving, always slamming into each other and with sweat streaming down everyone’s faces there were very few opportunities to catch a breath. Sometimes the light show was so intense that you couldn’t see anything around you as everything was shrouded in an epileptic warfare of strobe.
However, after the set we were sat in a pasty place talking to a couple of blokes who’d seen them before, and they were saying that while The Prodigy are always good; they are also always the same. As a statement, that is believable, as the two front men, ‘Keith Flint’ and ‘Maxim Reality’ never really updated their crowd communication from ‘My Knebworth people’ and ‘My Warriors’. Also, like many festival headline bands, their set-list was very similar to their past few. Once or twice the front men would tell the crowd to scream, but their mere presence was enough to get the adrenalin pumping.
The Prodigy are extremely important in regards to the development of electronic music, as they practically invented Drum n’ Bass – they are currently one of the biggest electronic bands on the planet so they would be expected to but on an amazing show, which is exactly what they did at Sonisphere. Regardless as to whether or not their performance on Friday was a repeat of their previous shows, they certainly blew the crowds of Knebworth away and opened the festival with a bang.
Henry Hindle
