The Prodigy
Manchester Apollo
14.12.2017
It was 2005 when I last seen these guys play live, I've been a fan since 'The Experience' Era,and I have all their albums since.
I missed the 'Invaders Tour' but was determined to get a ticket to the show in the homeland.
Pre Sale Disaster!!! I was starting to panic can't miss them so joined a Facebook Group 'Buy Sell Prodigy Tickets' (Thanks Guys) I managed to nab one pretty quick as demand was so high for all of the shows I even paid months ahead to secure one.
Lots of 'Warriors' were searching for tickets too, everyone helped each other when tickets were listed and swaps ,but some fans sadly got scammed , so many sick bastards making a profit out desperate fans it was shameful.
Tonight is obviously a total sellout its not often they play smaller venues, DJ is playing hip hop and old skool beats and it was getting the party started, on arrival early I had the perfect spot on the barrier it's gonna get ruff.
Atmosphere buzzing tonight it's been a long time since they even played the UK and Apollo is a small venue compared to 50,000 festival goers they attract in Europe,its no wonder its the hottest ticket in town.
The 'Ragga Twins' are 2nd on to support , a duo from London with Jamiacan roots, doing a set of predominantly 'Hip Hop Ragga House' dressed in Blue denim t-shirts and bandanas over their dreadlocks bringing it back old style. The 2 Guys are in there 40's now but still know how to get the crowd going, even though the venue just filling up in seats above.
Just after 9pm slightly quiet apart from the PA and noise of the crowd drinking and chatting, the lights descend.
The stage is set, a figure in a fur looking sleeveless hood walks onto the stage as he begins his rap on the new track 'Resonate', and the a well built muscly 'Keith Flint' joins 'Maxim Reality' on the mics for a fast paced track never played in the UK before til these shows. 'Liam' is tucked away off to the right behind his stack of synths and 'Leo' on drums and 'Rob' in front of me on guitars takes the crew to 5 !!
Jacket off, 'Maxim' is wearing an Animal print tshirt, and has the familiar white stripe across his eyes, he shouts encouragement to the crowd as 'Omen' starts the crowd go mental, as 'Keith' swaggers in front of me getting us to sing the words back, and bouncing around the stage like Tigger running off with all the honey, it's so fast paced the energy on stage is pure Power !.
Onto tracks from the album 'Day Is My Enemy' , 'Nasty' and 'Wild Frontier', 'Keith' get's athletic again with 'Maxim' marking his every move on stage, 'Liam' melts in the background providing the backbone of the sound, famous huge Ant logo just above the drumkit section.
Back to the old skool now for 'Everybody In The Place' all be it a shorter more updated version and more bass beats, cracking tune still though always was.
From old skool to Brit Pop Dance of the 90's anthem 'Firestarter' their biggest chart hit from 'Fat Of The Land' later begins another classic 'Voodoo People' as another track starts 'Maxim' decides to get down off the stage in front of me, and walk down past us ,and back again.
He wasn't done yet when he continued going to the back of the venue where my friend was having a drink at the bar when she came face to face with 'Maxim' she told me she was so shocked that she said "Maxim what are you doing here " he was staring at her weirdly priceless.
Meanwhile back at the front 'Maxim' makes it back to the stage after walking past us again he tapped my hand as he past ,I wasn't looking, he'd been stamping people hands, and he said "Where are all the voodoo people with stamps on them " I wasn't stamped .
Then it was time for some new songs 'Get Your Fight On' and 'Need Some 1', its not long before it's getting heavy and loud with 'Their Law' followed by the mighty rhymes like a viper 'Poison' .
It was 'Keith's turn to greet the crowd as he steps off the stage for 'Smack My Bitch Up' to walk past us, everyone surges to grab him, great track live, encore time the guys come back on for 'No Good Start The Dance' the crowd are lovin it, its really squashed here up front a lot of shoving from a mainly male audience, and during the show my highlights were 'Rob' on guitar throwing me gifts of minature Mars bars and plectrums 1 of which I caught, 'Maxim' threw opened bottles of water all of which I dodged ..just.
Next up 'Breathe', good one... so squashed trying to.. as apparently a mosh pit was at the back of us, they ended on 'Take Me To The Hospital', I couldn't believe it was all over I'd waited months and it was finished.
What a Ride!!
What A Rush ,Awesome show but expected nothing less for me 'The Prodigy' are up there with 'Chemical Brothers' for Live Dance Acts that really bring the noise.
Next time we go Djing with a Belgian Duo that have worked with 'Muse' and 'Pulp' to name a few in the end of the year blog.
Happy New Year Gigger's.
LMi xo
Kasabian With The Slaves
For Crying Out Loud Tour
Liverpool Echo Arena Leeds FD Arena 5th+7th
December 2017
It was almost 4 years ago I caught 'Kasabian' live last time around for the "48:13" Tour,they are one of the best U.K. bands live so naturally once isn't enough,I'm doing 2 shows.
I queue with a girl who is strangely familiar to me,turns out she knows me from older 'Kasabian' shows, and was a friend on Myspace years ago we lost touch, its cold waiting so we wander off to get a warm in a café,theres barely a queue yet so no need to panic.
Doors Open
We get in and stand ready for the support act 'The Slaves' a duo from 'Kent' who have the hallmarks of 'The Clash' and 'Henry Rollins' famed for their pretty bonkers moshfest shows and some of their fans here tonight just for them.
The Bands logo 'Slaves' glows bright pink as the dry ice , loads of it kick starts the show,one member is on Drums and the other on guitar (As we learn from 'Royal Blood' never underestimate Duo Rock Bands).
It's a raucous show but entertaining especially 'Cheer Up London' the drummer walks by us talking to us about where hes from, he's bare chested, although it has the potential to get overly crazy in the crowd ...theres no crowd surfers tonight so far.
They do a rather witty song called 'Photo Opportunity' about hating being asked for selfies and use up 80% of the stage before wrapping up the set,quite good actually in terms of uniqueness.
9.15pm 'Kasabian' Time !! as a clock on the screens counts down whilst some pretty cool hip hop overlays the PA.
Curtain drops down to reveal the smiley crying heart artwork and the stage is set as the band walk on in rather amibitious 'White Denim', 'Tom' wearing his kooky sunglasses, 'Serge' 7 ft of sporty top with 'Ellesehh' on the chest clearly a parody of 'Ezeeh' their song, and skinny leggings looking like Jesus,I'm in front of 'Chris' to the right for this 1st in 2 shows 'Tour'.
''Good Evening Merseyside How are ya"? the crowd roar approval a good start.
As they kick off with 'I'll Ray The King' we've not even started yet.. just warming up, 'Tom' bounces about the stage laughing and drops it again for 'Bumblebee' , the crowd go wild for this one its buzzing like a hive even more so when 'Ezeeh' is played another crowd favourite.
They keep the hits coming from all 4 albums before this, with 'Underdog' from 'West Ryder', 'Shoot The Runner' from 2005's 'Empire' album proving the anthems are more as relevant to fans now as when first heard (I cant believe 'Kasabian' been going since 2003/2004 that's almost 16 years at the top of their game .
'Rewired' another song from '2011's 'Veloriciprator' which also spawned the the single 'Days Are Forgotten' and 'Vlad The Impaler played later on in the show when our very own santa 'Serge' run's across the stage with brief case in hand in a trench coat and beard disguise he throws t-shirts out into the crowd and runs off , I can see his eyes I know its him but to quick for a photo.
The new songs are very popular already 'In Love With A Psycho' is a mosh pit favourite with Peter Crouch turning up in 'London' starting a moshpit at the back of the room its a crazy one and 'Bless This Acid House' and jaunty pop tune with punch 'Wasted' a witty summer anthem for nights outs in 'Malaga', the crowd are up for a party tonight admittedly the atmosphere not as rowdy as in 'Manchester'.
Always a pleasure to hear 'Stevie' my fav from '48:13', the debut album classics 'Clubfoot' & 'LSF' in there too provide enough hits to keep 'Kasabian' fans of all ages happy.
Following on in 'Leeds' the weather is turning wintery appropriate to the month we're in, lucky then no queuing necessary as fans are chilled out.
'The Slaves' supporting again have an even better reception tonight,it's much louder crowd response as 'Kasabian' take to the stage, the roof came off tonight so much so I could tell the band were loving this crowd, it was getting squashy and crazy at the front I chose to in front centre of 'Tom' level with his mic stand , I had my coloured jewelled head band that doubles as a tiara on, so much so that during 'Shoot The Runner' he points right at me during the line "And your my Queen Bitch" !!, I'm happy with that title ..I'll take it lol.
We got an extra song on the encore when 'Serge' and 'Tom' played a beautiful acoustic version of 'Goodbye Kiss' ,and 'Tom' says " We've never had a tour like this one, Leeds you've been Fxxking Empire" they begin last song of the night 'Fire' after which 'Serge' sits down in front of the drums watching us all cheering and clapping, taking it all in with a great big grin on his face,and shaking his head in disbelief.
Leaving the venue it's snowing quite heavy its everywhere like a scene on a Christmas card it cold so a fitting scene,I do wish now I was going on to 'Birmingham' but funds are not there to stretch that idea.
Next Time ....Electronic Punks from the 90's triumphant return to 'Manchester' !!
Merry Christmas !!
LMi xo
Orbital
Manchester Apollo
2nd December 2017
When I heard that 'Orbital' the old skool rave duo and 'Dance Kings' of Techno were coming to 'Manchester', I thought I would love to see them, I remembered when they headlined a dance stage at 'Glastonbury' seeing the crowd response it looked Fantastic !!.
This would be a wild show I thought but standing in the front of the stage watching the support DJ do their thing mixing mellow chilled dance toons I'm not so sure.. for the first time in gig history I'm bored!! and hoping the main act will be better than now.
The duo come onto the stage on their platform up on the stage at high level, the 2 light antenna headsets glowing on their heads, they are waving their arms at us below,I think Wow its gonna be 'Amazing' right ?
A Slow start to the set building up to the classic 'Halycon' only to the tapered out with more new material mellower than their old skool stuff,I'm once again pondering what am I doing here when the crowd were as bored as me,I waited for 'Impact (Earth Is Burning) to come on,its eventual surface didn't even get started, it was ridiculously short, I thought it would be a ravers heaven, it was the total opposite!!
'Satan' came on you'll remember it was part of the soundtrack to 'Spawn' back in mid 90's, yes at last a tune!! the screens on the front depict people and that of an image of a Revolver this is the most exciting part of the show all night be it.. apart from the light beams on the Ceiling.
Until 'Chime' which again I feel was cut short in the encore quite uneccessarily so,no wonder the crowd were practically still, are we in 'Manchester' tonight ???, the DJs shrugged shoulders and beckoned the crowd for a response ,it just wasn't that good,my memory is of this drunk posh girl yelling "Come on play The Box'' in actual fact we got hardly any tracks from the album 'Snivelisation' or earlier albums.
Finally after after much hoping it'd get better I thought I was leaving earlier to get my taxi but it had finished anyhow.
Everyone was on the street and no sign of that Taxi I booked no answer on the telephone customer service 40 mins later after my last train left the station and is freezing cold they promised they'd get me home although the driver chose a longer route to hell and a much stressful journey back arguing with him and I was refusing to leave the cab til I spoke to his manager, all wasn't going to plan I'm still waiting to be re-imbursed for his pathetic de-tour it's now 4 days to Christmas.
So yes this is the worst gig I've been to with that in mind, there's a first time for everything..Oh well got some good photos at least :0(
Lmi xo
Next time...
The Kings & Queen Bitch ..as Leicester's finest descend on a Tour across the UK !!
