Part 3: Belfast & 2xDublin Friday, 10th December 2004: Belfast Ulster Hall by neko: It's Friday morning and I am knackered and feeling very ill. You need to understand, after Glasgow on Wednesday night I had a few drinks, 2h of sleep and flew to London at 6am on Thursday morning. Now Thursday was the 'day off' on the tour, but not for me. Went from the airport straight to work at 9am, then after work had my work xmas party, a black tie event with drinks all night. So I finally stumbled home at 4am for another 3h sleep and that's the state I was in when getting to Belfast on Friday - 5h sleep since Wednesday and way too much alcohol. Also I've actually pretty much nearly lost my voice. Not that any of this would stop me from going to these 3 Prodigy shows this weekend, of course! This is gonna be good! By pure luck my hotel happens to be located literally around the corner from the venue. The Ulster Hall is one of the smaller venues on the tour, which is of course always good. I get there after 8pm and meet up for a drink with 'desbot', who obviously requires little introduction as he is so well known for his posts on the forum. Also I am of course meeting up with my good old drinking buddy Decky. Now, the introductions - this is quite funny, as Desbot once made some very rude comments about Decky's music with Hedrock Valley Beats on my board and the two broke into boardwar. However, now we all have a drink and it's all good. Decky: "I thought Desbot was a dick, but he is actually really nice!". Desbot: "Your mate Decky is a top bloke!" ha ha ha. And now the gig. Leeroy is DJing but I miss most of the first half of his set. Next on is a support band which i miss as well, but I think it was Vatican DC. Then another bit of DJing by Leeroy... At about 10.30pm then Prodigy are on. Unfortunately the rumours about a spontanous performance of Out Of Space (spread by Liam himself, after the Glasgow show) don't materialise and the setlist remains pretty much the same: Wake Up Call But.. this show is amazing. Audience is a bit on the lamer side - although in places a bit too 'mad' (or should I say 'stuck ten years ago'?), anyone see the guys with the blue faces and very 'old skool' ravers? haha. Band are at their best, wicked performance. Their Law and Warning are really rockin, then Dead Ken Beats one of the highlights of the show for me. Firestarter seems a bit weak to me tonight, but the Hotride remix seems to work quite well now, very hard indeed. After the gig Decky's friends take us out to some Belfast club called 'milk' and it's more drinking and partying until 3am in the morning ... Great night! Saturday, 11th December 2004: Dublin Olympia by neko: I get a whole 6h of sleep, that's more than I had for a while. Yuki and I take the train to Dublin, which I am really looking forward to, great city. Unfortunately all the partying and drinking has now finally had it's effects on me and I feel quite ill and have a cold. So after a bit of a rest I decide to find a pharmacy to buy myself some lemsip and other medicine, but as things go, I instead end up having a drink with Kieron at 4pm in Temple Bar. The evening has started... A lemsip later some of the locals from my forum (shout out to desbot, Alan, Emlyn C) take me to a bar and of course more drinking, and although this is good fun I can't deny I am a bit ill, but keep trying to kill the virus with vodka. Tonight is a late night show, so we only get to venue at about 9.30pm. The Olympia Theatre in Dublin apparently used to be some cinema and you can easily get lost inside, so I haven't got a clue where I am most of the time. I try to get to the balcony to find someone, but bump into Mike Champion and Sharkey who with a bottle of champagne get me into one of the boxes to watch support band Youth of Britain. Hmmm, might as well do that then. Youth Of Britain (check them out on www.youthofbritain.co.uk) are definitely my favourite of the 3 support bands on tour with Prodigy. Good beats, cool live show, but unfortunately the crowd here in Dublin don't appreciate it that much (c'mon, even desbot liked it). Leeroy is on the decks again and I go to the front area where Prodigy are on after 11pm. Always funny when at a show someone is making small talk asking "so, have you seen the prodigy before?" I'm always not quite sure what to say to that, should I tell them the full story or just say "yes"? Usually it's easiest to settle for the latter. This is yet another storming show, probably up there with the best ones on the tour so far. Definitely better audience than last night, although I have to say that in my area were a lot of drunk dickheads as well, trying to cause trouble on purpose. Wake Up Intro I'm not going to get into details about every track anymore, you all know I love Their Law, Warning, Action Radar and the new ones. Firestarter still doesn't quite work for me, but Hotride is great again. Looks like they've figured that one out now, finally. There's definitely lots of energy at this show. Dublin loves Prodigy. There's almost too much jumping around for me and the state I am in though. I remember at some point during Hotride thinking my body can't do it anymore, but then Back to School kicks in and the energy takes over again. Once more Smack My Bitch up ends the show with a bang, people want more and you can tell that, after a not so successful Witness festival 2002 performance, Prodigy have won back Ireland. Argh, I am exhausted and feel even worse now, but happy. Just when I think I can't do no more there is yet another party to go to and it's a big one, including band and all their people, very nice. Hmm, just one show left, so there's my last chance: "so Liam, didn't you want to play Out of Space?". "Yes. tomorrow we will, for the last show of the tour. Promise!". oooooh, can't wait! Sunday, 12th December 2004: Dublin Olympia by neko: I finally go home at 5am, so Sunday is a bit of a write-off. It's a bit a shame as, apart from a short shopping stroll (yeah, more Lemsip) I don't really get to see that much of Dublin during my stay, but at least by the evening I am fine again. I get to the venue slightly late though, so I miss Vatican DC, which is a shame as I would have actually really liked to see them again. ah well. Now, The Prodigy show. I am not even going to attempt to describe this one in detail, because it would be impossible. This show is just U N B E L I E V A B L E. I'd say probably the best I've ever seen. Ok, there's the 'usual' start, with the Wake Up Intro and Wake Up Call, then Their Law and Warning. It feels though as if the band give their last every bit, it's the last show for a while, and you can tell they all want to make the most, the very most out of it. After Spitfire and Breathe then directly into Girls and More Girls. This is the only change of setlist, at this place at least, Dead Ken Beats now follows Girls, rather than being before it. I totally love this track now, mroe and more... but am not too sure whether the whole audience really got it it. This is then directly followed by the
Action Radar fill, with just Liam and Kieron on stage... sooo good! Even
Firestarter works tonight, they seem to have settled for a new version now, am not overly keen on it, but tonight everything is perfect. They of course return, to play Poison, leading into the Release Yo'Delf fill and then SMBU. As at the other shows, Maxim, Keith and Kieron are leaving the stage, Liam plays a few more beats, walks to the front of the stage and walks away... but then.... returns and makes a gesture 'one' to the audience... yeeeeeessssss! He starts playing some beats, Kieron drumming along, then, the familiar sound of Out Of Space, wooohooo! Now the place goes mad. I just jump back into the middle of the crowd, this is great. Maxim and Keith both return on stage, but you can tell they're a bit out of practise with this one. All good though, it's all very sponatnous, just really good to see the band do this kind of stuff. Oh wow, what an amzing ending, what an amazing tour. So, I've been following this band around to almost all shows since the beginning of October and while my 'reviews' are getting worse and worse (or is it just the state I'm in when writing them), I've had just such an amazing time. I guess it is now time for a bit of rest, but I definitely cannot wait for the band to return next spring. Massive respect and thanks to the whole band and all. And now, if you want to read a proper review, check out Desbot's in the forum [HERE] back to prodigy live [go home] (If you copy this, please link back to this URL) www.nekosite.co.uk - copyright © 1998-2004 by neko - all rights reserved |
