Who
The Prodigy
Support
Public Enemy
Where
Birmingham Barclaycard Arena
When
3rd December 2015
Price
£39.50
Who with
No-one
Position
In the middle
Comments
Five months had passed since seeing The Who, and my life had changed a lot. I now had moved to my very own flat and acquired my first ever car! Although I'd half-expected to be moving to London, against all odds the first suitable job opportunity came up just ten miles from where I lived already. Nevertheless I had set my heart on moving, and as my employer was adamant that I'd have to drive I also took refresher lessons, although I still regard it as a cripplingly expensive and slow alternative to the train. This point was rammed home by the fact that the train was the best way to get to this show, and after contemplating going for a good few months I took the plunge and got myself a ticket, hoping it wouldn't clash with any work engagements. I'm surprised that the tickets hadn't sold out, and as far as I can gather they never quite did, but I also felt that after not seeing The Prodigy since the year 2000 that they were worth a second viewing, especially as they'd written a few decent songs since then, and everything I saw of them on TV reassured me that they were still a powerful live act. Omen in particular looked explosive! I just didn't get round to hearing much of their music, only working through the songs I owned the once, so my main preparation was watching and recording eight tracks from their appearance at T In The Park. I'd also kept intending to buy their more recent albums but just never got round to it, although I reminded myself of their strengths with a few choice numbers on my iPod on the way to the show. I didn't push any friends to join me as I don't like dealing with all the drama of persuading someone to come, and given the occasional need to put in token overtime for my job I also didn't want to mess anyone around with uncertain arrangements.

In the event I had a good day at work, even getting to organise the Christmas party, and encountered no obstacles in my plan to leave promptly. I even had time to cook some tea as my car does offer the convenience of being able to get to and from the office slightly faster, which is doubly nice on a rainy day and when my walk is down a road with no street lighting at night. In 2016 I'll try hard to take away this uncertainty by refraining from booking anything in midweek unless unavoidable. My desire to work away from home has dulled quite a bit after so many months of travelling, but nevertheless my principles mean I refuse to cancel anything I commit to doing. Although employers drone on about flexibility, to me it is reliability that is important, and the only way for me to be reliable but have space left over to be flexible is to avoid making plans! For example, I'm travelling all the way to London on a Saturday in October 2016 to see Brian Cox, but that has the advantage of making for a fun weekend and allowing for a bit more of an overall experience, rather than visiting the same old venues in midweek. For a similar reason I waited until the last minute before booking Bilston 2015 tickets for Half Man Half Biscuit, and if I could be confident a show won't sell out and if it won't hurt the experience in deciding late it's what I'd always do! This gig was on a Thursday night at 6pm, but in fact the doors opened 30 minutes earlier so they could foist food/drink sales on the early arrivals. Luckily however the running times were confirmed online, so I knew when to turn up. I also meticulously checked the venues rules, which indicated sometimes they have arbitrary photo Nazi restrictions in place, although seeing as every smartphone is now a camera I was quite confident they wouldn't try to confiscate it from me. Also it was quite clear that taking in bottled water was fine, with the restrictions covering cans and alcohol instead.

I caught the train in from my new flat, reflecting on why so many people are obsessed with driving. Many who do drive use their car for trips that can easily be covered on foot, and the ability to travel into town for less than what it would cost just to park means that it's the people who obsessively drive who need to rethink their views. The preference towards public transport is one of the reasons why I felt that London life would have suited me well. Thanks to getting this car I do feel like I'm completely bankrupt at the moment, as despite four months of my salary in the bank I still have as little cash as the day I stopped travelling. I do work on the assumption that many of the things I'm buying now are one-offs and ultimately I will be up on the deal, but for now it's a pain! Once in Birmingham I walked down Broad Street across from the Christmas market, admiring the large big wheel as much as I could given the rain. I also had a WTF moment as my boss called me as I boarded my train. For me work is a means to earn the money to have a vaguely enjoyable life, but he is a crazy 70 hours a week guy, who seemingly never makes plans that are too important to be casually cast aside for more unpaid overtime. Although it works for him, I never ever want to get drawn into that life, and a phone call outside work hours just isn't on. On my approach to the NIA I crossed the canal, then had to cross back again upon realising you could only approach the venue from one side. Would putting up a sign really kill them? And for those who wish to read about The Prodigy perhaps you should skip the next few paragraphs! However, what happened next pissed me off so much that the anger and annoyance ruined the rest of my night, and as my gig reviews are as much about documenting my overall experience and mindset, it would be wrong for me to omit it.

As I said, I'd gone to the effort of checking on the website that bottles of water were fine, and the very least you should expect is that when a venue has gone to the effort of thinking up and publishing very specific rules, that they will have the good grace to follow their own fucking policy. However, my entrance to the venue was obstructed by a water Nazi cunt of a bouncer, who said I couldn't take my bottle in. And just to piss me off even more when I spoke to his so-called supervisor he plain fucking denied that the venue policy was that bottled water was fine. Being in the wrong is one thing, but claiming moral superiority along the lines of "I say it and it's what we're doing, so we must be right and you must be mistaken" is even worse! It seems like they went out of their way to piss me off, as I have a very strong sense of right and wrong, and the fact that what they were doing was wrong on so many levels was unforgivable. Firstly as I said, they were disregarding their own rules! Secondly, they claimed moral superiority. Thirdly, they had the audacity to claim that what they were doing had something to do with a heightened terrorist treat. Well I'd love to know how many terror attacks have been caused by sealed bottles of water! The time and effort they wasted on searching me for seemingly just food and drink to confiscate could have led to a genuine terrorist sneaking in. The search I was given was lousy and if my intentions were bad then I could easily have snuck something in. If your genuine intention is security then you should be using metal detectors. Also this all led to crowds of people outside the venue, which itself is generating a risk of attack. And their true intentions were laid bare as they smugly said that food and drink were available to buy inside. Bottles of water were £3, which is the most sickening showcase of capitalism at work.

In the event I drank my water then took the bottle and refilled it again inside, although I didn't ask permission to do this or was given the courtesy of being told it was an option, I just did it and wasn't stopped. If the intentions of these Nazi cunts had been good they would have diffused the situation by apologising for their website being out of date, promised it would be updated immediately, and making it clear that emptying the bottle and refilling it inside was ok with them. It's also a solution that airports could do well to learn, and the fact it is rarely suggested just goes to show that their true intention is to boost their profits from food and drink. Using an unfortunate recent terror attack as an excuse to bolster their profit margins is one of the most disgusting things imaginable. I would write to them directly to complain but a smug fob off justifying their actions along these lines would just piss me off even more, and I am so angry about it that I would struggle to write them a letter that is anything more than a 100% justified angry rant. I'm grateful that my ingenuity found a solution that meant I managed to take water in and not spend another penny on the venue, or even check out the merchandise, and if it wasn't for the fact I had Dynamo booked at the same place in less than two weeks time I'd never had set foot in this shithole again. Also the mythical risk of a terror attack being caused by a bottle of water is nothing compared to the real risk of punters passing out due to a lack of hydration. This is a very genuine health and safety consideration that was ignored by their lust for a few extra pounds of profit. Is making people murderously angry on the entrance to a gig really a solution? Similarly it is no coincidence that the pubs with the bouncers outside are the ones with all the trouble - it's the negative vibes they generate that provoke the fighting, but frustratingly people don't realise that as they mix up the cause and effect!

This experience ruined my evening and I hope a few people read this and are sufficiently disgusted to also boycott the NIA and other venues in the NEC Group. That will be my revenge as I won't be fucked with. For example, since Cineworld pissed me off by refusing to let me take my backpack in I've not purchased any food and drink and have tried to visit other cinemas where possible. Although a complete boycott is too difficult given the lack of choice I know I've effectively clawed back a good £50-£100 as payback. And similarly I've vowed never to visit Austria again after they confiscated two bottles of water which I'd purchased in the airport after a security check, not expecting a redundant second check before the gate. I then had to endure a ten hour flight close to dehydration, and I honestly don't know how the people who enforce such policies can live with themselves. People who enforce rules that have no strong legitimate reason and cause huge anger, inconvenience and take away pleasure from people are the worst type of people in the world as far as I'm concerned. If they had the courage to think, stand up for what is right and say "fuck off, I'm not doing that, change your rules or I'd rather be unemployed" it would make the world a better place in so many ways. Also many - or even all - wars in history are caused by people doing the unjustifiable using the defence of "I was just following orders". If they'd thought for themselves then these conflicts simply wouldn't have happened. I do very much fear that one day something terrible will happen, and the survivors will say "well we were searched, but they were only really looking for food and drink" and then there will be a national scandal, but until that day I fear no-one has the moral courage to stand up for what is right.

If anyone from the venue is reading this, then you can redeem yourself by fighting to change these immoral practices, and quitting your job should you be unable to make a difference. Maybe you just haven't had the empathy or thought deeply enough about the policies you are enforcing to realise what you are doing is wrong. If you genuinely do subscribe to the view that taking bottles of water into the show somehow is a terrorist threat then the solution is to (1) update your website and ticket stubs to clearly advertise your policy, (2) if anyone has brought water inside then advise the bottle can be kept, but not the water, (3) provide many water points in the venue, offering free and unlimited water refills, (4) providing proper security with a focus on searching for items that are a genuinely threat to people and (5) building a positive and happy atmosphere to disperse negativity, remembering that you are in customer service and your customers should be treated like honoured guests and not be subjected to anything that could be considered an inconvenience or restriction without a truly excellent reason that is clearly communicated and explained in advance. It is such a shame that this event blighted my evening, but I can't accept what is wrong, and although I wanted to go through those doors feeling joy and anticipation rather than righteous fury, I then did my best to recover the night. I do worry that this event soured my enjoyment to the point that I couldn't full appreciate the show, and sadly I'll never know how I'd had felt with a better build up.

I was given a standing wristband before entering the arena, and the room looked far bigger than it ever had before! This was not good as it made the NIA more of a soulless arena, taking away its more intimate vibe that made it a better place to go to than the main NEC. Despite spending lots of money refurbishing the place it didn't look any better inside at all, so I'm not sure what they accomplished! Seeing Dynamo a few weeks later was interesting as the room was smaller, and clearly had been configured for a larger space tonight. This also perhaps explains why the venue seems to be a different size every time I go there, although as they've now made my shit list I won't be back to compare again! The staff were trying to encourage people to switch out their beer bottles for flimsy plastic cups, but fortunately they weren't Nazi enough at this stage to perform a second body search and I took my much-fought for water bottle inside. All this was doing was encouraging the flinging of drinks as people get tired of holding them, thereby leading to one of the worst and most disgusting problems afflicting gigs today - beer and piss being flung around. By sharp contrast when I saw Half Man Half Biscuit a few days later we were given our drinks in genuine glasses, and offered good brands at a reasonable price. I rewarded the venue by buying two drinks, and the crowd further honour the Robin 2 by returning year after year, and having the good grace to not fling glass around. This is the opposite end of the spectrum - treat people like adults and you will be rewarded in return! I'd timed my arrival to be close to Public Enemy's 7:45pm advertised start time but the room was still fairly empty, which is baffling as this show had such a strong support that it could be considered a double header. Their logo was already up and featured a target symbol of a man in the line of sight to get shot, which is amusingly inappropriate considering the peace that they were preaching in their set! I'd read a lovely story online of a random guy getting the band to their Sheffield performance in his Ford Focus after their taxi driver let them down, but there were no such issues tonight as the performance commenced.

Public Enemy came onstage to air raid sirens and cool beams of light much like early Manic Street Preachers, but considering that the group date back to 1982 if anything it's the Manics who were doing the copying! There were side screens utilised throughout but as I was fairly far forwards they were just outside my line of sight. Their most brilliant idea was having two guys dressed in hats and militaristic fashion standing at the back, who came onstage first and danced/moved with varying degrees of effort and coordination. Unlike some cheesy pop band though, they oozed attitude and cool and perhaps were the best part of the band. One of the group even appeared onstage on a hoverboard, reminding me that this was my first gig after Future Day, although sadly real hoverboards have yet to be invented, and their namesake are most famous for being an appalling fire risk! Public Enemy clearly had some talent, and the vibe was a bit like watching the top two bands of a festival bill. Also they'd really looked quite intriguing on the TV, although in the flesh without the intermediate elements edited out the show was quite a bit more tiresome. The reason for this was that they were constantly trying to hype up the crowd, shouting things like "louder!", and going on and on about hip hop, which was annoying as the best music is beyond genres. The Prodigy could claim to be dance, rock or metal, and although their disparate influences no doubt draw in some genre purists, I suspect the band themselves are more open minded, just doing what they consider to be good and relishing converting people toward music that may otherwise be outside their comfort zone. The Prodigy themselves went for some crowd hype, but kept a bit of a lid on it, whereas Public Enemy just kept goading and prodding us, and it was deeply tedious.

Also a shame as Public Enemy are genuinely interesting and have some talent, and they should stick to good cliches such as when Flavor Flav stepped off his hoverboard, revealing that he was wearing a Public Enemy t-shirt and also a large clock around his neck, which is incredibly iconic, and as I understand it he invented that look. Wikipedia in fact indicates that Flavor Flav was not just an exponent of the tedious hype man routine, but is perhaps its inventor too, which is much less of a positive claim to fame! However, I'd had admired him a bit more if I realised that he'd developed the whole approach rather than just being another guy doing the same old dull routine. Much more impressive was when the band asked for a moment of silence to honour the terror attack victims in Paris, although this was let down by a couple of twats at the back leering away, and after seeing how the venue had twisted these events to become a profit-boosting strategy I was still too angry to fully appreciate the sentiment. Although it was an enjoyable show, the band can't quite live up to awesome song titles such as Rebel Without A Pause and 911 Is A Joke, and unusually for me I only shot the one short video, and I'm not even quite sure what song it was! DJ Lord had a solo segment in the spotlight where he pressed the Play button for a bit of DJing. Seven Nation Army and Smells Like Teen Spirit are two deeply overplayed songs. However, at least he remixed Spirit in an interesting way, and also to play tracks by white artists outside the hip hop tradition showed that Public Enemy are more open minded then they may first appear. In fact, the more I analyse them the more I see there is to admire, although given the mood I'd been put in by the venue and my relative ignorance of their back catalogue there was a limit to how much I could appreciate them.

The one song of theirs I really do enjoy though is Harder Than You Think, which is extra impressive considering that it came a full 25 years into their career, and took another five years before the Olympic Games made it ubiquitous. Although Public Enemy seemed to be overrunning, they didn't let me down and finished with Harder, which was great. Also a speech about racism and division that could so easily have been a tedious whine was delivered passionately and sincerely, and knowing that Public Enemy often play happily to white or mixed audiences makes me realise that they are genuinely looking to break down barriers rather than putting them up. Although I can't imagine ever seeing the constant hyping routine as anything other than tedious and unnecessary, if Public Enemy took that out of the mix and if I had better knowledge of their songs then this really could have been a contender for one of the rare great support shows I've seen. As it stands though it was a worthwhile experience that broadened the range of acts I've witnessed, which is especially rare as I now venture out less and am not as motivated to see new bands, which is the downside of attending concerts so glorious that they make anyone who falls short of greatness feel like a waste of my time. I headed out of the crowd for a quick loo break, and the one and only positive comment I can make about the venue was that they provided a large toilets that could cope with everyone visiting at the same time! I went back inside but wasn't motivated to move too far forwards, thinking I'd prefer to steer clear of the moshpit, as well as allowing myself a faster exit afterwards. The venue was now on its way to filling up, and a good few drinks flung by fuckwits were making their way through the air. I'd fully anticipated that The Prodigy would attract some dickheads but it's still not particularly nice, and I do wonder if it's a subliminal thing that, knowing they can no longer ruin our clothes by smoking, that throwing terrible pints around is the next best thing? Although some fucker clearly was smoking at one point, which made me wonder where security were when they were actually needed!

The Prodigy came onstage closer to 9:30 than the advertised 9pm, kicking off as they meant to go on with Breathe. It was a very strong opener and I shot an amazing video with great sound quality and zoom, also capturing some air punching. But a negative pattern of the evening emerged when they cut the song off far too quickly! And this is where sadly I have to admit that I just wasn't really feeling it. A mad girl screamed at me about wanting to dance and not being able to see, not being entirely clear if she wanted to jump on my back or my shoulder, and I realised I'd made a mistake in standing so far back, as crowd chaos can extend beyond the main moshpit, and all I'd done by staying back was depriving myself of a decent view. The lightshow was impressive but Liam was barely visible, and the lack of a large rear screen allowing us to see what the band were doing onstage was a terrible error. Maybe the band wanted us to dance rather than watch, but I still want something interesting to see, and the side screens were so small and being used in an arty way which didn't help matters. If anything I quickly realised that The Prodigy are bloody difficult to dance to! Their music is just a bit too fast and aggressive, and fortunately as there were a good few other older fans in the crowd at least I wasn't alone in wanting to just nod my head and sing. It was ironic, as my reluctance to jump around made the bottle of water I'd endured so much stress to bring in less useful, but considering that a fool nearly managed to sabotage my night by somehow almost flicking the glasses off my face perhaps it's for the best that I was calm! Also as I say I just found the music difficult to dance to, so the motivation to move wasn't there. It should happen naturally, almost against your will and better judgement, and after seeing biblical shows like Blur and The Stone Roses I'm afraid to say that The Prodigy just weren't on the same level.

I guess that matters also weren't helped that I had a thick coat to lug around which fitted awkwardly around my waist, and as my shaver had recently broken I just generally felt pissed off and shitty. Perhaps I could have improved my experience by fighting to move forwards, but I stayed put, thinking I should try to take it all in and learn from my mistakes and keep my standards even higher in the future! It's interesting that I also don't seem to have made too many notes about the show itself. Omen was good, but there was nothing to see or write about. There was just noise, dancing and lights! The Prodigy did seem to be in a crowd-pleasing mood though, delivering Firestarter ludicrously early, as I shot my second video which captured the cool lights taking the shape of ELO's UFO (you can see this in the pic above), and the refrain of "you're so fucking twisted". However, my section of the crowd was then pushed back as a huge slam pit developed in front of us, turning our attention away from the music and enjoyment to one of self protection. As I said earlier, the music was really suffering in a crowd environment by being so fast and aggressive. I realised that it lacked the joy and melody that I want to hear, and was unwilling to bond with a crowd harnessing such negative vibes. This was also why new songs such as Roadblox just weren't that enjoyable. I'd appreciated it when I saw it on TV, but when I see The Prodigy I want to stand back, endure noise like nuclear bombs being detonated and see the chaos unfold in front of me. I just don't have the appetite to be part of the craziness! I shot my third video for Roadblox, which featured awesome strobes and people dancing, but the moment was undermined as I noted that Maxim swore in exactly the same point as he had at T In The Park. Not so meaningful when you realise the chaos isn't as spontaneous as you may imagine!

There were plenty of new songs that were greeted by chaos that seemed out of all proportion to their significance, and even when classics like Voodoo People were unleashed they were just cut off too fast. Although I accept I wasn't in the right frame of mind, the band didn't help, as a few genuinely great tricks such as false endings and extended outros could have built up some real excitement. Everybody In The Place was surprisingly the sole (proper) representative from the debut album, but for me it was quite far down the list of tunes I wanted to hear. Also Invaders Must Die felt a bit strange without the distorted vocals, which I was familiar with purely due to a friend playing it many times in his car on long trips with work. Intriguingly The Prodigy pronounced Birmingham wrongly just like Public Enemy had done, which is inexcusable for a band who come from Essex, they really should know better! One of the moments that truly did work though was Smack My Bitch Up, which is just so gloriously dumb that the aggression is so ramped up it comes full circle and becomes joy! The band screamed at the soundman to make it louder, and seemed very proud to be playing Bitch, declaring that we all knew it and so should go crazy! I shot a video of the quiet bit, capturing Maxim encouraging everyone to get down on the floor, which is always a fun moment, but it took a good while for many to obey. Surprisingly this marked the end of the main set, which felt far too early, but if The Prodigy wanted to exit the stage on a high they couldn't have chosen a better moment to do so.

They returned onstage with Ibiza featuring Jason Williamson, who apparently is the singer in Sleaford Mods. I didn't know the song though so it may have been around this point where I shot my fifth and sixth videos. This was followed by Gun Reprise, which as far as I can gather is largely a build-up to Their Law, which is a truly mighty tune. Perhaps the highlight of the night then followed with No Good (Start The Dance), which was a great surprise as I'd enjoyed it on my iPod but hadn't expected to hear it, but much like Voodoo People it just tailed off and the band didn't take full advantage of this genuine excitement. Again, No Good is a joyous and tuneful number lacking the aggressive edge of the later Prodigy songs, which I'm sure was part of the reason I enjoyed it more. The encore proper then finished with Take Me To The Hospital, which is fortunate as I initially thought that they'd launched into Narayan, which is okay in itself but is soured by its Kula Shaker associations! The Prodigy then made their gravest error of the night, delivering a pre-recorded snippet of Out Of Space, which was cut off before it hit the chorus, and the band then left the stage. I mean what the fuck??! I clearly wasn't the only one baffled by this, as once the lights came up and it became clear that this was the end of the show there was booing. If the guys didn't want to play Out Of Space they should have just left it out, what they did here just pissed everyone off and put a downer on a show which for me had already been blighted enough. Take a hint guys, when you get booed offstage you need to rework the finale, and I'd be astonished if this is the first time you've pulled this stunt and received boos for trying it!

I quickly headed outside, passing the rip-off £10 t-shirts being sold around the venue. I walked past the back of the new library, finding myself baffled and lost as the roads had been impenetrably sealed off around the old library, meaning I had to backtrack and go the other way round. It's fortunate that my last train is now relatively late! I enjoyed a Galaxy Caramel McFlurry, which is a massive improvement on the Maltesers one they'd been flogging previously, and reached my last train early. It filled up ludicrously, somehow getting even busier at Wolverhampton, but as I'd planned to arrive and get seated early, and also as I had my notes to write up, I wasn't going to give up my seat for anyone! Also I was pleasantly surprised to note that there was now a 00:35 train from Brum to Wolves, which I don't remember seeing before, but so there bloody should be to help people get home late at night! My ears were whistling so at least The Prodigy met my expectation of being loud, although it wasn't quite the wall of noise I initially dreamed of when I first saw them 15 years earlier. The setlist had actually been fairly decent, offering lots of newbies but also most of the favourites. Poison had been omitted from the otherwise well-represented Music For The Jilted Generation album, and a proper Out Of Space should have taken its rightful place as the finale. If they hadn't teased us I'd have forgiven them this! The awesome Spitfire was a baffling omission as it's a truly great song, and special mention must also be given to the cruelly maligned Baby's Got A Temper. I'd have loved to hear it, as it has a playfulness that many of the later tunes lack, and it's not like the direction they eventually went in was all that different, as the inferior Take Me To The Hospital demonstrates! I had Half Man Half Biscuit just seven days after this to enjoy, and on balance this show had just about been worth attending to see how The Prodigy had developed after so many years and to watch Public Enemy live, although it was a frustrating experience for so many reasons. I have a few big indoor shows planned for 2016, but suspect the lesson I should take from this night is to wait for the chance to see my favourite bands outside and in the summer, and to keep my standards ludicrously high!
Setlist (Public Enemy)
Miuzi Weighs A Ton
Rebel Without A Pause
911 Is A Joke
Welcome To The Terrordome
Lost In Space Music
Show 'Em Whatcha Got
Bring The Noise
Don't Believe The Hype
Can't Truss It
He Got Game
Man Plans God Laughs
Fight The Power
DJ Lord Solo
31 Flavors
Shut 'Em Down
Harder Than You Think
Setlist (The Prodigy)
Breathe
Nasty
Omen
Wild Frontier
Firestarter
Roadblox
Rok-Weiler
The Day Is My Enemy
Beyond The Deathray
Voodoo People
Get Your Fight On
Run With The Wolves
Everybody In The Place
Invaders Must Die
Smack My Bitch Up
Ibiza
Gun Reprise
Their Law
No Good (Start The Dance)
Take Me To The Hospital
Out Of Space [snippet]

Mark: 7.5/10