Prodigy Live Up To The Hype Prodigy Live Up To The Hype
May 30, 1997 8:47 AM EDT
Prodigy (Mayan Theatre; 1,500 capacity; $20)
By David Wollock
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Using live frontmen and a rock guitarist, Prodigy
delivers more of a spectacle than faceless electronic brethren like the
Orb or the Chemical Brothers.
The band lived up to the prodigious hype as they set a sold-out house
ablaze with their 70-minute mix of techno and never-too-serious punk fury.
The second date of their first, inexplicably postponed U.S. tour precedes
the release of the U.K. pop stars' perpetually delayed third LP, The Fat
of the Land (Maverick), which is now due in July and is touted as the work
that could blow open the doors for techno in this country.
Amid smoke machine haze, hypeman-dancer Maxim Reality (bare-chested and
in velvet kilt) and ghoulish vocalist-dancer Keith Flint (sporting heavy
mascara and a red and blue double mohawk) shouted out simple lyrical
phrases -- ``I roll and rock, rock and roll,'' for example -- over the
house-leveling beats.
Whirling and writhing like a man possessed, Flint verged on self-parody
when he affected cartoonishly demonic expressions. He rolled out his
pierced tongue a la Gene Simmons, spit water on fans and occasionally
broke techno-punk character to flash a smile and let fans know he was
having fun.
Guitarist Gizz Butt and a third dancer added to the onstage carnival on
several cuts; group founder-producer Liam Howlett, housed in a fortress of
electronic equipment, frantically punched buttons to manipulate programmed
tracks.
New material didn't deter the mainstream-heavy audience from a workout on
the dance floor, though the group's Stateside hit, Firestarter, which has
shipped close to 600,000 units domestically, sparked the biggest frenzy of
the night.
After a fierce, major-label bidding war last year that secured them a
landmark, multimillion-dollar contract, Prodigy has become an industry
barometer for electronica's potential. If fans can take their techno with
a wink and a nod, the band -- with its embrace of conventional rock
performance elements -- could indeed be mainstream firestarters for the
genre.
Produced by Bill Silva Presents. Band: Keith Flint, Liam Howlett, Leeroy
Thornhill, Maxim Reality, Gizz Butt. Reviewed May 28, 1997.
Reuters/Variety
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