BRAINKILLER FORUM • View topic - Prodigy @ Creamfields Andalucia, Spain (Aug 11th, 2007)

Back home, nice memories of the show. I liked it, not the best I've seen of the band, but I had fun and I guess that’s the important thing.

But let me say, dear misters of Creamfields, that I have attended lots, probably +100 shows in my life, from lots of different bands and styles, small bands, great bands, bad bands, megabands, in different cities, even different countries, stadiums, arenas, clubs, fields, theatres (or theaters for the people on the US :wink:

)… and the Creamfields had one of the poorest sounds I have ever heard, if not the fucking poorest. I stayed at 15-20 meters from the stage, and the PA system only threw lots of low end frequencies. No fucking melodies, just bass and beats / drums / percussion. It seems all the high end frequencies fly away over our heads and stayed at the back of the crowd. We had real bass distortion, and I went with one friend and she couldn't notice any differences between some of the songs as all melodies were escaping, I think that sums everything up. So fuck you mad bastards, you had 30.000 people and you didn't have the proper sound sytem. I knew it was going to happen, as I saw the Basement Jaxx at the same stage (San Miguel / Main stage) and it occurred the same more or less, so I moved back for The Prodigy. But the shit I've explained happened again. And I can't understand why the headliners had that horrible sound, while other performers 'enjoyed' a pretty decent one.

About the show, the best part was the crowd. People were lot into it, high spirits, jumping up-down, heavy pushing and clapping/singing every single song. I suppose this is why the Prodge have played 12 shows in the period 2004-2007 in the country (and for money, of course! :lol:

). And it seems they can play in Córdoba (September 14tth) and Oviedo (September 15th).

Well, the Army March intro kicked in, and the band were greeted with hysterical screaming when they hit the stage. The show was solid. I don't know if they were my ears, but the beginning of WTFU was a total mess. I couldn't hear anything listenable until the first drum beats kicked in. I can't remember now if it had extra beats, but probably it had. Dozens of fans from the back were pushing to get to the front, some the heavy pressure became a little unbearable. The intro for Their Law was repeated over 4-5 times (the 'what we're dealing with here' part). Maxim and Keef interacted pretty good in this song, but I think Liam was more into it, adding some beats and keyboards. Next one was Breathe, the deep-bass intro was unlistenable, I realised the song was beginning when the first beats came in. I had a guy on my right side crying the band were 'God', 'You're the fucking best', 'You are the fucking masters' and 'How good you are, bastards'. Spitfire, not a favourite tune for me, but people really liked it, to my own surprise. Around this time, lots of people from the few first rows were moving back, completely exhausted, and Maxim was throwing some bottles of water to the crowd.

Back 2 Skool, amazing song, I particularly don’t like the ‘bridge’ part, but a very nice tune for sure. People went crazy with it, as I assume lots of people wouldn’t have listened to this song before. So it was quite well-received. Am I the only one that think the end of the song was reworked? I think it lasted more than usual, with an extra part. Then Firestarter, bah, boring. Yes, boring. Again, let me say this song, to my ears and my point of view, is the best construction Liam has ever made in a studio. All parts fit with each other perfectly. All samples are perfectly placed, it has an outstanding mix, a stunning balance between all the parts. It deserves to stay among the best tunes of the 90s. But ‘live’, to me it doesn’t work, and it was even worse with the festival's sound equipment. The ‘hey hey hey’ sample was unlistenable with the fucking PA, the samples that mark the rhythm were missing with this fucking PA too, and Keith… I'm not going to talk of Keef, ‘cause my mouth would get dry.

The Action Radar fill is a bit boring, and we got Warning. A killer for me, but people got a little tired around me, but as occurred with B2S, it was well-received by the audience. It had some extra beats, too. Voodoo People, totally marred by the sound system, but people again went crazy with this classic, everybody moving and dancing.
So the encore arrived with people asking for more. Poison was the next, probably it was the song were keyboards and melodies sounded better. So also probably the song I enjoyed the most in terms of sound quality. Diesel Power… more a fill than a song. Back in October 2006, in Zaragoza, it was a proper song in the set, probably more than 3 minutes of song, but past Saturday it was more a long fill than a proper tune, but explosive as always. Again, crowd reaction was great, as it seems everybody knew the song, from TFOTL. Next, SMBU, probably the best-known Prodge song in my country, so the biggest reception of the night. I suppose it rocked, as I only listened bass and all drum parts. They finished with Out of Space, another classic that drove the people dancing, with people sticking out their arms throughout the field when Maxim asked to put the hands up, and we all were ‘invited’ to sing the lyrics. Great moment, but the show was finished, and the guys left the stage, Keith did it quickly, while Liam and Maxim were laughing and pushing each other as a little joke. I just hoped they premièred a new song, but the standard set popped up again.

Show was OK, sound was a big piece of shit, band was in form but not top form, and crowd was perfect. I think Liam and Maxim enjoyed the show… Keith, well, I would never say he’s finished, but the shows I have attended since AONO (four: Madrid 2004, Monegros 2006, Zaragoza 2006 and this one) he looks tired (and tiny fat hahaha). Guitarist… whatever guitarist is welcomed, since Gizz Prodigy haven’t had a good guitarist, just some dude making a wall of noise under Liam’s sound, sometimes the wall fits, some others I’d kill the guitarist. Drummer, good boy, but I prefer Kieron, who was a good guy adding his own beats, and a master adding cymbals in the soft parts of the songs, or just the points where there were no cymbals on the pre-recorded music.

The place. On a beach, with a bit of wet sand, just a few meters from the sea. Pretty similar to all the festival sites, lots of people, I think it was small compared to the people that were there.

I liked the gig, enjoyed a lot, but the sound marred what if should be a great night. Thanks Allmighty I didn't tape it (it was my first plan), as I only would get distorted sound with low end frequencies laying here and there, and even more if I think I planned to use DPA mics (if you use DPA you always get heavy bass due to mic's response). Hahaha, now I remember I was freaking out during Spitfire thinking about this thing I am explaining. So guys, if you are going to tape a show on a festival, probably the best way is using cardioid mics placing near the sound desk. My two cents.

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