After ripping the roof off Roseland in New York City, The Prodigy, who are riding on their new album, Invaders Must Die, flew down to perform at Ultra Music Festival in Miami. Bad weather and flight delays almost caused the revered UK band to miss the gig—something that mastermind Liam Howlett almost wishes had happened. “Ultra didn’t really float my boat, “Howlett tells Big Shot. “We’ve done [Ultra] before, and I really don’t like it.”
Keith Flint had a different take on the show. “It was wicked,” he told Big Shot. “I didn’t see much of the festival. We got delayed coming in from New York, and we went straight onto the stage from the airport. That mission to get onstage is always exciting, especially when it’s a banging show. Miami rocks—they love their dance music. We banged it and it rocked.”
“We’ve done [Ultra] before. I don’t really enjoy it. I didn’t think the crowd was very good. It was very flat. It’s meant to be like a rave or a party, but it was the most unresponsive crowd I’ve ever seen. It was, like, dead. [Miami] is filled with holidaymakers that time of year, innit? I could have a better party in my living room.”
Nonetheless, Howlett says he isn’t planning to rush back to Ultra—or Miami—in the near future. “It’s not my type of thing, you know? We’ve done [Ultra] before. I don’t really enjoy it. I didn’t think the crowd was very good. It was very flat. It’s meant to be like a rave or a party, but it was the most unresponsive crowd I’ve ever seen. It was, like, dead. [Miami] is filled with holidaymakers that time of year, innit? I could have a better party in my living room. It was, like, nothing. I was like, c’mon, c’mon…what the fuck are we doing? You can print me saying this. I don’t give a shit.”
The Prodigy return to the U.S. for an eight-day tour kicking off on May 18th in Washington, DC. Strangely enough, no Miami area dates are on their upcoming itinerary.
The Prodigy’s US Tour Dates
May 18, 2009 – Washington DC, 9:30 Club
May 20, 2009 – Boston, MA, House of Blues
May 22, 2009 – Detroit, MI, The Fillmore
May 23, 2009 – Chicago, IL, Congress Theater
May 26, 2009 – Anaheim, CA, The Grove
May 27, 2009 – Los Angeles, CA, Hollywood Palladium
May 28, 2009 – San Francisco, CA, Warfield Theatre
May 30, 2009 – Seattle, WA, WAMU Theatre @ Qwest Field / USC.12 Festival
My opinion Prodigy sucked they are over the hill hacks. They were late and and the new material was awful. Blame yourselves LIAM deal with it you drug addict mess!
I say screw Prodigy! If they didn’t like vibe at Ultra why did they come back? Shame the crowd gave them the warm welcome; they don’t deserve the 500,000 people that enjoyed their music at the show. I guess it’s the typical band with the big head.
Ultra need to stop bringing in the big time bands and stick to the DJ’s and electronic band that are in the scene.
Prodigy seems to be more suited for there shows at 9:30 club and HOB, etc..I am sure they appeal more to Male teens with Angst or Older men trying to relieve their Prodigy Agnst, no one really gave a fuck about them at Ultra, they were waiting for them to be over, hence the zero crowd response. I have to agree with Liam, was a Bad fit for ULTRA to begin with.
…what’s wrong with you people?
It’s you that sucked!
The crowd at Ultra is the lamest and worst ever…like they had never been to a concert before. My grandma have better parties in her living room!
Couldn’t agree more!
The Miami crowd sucked!
yeah, leave prodigy to the angst ridden dudes. the emo fairies can go prance around to tiesto…….prodigy tore the roof off of NYC and ultra heads stood around. it’s a live show you pencildicks, live a little.
prodigy is maybe the best show live you can ever seen you dickholes. But of course if you like this tiesto / paul van dyk shit, well that wasn’t the show to attend. Prodigy remains above most of the lineup of this cheeeeeeesy festival…
MIAMI IS MY CITY THAT I LOVE VERY MUCH; I MUST COMMENT ON THIS MATTER. ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WHY THE PRODIGY DID NOT HAVE A GOOD CROWD FOLLOWING IH BECAUSE OF THE GENRE OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEY MAKE. UNFORTUNATELY MIAMI DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO EMBRACE OTHER GENRES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC THATS NOT HOUSE OR TRANCE. UNFORTUNATELY MOST MIAMIANS ONLY LISTEN TO TIESTO OR ERICK MORILLO. MUCH LOVE GOES TO THEM TWO ARTIST METIONED ABOVE, BUT THATS THE FACT. I FOR ONE DO ENJOY AND LOVE THE PRODIGY SOUND AS WELL I AM A D.J. THAT SPINS ELECTRO BREAKS AND BASS, NEW SCHOOL BREAKS; AND I DO LOVE GOOD JUNGLE AND LIQUID. uNFORTUNATELY, MIAMI DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO EMBRACE THESE GENRES AND HAS A SMALL FOLLOWING HERE. THAT IS THE REAL REASON WHY THE PRODIGY DID NOT FEEL THE ENERGY OF THE CROWD. BUT MUCH LOVE GOES OUT TO THE PRODIGY FROM THE 3.0.5.
RESPECT: THE CUBAN B-BOY D.J. L-ROK
wrong answer, guys. I witnessed this whole thing from the hill behind the Bayfront Stage. The Prodigy came onstage with no stage presence, no energy…how would you expect that to generate a good crowd response? To Infected Mushroom and Prodigy both, I have this to say: GO HOME. You have only your die hard fans left, your new music is not catching the attention of anyone who has never heard you, you are failing to evolve and create sounds that no one has heard before.
“I witnessed this whole thing from the hill behind the Bayfront Stage. The Prodigy came onstage with no stage presence, no energy…”
how the hell can you from that perspective tell if they had no stage presence or energy?! you were too far from the stage…typical retard from Miami having no idea what concerts are about…you’re the one that should go home…what the hell were you doing there if you’re just gonna sit on a hill and chill?
I was up front and can safely say the band brought both stage presence and energy – the crowd sucked, that is the bottom line.
This sounds like a bit of sensationalism that is nonetheless bringing a lot of attention to BigShot for publishing this quote. A giant crowd was on the Ultra main stage and there was an excellent sound system for the Prodigy to rock. I too was on the hillside and was blown away by the bass coming out from the speakers and blasting Downtown Miami. For some reason people are talking about a disconnect. But how is this a valid excuse to blame Miami, or Ultra – that’s disenchantment and disillusionment from the band, people! Do they really think this way after having the chance to perform for such an international, upfront and large crowd? This quote is over-hyped; the festival promoters work really hard to provide a broad spectrum of dance music. And bottom line is, Miami may very well be a techno-trance-house culture but give them what they want! It’s a learning process and I think Ultra has done a great job of representing the wider gamut.
Let’s face it The Prodigy wouldn’t be around as long as they have if they “sucked”. The WMC is full off jippos who are uneducated about music. If you speak to the majority of people there they really don’t have a clue.
FAO ‘THE CUBAN B-BOY D.J. L-ROK’ – Turn you Caps Lock off FFS.
american fans suck, too pretentious to have a good time, they might bruise or sumthing
MOVE WITH IT
what a shame prodigy is not comeing back to ultra 2010 ya i know some people dont like them but i wipe my ass with what they say they have ther own styel ya tiesto is known world wide and every one in miami is on his dick me knowning bc i live in miami it was a shame when i would ask them if they were going to go see prodigy andd look at me with a face and said who is that si under stand in a way i can under stand why they didnt love miami but miami did show its love i was front row screaming out prodigy when they came on stage prodigy was the shit they made ultra last year
Michael, use punctuation please.
Every time I’ve seen The Prodigy live they have been absolutely incredible. Hands down best live show I’ve ever seen. It’s a shame that Americans don’t know how to have a good time.
Ultra 2009 was my 3rd time seeing Prodigy in Miami. First time was 1998 during Fat of the Land Tour. Crowd was full of punks. Best crowd to see Prodigy with. Lots of moshing and jumping. Great crowd. Second was Ultra 2006 I believe. Crowd kind of sucked. A bunch of Tiesto loving “fairies”. Still not as bad as this year though. Crowd was massive, but dead. These Ultra kids have obviously never been to a rock show. Prodigy please come back to 305!!! We love u here. Just come on your own tour as headliner. No Ultra shit. If its ur own act u will get the crowd u want. PRODIGY IS STILL THE BEST FUCKIN BAND IN THE WORLD. IF YOU DONT THINK SO “you can just fuck off” as Stereotype would say.