The Prodigy / World’s On Fire

The Prodigy
World’s On Fire
(Cooking Vinyl)

World’s On Fire documents The Prodigy’s ‘Warrior’s Dance Festival’ held at the Milton Keynes Bowl back in 2010. From the intro sequence alone, you’re left in no doubt that they could have comfortably sold out this show ten times over. Pretty good going for a band once accused of ‘killing the rave’, hey?

As other commentators have noted, it’s always been their ability to harness the elements of a rave and transplant them into much bigger, more mainstream venues that makes them so appealing as a live act - and World’s On Fire captures this perfectly.

Shot from a variety of angles - including cameras mounted on instruments, sweeping overheads that capture every circle pit and some grainy, bouncing smartphone-style sequences that take you right to the heart of the crowd – you’ll be able to witness (or re-live) the band tearing their way through the likes of ‘Omen’, ‘Their Law’ and the always excellent ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ from the comfort of your sofa.

The only problem we have (and we’re fully aware of how old this will make us sound) is the way these camera angles have been used in the final cut. The smart option would have been to allow a choice of viewing angles on any given track; what you actually get is a constant stream of distracting jump-cuts which make for a slightly arduous watch, even though the music stands up tall.

If the skittish footage gets too much for you, fear not: you can still play a pretty solid drinking game to this DVD based entirely on the amount of times Maxim uses the phrases ‘my people’ and ‘my warriors’. By our reckoning, you should be absolutely out of your tree by the time you hit ‘Voodoo People’.