When The Prodigy headlined Glastonbury in 1997, it was history in the making: no dance act had ever headlined the festival before, and Glasto organisers had only recently started backing electronic acts enough to put them on the Pyramid Stage, following the success of Orbital’s performance a couple of years before.
But there was more, too. The Prodigy’s set that year was one of the first live performances of their landmark album The Fat of the Land. A classic from the off, the album now holds near-mythical status in the dance music world, almost as near-mythical as 1994’s Music For The Jilted Generation.
This year, instead of The Prodigy making history for Glastonbury, Glasto 2025 made history for The Prodigy: it was the band’s first performance at the festival since 2009, and more significantly, their first performance here since the death of original member Keith Flint. As Maxim, their other dancer/vocalist reminded the crowd, they were scheduled to perform in 2019 but called off their set due to Flint’s death.
Tonight, the maestro behind the music Liam Howlett brought the noise and Maxim proved capable of holding a crowd without his old ally, Flint. After opening with Voodoo People, the energy was up and stayed up throughout songs like Omen, Radiate and Firestarter. The latter was an immediate Glastonbury 2025 highlight, with a sea of people on shoulders, more flares than perhaps any other crowd, and the song remixed without its usual vocal, instead using snatches of Flint’s voice as an animation of him played on the screens. “That went out to our brother, he’s here with us tonight,” Maxim said.
The band played songs from across their eras, though perhaps overestimated interest in newer material. Despite a slightly saggy middle, the energy returned as the start of Invaders Must Die, one of The Prodigy’s most incendiary tracks.
Then came big hitters Breathe and Smack by Bitch Up, before closing it with their early rave-defining hit Outer Space. It was history in the making, even if it was missing one third of its heart.
