Review: The Prodigy, OVO Hydro, Glasgow
The last time I saw The Prodigy was at the neighbouring SEC Centre in November 2018, with Keith Flint in full battle cry mode on what would prove to be his final appearance in front of a Scottish audience.
The only disappointment that night was that they never played one of their greatest tracks from their early period, the reggae-rave hybrid that is Out of Space. Some, however, never lost out, as memorably a DJ on the overpass next to the venue played it to death – cue much dancing and mass singing . Flint would be gone by March 2019, barely four months later, a loss that still feels both sudden and unresolved.
Things have changed in those eight years. And the crazy Out of Space sign off tonight - meant i for one could never be disappointed.
The band were frowned upon by some in those early years – with their rave leanings loathed by many of the indie kids fed a perceived knowledge that dance music and guitars don’t go. The Prodigy have since evolved and I would argue their last album No Tourists, now incredibly eight years old, might well be their most consistent and best.
Returning to Glasgow’s OVO Hydro in April 2026, that sense of evolution hangs thick in the air, but so too does something else: absence. After the death of Keith Flint, The Prodigy’s live shows carry the weight of tribute as much as performance. When Liam Howlett and Maxim returned to touring in 2022, there was understandable uncertainty about how this ferocious, confrontational live machine would function without its most iconic focal point. Four years on from that return, the answer is clear: not by replacing Flint, but by amplifying everything he stood for.
He’s not ignored, nor is he over-mythologised. Instead, he’s woven into the fabric of the performance. And then when the tune they are arguably most famous for Firestarter revs up... it is to a visual electronic line drawing of the former front man. It was emotional.
And yet, for all Flint’s importance as the visual and visceral embodiment of the band’s electro-punk direction, the deeper truth has always been that The Prodigy’s DNA runs through Liam Howlett.
As keyboard maestro, programmer and principal songwriter, it is Howlett who built the architecture of their sound—the breakbeats, the hooks, the sheer brute force of tracks that have endured for decades. If Flint was the ignition, Howlett is the engine.
That matters now more than ever, because it ensures there is no danger of diminished authenticity; the source of their creative identity remains firmly intact.From the moment the lights drop, the Hydro feels less like a venue and more like a pressure chamber. The opening barrage of a skyscraping Omen is less a setlist choice and more a declaration of intent.
The sound is punishing, physical, and utterly uncompromising. Howlett remains rooted behind his fortress of machines, the architect of chaos, while Maxim prowls the stage with a presence that has grown from hype man to commanding frontman. He doesn’t attempt to mimic Flint; instead, he channels the same confrontational spirit in his own way, a snarling, relentless conductor of energy.
Read More:
Remembering Keith Flint: The last time The Prodigy played Glasgow
Music The Prodigy, Glasgow Green
There’s something fascinating about how the band now structure their show. Tracks bleed into each other with DJ-like precision. Even a so-so album track like Diesel Power is elevate by sampling a keyboard hook from that iconic American action-crime TV franchise Knight Rider.
If there was ever doubt about that album’s standing, tonight reinforces the argument: these are not late-period add-ons but core Prodigy tracks, sitting comfortably alongside their 90s and early-2000s classics.
FIRST NIGHT OF TOUR WENT OFF, RESPECT TO GLASGOW.
MANCHESTER TONIGHT,,, LETS GO
Photos - Rahul Singh pic.twitter.com/yTzhZvhSbs— The Prodigy (@the_prodigy) April 16, 2026
The crowd, predictably, is a cross-generational collision. Old-school ravers who remember Experience and Music for the Jilted Generation stand shoulder to shoulder with a host of younger fans raised on festival main stages.
And crucially, there’s no divide. If anything, The Prodigy have become a rare unifying force - proof that the old binaries between “dance” and “guitar music” were always nonsense. The sheer aggression of tracks like Their Law and Invaders Must Die obliterates those outdated distinctions within seconds.
Maxim deserves particular credit. In earlier eras, he was often the foil to Flint’s anarchic charisma. Now, he carries the burden of frontmanship alone, and he does so with a raw intensity that feels earned rather than assumed.
His interaction with the crowd is less theatrical, more direct - commands barked rather than performed. When he demands noise, the response is immediate and overwhelming, especially when he barks: "Is this Glasgow or f***ing what."
And then there are the moments of release. Breathe arrives like a collective exhale, its iconic riff triggering one of the night’s loudest reactions and the band's last song before the encore is a block rockin' Smack My Bitch Up, and no it is not about violence to women.
The emotional peak, however, comes later. We Live Forever - a track that has taken on new resonance in recent years—lands with a weight that goes beyond its lyrics. It’s not hard to read it as a statement of intent, a refusal to let the band’s identity be defined by loss.
And then, finally, Out of Space. For those who remember that night in November 2018 and the makeshift rave that followed outside, the moment lands with a sense of completion. The entire arena becomes a choir, every word shouted back with a kind of joyous defiance.
There’s even time for a left-field moment: Ghost Town, by The Specials as we head for transportation. It’s an inspired choice, its themes of urban decay and resilience fitting neatly into the Prodigy ethos.
What’s most remarkable about The Prodigy in 2026 is not just that they continue, but how they continue. There’s no sense of compromise, no softening of edges. If anything, the music feels harsher, more confrontational than ever. And crucially, it still feels authentic - not because it is frozen in time, but because the creative force that built it remains at its core.
Walking out into the Glasgow night, ears ringing and body still vibrating, it’s hard not to reflect on how far The Prodigy have come. From being dismissed by indie purists to becoming one of the most enduring and influential live acts of their generation, their journey has been anything but conventional. And while Keith Flint’s absence will always be felt, the band’s identity does not feel diminished. If anything, it feels clarified.
If this opening night at the Hydro is any indication, The Prodigy’s 2026 UK and Ireland tour won’t just be a celebration of their past, but a reaffirmation of their relevance. In a musical landscape that often favours nostalgia over risk, they remain defiantly, gloriously, exhilaratingly alive.
- The band will be back in Scotland on August 29 for the Edinburgh Summer Sessions at the Royal Highland Showgrounds.
