It’s hard to believe, but The Prodigy have been around for 20 years now. The fact that they are still pulling crowds and have a new legion of fans following them is a testament to their ability to evolve. The act we see today is a lot different to the outfit that brought us such rave classics as Charley and Everybody in the Place, but that also means they attract a wider, more diverse audience.

The question was: how much of their “raver” roots were they willing to expose to the mixed crowd of 20- to 30-somethings jockeying for position on the main floor at Hisense tonight? The crowd was relatively sedate, but I was hoping that they, like me, were planning to lose their shit on the dance floor and become ravers again, if only for an hour or so before it was back to work, responsibility and the capacity for coherent thought that we had become all too accustomed to…for the better, of course (of course!).

The warm-up DJ played a set of deep minimal tech that lent itself to a large, cavernous room, before Does It Offend You, Yeah? sprung into action with its punk funk tunes. I haven’t heard a lot about this group and only vaguely recognised a couple of their tracks, but I would describe them as a hybrid of Happy Mondays and RATM, with a tiny bit of Daft Punk thrown in. I was very impressed with their sound and also with the way that they handled the obvious technical difficulties. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t stay on longer, as they were working the crowd quite well.

The Prodigy kicked things off with the explosive World’s On Fire from the new album, followed by Breathe and Poison, before Maxim Reality proclaimed that we were all warriors and launched into Warrior’s Dance. Keith Flint took over proceedings with Firestarter, which sent the crowd into paroxysms as his delivery became more and more frenzied, building to a crescendo of guttural screams.

Next up was Voodoo People from the classic Music for a Jilted Generation, which incorporated elements of the Pendulum remix to appeal to the newer fans. Smack My Bitch Up rounded the set off nicely and was arguably the biggest crowd-pleaser of the night. The breakdown had Maxim exhorting us all to crouch down on the floor before that infamous Kool Keith sample had us all on our feet again losing our collective shit.

Encore track Take Me To The Hospital from the new album gave us a taste of the old school rave days, but that was as close as we really got. I don’t think the punters cared too much though; Keith and Maxim commanded the stage throughout, the lighting was spectacular and it was impossible not to dance to that big-beat style The Prodigy have made themselves famous for. All things considered, you won’t get any complaints from me either.