“a release of intense basic frustration, anger, and aggression, especially that rediscovered by means of primal therapy”.

What better way to release your frustration and anger than at a gig, and what is more Primal than, raw garage rock, alongside a few diversions into other territories, dance, industrial, country and good old raw Rock and Roll, welcome to Primal Scream, one of my fave live entities, always sharp, always intense, always in your face with no punches pulled, hands up who remembers Bobby Gillespie, dedicated ‘Kill all Hippies’ to the massed Glastonbury ranks and not one of them realizing he was taking the piss? Priceless!!

I first caught Primal Scream in Glasgow in 2000 supporting Oasis, just after the release of probably my favourite LP ‘Exterminator’ and I’ve caught them just about every tour since and every time they’ve mutated the sound, changed direction and kept the crowd guessing to what we’re going to get. So tonight for me is a culmination of the last 20 years a set going out under the banner of Maximum Rock and Roll, a best of so to speak happy days.

Openers tonight were a brand new band to me Holy Youth Movement, as far as I can tell not a lot out there to pick up but if tonight’s performance is anything to go by they’ve got the potential to take it to the next level. Grounded in the garage rock sound we know and love, they made a great noise, reminiscent of the rawer side of Primal Scream to be fair, and a great fit, sadly this was the last night on this tour before support bands change over.

On to the main event, and opening with ‘Don’t Fight It, Feel It’ was always going to be a winner for me but to follow it with one of my personal favourite tracks ‘Swastika Eyes’, I could have left then happy. The thing is though with Primal scream they just get better and better as the set moves on, the rush hitting everyone harder and harder, no Little Barrie Cadiogan tonight but Andrew Innes, brought the MC5 influenced raw Rock and Roll sound to the plate, while Simone Butler locked the base down, there was no let up tonight and as the tracks blurred you caught that garage rock and roll underpinning, shaping everything, there were many highlights tonight including the rebirth of Rock and Roll part 2, an inspired ‘Come Together’ complete with a bang up to date Fck the tories, Fck Boris Johnson refrain interspersed in the lyrics, but for yours truly I think the tracks that sent this set into overdrive were a blinding version of Dolls, a jaw-dropping ‘Cry Myself Blind’ and a seriously rocked up version of 100% showing how good the ‘Chaosmosis’ tracks are when given a live slant. And the incredible ‘Kill All Hippies’.
Watching the crowd go mental to ‘Country Girl’, the dedication of ‘Loaded’ to the Super Furry Animals and the encore of ‘Come Together’ before the roof was well and truly lifted with ‘Jailbird’ and ‘Rocks’, 20 years of following Primal Scream nicely rounded off for yours truly. Lets kick off the next decade as usual with a new sound from the Scream (as usual) or maybe a tour playing ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’ (The Memphis sessions version complete with brass section) or the 21st anniversary of ‘EXTERMINATOR’ would be a good shout, but as with all things Bobby Gillespie the only guarantee is it’ll be relevant!!!

Signing out “Kill all Hippies!”

Author: Nev Brooks