Music
Primal Scream
Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow
Stuart Morrison
three stars
THERE was a moment, halfway through their performance, and from a vantage point in the wide open spaces at the far end of the crescent which forms the arena, that it became very apparent that Primal Scream had totally lost their crowd. The trippy drone that comprised the central section of the set was met by large numbers of the assembled throng turning to their pals and talking, very loudly. It was quite astonishing and perhaps was a consequence of some of the audience being there simply to be seen to be there. Whatever the reason, it killed an atmosphere which had started at fever pitch.
Primal Scream have changed somewhat of late. There is now but one guitarist, in the person of Andrew Innes, together with bassist Simone Butler, drummer Darrin Mooney and Martin Duffy on keyboards. Hannah Martin shares vocal duties with Bobby Gillespie, still one of rock’s truly iconic front men. He looked in great shape here as he opened with Movin’ On Up, as the Screamadelica album cover flashing up on the big screens at the back of the stage.
But gradually, the reaction of the crowd became ever more subdued, until the chat was almost drowning the tunes. A blistering Swastika Eyes, from XTRMNTR, snapped them out of it and the effortless groove of Loaded had the whole place moving, before they stormed to a finish with the out and out guitar rock of Country Girl and Rocks. "The greatest band to have come out of Scotland’" they are not, but in this age of plastic, manufactured, musical inanity, they demand the sort of attention that they signally failed to receive for much of this evening.
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