The Astoria is jammed tonight for a glimpse of Primal Scream’s new material. The celebrities are also apparently out in force tonight to do the same (why is it that I never see them?) including Noel Gallagher and the Chemical Brothers. The band do not disappoint either their celebrity friends or the fans in the audience.
Starting with ‘Country Girl’, their new single and first track to be lifted from their album, ‘Riot City Blues’ is a confident statement and the quality of the track is such that it easily holds up to the rest of their now monumentous back catalogue. Overall we are treated to six new songs from the new album. All of these songs while not returning completely to a previous sound, did show that the Scream had moved away from the dark, electronic based rock music of ‘Exterminator’ and ‘Evil Heat’. However, straight forward rock and roll it was not. The band had cranked up the volume to the maximum and were seeking to destroy ear drums. Tonight’s music was loud!
The hits were coming through thick and thin, ‘Jailbird’, ‘Kill All Hippies’, ‘Medication’, ‘Swastika Eyes’ were all well received and induced a fair amount of dancing in such a small space. ‘Kill All Hippies’ remains to be one of the darkest and most troubling songs ever. At every excellent concert there is a song which makes the hairs stand up on the back of the neck and tonight, it was this one. As the dark strings start the song before the amazing bass kicks in, you just wanted to shout ‘yeahhhhhhhh!’ And to be fair the crowd did before realising that the killer bass line was slicing through them like a knife. What a song, what a performance.
Primal Scream also covered John Lennon’s ‘Gimmie Some Truth’, although to be fair it was played in an almost unrecognisable manner and the almost inaudible vocals (inaudible because the noise coming from the stage was too loud) didn’t help. To finish, the band returned to play ‘Country Girl’ and ‘Rocks’. Again. Bobby Gillespie quipped that they didn’t have enough songs. The reality is that he was reinforcing the quality of ‘Country Girl’ which will almost certainly become a crowd favourite down the years. Ending with ‘Rocks’ reminded all those in attendance what a great song and what a great band Primal Scream really are.
The band are touring festivals this year, if you get a chance get obliterated and go see Primal Scream, it will change your life forever. Fact.
Country Girl
Dolls
Jailbird
Shoot Speed Kill Light
Detroit
Nitty Gritty
Suicide Sally And Johnny Guitar
Kill All Hippies
When The Bomb Drops
The 99th Floor
Medication
Rocks
Kowalski
Swastika Eyes
Moving On Up
Slip Inside This House
Accelerator
Skull X
Gimme Some Truth
Country Girl
Rocks