Review by Alan Steenson for MPM
Primal Scream would never be a band that I would have gone to see“ but tonight I will go with the flow ,and Mondays are usually depressing so maybe a gig will cheer me up, so off I popped to the Ulster Hall.
First up was Esmerelda Road, a band that I did review during their support for Liam Gallagher so to sum up… pretty much more of the same with a range of musical genres crammed into a tight set with a lead singer who went from Jarvis Cocker to Mick Jagger to Edwyn Collins in the space of three minutes on a number of the songs.
Bags of energy and was certainly a good support to warm up what was turning into a full house in the Ulster Hall.
Lights dimmed dry ice on and to the entry theme of What the World needs Now, by Jackie DeShannon the crowd was already singing along which boded well for the entrance of Primal Scream. Primal Scream entered the stage as 7-piece outfit including 2 glittery backing singers, Simone Butler on bass, Andrew Innes (and co song writer) on Guitar, Darrin Mooney on Drums, Keyboardist, saxophone and of course the unmistakable figure of Bobby Gillespie.
Dressed in a white 70’s inspired suit with black shirt he stood out with his wirey frame said hello Belfast and the band launched into the first track of the evening, Don’t Fight It Feel It, from Screamadelica, the iconic 90’s indie dance crossover album that firmly cemented Primal Scream as one of Brit Pops finest, the live version was for me a big surprise as on record BG the vocals were not entirely by BG so it was great to see him lead this song and its hypnotic vibe was very evident for all to hear. The set was simple with large screen that in most gigs of this size seems to be the normal, so it’s always interesting to see the accompanying visual effects for each track.
In this case it was a mix of atomic mushroom clouds mixed with psychedelic images with flowers and lyrics saying LAMa Lama fa fa… yup no idea what that was but hey… who am I to judge… it sounded brilliant and was a real treat to hear live…. The video was switched off for the second song of the evening Love Insurrection with simple red lighting perfect vocals from BG and a mix of instruments including Flute with BG dancing during guitar solo, Jailbird was up next with its ‘Stones’ vibe heavy piano accompaniment with the pianist wearing a cowboy hat to match the vibe, with a catchy chorus the crowd responded really well to the change in tempo with the backing singers leading on the clapping frenzy towards the end.
Ready to Go Home had the backing singers starting off with BG getting the crowd warmed up with encouragement to clap, the song itself was decent, but probably the weakest of these opening numbers. Deep Dark Waters from their Come Ahead Album which the majority of this evenings tracks came from was a real social and political visualisation, with images of Gaza, Ukraine conflicts and less than complimentary images of Trump (well deserved) to compliment a serious song lyrically ‘Echoes from the past…day by day reminders’ … it pretty much put a dampener on the mood but it did what it was supposed to do… not all music has to be fluffy and nice and BG is fully entitled to express his rage and social commentary to all.
The videos were shot in a 80’s 3D style which added to the visual spectacle. The mood picked up with the up-tempo Medication which saw the sax and guitarist having a musical stand-off, backing singers belted out a chorus and as the track quietend down BG built it up again with lots of oooo’s to a rousing end. A quick thank you from BG to everyone (a man of few words) brought us onto Innocent Money with its nice intro and strings inspired hook gave a real 70’s disco feeling to the evening with the song interspersed with one of the backing singers talk-sing which in this style of song fitted perfectly. with BG’s tambourine shadow bouncing off the blank video screen it also matched the vibe; the song again is a social commentary about the rich taking everything.
The easy listening song Heal Yourself slowed things down under well lit blues and reds and was followed by another slow number I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have, The next song Love Ain’t Enough was accompanied by a video featuring a young Malcolm McDowell or Terrance Stamp I could never tell them two apart in 60’s films but suited the song perfectly with flashing strobes during the heavy guitar solos that worked well…next up was The Centre Cannot Hold with it’s hypnotic drums and bass driving BG into leading the crowd into group clapping while he sang in front of a video of Bobby walking through council estate area in a long robe and Cuban heels … bit random… but who ever said he was predicable? And with the next track the only predictable thing was the crowds reaction to the Peter Fonda’s opening words of Loaded from ‘The Wild Angels’ a proper 90’s anthem and live it delivered a knockout punch and the Ulster Hall atmosphere which was already great lifted into top gear with the logo from Screamadelica stating off as a faded shadow until gradually appearing in it’s glory as the full colour album cover only to then change with psychedelic colours and interjected with stylised clips from the original video… BG shook his maracas and blasted out “I wanna get deep down, deep town in Belfast town, make some noise mother ****ers” …and that really lifted the roof off the venue.
The song came to an end but the crowd’s enthusiasm wasn’t dampened as they launched into Swastika Eyes, which had a slower start than the album track and if I am honest was the one song that I was disappointed in given what had proceeded it, the ending had the guitarist getting feedback off his Marshall stack… Moving on Up was next giving us the gospel sound that worked perfect after the frantic Swastika Eyes and the tempo didn’t let up with a long version of the sublime Country Girl, which saw the best crowd interaction of the evening as the song progressed BG got the crowd shouting back, the piano playing was brilliant on this track with that Little Richard style heavy playing which suits this song to perfection…. the band walked off to get a brief rest before hitting the stage for final encore of three songs.
The first of which was the subdued Melancholy Man followed by the classic Come Together which had a video of an eye which looked down upon us like it was on a trip, the song itself was a slow burner but build to a classic gospel inspired anthem that had a crescendo with vocals only that the crowd latched onto like a long lost friend with only voices and clapping audible by the end… slowly drums were added until the final push to the end…. With Bobby shouting out are you ready to dance and get your Rocks Off Belfast … and with that we got another banging tune in Rocks Off which in another 30 years will still be a classic track just like Loaded, not so sure I will be able to dance as much when I’m in my 80’s but, by hell Ill give it a go… and by the smiles of the faces of the folks walking out of the Ulster Hall this evening there will be a lot of walking frames getting a rattle with dancing in 30 years’ time too.
Photography by Darren McVeigh
