|
|
|
 
|
Shepherd's Bush EmpireJune 20, 2002Pop Primal Scream by Lisa Verrico Shepherd's Bush Empire THE oddest pop picture of the year so far has to be the one of Bobby Gillespie pushing a pram. Oh, and smiling. Since leaving the Jesus and Mary Chain in the mid-1980s to form Primal Scream, the seriously skinny, spaced-out singer has embodied the sort of riotous, rock'n'roll lifestyle that largely died out the day Will Young was born. Forget the Gallaghers -- their worst antics are mere boyish bad behaviour compared to the morphine-fuelled, 24 Hour Party People that were Gillespie and his Glaswegian group. Now fortysomething fathers, Primal Scream claim to have kicked their drug habits and stopped socialising. But judging by the lengthy guest list queue outside Shepherd's Bush Empire last night, they haven't exactly cut themselves off from their friends. Nor have their longtime fans been put off by their new-found family values. The place was packed to beyond capacity with a crowd made up mainly of older men who looked like their drug days were not long behind them. There were also a few fashion-conscious girls, but the lack of young blood was worrying. Primal Scream still like to think of themselves as cutting-edge, but clearly today's teens would rather be at a garage gig. Once an indie-dance band, then retro rockers, Primal Scream's latest incarnation is as an electro-punk outfit. Rather than mellow with age, recent years have seen them court controversy with songs such as Bomb The Pentagon, recorded prior to September 11, while their last album, 2000's Xtrmntr, featured tracks with titles such as Kill All Hippies and Swastika Eyes. Their music has also grown ever more fierce. The four guitarists lined up alongside Gillespie turned last night's gig into a barrage of squalling noise, broken only by blasts of techno and the singer's incomprehensible lyrics. Strobes so strong the crowd could hardly see the band flashed for the first ten minutes. When they stopped, Gillespie -- dressed in dark, drainpipe jeans and a white suit jacket and white shirt -- indulged in some awful dancing, draped himself round his microphone stand and stumbled across the stage. The next 90 minutes was a relentless assault on the senses that was both brilliant and almost unlistenable. Most of the songs came from Xtrmntr, but there were also old classics like Rocks, which sent the audience into a frenzy, and a handful of new tracks from the forthcoming album Evil Heat. The highlight, however, was an extended Swastika Eyes, which perfectly blended punk rock and edgy, electronic dance music. People at the front were pogoing, fists were flung in the air and the atmosphere was that of an old-school rave rather than a rock concert. Primal Scream proved they can still rock harder than bands half their age. It was a shame the kids weren't there to see it. Originally Appeared at The Times Copyright © The Times. Back |
|
