Primal Scream
25th February 2018
Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Cameron Miller. Photography by Taylor Conboy.
It was all a bit messy, but quite compelling.
First Primal Scream were forced to postpone their scheduled Friday gig to the much less 9-to-5er friendly Sunday night. Then Simone Butler’s unfortunate case of influenza persisted through the weekend, robbing the band of a live bassist. Settling instead for an inanimate one, Butler was filled in for by a backing track and a mannequin named Roxy sporting rock chick leathers. At least they had a sense of humour about it. That mannequin became a double edged icon for the mixed bag of Primal Scream’s show. There was an endearing irreverence in the band lamp shading their own misfortune. Then again, endearing or not the backing track did nothing to fill the giant sonic hole left by the absence of a live bass. Then again, there’s real rock and roll spirit in the stubborn “the show must bloody well go on” mentality. Then again, the imagery of rock fashion with no beating heart under it cut a little close to home those times the band themselves seemed half hearted. Then again…
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before the metaphor-ridden mannequin even graced the stage we had Auckland band Racing. Featuring Ed Knowles and Sven Petterson of The Checks, they played with the confidence and showmanship you’d expect, but failed to cross the line from entertaining me to wowing me. Racing feels like a bit of a lolly scramble of rock genres from the past few decades. Individually sweet flavours, but gum a handful together and cram it in your mouth and your tastebuds will be both overwhelmed and vaguely unsatisfied. At times the rock swagger felt close to pastiche, at others the various styles were too disparate to gel. Frontman and singer Knowles in particular was charismatic but oddly unsettled in style. I don’t know who asked for a quick transition from Morrissey-esque nerd machismo to Bon Scott’s raspy shriek, but it wasn’t me. Racing were redeemed, though, by Petterson’s classy guitar licks, and by those moments when they allowed themselves to relax into a proper jam. Then we had some atmosphere and identity and groove coming in, and when that all worked Racing rocked pretty hard.
Primal Scream finally arrived to energetic cheers from a packed out crowd. The longevity and popularity of the Scottish alt-rockers was evident in the range of ages in the men and women pressing in from all sides. Their enthusiasm wasn’t quite matched by frontman Bobby Gillespie, who muttered a quick, hard to make out greeting into the mic before they started playing. The low energy continued for much of the first half of the show, as the band played perfectly well and the songs were greeted warmly by the crowd, but the joy on the fan’s faces seemed slow to filter to the stage. Gillespie in particular moved around lethargically, clapping and hand waving with the energy of a back row audience member cradling a beer.
Cutting further through the energy, the sound mix throughout the evening ranged from acceptable to plain bad. For a band prone to crafting walls of sound layered deep with loops and feedback, it’s a tragedy to muddy that mix when the sound gets too intense. Martin Duffy was especially hard done by, with all but his most strident keys half obscured behind Andrew Innes’ guitars, and the upper register of his synths stretched out brittle as stale chewing gum.
Something started to change as the show went on, though. As Primal Scream moved into their more Stones inspired heavy rocking material, everyone seemed to slowly wake up. Innes’ wide brimmed hat bobbed furiously over his guitar, and Gillespie’s slouch transitioned from sleepiness to a laconic Mick Jagger sway. The crowd went from bopping along to leaping about, and we finally started to see that despite adversary, these old rockers had a bag of tricks to draw from built from decades of experience.
The variety of those tricks still holds power to impress. Primal Scream can’t quite do it all. They can’t conjure a bassist from a mannequin or make it Friday again. But they can groove, they can rock, they can give you psychedelic melodies and blissful ballads. It took a while to warm themselves up, perhaps, but the songwriting and performing talent here is deep. They seemed to remember, as they went, how much fun it can be to tap that talent.
The energy crested and carried us all through the last third of the show, plus encore. By the end, Roxy the mannequin didn’t seem like quite a double edged sword. The show had been messy, less than perfect, even a bit cobbled together. But Primal Scream managed to put some heart in her after all.
Were you there at the Powerstation for this electro-rock gig? Or have you seen Primal Scream perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Slip Inside This House (13th Floor Elevators cover)
- Jailbird
- Can’t Go Back
- Shoot Speed / Kill Light
- Kill All Hippies
- Trippin’ On Your Love
- Higher Than The Sun
- (I’m Gonna) Cry Myself Blind
- 100% Or Nothing
- Swastika Eyes
- Loaded
- Country Girl
- Rocks
- I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have [encore]
- Come Together [encore]
- Movin’ On Up [encore]
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