There’s a slight delay entering Forum Theatre tonight, as a security guard rejects a young hopeful wielding fake ID – great taste in bands, kid!
We’ve been eagerly anticipating our first Gut Health live experience, but wow-wee! Multiple European tours last year have obviously impacted their confidence and gig fitness – no wonder they’re the band on everyone’s lips at present.
And as charismatic as frontperson Athina Uh-Oh is, we find ourselves drawn to each and every band member – in awe of their ability, individually and as a well-oiled unit.
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There’s barely any interaction between musicians, but – impressively – Gut Health lock in super-tight. Bassist Adam Markmann and drummer Myka Wallace, plus additional percussion from synth player Angus Fletcher, form a skeleton upon which melodies can dance. It’s hypnotic, trance-inducing stuff. Sometimes Athina dances/convulses so hard she’s a blur. Can’t wait to see them again asap.
“You alright?” – Primal Scream’s rail-thin, debonair AF lead singer Bobby Gillespie is a man of few words. He sports a stylish, well-cut white suit over silky, black-and-hot pink shirt and exactly no one wields a tambourine with as much panache as Gillespie, who also stars in one of the greatest memes we’ve ever seen.
Opener Swastika Eyes is a barnstorming beast of a track, which shows off this current incarnation of Primal Scream’s synergy and mad skills. Simone Butler embodies effortless elegance on bass. Song two, Love Insurrection – this evening’s first bite from 2024’s Come Ahead – is flute-enhanced.
“Just what is it that you want to do?/ Well, we wanna be free/ We wanna be free to do what we wanna do/ And we wanna get loaded/ And we wanna have a good time/ And that’s what we’re gonna do/ We’re gonna have a good time/ We’re gonna have a party…” – it’s impossible to hear Loaded’s intro, which samples dialogue from the Peter Fonda 1966 biker movie Wild Angels, without picturing Dua Lipa’s delighted, beaming face announcing this song’s Andy Weatherall mix “lives in [her] mind rent-free”.
Loaded’s euphoric brass fanfare signals lift-off tonight and we immediately feel as if we’re rushing on pingers. “Our love shines on…” – the BV duo shines incandescent here.
During Country Girl, which we personally reckon is Primal Scream’s toilet break song, Gillespie teaches us a Scottish chant: “Here we/ Here we/ Here we fuckin’ go!”
The downbeat Melancholy Man – from Gillespie’s first-ever film score, for Émilie Deleuze’s 2023 flick 5 Hectares – was reworked by Primal Scream’s guitarist Andrew Innes and longtime collaborator David Holmes for inclusion on Come Ahead, and opens their encore; that bleeding, atmospheric sax break gives us chills.
We all Come Together, unified, as Gillespie conducts our outro singalong – “Ah-ah-ah/ To-o-ge-ther as one…” This song seems like a natural conclusion. So Darrin Mooney’s familiar, driving, chuffed-sounding drum pattern takes us by delighted surprise. Yep, we’ll be getting our Rocks off after all – choon! All hands are now in the air and it’s pogo o’clock.
ICYMI: Primal Scream released an excellent new album – Come Ahead, their first in eight years – in November of last year. We arrived prepared to soak up some of their new material live, sure. But, c’moooooon, eight of Come Ahead’s 11 songs?
As good as the Scottish band’s 12th record is, that’s kinda taking the piss, amirite? The rule of thumb is surely three newies – tops!
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