Primal Scream, O2 Academy, Birmingham review - from anthems of social justice to songs of heartbreak

Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes may have been steering the good ship Primal Scream for some 40 years but, on the evidence of this week’s visit to Birmingham, they are in no way ready to join the heritage circuit – banging out the hits exactly as they were recorded – just yet.

That said, they did have an electric guitar, painted in Screamadelica colours, for sale at their merchandise stand for the princely sum of £2,000, so they can’t be completely blind to their position as elder statesmen in the world of rock’n’roll.

Kicking off with a funky, psychedelic soul infused take on “Don’t Fight It, Feel It”, the eight-piece Scream hit the ground running, with Gillespie dressed in a white suit and the rest of the crew in black. From there, they ploughed straight into the groovy disco shuffle and trippy flute lines of “Love Insurrection”, from new album Come Ahead. And while their set did include plenty of highlights from the band’s lengthy career, such as a pummelling “Swastika Eyes” and the perennially uplifting “Movin’ On Up”, as well as deeper cuts, like the scuzzy, New York punk of “Medication”, the lion’s share of the tunes from Come Ahead got some serious exposure throughout the evening.

The sci-fi funk of “Ready To Go Home” had plenty of hips swaying, while the shadowy “Deep Dark Waters” was accompanied by a backdrop of images from the genocide in Palestine, the invasion of Ukraine and that chump in the White House, President Manchild. The soulful “Innocent Money” even had Gillespie shaking a tambourine while laying into the Masters of the Economic Universe. It wasn’t all raised fists and calls for revolution and mid-set, the band calmed things down considerably with some heartbreaking ballads. The melodic “Heal Yourself” brought the temperature right down, while “I’m Losing More Than I Ever Have” was sweet and soulful before the more ragged “Love Ain’t Enough” knocked things up a notch.

The final strait dug deep into the band’s past, as they launched into the shuffling groove of “Loaded”, which was accompanied by some fine slide guitar from Andrew Innes, took in “Swastika Eyes”, which had bassist Simone Butler pulling all kind of rock star shapes, and finally came to an end after the extended boogie and call-and-response of “Country Girl”.

That wasn’t it though and, having left their audience all hyped up, Gillespie and his crew returned with one of the more downbeat tunes from Come Ahead, “Melancholy Man”. However, they were soon back on track with the baggy beats, Southern Soul groove and country guitar of “Come Together”, which even took in splashes of Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds”, before finally letting rip with a riotous “Rocks”.

As ever, Primal Scream put on a fine, uplifting show, which was more than enough to regenerate the most downtrodden soul and Birmingham’s audience of predominantly 40- and 50-somethings clearly felt that they got their money’s worth from tonight’s performance. Whether anyone was tempted to shell out for a Screamadelica electric guitar though, I couldn’t say.

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