Live Review: Primal Scream @ Forum, Melbourne

The Forum feels practically empty when JP Shilo and his band get the evening’s proceedings started. The air-conditioned cool offers respite from the heat outside. The crowd that came early were older and clearly familiar with and appreciative of Shilo’s work. 

In shades of vintage Melbourne black, Shilo deals a set of angular post-punk that takes inspiration from the blues but grinds heavily with clangourous resolve and an urban sense of angst. Shilo has worked with the likes of Rowland S. Howard and Mick Harvey, so connecting the dots makes this feel a little like walking into a bar in Berlin to see some band play From Her To Eternity. Times have changed, and a cover of Joe Meek’s I Hear A New World without the chipmunk vocals drifts away from this vibe and feels uneasily dreamy.

Naarm’s very own Gut Health, fresh from releasing their debut album Stiletto late last year, treated fans to a punchy set of aggressive post-punk comprised of tunes from that album. Vocalist Athina Uh Oh leads the quirky and diverse outfit, trying on riot grrrl moves with cheeky personality. The rest of the band somewhat anonymously assemble themselves around her with arrangements that ably absorb the influence of almost everything from queer rave to jazz and pop to punk. Gut Health have a quirky sound, but they come at our eardrums with aggressive intent. Gut Health are a band whose star is rising.

Regular visitors to our shores, Primal Scream, are presently on a whirlwind tour of Australia to showcase last year’s album Come Ahead. It’s a good thing that Bobby Gillespie left Jesus and Mary Chain back in the eighties to move forward with the now iconic indie outfit Primal Scream. Although band members have come and gone, Primal Scream is very much Gillespie’s show.

After all these years, Gillespie has hardly changed. He is still the affable skinny rocker with the trademarked centre-part long hair that many fans have come to know and love over the years. Less focussed on recreating obvious thrills from Screamadelica, tonight’s setlist curates songs from across their career and even includes the breakup blues of I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have, which was released back in 1989. 

Interestingly, newer material finds Gillespie in a more introspective mood, but Primal Scream are still working the low-key Stones and bluesy country rock vibes. Tunes like Deep Dark Waters and Heal Yourself verge on the contemplative. Meanwhile, Medication works a Brown Sugar-like groove while Gillespie demands pills to escape the hellscape he observes.

Heavy on the hooks, Primal Scream pop as much as they rock. Guitarist Andrew Innes, one of the band's original members, punctuates the mix with feel-good riffs that sit above synthesiser textures. These days, so many audiences expect the greatest hits shows, but the crowd gathered were more than eager to get acquainted with newer tunes released last year. It’s probably because Primal Scream, presenting as an eight-piece band, blunt any desire to rock out hard with straight-up party vibes. Even when they get a touch political and didactic on Innocent Money, sweeping cinematic strings and beats just want to work the dancefloor.

The quirky rhythms of Circus Of Life and gospel-infused backing vocals felt oddly strange. It was then left to Loaded to serve the party and it had the crowd dancing with renewed energy at the end of the set. When bands that have been around for years serve up their ‘greatest hits’ at the end of their set, everyone knows it is going to be a good time. Primal Scream are no exception.

It’s followed by Movin’ On Up, which continues with the euphoric Screamadelica vibes. A rousing sing-a-long to Country Girl had the crowd amped for encores. Melancholy Man feels like a downer, but Come Together and Rocks wound up the crowd and saw them go off. Gillespie, who has not smiled all night, seemingly comes alive during Rocks with a joyous smile from ear to ear that he cannot suppress. A little ‘rama lama lama fa fa fa’ would have absolutely hit the spot at this point in time, but that was reserved for the headphones on the train home.