Primal Scream, Glasgow review: 'a compelling, rumbling groove'

Primal Scream unleash the hits towards the end of their set (Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty)

Primal Scream/Baxter Dury, O2 Academy, Glasgow ★★★★

The performance gene is strong in Baxter Dury, son of the late Ian Dury. He is a shaggy peacock of a frontman, strutting the stage in crumpled suit, striking poses and lunging like a particularly louche karate master. He could probably get by on rogueish charm alone but fortunately he has crafted an intoxicating sound which takes in synth pop minimalism, hypnotic spoken word and elements of new wave, dub and house music. Occasionally he rabble-roused, sounding like Blur with Tourette’s, while the cool vocals of his keyboard player wove a tempering contrasting voice into catchy and seductive mantras such as I’m Not Your Dog and Miami.

Primal Scream frontman Bobbie Gillespie, meanwhile, arrived to greet his home crowd looking like a Seventies snooker compere as the band struck up the compelling rumbling groove of Don't Fight It Feel It, a 35 years young track jammed out with extra funkiness and embellished with atomic visuals created by Gillespie’s old Mary Chain mucker Douglas Hart.

Primal Scream have a fine new album, Come Ahead, to promote. Glaswegians are abundantly familiar with the aggressive connotations of the phrase but given the more muted response throughout to the newer soul and psych songs, such as Love Insurrection with its fluttering flute, it appeared they would rather Come Together – a pity, given the potency of Deep Dark Waters with its accompanying political pop art collage on man’s inhumanity and the trippy Centre Cannot Hold with Gillespie on screen striding about like the Witchfinder General.

In the end, they could not hold back the hits, offering up some serious saxophone on Loaded, a pure punk rendition of Swastika Eyes, the popular din of Country Girl, the general exultation of Movin’ On Up and the blunt roots force of Rocks to end.