[kj] OT - Primal Scream in LA

[pssyche23]

yeah, I picked up on XTRMNTR after the NME Top 50 albums listed it as number 2 in 2000 - I'd not gone near them previously though had seen them as a support act back in 1987.

Ended up seeing them a few times after that including one legendary night where after the main gig, Bobby Gillespie came back on with bassist Mani plus Ron & Scott Asheton then stormed through half a dozen Stooges songs - there had been some mention on the gig flyer but I'd assumed we'd missed it - my friends, maybe 10 years younger, really did not realise what a significant moment this was - this well pre-dated any of the Iggy & The Stooges reunion stuff by a few years.

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> On 15 Oct 2013, at 23:19, "T.B." <planetary at socal.rr.com> wrote:

> 

> Didn't really know much about Primal Scream other than owning and really liking the new album "More Light" and the older "E XTRMNTR."  A few months ago when I heard they were playing just a couple dates in the US, on a whim I grabbed a ticket for their show at the fairly small Fonda Theater in Hollywood (holds about 1,500, same place KJ played this year).   Day of the show this past Sunday, I felt like crap and almost blew it off and only after dark did I get it together, jump in the shower and do the 45 minute drive to Hollywood.  Got there about 8:30 and at first I was a little concerned that the show was going to be woefully under attended as it seemed there was maybe 40 people there.

> 

> Things brightened up considerably when at 9pm, a band I've wanted to see for a couple years, The Icarus Line surprised me by opening the show (they were supposed to open for Killing Joke in LA earlier this year). Coming off as a punkier, even heavier band than say, The Secret Machines whom they kind of remind me of, they were louder than fuck and didn't play a single song I recognized in their 45 minute set.  The bass and drums literally shook the room and the band indulges in plenty of piercing sonic feedback.  Can't say I was blown away but the band is not boring to watch.

> 

> A little after 10pm, the place had filled up nicely and Primal Scream came on opening with a concise "2013" off the new album.  I've never seen them before live and I was kind of expecting them to be a little more... electronica. Turns out they come off as more like a hybrid of The Stone Roses and The Black Crows, mostly straight ahead rock.  No chick backup singers or horn players like I saw in some of the big European festival shows they played earlier this year.  After a few up tempo tunes, they played about 4 - 5 slow tunes in a row that seemed to dull the energy in the room until they pulled out "It's Alright, It's OK," "Swastika Eyes" and a couple other faster tunes.  A four song encore that included "Higher Than The Sun" and "Loaded" ended the show before midnight. Aside from some slow pacing in the middle of the set and frontman Bobby Gillespie who seems kind of a "meh" frontman who had a bit of trouble engaging the typical near apathetic LA audience, the show was mos

> tly excellent.

> 

> The only downside was after the show, I discovered my barely year-old car had been sideswiped in the parking lot fucking up my rear bumper.

> 

> T.B.

> 

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