New York Hammerstein Ballroom
[b]Bobby Gillespie[/b] shows New York City he has finally abandoned his heroes and come into his own...
Chalk it up to New York City. Anything can happen here, including Bobby Gillespie and the Primals banishing the rumours of their increasingly waning live performance. Bathed in the glow of a visually-spectacular light show, Gillespie and his eight-piece band (including the legendary Kevin Shields) deliver a show much like their career - with far more highs than lows.
The set is 'Exterminator' heavy, covering almost every song off the new punk-electronica fused album, including the dreadfully dull 'Keep Your Dreams', yet keeping with the dub, dance-rock and trip-hop psychedlia of days past with essentials like the Stonesy 'Rocks' and the rarely played live 'Higher Than the Sun'.
While post-millennial American music consists mainly of packaged pop, we Yanks turn to the Motherland for true rock stars and, let's face it, Gillespie is one of the last. The raucous capacity crowd tonight not only know it, but embrace their hero. When he asks, "Are you Americans ready for us again or what?" it's purely ego getting the better of him before the band plough into the encore opener, a stellar version of MC5's 'Kick Out the Jams'. They close with the real high of the night, regardless of what may be pumping through some concert-goers' systems - an energetic romp through 'Movin' On Up', dedicated by a maraca-toting Gillespie to none other than Jack the Ripper.
From his volatile rants to his pseudo-rap, all over a backdrop of big beats and pummelling bass lines, you can't forget this man's rock lineage - the original line-up of the Mary Chain, f'chrissakes - and who would want to? Despite his sometimes embarrassing Rolling Stones idolatory, his Iggy-imitating stance and his self-exaggerated drug use, Gillespie shows New York City tonight that he has finally abandoned his heroes and come into his own, leading us through a discovery of electronic punk rock for the 21st century.
The set is 'Exterminator' heavy, covering almost every song off the new punk-electronica fused album, including the dreadfully dull 'Keep Your Dreams', yet keeping with the dub, dance-rock and trip-hop psychedlia of days past with essentials like the Stonesy 'Rocks' and the rarely played live 'Higher Than the Sun'.
While post-millennial American music consists mainly of packaged pop, we Yanks turn to the Motherland for true rock stars and, let's face it, Gillespie is one of the last. The raucous capacity crowd tonight not only know it, but embrace their hero. When he asks, "Are you Americans ready for us again or what?" it's purely ego getting the better of him before the band plough into the encore opener, a stellar version of MC5's 'Kick Out the Jams'. They close with the real high of the night, regardless of what may be pumping through some concert-goers' systems - an energetic romp through 'Movin' On Up', dedicated by a maraca-toting Gillespie to none other than Jack the Ripper.
From his volatile rants to his pseudo-rap, all over a backdrop of big beats and pummelling bass lines, you can't forget this man's rock lineage - the original line-up of the Mary Chain, f'chrissakes - and who would want to? Despite his sometimes embarrassing Rolling Stones idolatory, his Iggy-imitating stance and his self-exaggerated drug use, Gillespie shows New York City tonight that he has finally abandoned his heroes and come into his own, leading us through a discovery of electronic punk rock for the 21st century.
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