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February 1998 Tour Diary
PRIMAL SCREAM
Another city, another party. Only the Scream Team can make a tour of
Britain and Ireland look like a psyched-out, hell-raising road movie.
BOBBY GILLESPIE grants Vox access to the excess.
FEBRUARY 7, DERRY, IRELAND
This one was at The Rialto, which is alright as a venue, not great. I
love playing in Ireland though, because the atmosphere is always so good.
But this gig was special because the banmd were levitating. It was a
really trippy gig, really psychedelic and the band were, well, levitating
- that really is the only way to put it. We've really tightened up since
we played that Victoria Park gig. Really it's a completely different band
from four years ago, so it took a while for things to really start
sounding good. We wanted to marry the live thing with the technology and
that took time, but now that it's come together, now we've got a drummer,
Moony, who's the bedrock of the live shows, it's cool.
I think people have taken a while to get into this new stuff because it's
a bit abstract, not party music like 'Screamadelica' - it's dark. But
this time round people seem to be really into it.
FEBRUARY 8, GLASGOW
This was always going to be a good one. It was at the Barrowlands and
obviously Glasgow's our hometown, so we were a wee bit wired for it. We
had loads of friends and family down and Radio 1 were recording it, but
we got totally fucked anyway. Mani was especially off it - he'd been
drinking all day - so by the time he got on stage he didn't know where he
was. He stated playing 'Resurrection' [an old Roses number] and
the crowd went fucking beserk, shouting 'Mani! Mani!'. Then he goes: 'I'm
sorry, I'm too fucking steaming to play,' and just starts to walk off
stage. so I got him and said: 'What do you expect? He's a lightweight
from Manchester.' That was quite funny, you know. I think we got away
with it because the crowd were so behind us. I thought it should have
been better, though.
I'm really into the idea of the whole spectacle of a gig and not just the
main band, so I was pleased that we could get a great support band like
Alabama 3. I loved their album, so we got them to play. It's the same
reason we asked Asian Dub Foundation to play last time, not because we
want people to think we're hip, but because these are bands we love and
the whole show together offers a spectacle for the music fan. I really
think people get their money's worth even if we're not at our best
because the whole show with the support has so much to offer. Which is
why we've asked Jason [Pierce, of Spiritualized] to play as a
surprise at the London gog. That's a great line-up for the fans.
After Barrowlands we had this party which a load of our mates came down
to. We all got completely fucked.
FEBRUARY 9, NOTTINGHAM
The last time we played in Nottingham I think was at The Marcus Garvey
Centre, but I can't remember much about it now. In fact, most of that
tour is a blur, we were really on the hedonism trip then. We're a lot
more controlled now, less chemically charged.
Tonight's gig was at Rock City, where we played a few years ago with
Jesus and Mary Chain. I wasn't really looking forward to this one: we
were all wrecked from the night before. I think I crawled out of the
party at about 6am and the journey down was a nightmare, so we didn't
even bother doing a soundcheck. But the gig was fucking brilliant. The
best one, I reckon. It was a really cathartic experience; almost holy.
Like controlled violence.
I think it's the music that we play in our dressing rooms before we go on
that affects the actual way we play. Tonight we were listening to all of
this Miles Davis stuff and a load of old punk stuff, so when we went out
we really rocked. Other times, like this time we'd been listening to
trippy stuff all day in Australia, we went on stage and did a really
psychedelic set.
Nottingham was total rocking ,though. I think it used to be run by Hell's
Angels so there was this real rock'n'roll atmosphere there and the
audience were fucking well into it. We got asked to leave the building at
about 2am because Mani set his boots on fire and all the alarms went off.
That was a bit strange, but really funny.
FEBRUARY 10, MANCHESTER
This was Mani's homecoming gig, so he was off on one again. We played a
really psychedelic set, completely spacey. It was as if the band were
transcending, levitating. It felt like the music was transparent, like it
stretched over everything and you should see right through it. The
atmosphere was pure electricity, people were just totally into it. Like
they'd been waiting for this gig for ages. Naturally we all celebrated at
this one too. Just to keep pace with Mani, you understand.
Originally Appeared in Vox April, 1998
Copyright © Vox
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