It’s probably more than likely that you are already familiar with the growing craze of bands performing one or more of their earlier albums in full – a recent tradition in which a well-known act will play a whole album in its entirety rather than the preferred method of playing the same old hits back-to-back, strung together by a lucky dip of album tracks. Upon the announcement that Primal Scream would be applying the same concept to their next tour, there was very little question of which of their nine albums they were going to choose. When it finally became the Scottish group’s turn to pick a particular favourite from their lengthy back catalogue, ‘Screamadelica’ was, of course, the obvious choice. Although 2000’s critically-applauded ‘XTRMNTR’ has become a modern classic itself, it was their third album that first brought The Primals to worldwide notoriety. Plus, it also happens to be the album’s 20th anniversary, so why not take it out on the road for one last run?
 With the arrival of summer this week comes the official start to the festival season and, following a full tour of the indie-acid house classic in March, Bobby Gillespie and co will be bringing the album out in the open for the next few months. First stop on the ‘Screamadelica’ festival run is the Eden Project in Cornwall, as part of the attraction’s annual Eden Sessions. Returning to the complex for the first time in seven years, the band clearly felt that the two artificial biomes, hidden away in the picturesque setting of what was once a disused quarry near St Austell, would be a surreal but ideal setting for a performance of their psychedelic landmark.
After a gloomy start, the first of five Eden concerts, which will also see headlining performances from The Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes and Brandon Flowers, began hours earlier on this sunny Thursday afternoon with a number of live sets on smaller stages in the Project’s secluded grounds. Later in the day, anyone that managed to squeeze into the Mediterranean Biome - the slightly less humid of the two domes - may have even been fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of an intimate performance by local folk hero Seth Lakeman.
Next, the day’s entertainment continues over on the Main Stage – located idyllically against the backdrop of the Eden Project’s two biomes – with a supporting set from The Horrors. A band of few words, the Essex-based post-punkers provide a mellow, if occasionally subdued, introduction to the night’s bill, ahead of the release of their third album ‘Skying’.
Appearing a short time later, Bobby Gillespie leads Primal Scream to the stage dressed in a dazzling faux-foil shirt, introducing ‘Screamadelica’ with a concise “How’s it going, Eden?” in his sedate Glaswegian drawl. Still surprisingly bright for nine o’clock on this early summer’s day, the evening begins predictably with the Stones-inspired album opener ‘Movin On Up’. Gillespie, like the rest of the band, seems in particularly good spirits throughout the set, skipping about the stage as the group roll enthusiastically through all ten tracks from their gospel- and rave-influenced third album. At one point, bassist Mani, one of the more recent additions to the Primal Scream line-up, pipes up: “What a fucking great turn-out!”, expressing his appreciation on behalf of the other band members.
Making a slight reshuffling of the original tracklisting, the band close the set with their instrumental indie-dance classic and the album’s lead single ‘Loaded’. Finishing with ‘Come Together’, they take a short break before returning for an extended encore. “We’ve run out of ‘Screamadelica’”, says Gillespie as they continue with their 2006 hit ‘Country Girl’ and finally ending tonight’s show with ‘Jailbird’ and ‘Rocks’ from their 1994 album ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’ – the successor to ‘Screamadlica’. A brief introduction to the next phase of Primal Scream seems like the ideal way to complete a performance of their classic and most fondly-remembered album and it’s certainly the perfect conclusion to this evening’s set. With its psychedelic and diverse blend of sounds, ‘Screamadelica’ is arguably the most relevant Primal Scream album to date and definitely a good reason to revive it in a live environment 20 years on. It’s also fair to say that it’s an album that is probably better-suited to a festival audience than it is to a tour and tonight’s Eden Sessions show was a stunning, if minor, testimony to that.
Stereoboard Rating: 9/10
Eden Sessions UK & Ireland Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu June 30th 2011 - The Eden Project, St Austell
Fri July 1st 2011 - The Eden Project, St Austell
Tue July 12th 2011 - The Eden Project, St Austell
Sat June 25th 2011 - Eden Project, ST Austell
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