Primal Scream Put 'Screamadelica' on Shuffle, Pay Tribute to Charlie Sheen

Following a successful two-night stand at London's cavernous Olympia last November, Primal Scream's 20th anniversary 'Screamadelica' celebrations swung back into the capital again on Friday night for the first of a pair of shows at London's O2 Academy Brixton, a venue that first heard these tunes two decades ago.

It was the penultimate night of a 10-date nostalgia trip around the UK featuring original tour DJs and Screamadelica co-creators Andrew Weatherall and Alex 'The Orb' Patterson.

Much has changed in the intervening years with only singer Bobby Gillespie, guitarist/knob-twiddler Andrew Innes and keyboard player Martin Duffy present from the line-up responsible for the epoch-defining opus. Ticket prices had expanded dramatically, as had the waistlines of many attendees who looked like they'd have been more at home with their pot bellies and pints than the poppers, pills and prodigious pupils of yesteryear.

Unlike other bands, whose full album shows have stuck faithfully to their records' running order, the Scream hit shuffle after a celebratory, gospel choir-backed 'Movin' On Up,' their sublime psych-house treatment of the 13th Floor Elevators' 'Slip Inside This House' and a laser-lit 'Don't Fight it Feel It.' Reordering the midsection to take in the likes of a somewhat dreary 'Damaged' and a seriously spaced out 'Inner Flight' and 'Shine Like the Stars' was clearly designed to make the show end with a bang.

Gillespie, in his best transatlantic Glaswegian drawl stated, "I've got a question for you Brixton, I'd like to dedicate this next one to Charlie Sheen, can you guess what it is?" A mass state of natural ecstasy then took hold as the PA asked "Just what is it that you want to do?" and 'Loaded' kicked in. An epic 'Come Together' followed, keeping the euphoria at fever pitch, the band finally leaving the stage to the sound of 5,000 aging ravers, lost in a moment and out way past their bedtimes, gently singing the song's "come together as one" refrain.

In much the same way that Screamadelica's follow up 'Give Out, But Don't Give Up' baffled and disappointed with the band's frustrating regression, tonight's show ended on a similar bum note. Gillespie returned to the stage saying, "We've run out of 'Screamadelica' to play so we're gonna play some rock 'n' roll," conveniently forgetting the album's snake-hipped, sprawling title track -- later released on the 'Dixie Narco' EP.

The sonic exploration well and truly over, instead they opted for self-indulgent slogs through 'Country Girl,' 'Jailbird' and 'Rocks,' ending the evening with an abrupt come down.