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Words by Ed King

On Sunday 4^th December, Primal Scream perform at the O2 Institute. Just let that sink in…

Doors open at 7pm with an 11pm curfew. Tickets are priced at £30.25 (+booking fee) as presented by SJM Concerts. For direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.

With arguably the best name and most fractured career path of any 90’s Indie band, Primal Scream are a corner stone of modern rock. Alongside other Madchester contemporaries, this shoegaze-bluesy-rock-dance-hybrid from Glasgow would become synonymous (and still are) with the crest of the UK Indie scene.

Swinging and missing until the release of Screamadelica in 1991, their second album on another important Indie foundation block – Creation Records, it was the meeting of musical minds from rock and dance that would establish Primal Scream on a serious level. Introduced to Alex Patterson, Thomas Fehlamann, Jimmy Miller and Andrew Weatherall, the cross genre production team took Primal Scream into uncharted territory – fusing their raw rock edge and flower power indulgence with pristine dance euphoria. Brave, bold, and fuck me it worked.

Lead single, ‘Loaded’, charted at No16 in the UK Singles Chart – whilst subsequent singles, ‘Come Together’, ‘Higher than the Sun’ and ‘Movin on Up’ have outlived their peers like a reinforced cockroach with an assault rifle. Screamadelica would also be the winner of the inaugural Mercury Music Award in 1992 – beating Young Disciples, Jesus and the Mary Chain, U2, and (mercifully) Simply Red.

Over the next 15 years, Primal Scream would go on to release a further eight studio albums, giving them a more expansive portfolio than their recorded/released peers with an LP grand total of 11. Alongside extensive touring on both sides of the pond and beyond, the boys (and occasional girl – Simone Butler has been in the lineup since Mani’s departure) stayed busy.

Plus the hop scotching of genres and approaches would piss of the fad following music press off no end, encouraging almost schizophrenic commentary from the NME – including a colourful one line summary of the 1994 Give Out But Don’t Give Up. ‘This record was about as innovative as shitting in a ditch.’ Nice.

Primal Scream are now back on the road with studio album No 11, Chaosmosis – released to the world via the band’s own imprint, First International (via Ignition Records), in March this year. Check out the latest single from Chaosmosis below.

‘100% or Nothing’ – Primal Scream

Primal Scream perform at the O2 Institute (B’ham) on Sunday 4^th December – as presented by SJM Concerts. For direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.

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For more on Primal Scream, visit www.primalscream.net

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.gigsandtours.com

Words by Ed King / Pics by Paul Reynolds

On Saturday 19^th November, Laura Mvula came to the O2 Institute – with support from Oliver St Louis.

Laura Mvula was back in Birmingham at the midway point of her UK Autumn tour, a couple of months (and a Christmas) before she sets off for North America and Australia, with one Cape Town gig in between. For Laura Mvula’s full tour schedule, click here.

But we get the homecoming and that’s what it’s all about. One of the finer artists to come from Birmingham in recent years, Laura Mvula is an intelligent tapestry of homegrown success – with traditional roots in a gospel chorus and burgeoning branches that cover jazz, funk, soul and all things angelic; what, a, vocalist. Plus she’s written songs about Kings Heath, and I can only think of one other human on this blue ball that’s found a muse in B14.

Laura Mvula shot to fame after her debut album, Sing to the Moon, came out in March 2013. But her follow up album of original tracks, The Dreaming Room, came out in January this year and is gaining ground on the hyperbole surrounding its predecessor.

With a set list marrying old and new, Birmingham’s O2 Institute crowd got to bear witness to the cherry pickings from Laura Mvula’s portfolio – including seminal tracks from both LPs, such as ‘Green Garden’, ‘She’, ‘Overcome’, ‘People’ and ‘Phenomenal Woman’.

Paul Reynolds was at the O2 Institute for Birmingham Review, shooting an extended photo feature to go into THE GALLERY. See a selection of Paul’s shots below, or click here for the full Flickr of pics (or on the link above). There’s some on our Instagram page too.

Laura Mvula @ O2 Institute 19.11.16 / Paul Reynolds