Much has been made of THE PRIMITIVES' comeback, as it has of the time they’ve been away and the way things have changed -or perhaps even come full circle - since their late 80s heyday. 'Heyday' struck me as something of an overstatement, if I'm honest. Despite being beloved of the NME and Melody maker, they were, in many respects, at least in broader terms, one-hit wonders. Still, many indie bands gained massive followings and extremely good sales without troubling the mainstream charts. Plus, while the nostalgia industry has driven many reunions, often simply for the sake of cashing in, The Primitives actually have new material and a new release to promote on their current tour.
All that said, I would never describe myself as having been a fan, knowing only a handful of songs and owning none of their records. I'm here tonight out of curiosity as much as anything. As such, I arrived with no real expectations or prejudices positive or negative.
Similarly, I had no expectations of first support band, TENT CITY, who have recently acquired themselves a new front woman in the form of Brooke X. She’s apparently relauching herself having broken free of her contracts with Geffen and Xenomania. How would it all work out? Brilliantly, as it happens. The four nondescript-looking indie blokes root themselves to the stage and allow Brooke to be the focal point. A bit quirky, a bit wild, wholly engaging, she creates a zone and gets into it. Musically, they're in a different league from bog-standard verse-chorus indie fare, and Brooke adds a whole other dimension to the band. It's a pity that, while they worked so hard, most of the audience hung back at the bar and chatted at a volume that all but drowned out the quieter moments. A different night, a different crowd, they'd have gone down a storm and stolen the show.
Atl@ntika, meanwhile describe themselves a 'York-Based band with Jamiroquai bass lines and funky house dance beats' and contend that 'Their distinctive style, influenced by funk, soul, and disco sits within the Funky House genre incorporating sampled dance beats in addition to live drums'. Given that I detest Jamiroquai almost as much as I detest funky house, it was never going to be my scene, but I'm clearly in the minority, as the chatter stopped and most of those who had been sitting around at the back got up and started getting down. Credit where it's due, though: Atl@ntika have got what they do nailed. With a club-friendly sound, the solid bass and four-four bass-heavy beats to the fore and the smooth female vocals blended nicely in the mix, they're as slick as they come.
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So, at last, the main event: THE PRIMITIVES. It's not surprising that the demographic is erring toward the late thirties / fortysomething bracket, and similarly unsurprising that there’s a decidedly male bias, given Tracy Tracy's indie pin-up status. As she arrives on stage in short skirt and frilled blouse, it’s apparent that time's been kind to her. Somehow, this makes the nostalgic element of the show a lot less embarrassing than it perhaps might have been. After all, doing the girlie girlie thing into one’s forties isn't easy without appearing tragic tragic, but Tracy Tracy pulls it off pretty damn well.
What's more, I'm pleasantly surprised not just by how tight, together and comfortable the band are, but also by how they’re a lot less jangly than I'd anticipated. Driven by a buzzing bass and solid percussion, they sound anything but flimsy. The first salvo of songs is fired off back to back without pause for breath. Having dispatched 'Thru The Flowers' in the first half of the set, along with some of the new material, it soon becomes clear that they're not all about going through the motions.
Further confounding my expectations, they don't save 'Crash' for the encore - or even the end, and in fact follow it with new track 'Rattle My Cage', which stands up well against the back catalogue and demonstrates they’ve still got a knack for concise melodic indie pop songs with a bit of a kick.
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