FORMER Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr was on opening duties for the third night of this year’s Edinburgh Summer Sessions. With a career spanning over 35 years, and having recently played The Other Stage at this year’s Glastonbury, he was the ideal choice to get things started, despite the Scottish weather having other ideas.
Kicking off his set with single ‘Armatopia’ released earlier on this year, he had the crowd singing along and chanting “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny fuckin’ Marr” from the get go. Followed by ‘Big Mouth Strikes Again’ then ‘Day In Day Out’ his set was briefly halted due to thunder and lightening but after around twenty minutes he returned to the soggy stage with an outstanding rendition of ‘This Charming Man’ and had the crowd right back in the palm of his hand.”Rain or no rain, it’s Saturday night!” Marr exclaimed from the stage and he certainly meant it, the remainder of his set played out like an indie disco featuring ‘Getting Away With It’, ‘Easy Money’, a cover of The Clash’s ‘I Fought The Law’ and ending with ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’.
Making their Summer Sessions debut, Primal Scream took to the stage and launched into ‘Movin’ on Up’ from 1991’s iconic ‘Screamadelica’. Dressed in an eye catching bright pink suit, frontman Bobby Gillespie asked the crowd “Edinburgh, are you ready for some rock n roll?!” before tearing through ‘Can’t Go Back’ and ‘Miss Lucifer’ all set to a stunning psychedelic backdrop. ‘Higher Than the Sun’ followed though was appropriately renamed ‘Higher Than the Rain’ by Gillespie for one night only.
‘Come Together’ sparked a mass singalong from the crowd, who’s enthusiasm wasn’t dampened by the weather in the slightest during the night. As the rain subsided and their set came to a close, Johnny Marr was welcomed back onto the stage, joining them to finish things off for the evening. ‘Loaded’ and ‘Country Girl’ was followed by ‘Rocks’ from 1994’s ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’ that proved to be the perfect closer to a spectacular set from the Scottish icons.
With the release of their singles collection ‘Maximum Rock n Roll’ in May and having not performed in Scotland since last September, Primal Scream not only treated fans to a set that spanned their career but also provided a moment that’ll be talked about for years to come.
