ALMOST certainly the most influential Scottish band of the last two decades, a revitalised Primal Scream under a canopy as this year’s T In The Park reached its last throes held massive promise.
And the opening strains of Movin’ On Up, from the Scream’s classic, ground-breaking 1991 album Screamadelica, immediately set the tone for the rest of what was essentially a greatest hits set.
The track’s gospel-tinged sound, embellished by the band’s all-soul female backing singers, put a huge collective smile on the massed ranks of party people.
Things took an inevitable turn for the rockier with an airing of Jailbird, from the underrated Give Out But Don't Give Up set.
With the late evening temperature inside the tent taking a massive upwards surge, a band of deliriously daring fans almost brought the show to a premature end after deciding to follow suit by scaling the stanchions holding up the big top.
Following a plea from front man Bobby Gillespie, sanity was restored - albeit temporarily - only after a torrent of plastic pint pots had been directed at the last of the descending culprits.
The Scream Team duly returned to action, stepping up a gear with a clutch of standout tracks from their most recent albums, the psychedelic Vanishing Point and the harsh, grinding twin sets XTRMNTR and Evil Heat.
Gillespie’s alternative anthem Medication proved the perfect precursor for a blistering conclusion that kicked off with the throbbing Kowalski before powering into the searing electro of Swastika Eyes, recent smash hit Country Girl and its original blueprint Rocks.
Assuredly meeting expectations, maybe even exceeding them, as festival finales go Primal Scream were pretty much perfect.
