At this stage in life Bobby Gillespie should probably be promoting a new album of acoustic ballads reflecting on the pleasures of pootling around London on the top deck of a bus using his free travel card. Instead, Primal Scream have been on the road doing a greatest hits show combined with, what for my money, is their best album XTRMNTR.  It concluded in London at a newish venue called Outernet, a bottle throw from the site of the Astoria which is where my only attempt to buy a music enhancing drug resulted in me scoring a Paracetamol. On reflection, a charity shop tweed jacket made me look more like an undercover cop than a raver.

They got into a little bit of trouble last year for using a graphic which implied that Netanyahu is a fascist mass murderer. We might quibble with the use of fascist, but as is always the way with these things, all the people who claimed to be upset by a concert graphic have no trouble with mass murder. Primal Scream have always been a strong supporter of the Palestinian people, and a little bit of confected indignation is not likely to change their minds. It was certainly a theme of this tour. Bobby Gillespie did say that he was pleased by the Burnham government’s recent shift, but correctly observed it just isn’t enough.

I’d relistened to XTRMNTR a couple of times before the show and this live performance of the tracks was far superior to the recording. Credit for that goes to the guitarists Andrew Innes and Barrie Cadogan. They gave the music an intensity and propulsive energy that matched the horrors of the video projections behind them and were given a couple of chances to really let rip on instrumental tracks. One of these featured that famous photo of the IRA woman with the Armalite shooting at British soldiers; Derry rioters; Black Panthers, striking miners and Leila Khaled in the video. No one will ever say Primal Scream hide their politics.

Swastika Eyes, the source of last year’s manufactured controversy, was performed twice. Gillespie invited us to clap along to the second version, something that really wasn’t possible since the video behind was footage of the ruins of Gaza, dead children, Palestinians being bombed and humiliated. Musk, Trump, Farage, Netanyahu all featured. Rupert Lowe will be thrilled to know that he has hit the big time and was included. Taking an admirably non-campist view of the world, Chinese military technology was included in the montage, including some scary looking robot dogs and a robot that can use a gun.

There was a bit of a silly encore ritual. Strictly speaking the cheering and stomping didn’t justify the band coming back on, probably because the audience knows the drill too well. Nevertheless, they performed a rousing greatest hits set of the tunes that used to fill floors back when I failed to find a happy pill – Loaded, Movin’ On Up and closed with Rocks.

It was two hours of a dark album reimagined for a darker time followed by a celebration of some of the greatest Scottish songs by a very impressive band. Closing the show, Bobby Gillespiie wished us safe home and his last words were “free Palestine”.