The Stooges Live
By: Donna Brown |
Tuesday May 01, 2007 |
| Seattle, WA |
| Any old punk in earshot gets a tiny frisson of excitement and disgust
when "Lust for Life" comes booming from nearby speakers, 'cause these
days it's usually in conjunction with that Royal Caribbean cruise ship
advert. Forget Trainspotting's iconic opening scene; goateed
vested-Microsoft-stock-option motherfuckers playing fake golf on a
Norwalk-virus-infected petri dish have ruined this song for me and
anyone of a certain age who cares about music.
But for all the sanitizing, Iggy Pop still has an aura of danger about him. When I told my mom I would be attending a concert by the dude who sings the Royal Caribbean song, she immediately texted me the following message: "REMEMBER TO PRAY!!!!" She was right! Since tickets were upward of fifty schmackers, the audience was chiefly composed of the aforementioned goateed-vested-Microsoft-stock-option motherfuckers, the only ones who could afford to attend a concert at the weirdo WaMu amphitheatre, a place my friends have variously described as "an airplane hangar" and "not an airplane hangar." It's cavernous and hard, a Lego version of the coliseums we saw Styx and Journey and REO Speedwagon in as kids. And since it has no personality of its own, it makes the attendees feel as if they too are lacking somehow. So these dudes have something to prove. They want you to know that they're not really the kind of person who normally goes to events at the hangar, but it's Iggy, man! Even Iggy himself has the same reaction. Striding upon the stage looking somehow older and younger than his sixty years, Mr. Osterberg's hackles visibly rose when he got a load of his surroundings. He screamed out for the house lights to go up so he could see the audience, to connect despite the obstacles. The tension inadvertently created by the WaMu Ampitheatre made for one of the rawest shows I've seen in recent memory. Blasting through the Stooges' impeccable back catalogue, Iggy Pop, with the Asheton brothers, sax player Steve Mackay, and Mike Watt (!!) in tow, rocked out as if there were no tomorrow. He crowd-surfed, stage-dove, invited the audience on stage (here's to you, uninhibited bikini lady), and humped the Marshall stack hoping to make tiny Detroit-bred bad-attitude-having tube amp babies with it. That shit was hot, yo. The 'hits' were all there: "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "TV Eye," "1969" AND "1970", "Dirt," "Fun House"...I could go on. So could Iggy, and he did. The energy that man has is amazing, considering his age and relatively drug-free status. Not to detract from the rest of the Stooges, either - the band fed off of the good vibes from each other and from the audience, making the new material from just-released album The Weirdness fit right in. My boss was especially pleased to hear new favorite "She Took My Money." Don't ask. The stock-option dudes started to relax when they realized Iggy was in the same boat as they were-a little older and struggling to maintain street cred in a world where it barely matters. When that moment came (I believe it was during "1970"), a great weight was lifted, and everyone had a blast. Especially Iggy. He looked as if he were having the time of his life, and he was the last one to leave when the house lights went up after "Little Electric Chair". The Stooges transcended their surroundings to give a fantastic show. Mom was right about prayer. It works! WaMu Amphitheater Seattle, WA April 27 2007 |
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