September 17, 2012 by A.S. Van Dorston

“I’m a fucked up person!” Iggy exclaimed this jubilantly near the end of the show. It’s more or less his modus operandi, particularly during the first seven years of his career with The Stooges in 1967-74. More than any other band, The Stooges embraced their id so thoroughly and convincingly they made every other band looked like they were just pretending. And the amazing thing is, 45 years later, they’re still doing it! What other 65 year-old could pull off lines like “I’m a streetwalkin’ cheetah with a pocketful of napalm”? That would be none. Overall, Iggy Pop remains the greatest frontman ever. The band was reliable, but not show-stealing. Unfortunately Scott Asheton has been out of commission since last year when he suffered an unspecified life-threatening illness. Superfan Larry Mullins ably filled in. With Mike Watt serving on bass since 2003, guitarist James Williamson is the only member from the Raw Power (1973) era. Steve Mackay was more of a guest on the Funhouse (1970) album, but is now serving as a full-fledged member.

The band has been intermittently working on a followup to the disappointing The Weirdness (2007) for the past year, which will hopefully come out next year and channel some of the amazing energy the band has demonstrated live the past five years. The Stooges have not toured regularly lately, and it appears that Iggy was itching to be unleashed like a lion. He kicked off the show with, “I’m gonna fuck you right up the ass!” He pretty much did with their best performances front-loaded in the set with the Williamson-era “Raw Power” and “Search And Destroy.” They gave some other earlier classics a beating, like “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “No Fun,” “1970” and “Funhouse.” The thousands-strong Riot Fest crowd surged forward to form a giant compressed mosh pit, too tight to move on your own, you just had to try to stay on your feet and move with the flow and avoid getting crushed or trampled, or kicked in the head by crowd-surfing kids. Despite being over 30 years younger than Iggy, I felt kind of old, and had to retreat back a bit after 40 minutes to take a break from the constant, sweaty smush so I could focus on the music. I’m not even sure if they played one of their best songs, “TV Eye”! I don’t think so, but at least I saw them play that the previous three times I saw them in recent years. A couple songs that didn’t make it beyond demo stage were featured, including the punky “I Got A Right” and “Cock In My Pocket.” At one point they hinted they might re-record some of those songs. It would be a nice bonus to have some of them on the next album.

I could write all day about Iggy & The Stooges, but really all there is to it is either you were there or you weren’t. If not, hopefully no one else will die before you get a chance to see them again. Oh, and they played Iggy’s all-time best solo song, “The Passenger” at the end of the set, a perfect conclusion.

It’s hard to remember the other bands after seeing The Stooges, but Sunday’s Riot Fest did have some other good music, and a great 15 minute ferris wheel ride. Built To Spill sounded exactly the same as when I saw them a decade ago, which may be good or bad. The Jesus & Mary Chain missed a great opportunity to revisit their brilliant buzzsaw sound from their debut album, Psychocandy (1985). Hearing their fluffy, bouncy college rock sound of the 90s incarnation, it’s hard to believe their show used to cause riots. I ditched them after 15 minutes and headed over to see the Screaming Females on a smaller stage. Even on the more intimate small stage, guitarist/vocalist Marissa Paternoster was tiny, standing seemingly under 5′ tall. But her voice and guitar playing made up for it. While the songs bring me back to the mid-90s with bands like Slant 6 and early Sleater-Kinney, the best moments were her guitar solos, which got the crowd rhythmically clapping during each one. I’d love to see their next album really dig into those solos along the lines of Dinosaur Jr’s You’re Living All Over Me (1987).

Elvis Costello did a much better job than The Jesus & Mary Chain in tailoring his set and sound to the audience with what might have been his hardest performance in years, attacking early classics from his first few albums, including “Less Than Zero,” “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” “Radio, Radio,” “Watching The Detectives,” “Pump it Up,” “Clubland” and a barnstorming set closer, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.”

Gogol Bordello served as a fine warmup for The Stooges with their brand of gypsy punk, which may be getting a bit stale, but was perfect for the festival crowd. They more or less matched the performances I saw years ago in smaller clubs, which seemed at the time more exciting. They’ve failed to match their stageshow with songs that stand the test of time, but have a good thing going if they can continue to book large festivals like this. Even if all the other bands sucked, it would have been worth the ticket price alone for Iggy & The Stooges.

Posted in: Live, Reviews