Iggy Pop & The Stooges at the United Palace Theater.

Iggy Pop & The Stooges at the United Palace Theater.

I went to the Stooges show with a bit of trepidation. My first concern was about how out of control the audience might become. Beyond that I always preferred Iggy’s Berlin era solo work to the less musically-sophisticated music produced by the Stooges. In the end I went just to experience the concert for their historical value as godfathers of punk.

The concert was way way uptown at the United Palace Theater on 175th street. The audience was an odd mix of young hipsters and middle-aged rockers, many with young children in tow.

The night started with an OK set by a girl trio called Sistas In The Pit who played Hendrix psychedelia meets punk. When the stooges took the stage the volume was so overwhelming that the next morning my ears are still ringing. Their music was the most primitive sound I have ever heard. The music was pure aggression. Iggy skipped around the stage with a knock-kneed gait. Often breaking into spastic go-go girl moves. His body was lean and hard, dressed only in a dropping pair of faded blue jeans.

Throughout the night Iggy’s stage performance was the most interesting thing about the show as he poured bottles of water and beer over his own head, crawled on top of amplifiers, and dove into the audience. Halfway through the show he invited the crowd onto the stage, causing total chaos as hundreds of fans mobbed him as a lone security guard struggled to keep him safe.

The band was tight, although the guitar and bass players stayed pinned up against their amps, seemingly only interested in staying out of Iggy’s way. During the final third of the concert the bass, drum and guitar lineup was implemented by the addition of a sex player. Unfortunately by that late hour the sound became so loud that it washed over one like an incomprehensible roar.

I was surprised by how little of the material I actually knew. Beyond a few classics like I Wanna Be Your Dog, 1969, No Fun, and TV Eye, the song selection was alien to me. Much of it might have come from the band’s new album. One song from that release which repeated the inane refrain, “My idea of fun, is killing everyone.”

When all is said and done, although I appreciate the Stooges role in rock history, it’s still Iggy which makes the band anything more than a million other punks bands. And when it comes to Iggy, I would prefer to have a little Lust For Life mixed in with my Search And Destroy.