Iggy And The Stooges
w/Savages
Royal Festival Hall
Thursday 20th June
Savages are boring. Po-faced, miserable, dull, trying so hard to be cool, icy stares. I don’t believe them. It’s not real. They are the exact polar opposite of the screaming into your face intensity and joyous life-affirming rock n’roll of The Stooges. Savages are too intent on posing. Their songs tease and build but never really explode or detonate. Savages mean nothing to me, but then I never really liked Joy Division either.
Iggy And The Stooges are everything that is important and essential about rock n’roll. Let’s forget about the last two studio albums that misfired dramatically. Men of their age (Black Sabbath included) should not be expected to, or even attempt, to try and recreate the magic ‘moments in time’ of music created from friendship bonds over youth, drugs, life, sex of their early years and it never works. Live, however, ever since they first got back into the saddle, The Stooges have always slayed. It started with those early tender steps in 2002 when brothers Scott and Ron Asheton started touring with J Mascis and Matt Watt performing those two essential first albums. It was only a matter of time before Iggy got back in on the action and when he did IT WENT OFF. Some of the best rock n’roll shows you could ever hope to see occurred and The Stooges proved they are the godfathers of fucking everything. And then in 2009 Ron Asheton went and died quite rightly everyone believed that was it. One last glorious run for The Stooges, a light put out by the tragic death of Ron.
No one could have predicted, however, that legendary Raw Power-era guitarist James Williamson would be waiting in the wings. Having been working for Sony since the Stooges originally imploded, the time was right for him to strap it back on and thank fuck he did. Tonight, James Williamson’s guitar playing and sound is utterly face-melting. Subdued and effortlessly cool, he leans back and peels off riff after riff, solo after solo of some of the most blistering guitar noise you could ever hope to hear and feel. And boy do you feel it. Every inch of your body vibrates and the sound in the Royal Festival Hall is incredible. It’s a seated venue but the whole crowd is on their feet, jolted into life by the glorious rush of noise crashing around the walls.
And then there’s Iggy. He really is an astounding man. Having seen him many times of the years, in some ways it’s sad watching him tonight. He is starting to creak around the edges. His hips are fucked, he limps and his body has taken a battering from years of hurling himself about but he still throws every inch of energy into his performance. He holds nothing back. It’s joyous to watch. He’s having a good time. Having obviously taken a knock from the critical mauling that the new album received, he’s mood is lifted by the enthusiastic reaction that a couple of the new songs received tonight.
That said, it’s the classics that detonate the best. ‘You’re Pretty Face Is Going To Hell’, ‘Johanna’, ‘Search And Destroy’, ‘No Fun’, ‘Cock In My Pocket’, ‘Gimmie Danger’, and an explosive run through ‘Open Up And Bleed’ make this one of the finest times I have ever seen The Stooges. How long Iggy can continue punishing his aging frame remains to be seen, but for now The Stooges are still GOD and God bless the Stooges.
James Sherry