Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.05.2006, Side 22

where
whO
whEN
Reykjavík
Art Museum
Iggy Pop and
the Stooges
May 3rd 2006
At 30 years of age, I am easily in the oldest tenth
percentile at most shows I attend. But not at Iggy and
the Stooges. People in attendance were more or less
three generations removed from the median concert
audience, with a certain number of industry insiders
in attendance, suggesting that an Iggy Pop concert
demands respect. His presence should not be taken
lightly.
Dr. Spock opened the show with their usual fanfa-
re. As customary, their show was more about the looks
and the attitude than it was about the music. On that
note, they set the tone perfectly for the evening, plus
they unveiled a new polka song—an unusual genre for
a hard rock band, but Dr. Spock specialize in unusual.
Midway through their set, singer Óttar Proppé,
aided by a mild underscore from the keyboard player,
delivered a confessional song about French kissing an
old man. Considering that Óttar was at the time half
naked, wearing only pink glimmer disco pants and
high-heeled boots, and that he is not really a young
man himself, the recital stirred imagery in my head
that I could have lived without.
Dr. Spock continued with a strip show that might
have stolen the thunder from a lesser band, but Iggy
and the Stooges are veterans of sex, drugs and rock
and roll, and were not about to be outshined by men in
ladies clothes with apparent gender issue complexes.
Iggy took the stage with a storm. Half naked, tan
and with streaks in his hair, he looked like a me-
trosexual punk god. Much like the opening act, Iggy
and the Stooges seemed to be aiming for attitude as
much as anything else. That might have been a wise
move as the auditorium was not really fit as an audito-
rium, so a little was lost in the form of acoustics.
Despite that, there was no denying their profes-
sionalism. From the first song onwards, they were
blazing with authoritative riffs and energetic presence.
The added bonus was the fact that the Stooges current
bass player is the veteran Mike Watt, formerly of the
Minutemen, an institution by himself in the alternative
rock scene.
Only two weeks removed from his 59th birthday,
Iggy Pop was every bit as crude as he has ever been.
His first act on stage was to raise his middle finger and
direct it towards the people in the expensive seats upon
the balcony. There was no mistaking the message, but
I am not entirely sure what exactly he expected from
this crowd of baby boomers.
Shortly thereafter he caught a glimpse of a poor
bastard wearing a V.I.P. pass. “You must be a member
of the press or a politician,” he observed in the microp-
hone, and continued, “both kinds of people I FUC-
KING HATE.”
He followed this up by kicking a photographer’s
camera. By then, music had unmistakably taken a
backseat to attitude.
The Stooges opened the show strongly, with many
of their best-known songs, like I Wanna Be Your Dog,
1969, and No Fun, delivered rapid fire. I guess that
is a common problem with old people-- they tend to
climax too early.
By the third song, Iggy did his first of many stage
dives of the night. He then handed his microphone off
to a member of the audience in an invitation to get a
message across. The patron in question let out a real
genuine “aaarrghh” gnarl, reminiscent of the Wilhelm
Scream. When he recovered his microphone, Iggy Pop
sarcastically deadpanned, “yeah right, the most literate
nation in the world.”
By the fourth song, Iggy announced, “I’ve had
enough of this shit! Get up here!”
His words were directed at the crowd, and along
with his roadie, he assisted people in climbing over the
safety fence to join Iggy in a dance on stage.
By the fifth song, he demanded the lights be
turned on so he could see the people in the back.
When the lights didn’t instantly appear, he thundered,
“obey my command, or there is going to be a fucking
incident.” Sadly, the lights were turned on, since I
would much rather have witnessed “the incident.”
For nearly two hours, Iggy managed to entertain
a crowd that most likely had not felt so alive since the
sometime during first half of the cold war.
In the last few years, Icelanders have been blessed
with the presence of Echo and the Bunnymen, Alice
Cooper, Iggy Pop and Megadeath among others.
With three quarters of The Ramones being dead and
a comeback almost effectively out of the picture, and
Mötorhead, Roger Waters and Iain Anderson all due
to play in Iceland this summer, I guess all we have left
is to bring in Ozzy for the circle to be complete.
Although bringing in past greats may be a nice
gesture from a historical and perhaps humanitarian
standpoint, I wish Icelandic promoters would set their
aim a little higher and perhaps offer us something of
relevance for the time and age. Modernity is now, not
30 years ago.
That being said, I still enjoyed Iggy. And word
is out that Dweezil Zappa visits Iceland June 6th to
perform with the Frank Zappa Band. However that
factors in.

French Kisses and Fucking Media People
By Sveinn Birkir Björnsson | Photo by Skari
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