When the hoary topic of classic rock comes up, gallons of ink are always spilled on the usual suspects like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin etc. Sure, those bands made their mark and sold millions of records, garnering huge fan bases in the process. But what about bands like The Velvet Underground or Big Star who made indelible marks on generations of bands to come? One of the more important pieces of that foundation sprang from Detroit; true, The MC5 started stoking the flames a couple years earlier, but The Stooges take the pole position for me.
Against improbable odds, James Osterberg is the last Stooge standing. (OG, no offense to the mightily talented James Williamson). It had been close to a decade since Iggy Pop last played Boston and he pulled together another crack band to propel some of the most explosive rock music ever minted. Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Ale Campos (Las Nubes) held down the guitar slots, Urian Hackney (Rough Francis, also the son of early ’70s proto-punkers Death also from Detroit) had drum duties, Joan Wasserman (as Policeman) was behind the keyboard stand, Brad Truax (Interpol) laid down the low notes, and instead of a sax player doing Steve Mackay’s parts, Iggy enlisted a trombonist and trumpeter that gave an extra boost to the brass as well as different shading.
Just like Black Sabbath is considered the wellspring for hundreds if not thousands of metal bands, a similar re-tracing of hard rock bands would place Iggy and The Stooges as ground zero for inspiration, and he let the crowd know that right out of the gate. “TV Eye,” “Raw Power” and especially the bristling “I Got A Right” burned with energy, Iggy ambling around the stage, shirtless as ever. Well, he did come out wearing a vest but that lasted about 13 seconds.
He didn’t lean into his post-Stooges work as much as the 2016 show, where he played over a dozen songs from Lust For Life and The Idiot but certainly didn’t just do a Stooges-centric show. “Lust For Life” and “Nightclubbing” were pretty much expected, but late in the set Iggy made his way down to the front of the barricade to get up close with lucky fans who got to hear him belt “I’m Bored” right into their faces.
His voice has deepened and rounded a little as the years have passed, and “Nightclubbing” was a perfect example of how made the song even better, but he still possesses the feral snarl when needed, and 2023’s “Frenzy” was a shot across the bow of people who thought his best days were far behind him. “Death Trip,” “Loose,” “Search and Destroy” – all essential blasts of rock music that stand the test of time and Iggy nodded to those who came before by closing the night out with a raucous version of the classic track, “Louie Louie.” Given his age, this might be the last time Boston gets to see an Iggy Pop show, and no one was disappointed as they walked out.
This show was supposed to also feature The Sex Pistols but they scrapped the tour even before it started when Steve Jones suffered a broken wrist. The scaled down show then was rescheduled from the outdoor and rainy stage of Suffolk Downs and into Roadrunner, but the third band on the bill still played. The Molotovs are a brother/sister combo whose combine ages are 37, and they took inspiration from records older than that. A whipsmart trio, Matthew Cartlidge manned the mic stand and guitar while sister Issey Cartlidge played bass in red knee-high boots and a micro-dress fashioned from a Union Jack. Nothing revolutionary going on here, with heavy nods to early Jam especially, but they definitely displayed plenty of raw energy, coupled with proficiency that belies their age.
