So what occasion could make me want to go to one of my least favorite clubs on a Wednesday night? Well, having seen two absolutely incredible shows by THE STOOGES in 2003 and 2004, respectively, I wasn’t about to miss their first Philadelphia appearance since their reunion. I should also point out that tickets for this show cost $37.50, far more most of the shows that I attend. Nevertheless, The Stooges would be worth it or so I thought.
First, I’ll start off with the positives. Although it took a little while for the band to get going (the opener “Loose” was unusually off sounding for some reason), by the time they got to the second song “Down in the Street” (from the immortal Funhouse, which they would play the entirety of on this evening) it was on! Classic after classic followed and much like the momentum generated on Funhouse and on their previous, triumphant reunion shows, you could just feel the band’s groove getting tighter and tighter as if they were locked into something that from which the eternal fountain of life flowed. This is no exagerration. About 45 minutes had passed and they’d played almost all of Funhouse (“T.V. Eye” and “Dirt” were also fantastic) as well as the highlights from their first, self-titled album such as “No Fun” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. During “No Fun”, inimitable singer IGGY POP invited the audience up on stage and just like in their past shows, a good 100 people or so partied with Iggy for a few songs, turning the stage into a free-for-all (though of course Iggy was protected by a security guard so he could continue to sing). Things got even better when they brought out saxophonist STEVEN MACKAY for “1970,” “Funhouse” and finally the explosive “L.A. Blues”. During this part of the set, they also added “My Idea of Fun”, the strongest song from their frankly awful new album The Weirdness. Nevertheless, the song worked when surrounded by the older and much better material. However, after “1970”, the show got decidely weaker. After this point, they mainly focused on material from The Weirdness and the show suffered as a result of it. While this material (aided by Mackay) sounded better live (primarily because one can’t make out the awful lyrics), the truth is that less of it should have been played and that the show could have been paced better. Instead, they came out for two encores (with the audience barely clapping for the first one, its enthusiasm clearly deflated from the weak new material that no one wanted to hear) and only “1969” from the first album was the highlight. I have no idea why they decided to save “I’m Fried” and “Trollin’” (two new songs) or encores, for examples, when clearly no one was waiting around to hear these songs.
Despite my complaints about the show’s pacing, seeing Iggy live is always a terrific experience. This time, he only waited one song to simulate sex with a speaker, repeatedly leapt out into the audience and ran several miles around the stage during the course of the evening. Did I mention that he’s almost 60? Frankly, this is astounding and with his vocal chops still in shape, he’s everything that someone like MICK JAGGER clearly isn’t anymore. MIKE WATT was also a joy to watch on bass, clearly having a ball, but why does he stand so close to the monitor? I’m amazed his hearing is still intact! Furthermore, RON ASHETON’s titanic riffs and drummer SCOTT ASHETON’s simple but relentless pounding cannot be overlooked, either. That’s why I was so disappointed with The Weirdness. With their formidable talents, they could’ve made a much better record. Oh well. At least they still are capable of blowing you away live, though this show didn’t quite live up to the unbelievable heights of their Roseland show from 2003. Perhaps that’s an unfair comparison, though, as no one knew what to expect then and thus everyone was blown away. Still, when they first started playing, their enthusiasm was infectious and they had so little new material that they would play “No Fun” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog” twice (and no one cared). By comparison, last night’s show just couldn’t measure up.
Openers SISTAS IN THE PIT are named as such because they consist of 3 African-American women who play hard rock in the traditional power trio format. Unfortunately, though, despite this all too rare premise, they failed to impress as one song chugged unmemorably into another.
The photo of the ticket stub from this show is from the flickr account of Matt Landia and is used with permission.
