Project Description
IGGY POP
Festival Hall
21/04/19
(Live Review)
Reviewer: Alyssa Borda
Photos – Len Panecki
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Iggy Pop
smashed out an EPIC show
@ Festival hall!
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The Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop, celebrated his 72nd birthday to a full house of fans! Acknowledged as one of the most dynamic stage performers of all time, Iggy Pop pre-figured both ‘70s punk and ‘90s grunge and has built a legendary career filled with critical acclaim and fanatic cult success.
The pre-crowd VIP fans lined up at the back of Festival Hall were passionate music fans wearing t-shirts such as The Rolling Stones and Guns N Roses.
Out the front of Festival Hall, I met with a fan named Amy from Bendigo, who has been a fan since 17 and was eager to hear classic Stooges ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’.
Opening act, pub-punk rockers, The Chats commenced @ 8pm. The band line up consisted of Josh Price, on guitar/backing vocals, Eamon Sandwith on bass/lead vocals and Matt Boggis on drums from the Sunshine Coast . Musical influences included The Cosmic Psychos and Dune Rats but could definitely hear a Ramones influence! ‘Pub Feed’ was performed with chorus…’All I Crave Is A Good Pub Feed’! Loved the riffs! Not to mention their stance on Aussie culture. Other songs that followed were announced as having content about STD’s and buying substances on the internet. They then announced they were ‘ready to retire tomorrow’ after performing with Iggy Pop.There was ‘Do What I Want’ that was another cool tune.
Then penultimate song for the set well known ‘Smoko’ was very Aussie!
This band are going places with a record deal from Universal Music plus with a U.S/European tour scheduled. Check out The Chats soon!
Dramatic music then played over the loud speakers before the iconic punk U.S rocker, Iggy Pop entered the stage @ 9pm. The crowd went wild. Iggy came onto the stage, shirtless in black jeans with a silver studded belt, tanned to the max, looking fit and weathered from years of hard rocking and rolling..
The opening song… garage rock/proto-punk, 1969 The Stooges song ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ was superb. The atmosphere in the crowd was electric with a little stage diving going on.
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Next up was ‘Gimme Danger’ also by Iggy and The Stooges performed under green lights.
Crowd loved song ‘The Passenger’ which was more laid back. Keys and the brass section were great.
‘Lust For Life’ was performed with plenty of energy. Absolute crowd favourite lots of singing from the audience, keys were fabulous, Drumming very good. Voice in very fine form. Huge applause!
‘Skull Ring’ followed which was phenomenal. One of Iggy’s best. The song has grunt. Guitar solo outstanding.
Next song ‘Sick Of You’ by Iggy and The Stooges. Mosh pit rocks out, band brilliant, Iggy on his knees. Ripper guitar solo. Whole crowd gets lit up so amazing to see. Then the crowd starts singing ‘Happy Birthday’ so awesome for Iggy! He then mentions the infamous interview with Molly Meldrum some nearly 40 years ago! Then gets into delivering the song….
‘Some Weird Sin’, cool song with raw sounds from the guitarists and brass which was amazing.
‘Repo Man’ was next…..hard rock, awesome guitar, songwriting is great on this one … Crowd surfing was incredible to see! Energy was great.
‘Search And Destroy’ by Iggy and The Stooges was just…wowsers! Iggy ends up in the crowd holding an Iggy Pop looking doll up to the crowd then ends up back on stage on his knees.
‘TV Eye’, great song. Quite heavy with a sing-a-long chorus. Main floor audience were all headbanging away. Iggy then waves a silver belt looking item around in the air. Massive applause!
‘Mass Production’ follows. Iggy does some dance moves then freezes each move so quite creative. Impressive vocals whilst hitting the high notes.
‘The Jean Genie’, phenomenal David Bowie cover starts and everyone loves it. Lots of people out of their seats dancing madly! Another favourite of mine!
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‘1969’ is performed. Hard rock number. Holds mike then has an unknown drink and throws the cup into the audience!! Charming!
‘No Fun’, a great song by Iggy and The Stooges followed which was a favourite of fan and musician Howie, from the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. This is where it got interesting. About 40 VIP fans then jumped on stage and were all rocking out and singing with the punk icon. Absolutely awesome!! The lighting looked great!
‘Real Cool Time’ by Iggy and The Stooges saw Iggy wearing a black cape. ‘Happy Birthday’ was then sung to the legend with large machines shooting out coloured paper in the air. Epic!! Iggy was incredibly grateful for the warm birthday wishes!!
‘Nightclubbing’ was next, with keys and brass, strong on this one teamed with hot guitar slides.
‘16’ cool song. Great beats. Lots of hands in the air. Iggy punching out dance moves!
‘Five Foot One’ followed…then the one everyone had been waiting for…
‘Real Wild Child’…. Cover by Johnny O’Keefe commenced with entire Festival Hall crowd all lit up and that looked truly amazing. The crowd was going off. Iggy delivered with ripper vocals. He then throws a few items around on stage as rock stars do. Iggy says Goodnight at 10:33pm! ‘F***in thank you so much’! He then puts his microphone into the top of his jeans, does the tarzan beat on his chest!
Encore followed with ‘Down On The Street’ by Iggy and The Stooges. Then after a massive applause and mentioning that it was ‘very nice to do this together’…he ended the concert with the dark, ominous ‘Melbournian’ song ‘Red Right Hand’, song from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Brass and drums were very cool. Iggy then went through the front of the main crowd, then gets back on stage, takes some final bows, waves to the crowd many times. Finishes on stage @ 10:47pm. Best rock concert ever!
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Check out Len Panecki’s gallery of the show here
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