Project Description

IGGY POP

@ Sydney Opera House

15/04/19

(Live Review)

Reviewer:  Alec Smart

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Iggy Pop performed at the Sydney Opera House with his band on April 15, the first of two sold-out nights at the iconic venue. James Österberg Jnr, better known as Iggy Pop (he earned the nickname ‘Iggy’ after a stint playing drums in covers band The Iguanas, which he founded in 1965 with four fellow students from Ann Arbor High School in Michigan, USA), performed a medley of his career-defining hits in the Opera House Concert Hall to a heartily appreciative crowd.

Audiences were on their feet and dancing from the moment the black-clad backing band struck the opening chords of Iggy’s first song, I Wanna Be Your Dog, and remained upright over the following 21 songs, including several encores.  The three-chord, three-minute track I Wanna Be Your Dog was originally released in 1969 as the debut single by Iggy’s most celebrated band, The Stooges, ushering in a new era of riff-laden hard rock that set the template for punk, grunge and metal.

Iggy is often credited as the ‘Godfather of Punk’ for his abrasive music, cocky style, drug-referenced (and often drug-addled) lyrics, bared shirtless chest, and manic stage show. In one memorable and typical performance, at the Cincinnati Festival in June 1970, Iggy hopped off the stage into the crowd several times during an extended version of the band’s song 1970. As a sea of hands raised and held him aloft, someone inexplicably handed Iggy a large tub of peanut butter, whereupon he began smearing it on his bared chest before hurling handfuls of it into the crowd.

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Despite his advancing years (he’s 71) Iggy still flits back and forth across the stage like a demon, although scoliosis has bent his spine rightwards and he walks with a noticeable limp. But that doesn’t quell his hyperactivity and mid-set, during Search and Destroy – another Stooges’classic from 1973’s Raw Power album – he descended the left side stairs and was immediately raised high by adoring fans, although, disappointingly, without any peanut butter adornment.

In more active times he wouldn’t have taken the stairs but instead leapt out from the stage itself, but a March 2010 stage-diving accident provoked him to announce he’d abandoned the stunt, although a few months later he cut his face in Belgium when he couldn’t resist a crowd leap that resulted in another hard landing. His leather-like rippled skin reminds one of plasticine but despite his advancing years he’s still adored by the legion of his female fans, many of whom exclaimed post-gig on social media websites, ‘He still has it!’ – sex appeal.

One woman in the upper front tiers was so enamoured by her idol she stripped off her shirt, hurled her bra onstage and danced topless for much of the show.  A friend of mine, who had eyelash extensions fitted for the event, fluttered them at Iggy from the front row and was rewarded by his reaching down to take her hand, followed by his repetitive flirting with winks and pouts throughout the night.

The backing band – two guitarists, bassist, drummer and two male backing vocalists – were highly competent and adaptive. Later in the set, the two vocalists picked up a trumpet and trombone, respectively, while the second guitarist switched to keyboards, giving the songs more depth beyond the signature three-chord riffs.

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Other songs performed included The Stooges’ 1969, TV Eye and No Fun; his best-known solo hits The Passenger, and Lust For Life; and lesser-known material from his solo years, Skull Ring, Some Weird Sin, Mass Production, Sweet 16 and Five Foot One.

During the crowd-pleaser No Fun, which Sex Pistols also included as a staple in their set, Iggy invited whomever wanted to join him on stage, and a swarm of people took the invitation. He also performed the title track to 1984 cult film Repo Man, which he sang on the original soundtrack, and Nightclubbing, his own song made famous by androgynous singer Grace Jones.

A few covers dominated the latter half of the show, including David Bowie’s Jean Genie. The late Bowie is credited for giving immense support to his old friend, at one time helping him beat a heroin addiction and encouraging and producing Iggy’s music. One of the songs they co-wrote, China Girl, became a hugely successful international hit for Bowie; the royalty payments for Iggy reportedly gave him time to relax and pursue an alternate acting career (he’s since appeared in films The Crow, Sid & Nancy, Tank Girl and The Colour Of Money among others, plus assorted TV episodes).

The night’s finale featured two songs by Australian artists: Johnny O’Keefe’s Real Wild Child, which was an international hit for Iggy in 1986, commemorating the 50^thanniversary of ‘Australia’s first rock ‘n’ roll song’, and Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand.

 

Check out Alec Smart‘s gallery of the show here

 

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