The rescheduled Stooges show went off without a hitch, from what I could
tell. Of course, my vantage point wasn't the best so I could be wrong.
First of all, the venue was terrible and made me appreciate Blossom Music
Center. It was similar to Blossom except for a few major differences.
The lawn seating was really steep and my feet hurt from standing on such an
angle. There were 5 or 6 huge poles supporting the pavilion area,
instead of the 2 arches at Blossom. This meant that visibility was at
a premium and forced most of the concergoers to watch the Jumbotrons.
Kudos to the camera operators for catching the action. Now on to the real
review...
I missed openers The Von Bondies, but according to a few people they
sounded like "the White Stripes with a full band and without Meg White on
drums". I didn't really get into Sonic Youth, who took the stage as I
walked in, but others seemed to be enjoying it. I was there for the
main event. The Stooges, who are many years older and a few pounds
heavier (well, except for Iggy) came out and proved that they could still
knock the shit out of any band that's around today. The Ashetons
haven't forgotten how to play, and Mike Watt provided able bass-playing
throughout the night.
During their set, Iggy gyrated and moved like he did in the Stooges'
original run, even spending some quality hump time with the amplifiers.
However, the set was absent of peanut butter and broken glass. It was
also absent of songs from the Raw Power album. I'm not quite sure why
they chose to do this but it pissed me off. Way to exclude some of
your best material, guys. The set list included most of the first
album and the Fun House album. They did a new song that was really
fucking awesome. I don't remember the words but it was something like
"fast cars, hot chicks, money". It was good, and maybe we'll hear it
on a forthcoming Stooges album.
Iggy was bossing the lighting operator around a lot. He had the
audience completely lit up and screamed "I can see you! I can see
every fucking one of you! I love you all!" Later on, he had the lights
completely turned off and said "blackout!", referring to August 14th's
debacle. From what I remember, they did the following songs (NOT in
this order): 1969, 1970, I Wanna Be Your Dog (twice), No Fun, Real Cool
Time, Not Right, Down On the Street, Loose, TV Eye, Dirt, and Funhouse.
There may have been others, but I don't recall.
In addition to omitting Raw Power, they didn't do an encore, and we were
in the car by 11:00. I feel a little ripped off but when it comes to
the Stooges, you've gotta take what you can get. I'd definitely go again.
(Adam LaSota)
