first saw at Laneway festival last month, admitted they were living the dream by getting to open for Iggy. So it was with a bit of humour, and a lot of embarrassment, that the band walked on stage realising the sound guy had yet to arrive. But soon enough he did, and their loud, fun and raucous set kicked off into gear. With an industry crowd in front of them, it probably wasn’t the typical Iggy show they were expecting, but they played with all the gravitas of a band who may have otherwise been playing in front of a stadium size crowd. Suffice it to say, they did not disappoint. Iggy would have surely been proud.
They opened with “Fire’s Highway” ahead of tracks like “Younger Us”, “Young Hearts Spark Fire”, “The House That Heaven Built” and “For The Love Of Ivy”, which ended the set. Playing with all the energy they could possibly muster, they seemed happy with the set as they walked off the stage; a ‘we just opened for Iggy!!’ grin from ear to ear. With a huge roar of approval from the crowd, it seemed they weren’t the only ones who enjoyed the experience. Nor should they have been; they are a damn fine band indeed.
But let’s face it, we were here to see Iggy, and quite overwhelmed by the fact that about 3 people separated myself from the legend, the experience was nothing short of incredible. He told stories of the new songs from the upcoming Stooges record Ready to Die, which he cited as the “world premiere of these compositions” and played plenty crowd favourites along the way, in an hour-long set that none of us wanted to end.
Though they’re rare to find at SXSW, there was definitely a mosh pit here – Iggy jumped on the crowd as often as he could muster, and a few crowdsurfers made themselves known along the way, too. It was too much fun not to want to include yourself amongst it all. So let it me known that yes, I got to touch Iggy Pop. Success!
The set opened with “Raw Power”, ahead of “Gimme Danger”, “Burn” – a track off the new record, “1970”, “Job”, “”Dirty Deal”, “Double Ds”, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (which is where the crowd really got into it), “The Departed” which he dedicated to the late Stooges member Ron Asheton. The track featured the main chords from “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, which Asheton composed, and Bob Hofner joined on the pedal steel for what was a much slower song than the one that preceded it.
“Search and Destroy” was next, followed by the namesake of the new record “Ready to Die”, the legendary “No Fun” – which due to the size of the stage made a ‘bum rush of the stage’ slightly impossible (though I wouldn’t have put it past Iggy to give it a go though) – and then an encore of “Funhouse”.
Japandroids got the night rolling and then Iggy took it across the line. It was a spectacular performance, one that you’ve of course come to expect from both bands, but one you’d never think you’d get to experience in such an intimate setting. Not a bad way to start a night… yep, there was still hours of music to be enjoyed…
SETLIST
Raw Power
Gimme Danger
Burn
Gun
Beat That Guy
1970
Sex & Money
Job
Dirty Deal
Double D’s
I Wanna Be Your Dog
The Departed
Search and Destroy
Ready to Die
No Fun
Encore:
Fun House
