Iggy Pop @ Get Loaded In The Park

Clapham Common, London - 24 Aug 2008

by Jim Merrett

Iggy Pop: there can be only one

"Iggy Pop is immortal. He’s like the Highlander – the only way to dispatch with him is a swift beheading. And don’t think he hasn’t tried."

It took the CIA 638 attempts and still Fidel Castro’s killer is most likely to be old age itself (making you wonder if maybe the American government should’ve taken Cuba’s lead and invested in an adequate health care system rather than exploding cigars). Equally cantankerous, Iggy Pop has survived ODs, accidents, mishaps, stage dives, self-harm and The Rugrats Movie. But unlike Castro, Pop's problem isn’t American imperialism but his nihilism – Pop was always his own worst enemy.

Now in his seventh decade on earth and looking decidedly more spry than most of the cider-soaked Clapham crowd, the Stooges frontman is buffer than a highly polished train coupling system. He looks like he’s chiselled from granite ("I do a lot of swimming," he told The Guardian recently). Within minutes, he’s dry-humping a stack of amps he’s clambered on. The amps look aroused.

Since Trainspotting, Pop’s cult status has only grown more formidable – the band's recent name-check in Juno tells you all you need to know about what the smart kids are thinking. But unlike youth heroes of "the Forever 27 club”, Iggy Pop is immortal. He’s like the Highlander – the only way to dispatch with him is a swift beheading. And don’t think he hasn’t tried. Pop is a living museum piece, but more a hands-on exhibit in the Science Museum to the Rolling Stones’ dusty relics.

Where peers like the decidedly more fragile-looking Mick Jagger like to keep fans at a distance – unless they’re Brazilian models, obviously – there’s no impenetrable bunker of security here. So as well as classics like ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, ‘No Fun’ and ‘Search And Destroy’ (there’s not a sniff of Pop’s solo stuff – it’s Stooges all the way), there’s the chance to grope Pop himself as half the audience pour on stage. Pop isn’t clinging on to his youth, his youth is clinging on to him.

Until Chuck Norris completes Guitar Hero at its hardest setting without the controller crumbling in his bare hands, Pop will remain the most indestructible man in rock. Come the apocalypse, it’ll just be him keeping the cockroaches company. And those would be some pretty entertained cockroaches.
Rob. J said on September 7th 2008 [report abuse]

A great review ! I saw The Stooges live at The Hammersmith Apollo in August 2005, and as a direct result have stopped going to any more rock gigs. I have seen Joy Division, Bowie, Jeff Buckley, The Clash etc perform and they were all fantastic, but Iggy And The Stooges gave a one in a lifetime performance on that night. Mind you, Glastonbury 2007 was a corker... We will not see their likes again. Raw power indeed.

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