Iggy Pop and the Stooges
The Jimmy Kimmel Show
El Capitan Theater Parking Lot
By Victoria
(SugarBuzz Hollywood)
Photography by Victoria Joyce
SugarBuzz Magazine
You’ve heard by now that Iggy Pop has reunited with his original bandmates, released a new recording, "The Wierdness" and is on tour. The show in LA sold out in minutes. Our dear friend Scotty gave us the tip of the year. “They will be on the Kimmel show the next day with a show in the parking lot. You can still get tickets on line.” Mmmwwwaaah, Mmmwwwaaah, Mmmwwwaaah! We love you Scotty.
OK, Jimmy Kimmel is not funny. There is nothing else to say here. However, he makes up for this by presenting the hippest musical acts anywhere on television, hands down. No one else comes close, except maybe for SNL in the early days.
The downside of this free concert: they kept us standing in line for an hour and a half and then milling around for another hour. And no cameras or cell phones. All worth it. Totally worth it. Nice to see a lot of Stooge lovers out there too. Coyote Shivers, Don Bolles and John Arakaki all said ‘hi.’ Love dropping names.
The live broadcast from the Hollywood Studio started at 8p PST. We watched the monitors from the parking lot. A lame monolog, a lame sketch and a lame interview with Jamie Kennedy were followed by a seriously sweet interview with Iggy.
Mr. Pop responded to Kimmel’s inquiry about Curt Corbain’s reverence for him with a run down of seeing Curt’s shows, late night phone calls, almost making a record. Serious missed opportunity.
OK, Kimmel knew the name of Nirvana’s drummer; Dave Grohl. That impressed us. Think Letterman or Leno could pull that one off? No. And Iggy was adorable.
Commercial break and the show moved to the parking lot. Nice stage and damn fine sound for TV. Uh, better than the Wiltern, for sure. It was an intimate show by rock standards. Two-three hundred people tops. Two songs for the show and three more for the fans. A decent half hour set. Overall, we got a better deal than the Wiltern. Lucky us.
The energy didn’t need a lot of boosting from the warm up guy. The screaming came easy. The fans were 16 to 61. The uniform: black tees and jeans. The hairstyles were spiked, shaved, slicked, streaked, shagged and every color in and out of nature. Including natural gray. Tatts, chains, buckles and fishnets. Boots and platforms, wedges and sneakers. And all smashed and screaming together when Mr. Osterberg took the stage.
Iggy started off with a new song from the new release, “The Weirdness” - “She Took My Money.” Pulling out his jean pocket lining for effect. Very cool song. The revered Mike Watt joined the brothers Asheton on stage. Excellent rock vets all.And Iggy, of course, doing his signature 7-year-old-in-the-playgound dance that hasn’t changed since the Nixon Administration.
Then The Stooges went into “I Want to Be Your Dog.” Or rather, the audience went into it and Iggy sang back up. Everyone should get a chance in their life to sing that song along with Iggy. Screaming and jumping up and down while crushed by a crowd on a sweet Spring night in Hollywood . “NowIWannaBeYourDog, NowIWannaBeYourDog,”! Can I die right now?
It got better. Tearing into an extended version of “TV Eye,” our favorite song from the almost-a-biopic, Velvet Goldmine; Iggy took it down to a quiet (for him) beat and broke down into an explosive “Sha-La- La- La- La” It’s official. This is Rock and Roll Heaven.
“Fun House” followed by “Skull Ring.” We forgot about these perfect lyrics; “Skull ring, Fast cars. Hot chicks.” Mike Watt stood prone and never broke eye contact with Iggy, who was, of course, all over the stage. Breeching the camera moat, the Ig-ster got very up close and personal to and an adoring and seriously squished audience.
It’s more than wonderful that this innovative artist and his original band mates are being recognized, celebrated and rewarded. Renews your faith in God. Kimmel brought up the a recent birthday. Iggy turned 60 over the weekend. Sixty? Like six-oh? Damn. What’s your excuse?
Highlight of the evening: Kimmel: “You invented stage diving. Iggy: “It was about landing on chicks.”
www.myspace.com/iggyandthestooges
Just for laughs, check out the Stooges backstage rider at The Smoking Gun;