Iggy Pop
The Uptown Theater
10.25.2001

Review by Raymond Mallory

There are somethings in life that seem nearly impossible, like trying to fly or jumping across the Grand Canyon. Then there is the challenge of trying to express how you feel in writing, and this too seems nearly impossible. This is exactly how I felt after seeing Iggy Pop live on Thursday night.

I expected so much going into it (which for me usually only leads to disappointment), but had no idea how things would turn out. I knew what the crowd would be like, very diverse with mainly the older rockers in attendance. This held true, so I knew that I wasn’t completely off-base.

So after a while of standing around for what seemed like hours, the opening act took the stage. I had never heard of them, and they proved rather disappointing.

After their half an hour set, Iggy came rampaging onto the stage out of nowhere. It hit me like a bolt of lighting and took me along its winding mysterious path. The whole place went nuts; it was as if a god took that stage (and for many of us, one just did).

His movements up there seemed almost unreal, like he was swimming or hopping around on a po-go stick. He got right up in our faces and refused to back off - it was like he was daring us all to go up and join him in his festivities. His intensity was like nothing else I have ever witnessed. He never stopped playing; his songs all just ran together with one riff connecting them all. You could really tell that he cared about his music and he wanted the audience to feel the same passion. I’d never felt that way before, but it was reassuring that someone still felt that way about making music.

I can honestly say that his one and a half hours on that stage is something that I will forever have etched into my brain. I don’t care how other shows I see in my life time, this will always be one of the best.