IGGY POP @ ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON

Touring his jazz-rock fusion set that appears on his 2023 live album ‘Live at Montreal Jazz Festival’, Iggy Pop, who is somehow still living and putting on raw punk performances, came to the UK for some special shows that included a night at this historic venue. The 2025 tour also saw him perform in other parts of the UK and Europe.

Pop opened on some rock ‘n’ roll classics from The Stooges and Iggy and The Stooges, with singles ‘T.V. Eye’ and ‘Raw Power’, then performing ‘Gimme Danger’ in which its stripped back form you could hear his timeless vocals, still somehow unchanged over all these years. Then the acoustic strums of ‘Passenger’ rang out, with the added bursts of trumpet and saloon piano keys quietening down for a vocal part mid-song.

The singer swiftly moved onto the drumbeats of the monosyllabic instrumental introduction to ‘Lust for Life’ after which, in typical fashion at his shows, he demanded to get close to his fans, which saw him climbing over the barrier into the audience during ‘Loose’ with some assistance from security. His dog bark then signalled the dark riff of 1969 debut Stooges’ single, ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, which was also complimented with a liquid guitar pedal solo that could have been ramped up even more. Their 1973 single ‘Search and Destroy’ was played in a big band style with a spectacular guitar solo which was also seen in ‘Down on the Street’. There was a cool jazz intro for the final Iggy and The Stooges cover, ‘I’m Sick of You’, which then exploded into a big band bash.

Pop sang the ditty medley of ‘L.A. Blues’/’Nightclubbing’ and ended his set on the rhythm and blues cover ‘Real Wild Child (Wild One)’ by The Dee Jays and ‘Funtime’ from his 1977 debut solo album, ‘The Idiot’. Not requiring an encore for a rock star of this calibre, at the end of the show, Pop exited the stage in a black coffin with a closed lid which was wheeled off with him inside from which then he suddenly popped out from, no doubt a stunt playing with the idea of his own (im)mortality. Punk’s not dead for this aged rocker.

28/05/25: Iggy Pop @ Alexandra Palace, London.