Iggy and the Stooges venue: Roskildefestivalen, The Orange, Roskilde date: 2004-07-03 There have been many opportunities to see Iggy Pop live the last years, but this is a completely different thing. Iggy is finally back together with the Asheton brothers, Ron and Scott, and the Stooges are to three quarters reunited. It was thirty years ago they split up but the three records they made are still the best in Iggy’s career. It is evident that they are happy to play together again. The unusually tanned Iggy is as wild as he usually is and looks like a mean troll when he jumps around on stage, skinny and stripped to the waist. Extra funny is it when he pushes a poor security guard away to come out to the side of the stage, and when he stands on all four on a speaker and simulates sexual intercourse. The band is definitely better than you would expect after thirty years of not playing together, they are tight and heavy and make justice to the excellent songs. We get to hear most of the classics: “No fun”, “Dirt”, “TV eye”, “1970”, “Down on the street” etc. On the songs from Fun Hose, the original guest saxophonist accompanies the rest of the band on stage. “I wanna be your dog” they strangely enough even play twice. Against all odds, they make a great version of “1969”: “Last year I was twenty one / I didn’t have a lot of fun / Now I’m gonna be twenty two / I say oh my and boo hoo” – I mean, the guy is not twenty two, he is fifty seven, how can he sing that and not sound pathetic? I’m not sure, but it sounds just great. Iggy and the Stooges are as vital as ever. What I wish for though, is some more songs from Raw Power – the songs are mostly from the two first albums. This is the peak of the festival, and it is just what I needed after the disappointment of David Bowie cancelling. The hateful rain starts to pour down once again in the middle of the show but it can’t win over the Stooges. Even the fact that the festival is flooded with oceans of mud is forgotten for a while. /Erik Sandberg