Recommendations of the Editorial team
“It’s not easy to be alive today… It’s not easy to be old… it’s not easy to be young,” Iggy Pop said on the Mojave stage at Coachella on Sunday. “It wasn’t easy back then either,” he added before breaking out into Iggy and the Stooges’ “1970” – ea track that sounds exactly like the time it comes from.
The Godfather of Punk turns 79 on April 21, and while he spoke to the transience of time, he radiated an energy on stage that belied his seven-plus decades of life. He was in his element: shirtless, commanding the stage as he led the audience in the Mojave Tent through a greatest hits set.
It was tailor-made for a crowd ready for his “Raw Power” – which he also performed – along with other Stooges classics including opener “TV Eye,” “Search and Destroy” and the collective scream-sing-along moment “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Pop bounced around the stage alongside his band, which also included a horn section and Yeah-Yeah-Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner.
Stooges and solo classics
While the set was Stooges-heavy, he also delivered the one-two punch of “Passenger” and a furious “Lust for Life” – both from the 1977 classic, his second solo album “Lust for Life.” “Show yourselves everyone,” he shouted as he surveyed the audience before launching into “Passenger.” “I know my way around here.” That was true, and it was clear that performing was still what drove him: from his great, raw vocals to the physicality with which he moved across the stage.
Pop is a Coachella veteran: in 2001 he played solo for the first time at the then young festival, in its second edition. And in 2003, Pop and the Stooges met again for the first time in 30 years – at the end of Coachella. This wild return is still considered one of the most iconic moments in festival history. His performance on Sunday was another one that will go down in the annals.
