Review: Iggy Pop ‘Montreux Jazz Festival 2023’

By Hal Horowitz

Anyone listing ageing rock and rollers who probably wouldn’t make it to their social security years usually has Keith Richards as #1, and Iggy Pop somewhere close by. But they fooled us all.

Thankfully, despite decades of well-catalogued drug, alcohol and general bodily abuse, both are still alive and well; (mostly) cleaned up, playing concerts to the faithful and delivering the goods on stage that only those who have been in the trenches, banging away as long as they have, can do with authenticity and the guts it takes to survive against the odds.

This CD/DVD package captures Iggy in full flight, doing what only he can do at Montreux Jazz Fest 2023, his third time there. Despite, or maybe because of, his advancing age (now pushing 80), he rocks out with cocky audacity. A talented and well-rehearsed seven member band, which includes a two-piece horn section (!), two guitars and keyboards helps enormously. They tear into his storied back catalog, adding a few obscurities, with wild abandon balanced by surprisingly detailed arrangements that allow Iggy to be Iggy within a somewhat structured presentation. There’s even some jazzy licks, perhaps concocted for the occasion for the jazz based festival.

It’s an exceedingly professional performance, especially for a guy once known to jump chest first onto broken glass and spread peanut butter on his body, all in the cause of an outrageous but severe dedication to rock and roll. His baritone voice still booms as he howls, grunts and bellows out the lyrics to classics like “ I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “Raw Power” and a roaring version of “Search and Destroy”; the latter further propelled with horns pumping away, punching exclamation points on music that was already supercharged.

Sure he’s been playing many of these songs for decades, but there’s never a sense of mediocrity or going through the motions. The band charges behind Pop who projects more drive and, well, raw power, than those a quarter of his 77 years.

A few newer titles from 2023 sneak into the set, fitting in well with the more familiar material gleaned from over 55 years of albums (The Stooges debut was released in 1969).

The mood occasionally slows for the ominous thumping of “Nightclubbing” and the mysterious “Endless Sea,” showing how Pop’s devilish vocals forcefully work with ballads. He pulls out the creeping “Mass Production,” an eight minute closer to 1977s ‘The Idiot,’ a rarity infusing the darker qualities David Bowie explored in his production of that album.

Better still, you can watch Iggy prance around shirtless for 90 minutes on the accompanying DVD. The video is professionally, but not slickly shot, maintaining the primitiveness of everything Pop espouses while covering the performance from a variety of angles, including overhead. It’s well worth the package’s price, if only for the sight of Iggy pulling a pre-teen boy on stage to dance and add vocals to a roaring “Lust for Life,” injecting a crowd pleasing and innocent moment into the festivities.

We also observe guitarist Sarah Lipstate, whose youthful, glamorous looks (she seems like an extra from Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” video) contrast with the growling music and Pop’s gutsy rocking sensibilities. But she plays great and, like the rest of the band, looks happy to be there assisting her boss as he blows through his back catalog with enthusiasm, intensity and an underlying sense that he doesn’t have many years left to do this with his legendary fervor and passion.

Those allergic to hearing repeated “F” bombs may not relish Pop’s use of them in and between the tunes. But if you’re already on board, this won’t detract from, and arguably enhances, the raucous bad boy energy Iggy has always exuded and is in full flower on the rousing ‘Live at Montreux 2023.’

Watch “Five Foot One  (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2023)

 
Pre-order the album HERE