Iggy Pop puts on legendary performance at Northrop

I’m perfectly fine staying in Minnesota the rest of my days.

Iggy Pop hit Northrop Auditorium with so much energy, I quickly wondered how he was going to keep it up. At 68 years of age, he moved around the Northrop Auditorium stage like only Iggy can do — with flailing arms, a bare chest, and a pure I don’t give a shit attitude. It was a fantastic performance, and somehow so much better than I ever expected.

The show started off with a blissful “Lust for Life”, and continued on to cover many of the Bowie-produced songs from Pop’s best albums The Idiot and Lust for Life that came out in 1977. Donning matching vintage red jackets, the backing band led by Josh Homme on guitar who also produced Pop’s new album Post Depression Pop, were perfectly amazing. Homme was accompanied by fellow Queens of the Stone Age bandmates Dean Fertida and Troy Van Leeuwen, as well as Matt Sweeney on bass and Arctic Monkeys’ drummer Matt Helders keeping the beat. For songs like “China Girl”, Homme, Fertida, and Van Leeuwen each rocked a guitar, filling the Northrop with so much crunch and reverb I was wondering if it could withstand it.

On a night when all songs had their own personality and sounded amazing, “The Passenger”, stood out as a huge highlight. The encore brought more songs from Post Depression Pop, and Iggy showed his more sensitive side by talking about hitting rock bottom. He hopped down from the stage and ran through the crowd for “Fall in Love With Me”, while Homme and the band kept the song going with huge smiles on their faces. “Repo Man”, from the 1984 film of the same name was next, and was by far the heaviest song played all night. It hit hard and fast, again with three guitars grinding away sounding like it could easily have been a Queens of the Stone Age song.

Iggy Pop seemed full of introspection towards the end of the set and he didn’t want to leave the stage. “I’m perfectly fine staying in MN the rest of my days.” Pop said before taking the band into “Gardenia”, the final song of the night. It was a great ending to a spectacular performance. Then the band walked off the stage and Homme looked back and laughed with an appreciative smile while Pop stood front and center, beating his chest and screaming to the crowd. Iggy Pop was so appreciative too, and it showed.