There’s some shows you just can’t miss in good conscience. Iggy Pop, the godfather of punk, last hit the UK for Dog Day Afternoon with Blondie two years ago, and he’s back for a short run of dates. When other punks from the same era are slowing down, settling into nostalgic anniversary shows or stately home summer shows, Pop is sticking to what he knows best: his iconic back catalogue, spread out across a full band, tied together with hypnotic charisma.
Iggy Pop @ Alexandra Palace, London - 2025.05.28, © Pauline Di Silvestro
After a lifetime of throwing society’s rules to the wind, Iggy Pop is still defining what punk can mean. Maybe it’s performing with your shirt off without caring that your body no longer fits the world’s beauty standards, or adding a brass section to your band to inject soul energy into your garage punk back catalogue. He’s furiously and unapologetically himself, and from the second he stomps onstage, we’re hypnotised. Pop’s voice is feral for T.V. Eye as he tucks his mic into his belt, spitting his way into Raw Power, his band adding a touch of smoothness to the Stooges classic. The darker tones of Gimme Danger ring out, his words indistinct and foggy. Growling and bending, ushering in ominous eighties clouds, the frontman wails into the night, beating his chest with a wrinkled hand.
We knew it was coming, but nothing can prepare you fully for hearing The Passenger live. “I need a lift, can anyone pick me up?” he laughs, aching to jump into the crowd, only restrained by a minder’s hand on the small of his back. The chorus building into a moment you can swim in, an energy that flows through us and out into the arena. Pop holds back, curating our song, his post punk intonation iconic as he drops back to let us chant in a huge drop that’s bigger than all of us. Barely has the last note faded before the vocalist feigns confusion at the booming feedback. “What the fuck is that?” Pop dances into Lust For Life, an awkward Charleston, carried away with happiness as his band builds up a jazz-style take on his hit. He rasps and poses, the centre of a full production. He might be ‘just a modern guy’ but this song encompasses every era of his lived music into one, and as it closes he pauses, slightly staggered by how much we love his sound.
The Stooges and his early life are the focus of Pop’s reinterpretations tonight, and we’re flooded with the sense that these songs are not relics: they’re seeds, ready to sprout into whatever direction Pop sends them. He stares out, windmilling his arms as we chant I Wanna Be Your Dog back to him, the power of the droning bass vibrating under our feet. Sunnily the singer collapses onto his back, then licks his lips and rebounds up, sparking an eruption on the last chorus. “This is what it was like to be young in 1970,” he intones, 1970 booming vibrantly across the area before we slip into I’m Sick Of You. Loose and atmospheric, it’s a dose of loss and despair slit with trumpet before an earthquake break unto bouncing reprisal, with a blistering guitar solo that drops back into a dark lullaby.
Iggy Pop @ Alexandra Palace, London - 2025.05.28, © Pauline Di Silvestro
That’s not to say that Iggy’s solo material isn’t given pride of place, and he loves every minute of presenting it to us. Perched on a stool he clenches his jaw, wrists crossed, surveying his kingdom for a second, brass bouncing behind him, as he propels us through darkness and contrast via Some Weird Sin, raising a clenched fist to the heavens. The vocalist leans and drawls, casual cool personified, skipping and frowning into Frenzy, delivering punchy beats. There’s a spark of humour in everything he does, and when a crowd surfer hits the front during his cover of Real Wild Child (Wild One), Pop shouts him up with a grin and shrug. “Just for fun, it’s Funtime,” he declares. With a wave and a whoah he spanks the air, blowing kisses to the crowd. With he darkest of humour, he climbs into a black coffin parked at the side of a stage and closes the lid, sticking one hand out to wave as he’s wheeled offstage.
While Iggy Pop might be playing dead, his live presence sure as hell isn’t. Tonight is a masterclass for the current generation of punk wannabes on how to live true to your ideas, commit yourself to your music, and put on an outstanding show decades after you first hit the charts.
Review of Iggy Pop live at Alexandra Palace, London on Wednesday 28th May 2025 by Kate Allvey, photography by Pauline Di Silvestro
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