Iggy Pop sometimes shows up to events in Miami. Even around town, he’s usually shirtless. Once, the former Stooges frontman dropped by the local record store’s benefit event and made eye contact with me, offering a chin-jut and a head-nod as a greeting while my underage-self stood shocked, yet giddy.
But Pop, who’s called Miami home for more than two decades, hasn’t performed in town in years. In fact, last night’s show The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater was the only Florida tour date on the Post Pop Depression tour. Billed as “One night only, one time only,” the tour in support of his collaboration with Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme only consisted of 13 American tour dates. The last remaining U.S. show takes place on April 28, closer to Homme’s home, in Los Angeles.
Even before Iggy and crew even graced the stage, the show felt like a homecoming, a joyful reunion. Local garage rockers Jacuzzi Boys opened the show, and even with minimal stage presence, the trio’s hometown respect felt like the only appropriate way to begin the evening.
Of course, when Iggy and the band appeared and burst into Pop’s 1977 solo hit “Lust For Life,” the crowd went insane. By song two, “Sister Midnight,” Iggy was shirtless. Throughout the two-hour set, he cajoled, coddled, and competed with the audience for who had more energy. (He won. Duh.) He alternated between sweet grandpa-like waves and blowing kisses in between songs to youthful raunchiness—humping monitors, sticking the microphone in his pants, and leading the crowd in a riotous chant of, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He also ran into the crowd twice, posing for photos, welcoming high-fives, and dancing with fans.
For their part, the band—dressed in sparkly red tuxedo blazers, white dress shirts, and black ties—provided a rock-solid musical foundation. With Homme (who produced and co-wrote Post Pop Depression) on one guitar, multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age, drummer Matt Helders of Arctic Monkeys, and two additional musicians, the six-piece group performed the new songs with the same intensity as those from Lust for Life and The Idiot. Additional highlights included the subtle ode to David Bowie with “China Girl” and when Iggy told a story about meeting Chuck Berry for the first time before launching into “Chocolate Drops.”
Even a cold—caught by venturing north of Florida, Iggy claimed—could not stop the Post Pop Depression tour from simultaneously melting hearts and faces. The show was an impressive feat of ageless, timeless rock. But more importantly for Miami, it was a reason to be proud of our city and our adopted hometown hero.
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Jacuzzi Boys
Hilary Saunders
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Iggy Pop
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