This was the third show I went to last week in what is a real contender for gig week of the year. It had to go some to be better than the Patti Smith show I saw the night before. It was also the only show I saw at this year's Meltdown festival that is curated by Yoko Ono.
I was looking forward to seeing SAVAGES for a second time as they are one of the most exciting new groups around and their debut album Silence Yourself has got some incredible reviews. Then again, I have loved seeing Jehnny Beth live since I first saw her as one half of John & Jehn a few years ago.
Wow, how much have they improved in a few short months as this performance was taut and thrilling from start to finish. The opening song sounded like a female fronted Certain General song full of dark foreboding, with the guitars sounding menacing. Shut Up was next and it has enough choppy guitars to go with the anger in the lyrics to work as a great cross between Siouxsie and the Banshees and X-Mal Deutschland and it worked perfectly in this setting; the size of the hall adding to the grandeur of the sound they make.
Jehnny was prowling and howling on I Am Here as Aysse Hassan's basslines underpinned the goth guitar lines that Gemma Thompson was whipping us with. The energy they have together is really quite something and as Jehnny was singing about tomorrow I kind of wished they could play till tomorrow.
Don't Speak continues the themes of Shut Up insofar as they're a band who will tell you how to behave and you will obey them as the sound engulfs you. Husbands is as full on as you could wish for, totally getting the hall going. No Face was no less visceral and unlike at the Electrowerks show I saw all the lyrics are clear enough to be heard. The sound in the Festival Hall was very good indeed for Savages.
I think the song Jehnny introduced as "For the Ladies" was probably Strife. Either way it kept the pace up and had some imperious drumming from Fay Milton before the even more Siouxsie- esque City's Full that left them time for one more song. It left us wanting more Savages which is good as they are now on Tour until the end of the year. See more at: Savages online
After a short break it was time once more for IGGY & THE STOOGES to run onto the stage and launch into a Raw Power that was enough to get everyone out of their seats and standing up but wasn't enough to get the idiots in front of us to put down the phones they had been glued to all night. They continued looking at Twitter and Facebook throughout the Stooges set as they had during Savages. Jesus.
But fuck, The Stooges sounded great and with barely a second break they launched right into a knock out version of Gimme Danger with Iggy running around and twisting and dancing like a teenager.
They then gave us the first new song of the night from the recent album Ready To Die. Live Gun sounds like classic Stooges already with James Williamson's raging guitar battling with Steve Mackay's saxophone as Iggy prowled and sang and I think rolled around on the stage for the first time in the set.
Then it was back to 1970 (I Feel Alright) that needed all the underpinning that Toby Dammit's drums and Mike Watt's bass could give it as Iggy just howled the vocals and James' guitar eviscerated all before it. I Got A Right was the perfect shot in the arm to keep everyone singing along as Iggy twisted and contorted across the stage before slamming into Search & Destroy like he was about ready to spray us all with napalm if we showed any signs of not loving every second of this.
Then, just as the opening notes of Funhouse began, Iggy told everyone to get up onstage and soon enough the stage was crowded with several of the stage dancers being among the star studded part of the audience. I did laugh when Spizz tried mid-song to give Iggy his Sunglasses and Iggy's long term stage manager simply shoved him out the way, sending Spizz flying. Then as the song reached the instrumental freak out, Iggy left the stage and as the song ended they made sure everyone cleared the stage as the band went into Night Theme. That gave them a chance to dry the stage from spilt drinks and as it mutated into Beyond The Law, Iggy was back with us. Johanna sounded just perfect a great song of love and hate mixed as one.
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We then got the title song of the new album, Ready To Die and it sounded great live: much better than any of the songs on The Weirdness. The combination of the realization of the approaching end of a remarkable life against a more youthful than you could expect sounding band is just brilliant.
Was there anyone in the Festival hall not singing along to I Wanna Be Your Dog? Iggy got down on all fours and stuck a belt into his mouth and crawled around before he managed to stage dive into the front row of the seats!! Which could only mean it was time for No Fun. That was played at such an energetic pace, it defied reality as it was like being jacked up on a couple of grammes of speed. That just left them time for Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell to close a near perfect set with more of Iggy's antics and some great squalling guitars and sax.
They left the stage to deafening applause that just about topped the noise the night before at Patti Smith, but enough they were back out for an encore that started with Iggy wearing the legendary Stooges jacket he sported on the back of Raw Power.
They kicked into a slow, mean and moody take on Penetration that was followed by Sex & Money from Ready To Die which went down just fine before Iggy told us how he has seen too much blood shed recently and they did a great long version of Open Up And Bleed that gave a good impression of being the last song of the show. However, at the end Iggy heard our applause and looked at the guys and then they slowed things down with the closing song off Ready To Die, The Departed, which was a touch flat compared to the rest of the show, but only just. Iggy didn't want to leave so they did a great version of Louie Louie which is the song Iggy has been playing live for longer than anything else in this set as it goes back to his days in the Iguanas.
Could we get another song after that? Yes, Iggy was up for it the band was up for it and the whole Royal Festival Hall was more than up for it as they launched into Cock In My Pocket, we were all screaming down the old highway once more. Damn it sounded great and was the perfect way to finish as perfect a show as we could want.
On getting back down to the bar BO NINGEN were playing in the Clore Ballroom and they were a good backdrop to our post-Stooges drinks as their long Japanese prog metal jams worked as a good comedown soundtrack from an incredible nights music. Obviously after the Stooges and Savages they struggled to hold the attention but were damn good none the less although we didn't stay till the end; just long enough to drink a bottle of Aspalls cider.
If either the Stooges or Savages get anywhere near you go and see them play live, you will not be disappointed.
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