Iggy & the Stooges
Metallic KO x 2
Skydog
As legendary as the last Stooges show has grown over the last twenty-four years, it certainly isn’t because of the music. Iggy had a fight with a Hell’s Angel at the previous show. The next day, Iggy went down to the radio station and challenged the entire gang, of which the guy was a member, to “come down and do their worst” at his big show at the Michigan Palace – which is exactly what they did. The Stooges only got to play six songs; most of the tape has Iggy insulting the crowd and taunting them to throw whatever they wanted at the stage, which they proceeded to do. Everything from shovels, 4-gallon jugs, beer bottles, M-80’s, and ice can be heard flying through the air and crashing into the amps and stage. Toward the end of the show, you can actually hear bottles breaking against the necks of the guitars. The show then ended with a riot and Iggy knocked out cold lying on the stage (a picture of which graces the album cover). As far as the little music they did play, two were unreleased songs, along with three previously released Stooges songs including, “Heavy Liquid,” “Gimme Danger,” and “Rich Bitch (Baby Where Did Our Love Go?).” The last song they get to do is a version of “Louie Louie” all their own.
The second disc is from a show, also performed at the Michigan Palace, recorded six months earlier. “Raw Power,” “Search and Destroy,” and “Open Up and Bleed” are three of the six songs that they actually get to finish. The sound on both discs is that of a typical audience bootleg (which it was), but cleaned up to take out the hiss. If you like the Stooges, you should own this, even if only for the spectacle and not the music. It’s just like Iggy says on the album, “We’re the hardest working band around, I don’t care if we’re the best.”