Iggy And The Stooges Rock SXSW & Premiere Songs From ‘Ready To Die’ Album

Iggy And The Stooges Rock SXSW & Premiere Songs From ‘Ready To Die’ Album

The reviews are in from SXSW! Here’s what some of the critics are saying:

It hardly seemed fair that Iggy and the Stooges should perform so early last night at South by Southwest in Austin. All they left behind was a smoldering pile of rubble for the other acts to pick through at the House of Vans showcase at Mohawk. … Iggy Pop is a human blowtorch, and the Stooges have to run at a high temperature just to keep pace. … The band thundered through more than an hour of songs split between new tunes and Stooges classics, starting with a ferocious version of “Raw Power” that was full of serrated guitar and Iggy’s inimitable sneer, which has inspired punk rockers for nearly 45 years. He’s still a dynamo onstage, dancing and jumping around with abandon while Williamson and bassist Mike Watt locked into one bludgeoning groove after another.
– Rolling Stone

The Ready To Die material, due April 30, was as molten and Cro-Magnon as the rest of the group’s catalog, though it had more in common with the more sophisticated arrangements and textures of Raw Power than it did with the Stooges’ reputation-making first two releases. …Exulting that “we made a fuckin’ record!,” Pop introduced the first single “Burn,” a frenetic rocker showcasing Steve Mackay’s saxophone, as a song “about scary shit like flaming assholes of life in the world and death and that shit.” “Gun” addressed one of today’s prevalent social issues, while “Beat That Guy” featured an extended solo by Williamson. “Sex and Money,” “Job,” “Dirty Deal,” “Double Ds” (about, yes, women’s breasts) and the album’s title track kept the throttle up full, while “The Departed,” a requiem for late Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton was a quiet and emotional change-up with guest Bob Hofner playing pedal steel. – Billboard

You can all go home now. The conference is over. The world’s greatest rock & roll band has played. No one else matters. Iggy Pop wanted to debut material from the 40-years-overdue follow-up to Raw Power at SXSW. He got his wish, even forcing bassist Mike Watt to come home from his own European tour. And with hardly a fuss, they’re off: “Raw Power,” bam, James Williamson riffing like a hyperthyroid Dave Davies, with Watt and drummer Toby Dammit deputized for brotherly rhythm section Scott and the late Ron Asheton. Funhouse saxman Steve Mackay, now a full Stooge, honks and drones à la Coltrane beside Williamson, Iggy charging hard at the mic, a Tasmanian devil uncaged and unleashed. – The Austin Chronicle

Photo credit: LifeWithoutAndy.com via Red Bull Surfing