Raw Power

By Eva Medoff, May 13th, 2010

Anarchy is alive and well. We realized this the moment Iggy Pop staged dived into the audience last night, sending a surge of people in our direction and catapulting our vodka and soda into our hair. Despite the discomfort due to the fact that we could have wrung out our shirt of the drink and refilled our cup again (we didn’t), we were mesmerized by this 60-something punk rocker from Ann Arbor, Mich.: the crowd was infected, and this bare-backed rock shaman had infected us.

The Ray Ban-sponsored event was opened by Philadelphia-based Free Energy and The Virgins from our very own New York, who started off the night pleasantly and energetically enough. But when Iggy and the Stooges took to the stage, a flurry of male moshing erupted, girls became unhinged and the noise level reached unprecedented heights—as we write this, we still feel 20,000 leagues under the sea. Songs like “Search and Destroy” and “Raw Power” ripped through the audience like an electric shock.

Super model Jessica Stam and indie queen Chloë Sevigny were two of the celebs spotted at the concert, which was decorated with Ray Ban’s signature Aviators in cases and brand images on the walls. And although no one had actually paid to get into this sponsored event, there was a distinct impression that everyone was happy to be there, even if they only realized it upon walking through the door. More than four decades later, The Stooges still have the power to transform the unfamiliar into believers (when Iggy invited everyone onto the stage, nearly causing a riot, that probably helped). Last night, whether the hipster crowd initially expected it or not, everyone worshipped in the temple of punk rock.

Iggy Pop, rock shaman