I’d love to tell you that this poster is a memento of that time I saw Iggy Pop in Germany way back in the ’70s. But that would be a big fat lie. It’s just a full-size reproduction that I bought it from this long-haired German guy who was a regular at the record store where I worked. I think his name was Carl or Carlo or something, and he usually showed up with other guy I wanna call Fred — I don’t know if they were buddies or relatives or a couple or what. Anyway, they usually came in with a slew of German tour posters like this for sale. I have no idea where they got their hands on them. But most of them were as cool as this, so I ended up scoring a bunch over the years. As for Iggy, even though I didn’t catch him in Germany, I have seen some pretty memorable performances. There was the two-night stand in Edmonton in the early ’80s, when he snapped his ankle onstage but finished the show sitting on a road case. There was the arena tour he did opening for The Pretenders in the mid-’80s — every night after he played, Chrissie Hynde would kiss the stage he walked on. And rightly so. There are probably a couple more gigs that escape my fading memory. But I will never forget my favourite Iggy show. That would be the one at SXSW with the reunited Stooges in 2007. I believe they opened with I Wanna Be Your Dog, and within seconds the shirtless Iggy — who was 61 at the time — was diving headfirst into the crowd and thrashing around. Later in the set, Mike Watt’s giant bass stack crapped out, so Iggy decided to fix it — by running straight into it from across the stage. He slammed that sucker so hard it almost toppled onto the roadie who was crouching behind, frantically trying to find the problem. That guy needn’t have bothered; as soon as Iggy smacked it, the thing started working again. Awesome. That’s how you do it, kids. Anyway, if you’re interested in owning this rare collectible, email me.
