After months of praising Iggy Pop’s latest (and possibly last) album, the project known as Post Pop Depression will finally live up to its name as we sadly bid the icon and his band adieu. Tonight, the Greek Theater in Los Angeles will host the very last U.S date for Iggy Pop’s Post Pop Depresion tour and most likely your last chance to catch him before he rides off into the sunset. Unless you plan on jumping on a plane and going to some far off European country to see the show (which I wholeheartedly suggest you do). Otherwise this is it.
For the die-hard Iggy fan, the Post Pop Depression Tour is something that in years to come will count as one of the best concerts of your life, or the missed opportunity you’ll be kicking yourself over for decades to come.
As someone who has been lucky enough to experience the Post Pop Depression show, and I can assure you that you will not be disappointed. Iggy is still very much the Iggy we all remember, reaching into his seemingly endless supply of beloved classics—“Lust for Life,” “China Girl,” “The Passenger, ” etc. At the same time, the show reminds us that Iggy still has the chops to create and perform new songs at age 69 that meld perfectly with his extensive catalog and capture the hearts of new and old fans alike.
Leading Iggy’s new band is, in case you missed it, is Grammy winner and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme along with fellow QOTSA members Dean Fertita and Troy Van Leeuwen, Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders and Chavez’s Matt Sweeney. They bring a new sound to the classics that actually adds to them. With more backing vocals, harmonising and little heavier guitar, a definite high point is Homme’s guitar solo on “China Girl” that is completely awe inspiring. Combined with the addition of new songs that have already become Iconic like “Sunday,” “Gardenia,” and “American Valhalla,” it makes for a musical event that one can truly never forget.
What I am basically saying is if you have to max out your credit card, sell your soul or suck a dick to get into this show, you might want to think about it.
There are a few tickets left for the Greek for tonight on Ticketmaster and you if you check the band’s social media pages, you can sometimes find fans that can’t make the show selling tickets, (some at face value) and of course there are the scalper sites where tickets are ridiculously overpriced. But at this point, you gotta do what you got to do.
Luckily, there are other ways to experience the Post Pop Depression album if you can’t get a concert ticket.
A photo exhibition at MrMusichead Gallery on Sunset Blvd. runs through Friday. Photographer Andreas Neumann and PPD drummer/photographer Matt Helders display their series of photographs entitled “Iggy Pop+ Josh Homme American Valhalla The Art of Post Pop Depression.”
The photos were taken during the recording sessions for the Post Pop Depression album in Joshua Tree with Iggy, Homme and company, featuring shots taken in the surrounding desert and in a parking structure along with photos showcasing the band’s first time on stage together in Los Angeles. The exhibit captures two great American composers in a historic musical collaboration and is well worth a trip to Hollywood. In addition to the American Valhalla exhibit, the MrMusichead Gallery is filled to the rafters with photos and art featuring of some popular music’s most recognizable personalities, such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Who, Prince, Stevie Wonder and even the Rat Pack just to name a few and you can see it all for free.
Last night’s grand opening was a star studded affair. Iggy, Homme and rest of the band were in attendance, along with the likes of Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, Wayne Kramer of the MC5 and Jeff Dowd (the real “Dude” immortalized in The Big Lebowski). The show was organized and hosted by the strikingly beautiful Khadija Donatelli Neumann. The event sold out and was a complete success, raising much needed money for The Sweet Stuff Foundation, a charity that provides assistance to career musicians and recording engineers that are struggling with illness and or disabilities. The exhibit will also be on tour showing in Berlin, Paris, London and ending in Miami (Iggy’s adopted home town), partially coinciding with the Post Pop Depression tour itself. It really is the perfect way to add a little more to something that is so special already and not to be missed.
