This 2003 concert footage represents what many thought would never happen, a Stooges reunion in Detroit. Mike Watt is filling in on bass, but with the lineup 75 percent complete, it's a reunion by my reckoning.

The concert features all the great songs off the first couple albums: "Loose," "1969," "No Fun," "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and more. The concert is high-energy, but all that energy is really coming from Iggy, the human dynamo. It is great to see Steve Mackay step into the group with the saxophone he used on the Fun House sessions and see Ron Asheton play those well-known riffs, but the fact remains the concert is so great because it is an Iggy Pop concert and everyone else hangs back out of the arc of his explosive energy. Having claimed that space, Iggy fills it with a tumultuous mob taken from the audience -- taking the event to the edge of anarchy.

Among the bonus features is a Mike Watt audio journal about being awed and alive on that stage and a great collection of Creem Magazine art and photos related to the Stooges. Another excellent bonus is a New York City in-store (without Watt) where a very congenial Iggy deconstructs many of the classic songs and explains how they were inspired and made.

- Rambles
written by Tom Schulte
published 24 July 2004