- Music
- 16 Jun 25
Talking many moons ago to Joe Strummer, he described himself as "a gnarly old mountain lion who's been in lots of fights but somehow survived."
The same can be said of Iggy Pop who at 78 is one of the last original punk legends still standing.
Life may have started to take its toll on James Osterberg Jr's body but no fucker is ever going to break his indomitable spirit, as demonstrated magnificently tonight.
Purists may baulk but the addition of a brass section is an inspired move with the likes of 'Raw Power', 'Gimme Danger' and 'Death Trip' swinging and grooving in ways they never did before. Indeed, you could argue that Iggy now belongs in the pantheon of great bluesmen, such is the depth of the emotional well he draws from.
Also up for an 'Employee of the Month' award is Joan As Policewoman who can't stop grinning as she goes about her keyboard and backing vocal duties. I'm grinning too because tonight's gig manages to hit the same exalted heights as the Detroit singer's August 1996 visit to the Dublin Mean Fiddler.
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Playing your best-known songs, 'The Passenger' and 'Lust For Life', early on in the set is inviting people to drift away afterwards, but no one budges an inch as 'Loose', 'Search And Destroy' and 'Down On The Street' prove that there's plenty more of where that came from.
'I Wanna Be Your Dog' is immense tonight, as are 'Wild One' and 'Funtime' which round off the all killer, zero filler 20-song set.
Iggy gets extra marks for talking to the Mallorca Live Festival crowd throughout in what sounds like very fluent Spanish. I've no idea what he's saying but the word "chica" gets used a lot...
Rather than diminishing it, this current crop of gigs is adding hugely to the Iggy Pop legend. Long may he run...
Earlier in the night, we'd also been wildly entertained by Lyra's Hëll, a local female hard rock glitter band who have the supreme good taste to cover Girlschool's 'C'Mon Let's Go'.
"Hey hey, the power of a woman is to believe in herself," they proclaim on their own 'Burning Heart', which also nods – well, headbangs – in the direction of AC/DC and Twisted fuckin' Sister.
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“Playing giddy-up horsey on the back of her Travis Bickle lookalike dancer gimp” isn’t a line I ever thought I’d write but sums up alt. Latino popster Judeline's, er, raunchy approach to live performance.
Borrowing liberally from Madonna's Sex playbook, these sadomasochistic shenanigans recently earned the Andalusian singer rave reviews at Coachella where her breathy R&B added to the desert heat. I'm as partial to dry humping as the next person, but it all reeks of trying too hard to be edgy and controversial.
It should be noted that everyone around me is giving it maximum twerkage, so what do I know?
With a Velvet Underground-era Lou Reed lookalike singer, a keyboard-player who engages in Jack Whitehall-style bantz between songs and a seriously cool dude guitarist, London four-piece Fez certainly aren't lacking in personality – or compelling tunes.
Oscillating wildly between ambient pop ('Multi-Love'), Belle and Sebastian dreaminess ('Midnight Mass'), New Order-y indie dance ('Lose Control') and punk funkiness ('Eulogy'), they're hard ones to pin down and all the more enjoyable because of it.
My Mallorca Live Festival weekend ends with a brief sighting of Bad Gyal, the reigning Latin American Music Awards New Artist of the Year who hails from Barcelona and is a bona fide superstar in Spain.
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Mixing R&B, dancehall and reggaeton, the vocodered vocals start to grate after a few songs but you can't fault the production or her stage presence.
All told, it's been a magical few days at an event that has real heart, lots of sunshine, zero hassle and the best Les Panades pork pies you've ever tasted.