LUST FOR LIFE -THE VOODO ROOMS, EDINBURGH
John Scott heads out to see Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life album played by an All-Star lineup. No chickens were hypnotised during this performance. 
Iggy Pop leapt from cult status to overnight ubiquity thanks to the opening seconds of Danny Boyle’s 1996 film Trainspotting and its use of Iggy’s song Lust For Life. Tonight we are here in Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms, literally a stone’s throw away from where those iconic scenes were filmed, to celebrate Iggy’s Lust For Life album in its glorious, hedonistic entirety.
Originally the Band assembled for this project was intended to be headed up by bassist Tony Fox Sales who with his brother Hunt formed the rhythm section on the album. Unfortunately, Tony is unable to travel at the moment so stepping into the breach comes former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock who has also worked with Iggy in the past. Most of the all-star band have close connections with Iggy and/or David Bowie: Blondie Drummer Clem Burke has played previously with both Iggy and Matlock; guitarist Kevin Armstrong has recorded with Iggy and Bowie and headed up Bowie’s band at Live Aid; second guitarist Luis Correia has backed Bowie guitarist Earl Slick and keyboard player Florence Sabeva tours with Heaven 17.
Perhaps the most surprising addition to the band’s lineup is vocalist Katie Puckrick who, if you know her at all, you will know as a presenter on the 1980s TV show The Word. Katie has also danced with Micheal Clark’s ballet company and Pet Shop Boys and Sung with Sparks. If she seems an unlikely Iggy Pop avatar, she soon shows that she can bring an energetic, enthusiastic and engaging presence to tonight’s performance. A future as a glam rock pocket rocket goddess could well be on the cards.
As Clem Burke launches the unmistakable drum beat intro to Lust For Life, we are thrust headlong into the album. Unsurprisingly, Burke is an absolute machine; a whirlwind of machine gun drum rolls and hi-hat flurries. While the whole album really comes alive in a live setting, standouts include Sixteen’s slashing guitars, a swaggering The Passenger, and an epic Turn Blue (”Jesus?, this is Katie”). 
Almost before we know it we are at the end of the album. The second half of the gig features some more solo Iggy (Sister Midnight, Nightclubbing and Funtime from The Idiot), a bit of Stooges (I Wanna Be Your Dog and No Fun) a tribute to Television’s Tom Verlaine (Kingdom Come) and a little bit of Blondie (Rip Her To Shreds).
Both the band and the audience are clearly having a great time. Katie takes a break to let Glen Matlock take vocals on Iggy’s Ambition (he reckons his version is better), his own Head On A Stick, and an inevitable but entirely welcome Pretty Vacant.
What might have seemed an unlikely prospect has been an absolute triumph, only bettered if Iggy himself had put in an appearance. No Fun? No chance.
JOHN SCOTT
Setlist
Lust for Life
Sixteen
Some Weird Sin
The Passenger
Tonight
Success
Turn Blue
Neighbourhood Threat
Fall in Love With Me
Sister Midnight
Nightclubbing
Funtime
I Wanna Be Your Dog
Rip Her to Shreds
Kingdom Come
Run
Ambition
Head On A Stick
Five Foot One
No Fun
Be My Wife
Wild One
Pretty Vacant
Search and Destroy
