Little Steven's Underground Garage Festival

On Saturday, August 16, 2004 I drove (actually, rode) 5 hours to Randall's Island just outside New York City for Little Steven's Underground Garage Festival, a garage rock festival put on by "Little" Steven Van Zandt, who has a radio show (Little Steven's Underground Garage), plays Silvio Dante on the HBO show The Sopranos, is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, and has a solo project going strong, among other things.

Van Zandt is attempting to bring what he calls garage rock, but should really be called true rock 'n' roll, back to the radio and the public.

Tickets for the festival cost only 20 bucks each, and there were over 35 bands there, including: (I put an asterik next to those bands that I think performed especially well)
The Sexy Magazines
Dave Allan & The Arrows
The Chains
The Star Spangles*
The Gore Gore Girls*
The Swingin' Neckbreakers
Muck and The Mires
The Caesars
The High Dials*
The Fondas*
The Contrast*
The Singles
The Fleshtones
Jarvis Humby
The Blackouts*
The Cocktail Slippers
Richard and the Young Lions*
The Flaming Sideburns*
The Boss Martians
The Charms
The Cynics
Lyres*
The Stems
The Woggles
The Chocolate Watchband
The Shazam
The Electric Prunes
The Creation
The Chesterfield Kings
The Mooney Suzuki
The Paybacks*
The Pete Best Band
The Forty-Fives*
The D4
THe Romantics*
Nancy Sinatra
The Dictators*
Big Star
Bo Diddley*
The Raveonettes
The Pretty Things
The New York Dolls*
The Strokes
Iggy Pop and the Stooges*

The whole festival was great, but the action really started when the New York Dolls came on. Their energy, musicianship, and overall stage prescence was incredible, especially for such old guys who started in the 60's or 70's and only recently re-formed, and even with only two of the original members (David Johansen, lead vocalist, and Sylvain Sylvain, guitar and vocals).

Then the Strokes came on. They were good, I suppose, but when a band as low key songs as the Strokes perform after the wild New York Dolls, they don't seem like a whole lot. Plus, the lead vocalist seemed drunk and was quite irritating.

After that, it was Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Iggy Pop is a god of the stage. It was incredible, an experience I will never forgot. By the second song, the crowd was surging and pushing forward in attempts to get up on the stage. Security pushed us back, put Iggy screamed, with genuine anger and feeling in his voice, "LET THE PEOPLE UP! LET THE PEOPLE UP!" over and over until members of the mob were up on the stage singing with the shirtless rabble-rouser.

Earlier, he jumped on top of one of the huge stage cameras, something which probably costs thousands upon thousands of dollars, like some kind of demon monkey and proceeded to shake the thing in an attempt to knock it over. The camera crew panicked a bit, but he was in control. At one point, with the Stooges playing excellently in the background, Iggy began chanting "RIOT! RIOT! RIOT!" and, "TAKE OVER! TAKE OVER!". Clearly, he was attempting to raise complete and total chaos, with some measure of success. When he's up there, he is your shining god, your heroic leader and you love him, you will do anything he says. There some indescribable feeling you get when that possessed, skinny, dancing 57-year old up there is telling you to take over and riot, especially when it seems he should be part of the establishment. But no, Iggy Pop is his own man.

Before Iggy and in the beginning of his performance, there were pockets of dedicated moshers, but now the crowd seemed to move as one at the stage. I was terrified of some kind of riot or trampling, but at the same time I was energized and in complete bliss as I pushed my way, or rather violently floated my way toward the stage and the security.

After Iggy returned backstage, the crowd, including myself, began chanting "IGGY!" in an attempt to bring him back. Steven Van Zandt himself even came out on the stage and tried to get a "STOOGES!" chant going. Unfortunately, Iggy did not return. I tried to get a call of "RIOT!" going but to no avail. Slowly, the crowd trickled away and the festival was over.

You can't understand Iggy Pop by buying one of his albums, although I strongly encourage it, as he truly is a live performer. Submit to the power of rock 'n' roll!