Like the most reliable cars from his home state, Iggy Pop keeps on pumping, a raging, ragged, profane piston that just won’t quit.

And for some reason, the fine folks at the Montreux Jazz Festival felt that inviting the lead Stooge back in 2023 for a third time was a good idea. True to form, Iggy delivered a blistering, expletive-filled 90-minute hard rock set that has about as much to do with jazz as a salmon does with filing tax returns. But it brought down the house, and the crowd loved it, judging by the aural document captured that night.

As a career retrospective and an Iggy live album, this one delivers on all fronts. The set is divided evenly between the first three Stooges albums, Iggy’s first three solo albums, and then a couple tracks from his newest album, 2023’s Every Loser. As with all of his music, the songs come alive on stage free from the constraints of the studio.

The highlights are many, from the “nice and creepy, boys” vibe of “Nightclubbing” to a raucous “Lust For Life” and a wild rip through “Frenzy” and all the cuts here from Raw Power. Fan favorite “The Passenger” becomes a singalong, complete with an organ solo, while early cut “I Wanna Be Your Dog” is given a pounding rhythm section and stretched out in length. Everyone involved is having a great time, not the least of which is Iggy, holding court like a shirtless, funny uncle with the occasional burst of Tourette’s.

If there’s any revelation here, it’s “Sick Of You,” which first appeared on an EP of Raw Power outtakes and a neglected compilation album around the same time, but is relatively forgotten. The original slow-to-fast song takes on a new power in this setting, with the band simply smoking the speed section like they took a stock car to the Daytona track for the first time.

Fun House remains a touchstone of early punk and Detroit rock, a regressive factory howl of an album; GM even used “Down On The Street” for a series of truck ads in 2023, as a testament to the enduring power of basic Michigan rock. So the crowd and Iggy both feed off each other on the versions of “Street,” “Loose” and “TV Eye” that show up here. Same for all seven minutes of “Search And Destroy.”

Look, with Iggy, you know what you’re going to get, and he delivers in fine reliable form. If you need a refresher course or a one-stop shop for the Godfather of Punk’s best work, this is as good a place to start as any, and proof that Iggy is as good a performer as ever. A raucous, fun time.

Rating: A-

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