So once again, I ventured into the virtual world of live streaming. This tempting event was to celebrate the 34th birthday of Tibet House in New York. Unknown to me, there is an event every year to mark the birthday of the opening of Tibet House, largely orchestrated by Philip Glass and often featuring artists who I admire, such as Patti Smith in particular. So, when I read the streaming included Iggy Pop, Philip Glass, Patti Smith and none other than the Dalai Lama himself, I could not resist buying a ticket for virtual attendance.
“Tibet House US was founded at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who at the inauguration in 1987 stated his wish for a long-term cultural institution to ensure the survival of Tibetan civilization and culture, whatever the political destiny of the six million people of Tibet itself.”
“I feel that Tibetan culture with its unique heritage –born of the efforts of many human beings of good spirit, of its contacts with Mongolian, Chinese, Indian, Nepalese and Persian culture, and of its natural environment – has developed a kind of energy which is very helpful for cultivating peace of mind and a joyful life. I feel that there is a potential for Tibet to help humanity, and particularly our Eastern neighbour, where millions of young Chinese have lost their spiritual values. In this way, I feel very strongly that Tibetan culture will have a role to play in the future of humanity.” (His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
The show started with a very dark performance by Iggy Pop of the Dylan Thomas poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”. Iggy was staring right at me, his deep rasping voice emanating from his stark, wrinkled face. Quite scary stuff and not what I expected, but a great introduction to the concert.
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” (Dylan Thomas, 1951)
This was followed by a musical performance by avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson. There were quite a few artists who I did not recognise but each one performed a unique and appropriate contribution to the evening. Jessie Paris Smith, daughter of Patti, performed a solo acoustic “Monster”, followed by the Black Pumas. Then someone more familiar appeared. Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips sang “Flowers of Neptune” from within the familiar bubble, which I have seen him perform from before.
After contributions by Angelique Kidjo and Brittany Howard, the more familiar face of Annie Lennox appeared at the piano singing a short set of “You Placed a Chill In My Heart”, “Cold” and finishing with the Eurythmics “Here Comes the Rain Again”.
After several further offerings, Eddie Vedder, performed Pearl Jam’s “Can’t Keep” on ukulele.
We were then treated to a video from a previous concert; of Philip Glass accompanying the legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Stunning stuff, which brought back memories of when Laura, David, Shauna and I travelled to Edinburgh Playhouse and were lucky enough to see Patti Smith perform an evening of Allen Ginsberg poetry, again accompanied by Philip Glass on piano.
Philip Glass is, of course, widely recognised as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He is one of the fathers of minimalism, although he often rejects this title. His striking repetitive style has influenced many important popular music artists, including David Bowie, and he regularly, to this day, provides accompaniment to poetry readings by artists such as Patti Smith.
Alan Ginsberg was a seminal figure in the “beat” movement, promoting, through his poetry, anti-war messages, the counterculture, sexual freedom and Eastern religion. I have a vague memory of him appearing at Morden Tower, Newcastle University in the 1970s, and for some reason, I did not go along; something I regret to this day.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke to us, marking the importance of Tibet House and its significance to culture and religion.
The evening concluded with Patti Smith and her daughter, accompanied by Joan Baez and many more of the performers, singing very appropriately “People Have the Power”.
Not quite what I expected, but nonetheless an enjoyable event.
Iggy was on usual manic form and it was great to hear the old Stooges songs again. The set was all Stooges material, no Iggy solo, including I Wanna Be Your Dog, TV Eye, 1969 and Real Cool Time. The show also included some songs from the new Stooges album The Weirdness. During No Fun Iggy invited the crowd to join him up on stage. Fans started climbing over the barriers and the stage was soon completely rammed with everyone jumping around and going crazy. The artist and the audience becoming one and the same. Good fun; a great gig.
This was a strange one this. Looking back this gig was pretty important historically, and yet at the time (as is often the case) it didn’t seem so. Iggy wasn’t that well known in the UK at the time. I’d seen him on the TV (was it on the Whistle Test?) throwing himself into the crowd and spreading peanut butter all over his torso at a late 60s gig in the USA. I’d also read the reviews of his seminal, wild gig at the Kings Cross cinema (and regretted not going). I’d seen the Sex Pistols play the Stooges’ No Fun the year before, so knew a little about the Iggy legend and his impact on punk. Generally however little was known about Iggy, and ticket sales for this gig were apparently not going well. A few days before the gig the local paper, the Evening Chronicle, ran an article hinting that David Bowie might be guesting at the gig, presumably to try and boost ticket sales. So a few of us went along to the gig, partly out of curiosity to see if Iggy was as crazy as we’d heard, and partly to see if Bowie really did appear. Still, on the night the City Hall was barely half full. Support came from The Vibrators who were, as I recall, pretty hot at the time, and will have played tracks like We Vibrate and London Girls. Iggy took to the stage and was followed by his band, that included David Bowie, who walked up to a keyboard at the right of the stage without any acknowledgement to the crowd at all. It was very clear that this was Iggy’s show and Bowie was a sideman. The set was a mix of old Stooges classics and tracks from the Idiot lp, and was something like: Raw power; Tv eye; Dirt; 1969; Turn blue; Funtime; Gimme danger; No fun; Sister midnight; I need somebody; search & destroy; I wanna be your dog; Tonight; Some weird sin; China girl. As I recall Iggy was good, but not as wild as usual. He was back to play to a packed City Hall later in the year and went totally crazy, climbing all over the amps, rolling around the stage, with his trousers coming open. A few years later I caught him at Redcar Coatham Bowl (Glen Matlcock on bass, I think), he was smoking on stage and flicking lit cigarettes into the crowd (how times change…). Bowie stayed in the background all night and didn’t speak to the crowd. It was good to see him back on the City Hall stage, but I was hoping that they would perform some Bowie classics. I remember shouting for Moonage Daydream…..Anyway he came back to the City Hall as part of the Low tour the following year. Will report on that tomorrow.
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