THE STOOGES BLOW V FESTIVAL AWAY WITH FRENZIED SET

The Stooges turned in one the definitive sets of the weekend at V Festival in Chelmsford tonight (August 19).

Coming onstage at 8.20pm, Iggy Pop exclaimed "we are the fucking Stooges", before launching straight into "Funhouse" highlights "Loose" and "Down On The Street".

Pop was active throughout the set, climbing speaker stacks, running around the stage and jumping down to meet the audience countless times.

As at Glastonbury this year, Pop kept cool by continually pouring bottles of water over himself.

The Stooges went on to perform their best-loved songs over their forty-five minute slot, including "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "1970", to an incredibly appreciative audience.

Earlier on the Channel 4 Stage, Manic Street Preachers drew a large crowd for a hit-laden set, which included "Motorcycle Emptiness" and "Australia".

Although James Dean Bradfield's guitar was mostly inaudible for the first few songs, this was soon sorted out, with Bradfield telling the crowd: "It's my shit amps!"

Uncut will be blogging from V Festival all weekend bringing you updates from the action, so take a look at Uncut’s festival blog:

"We are the fucking Stooges," says Iggy. Kicking off with 'Loose' and 'Down On The Street' is quite a beginning, but following it up with '1969' and 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' is something else. Then you get 'TV Eye', then 'No Fun', then '1970'. This is some show - these are more like nihilistic hymns than songs, more like forces of nature than constructed tunes.

Iggy scales the speaker stack, undoing his trousers. He jumps down to meet the crowd, and the bouncers stand up on the rails, telling each other to push us down if we try to invade the stage. This isn't Snow Patrol, that's for sure.

The Stooges are mostly over 60, but it's hard to believe how hard they rock. We might be sweaty, we might be exhausted, but we've just seen one of the best gigs we're ever likely to see. Long live The Stooges.

Blog Words: Tom Pinnock

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